Au pair vacation: How much time off do au pairs get?
All au pairs are entitled to paid holiday time during the au pair stay. Regulations regarding this vacation entitlement vary from country to country.

Not all countries offer a defined au pair programme or provide statutory requirements concerning the holiday entitlement of an au pair. However, based on our experiences and the au pair regulations defined by the governments of those countries where official au pair programmes are offered, we recommend the following:
When staying with their host families for a total of 12 months, au pairs should receive a paid holiday of four weeks. As a general rule, they should have one whole week of vacation time per quarter and two full days of holiday per month. Au pairs and host families may use these figures as a guideline when calculating the number of au pair holiday days according to their total length of stay.
How to handle family holidays with the au pair
Families planning to go abroad on a holiday while hosting an au pair need to clarify with their au pairs in advance if the au pair wishes to - or will be expected to - accompany the family during that time. Au pairs accompanying their host families on their holidays to take care of their children are, by definition, working regular hours. Holidays with their host families only count as holidays for the au pair if the au pair is merely carrying out minor tasks and is not put on childcare duty. During the family holidays, au pairs are entitled to their full amount of pocket money. When staying in their host family's home during the family holidays, au pairs must be provided with sufficient housekeeping money.
More information
- Family holidays and your au pair – What works best?
- Going on family holidays without the au pair - how to handle?
Public holidays
When it comes to public holidays, there are certain countries in which it is regulated that au pairs have these days free and must not work, such as in Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland.
In other countries, there are no official regulations with regard to public holidays for au pairs. We recommend that au pairs have a day off on public holidays. Only in exceptional cases should au pairs be expected to work on public holidays. If the au pair is required to work on such a day, the family should give the au pair some other day off to even things up. It is recommend though that the host family discuss this with their au pair beforehand.
Christmastime
There are not any official regulations concerning how au pairs and families should handle the Christmas period. Basically, au pairs and host families should discuss this with each other and agree on a plan that works well for everyone. Many au pairs use the Christmas period to fly home to visit their own families in their home countries. Others stay with their host family in order to experience something new or use the free period around Christmas to take a trip in their host country. Our blog article gives more ideas how you can spend Christmastime as an au pair.
Holidays, public holidays and Christmas - FAQ
- We wish to take our au pair on our holiday. Does this count as work or as a holiday?
- We are a host family from Germany and our au pair comes from Uzbekistan. In May, we will be traveling to Spain for vacation and we would like to take our au pair with us. Would that be possible?
- We always meet up with our entire family over the holidays and I have to admit that it is quite big with 17 members. Ela, our au pair girl, wishes to celebrate with us. Can we ask her if she could also take care of my sister's children?
- Christmas involves a lot of work for our family. So we were thinking about asking our au pair to help us. Is this something we can expect?
- It is one of our family traditions to take our children on a trip over the Christmas holidays. Should we invite our au pair to come with us?
- We are Muslims, our au pair is a Christian. She wishes to celebrate Christmas. What can we do for her?
- Our au pair will be celebrating Christmas with us. Should we give her a present?
- Every year, we take an official family photo on Christmas. Should our au pair join us, or is it rather not recommended?
- Ideas on how to spend your Christmas as an au pair