Ramadan 2027 in Switzerland: Iftar Shopping, Dates and the Four Promotion Weeks

Ramadan 2027 falls in late winter. It is expected to begin on the evening of Sunday 7 February 2027, the first full fasting day on Monday 8 February, the end around 8 March, and Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday 9 March 2027. Those dates depend on the sighting of the crescent moon and can shift by a day. The shopping arithmetic is still clear: four full promotion Thursdays fall inside the fasting month, with three chains starting on Thursday and two discounters running two waves a week. The table below shows, with dates, which chains have actually carried a Ramadan range. For the price that applies in a given week, Rappn shows the current promotions of seven Swiss retailers.

Last updated: October 2026. Sources (links viewed on 9 October 2026): Ramadan 2027 dates per awarenessdays.com and calendardate.com, both carrying an explicit moon-sighting caveat; chain Ramadan ranges per the CH Media retail research of 22 February 2025 (luzernerzeitung.ch), published 23 February 2025 on watson.ch; a large retailer’s first targeted Ramadan range per 20min.ch of 20 March 2024; the stunning requirement per the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, page "Schlachtung" (in German); the base-price obligation per kmu.admin.ch, "Kennzeichnung der Preise" (in German). Promotion days: start and rhythm per chain in the table. The online shops of the chains block automated requests with HTTP 403, so this guide quotes neither weekly prices nor per-chain product listings.

Rappn is an independent grocery price comparison app in Switzerland, with no commercial agreements with any retailer. Rappn is not affiliated with any religious organisation, and this page is a shopping guide, not religious guidance.

When does Ramadan 2027 start in Switzerland?

Ramadan follows the Islamic lunar calendar and therefore moves earlier each year against the Gregorian calendar. For 2027: calendardate.com gives the evening of 7 February as the start and sundown on 8 March as the end; awarenessdays.com gives 8 February to 8 March, with Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday 9 March 2027. Both add the same caveat: the month begins with the sighting of the new crescent moon, so the start may fall a day later depending on the country, and the length varies between 29 and 30 days.

In Switzerland the mosque associations and their umbrella bodies announce the start locally. This guide therefore quotes expected dates, never fixed ones. For the non-perishable stock, the promotion Thursday of 4 February 2027 is the moment; a one-day shift changes nothing, because the chains keep changing their offers on Thursday.

What goes into the iftar basket

Breaking the fast in the evening starts in many households with dates and water, followed by a soup, often lentil, and a main course built on rice or bread. The pre-dawn meal is lighter: dairy, eggs, bread, dried fruit. The staples basket can be filled almost entirely from the ordinary Swiss supermarket range.

• Dates, fresh or dried, plus dried figs and apricots
• Red and brown lentils, chickpeas, white beans
• Rice in several varieties, long grain, basmati, parboiled: kilo prices are in the rice comparison
• Flour and semolina for flatbread and pastries, see flour prices
• Cooking oil in the large bottle, see the cooking oil comparison
• Milk, yoghurt, eggs, cheese
• Chicken and lamb, halal certified, see below
• Spices: cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, paprika

Stocking up pays on the non-perishable items: they get used across the month and go on promotion regularly. Fresh goods are bought week by week. Promotion prices change every Thursday, and Rappn shows the ones valid right now, filtered to your canton.

Which Swiss chains carry a Ramadan range?

This is documented, and dated. The CH Media retail research of 22 February 2025, published the next day on watson.ch, asked the big retailers directly. One discounter brought its first Ramadan calendar in Switzerland to market that year, in its own words filled with pastries and sweets, and widened its date range by four additional varieties for the fasting month. A large retailer carries a Ramadan calendar and dates all year round, according to its spokesperson. Per the same research a second large retailer ran promotions on dates and dried figs, and granted tenfold loyalty-programme points on the dates of its luxury line. Other retailers stated that they carry no dedicated Ramadan range, pointing to their year-round international assortments, limited shelf space, or everyday basics. The table below sets these statements out chain by chain, with the source.

For context: the CH Media research of 22 February 2025 states that, according to official figures, around 430'000 Muslims aged 15 and over live in Switzerland. That explains why the chains address the month and why the ranges stay small: four weeks of niche occasion, not a second Christmas.

Buying dates: why the kilo price decides

Dates are the classic at the breaking of the fast, and at the same time the item where the pack price tells you least. They are sold fresh or dried, pitted or unpitted, in a bag, a tray or a gift box, under variety names such as Medjool or Deglet Nour. Two packs at the same price therefore often hold very different amounts of edible fruit.

That is why the kilo price matters. For measurable goods whose retail price depends on the quantity sold, the base price per kilo or litre must be shown next to the retail price, with exceptions for sale per piece and for goods whose retail price does not exceed CHF 2.00 (kmu.admin.ch, "Kennzeichnung der Preise"). It is therefore already on the shelf label, just printed smaller. In Rappn it sits next to the pack price, which settles the comparison between a 250 gram tray and a one kilo bag. Check as well whether the dates are pitted: the stone counts towards the weight and does not get eaten.

Halal meat, lamb and chicken: what applies in Switzerland

In Switzerland, vertebrates may only be killed after stunning. The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO puts it verbatim on its German-language page "Schlachtung": "Wirbeltiere und Panzerkrebse (wie zum Beispiel Hummer) dürfen nur unter Betäubung getötet werden." The page names the Animal Welfare Ordinance TSchV and the FSVO ordinance on animal welfare at slaughter VTSchS as its legal basis. Which channels reliably carry halal certified fresh meat, how to read the certificates, and why there is no single national halal label, is set out in the halal grocery guide.

For menu planning one thing matters most: lamb is distinctly more expensive in Switzerland than chicken, and the gap between cuts is larger than the gap between chains. Kilo prices by cut and label are in the meat price comparison. For a larger group, a base of chicken and pulses works out cheaper, and the lamb keeps for the Eid table.

The promotion calendar for Ramadan 2027

Supermarket, international grocer or cash and carry?

Three channels, three strengths. The big chains cover the non-perishable base, rice, lentils, flour, oil and dairy, and they are the ones that discount in the fasting month. International and Middle Eastern grocers bring the breadth: more date varieties, flatbread, spice mixes, halal certified fresh meat at the counter, city by city in the overview of international grocery stores. The cash and carry in the table above needs no membership card, which helps if you need catering formats.

Combining all three, buy the large formats only when they will genuinely get used: a stock that is still standing in April has saved nothing. Because Ramadan evening meals are bigger, it is worth a look at the family food budget.

And then Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr is expected on Tuesday 9 March 2027. The shopping lands on the discounter wave of Monday 8 March and on the remaining run of the promotion week that started on 4 March: sweet pastries, nuts, dried fruit and a larger cut of meat, with the non-perishable ones easier to pick up in the quieter week from 25 February.

What any item will cost in February 2027 cannot be seriously predicted: promotions are set week by week. This guide gives you the frame, the rest is the look at the current week. Open the search in Rappn for dates, rice, lentils and chicken and set a price alert on the items you will definitely need: the app tells you as soon as they go on promotion at one of the seven chains. It is free, with no subscription, and shows the kilo price next to the pack price.