How to Add Official Hong Kong Public Holidays to Apple Calendar, Google Calendar and Outlook

Get the correct Hong Kong holiday calendar link

The 1823 Hong Kong Public Holidays iCal page provides English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese versions.

Use the URL for your calendar app:

Google Calendar uses a different address: keep the /gc/ part of its URL.

Copy the relevant address into your app’s calendar subscription field. Use the .ics address, not the address of the 1823 information page.

Subscribe or import: which should you choose?

For an ongoing holiday calendar, choose a subscription. Your app keeps a connection to the published calendar and can retrieve changes when it refreshes. The holiday entries remain separate from your personal appointments.

A file import copies the events from a downloaded .ics file. Those imported events do not automatically receive later changes from 1823. Syncing that copy between your devices does not turn it into a subscription.

Importing is useful when you deliberately need a fixed copy. For everyday planning, subscribing is the better choice. Avoid doing both for the same holidays, because you may end up displaying two copies.

Add Hong Kong public holidays to Apple Calendar

On iPhone or iPad

On iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 and later:

1. Open Calendar, tap Calendars, then choose Add Calendar → Add Subscription Calendar.
2. Paste the Apple Calendar URL from the table above, then tap Find.
3. Give the calendar a recognisable title, such as Hong Kong Public Holidays — 1823, and choose a colour. Select iCloud under Account to make the subscription available across your Apple devices.
4. Tap Done.

On iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 and earlier, the same Calendar-app route uses Subscribe after entering the URL and Add to finish.

Use the same Apple Account on the devices where you want to see the calendar. Once the subscription appears through iCloud, there is no need to add another copy on each device.

On a Mac

1. Open Calendar and choose File → New Calendar Subscription.
2. Paste the Apple Calendar URL and click Subscribe.
3. Choose a name and colour. Set Location to iCloud for access across your Apple devices, or On My Mac to keep it local.
4. Choose an Auto-refresh interval, then click OK.

A daily refresh is a reasonable setting for a holiday calendar. Leave the subscription selected in the calendar list so its events are visible.

Add Hong Kong public holidays to Google Calendar

Set up the subscription in a computer web browser. The Google Calendar app for Android, iPhone and iPad does not offer the initial URL-subscription setup.

1. Open Google Calendar and sign in to the Google Account you use on your phone.
2. Beside Other calendars, click +, then choose From URL.
3. Paste the Google Calendar URL from the table above.
4. Click Add calendar. The subscription should appear under Other calendars.

Choose From URL, not the separate Subscribe to calendar option used to find another person’s Google calendar.

On your phone, open Google Calendar with the same account and make sure the holiday calendar is selected in the menu. On Android, also check that Calendar syncing is enabled for the account. When available, the calendar’s own Sync setting is under Menu → Settings → the calendar name; tap Show more if necessary.

Add Hong Kong public holidays to Outlook

New Outlook for Windows, Outlook.com and Outlook on the web

1. Open Calendar in new Outlook, or sign in to your Outlook account in a browser.
2. Select Add calendar → Subscribe from web.
3. Paste the Outlook URL from the table above. Add a name and colour if those options appear.
4. Select Import, or Import and Save, depending on the version.

The button label can be confusing: Import inside “Subscribe from web” still creates a subscription. It is different from choosing Upload from file.

Classic Outlook for Windows

Open Calendar, then choose Home → Open Calendar → From Internet. Paste the Outlook URL and click OK. Confirm that you want to add the calendar and subscribe to updates if prompted.

These ribbon instructions are for classic Outlook on Windows, not Outlook for Mac. For other Outlook versions, use the web subscription method where available. If the Windows application fails to add an Internet calendar, trying Outlook on the web is also a useful alternative.

How to import a holiday file instead

For a one-time copy, save the appropriate .ics file from the links on the 1823 page. The English Apple/Outlook file is available directly.

Create a separate destination calendar, such as Hong Kong Holidays — Imported, before importing. Keeping the copy away from your personal appointments makes it easier to replace or remove later.

An imported copy remains a snapshot. Downloading a newer file does not automatically update the older events already in your calendar. Check for overlapping entries before importing again.

Why a public holiday can differ from a festival date

The 1823 feed follows Hong Kong’s officially gazetted public holidays and their names. It is not a calendar of every traditional festival.

A festival calendar answers “When is the occasion celebrated?” A public holiday calendar answers “Which date has been designated as the holiday?” Those answers can differ without either calendar being wrong.

Mid-Autumn Festival: the holiday is the following day

In 2027, Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Wednesday, 15 September. The Hong Kong public holiday is Thursday, 16 September, named “The day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.”

Use the festival date when arranging a Mid-Autumn gathering, and the public holiday date when checking the official holiday schedule. Moving the holiday entry back a day would erase that distinction.

Sunday arrangements can change the named holiday entries

In 2027, the second day of Lunar New Year falls on Sunday, 7 February. The 1823 calendar lists the named Lunar New Year holidays on 6, 8 and 9 February, including “The fourth day of Lunar New Year” on 9 February.

Sunday is itself a general holiday. The absence of a separate festival entry on that Sunday does not mean it has become an ordinary working day.

These examples are why a lunar-date conversion or a generic festival calendar should not replace the official public holiday feed.

Public holidays are not the same as personal leave entitlement

Hong Kong’s general/public holiday calendar is not identical to the statutory-holiday rules under employment law. A calendar entry alone does not establish whether you personally have paid time off.

For work planning, check the Labour Department’s statutory-holiday guidance, your employment terms and your roster.

Missing dates, slow updates or duplicate holidays?

Some 2027 holidays are missing on my phone

Check the calendar in your account’s web interface first. In Google Calendar, a date that appears on the website but not on your phone points you towards account, visibility or device-sync settings.

1823 also reports that some Android devices may not show holidays more than about a year ahead. A missing distant date on a phone is therefore not proof that the official 2027 data is unavailable.

The calendar has not updated

First check how you added it. A downloaded file imported into an existing calendar will not retrieve later government updates; a URL subscription can.

Updates are not necessarily immediate. Microsoft warns that subscribed calendars in Outlook.com and Outlook on the web can take more than 24 hours to reflect changes. On a Mac, check that the subscription’s Auto-refresh setting is not disabled.

The same holiday appears twice

Open each entry and check which calendar it belongs to. You may be displaying the 1823 subscription alongside a built-in holiday calendar, an older import or another subscription.

Hide the overlapping calendar first so you can confirm which entries to keep. Do not delete your personal calendar just to remove holiday duplicates.

I cannot edit a holiday

That is normal for a read-only subscription. Keep the official entry unchanged and create a separate personal event for a reminder, family gathering or out-of-office period.

For a clear everyday calendar, keep one official holiday subscription, festival reminders and your actual leave arrangements separate.