How to Import Holidays into Google Calendar on Any Device (Step-by-Step Guide)

Hey everyone, this is the Holiday Little Assistant coming at you. A few of you hit me up recently asking about how to import holidays into Google Calendar — whether it’s for work, school, or just so you never lose track of long weekends again. Honestly, it’s way easier than you think. So let me break it all down for you right here, step by step.

The first thing you need to know is that Google Calendar has a built-in holiday calendar that covers over a hundred countries. You don’t need to download anything or use some sketchy third-party tool. All you gotta do is turn it on in your settings. On your computer, open Google Calendar, click the little gear icon in the top right, then hit Settings. Over on the left sidebar, look for “Add calendar” and click it. Next, find “Browse calendars of interest” and scroll down to “Holidays.” Check the box for the country (or countries) you want — like United States or United Kingdom — and boom, all the national holidays pop right into your calendar. It’s really that simple.

On the Google Calendar mobile app, it’s just as easy. Tap the Menu icon (the three lines at the top left), scroll down to Settings, pick your calendar account, then go to “Holidays” and tap the country or region you want to follow. You’ll see the holidays show up right away, and they’ll update automatically every year. No manual adding, no stress.

Now, what if you want to import holidays that aren’t on Google’s standard list? Say you live in the U.S. but watch a lot of other countries’ holidays, or you want federal holidays that aren’t recognized by your state. That’s where an ICS file or a calendar link comes in handy. A lot of websites — including ours — give you a direct ICS link for holiday calendars. On your computer, go back to Settings, click “Add calendar,” then pick “From URL.” Paste the link in, hit “Add calendar,” and you’re all set. The holidays will show up just like the built-in ones do.

Another route is importing a downloaded .ics file. You’d go to Settings, hit “Import & Export,” then click “Import.”