We all love a holiday! So find out when yours are. Every municipality in Spain has a maximum of 14 bank holidays. Some are national, some regional and others local. Find out when they are and what they represent:
Each area has 12 bank holidays, of which 8 are nationwide, 4 are variable and interchangeable and the last 2 are local, in other words, down to each municipality. Let’s go step by step and break them all down.
The 8 bank holidays which are non-negotiable, and nationwide are:
- 1st January- New Year’s Day
- 6th January- Three King’s Day
- 3rd April (in 2026 case, depends when Easter is celebrated each year- Good Friday
- 1st May- Worker’s Day
- 15th August- Asuncion de la Virgen “assumption of the virgen”
- 12th August- Dia de la Hispanidad “Spain’s National Day”
- 8th December- Inmaculada Concepcion “Inmaculate Conception”
- 25th December- Christmas Day
Some of these like Christmas Day and Good Friday are self-explanatory. Three King’s Day, celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord and Spanish Christmas, when children receive their presents; Asuncion de la Virgen and Inmaculada de Concepcion are very deeply-rooted catholic holidays and representations, and Spain’s National Day, is the day that celebrates Spain and Hispanity.
The 4 regional or interchangeable holidays, depend on the Region and Comunidad Autonoma to decide:
- Fiesta de Comunidad Autonoma ( Regional Holiday)- This holiday depends on where you live. For example, if you live in Andalucia, Andalusia Day is 28th February, Madrid Day is 2 May, Catalonia Day is 11th September and Canary’s Day is 30th May… Research when your Comunidad Autonoma Day is.
- Jueves Santo (Maundy Thursday)– Everywhere in Spain chooses this holiday, except Catalonia and the Comunidad Valenciana, who prefer to work this day and get Easter Monday off, the following week.
- All Saints Day, 1st November and Constitution Day 6th December, are nationwide holidays for everyone. However, if this day were to fall on a Sunday, each Comunidad Autonoma can decide if they want to move it to the Monday, to not lose it. Most will celebrate on Monday but a few decide to use the extra day for another local holiday.
So far we have 12 days off a year, with few differences, however, there are an additional two, which as we stated before, are down to each municipality. We would try and name them all, however there are 8.131 municipalities in Spain, who have two each, which adds up to 16.262 local holidays all across Spain. Get in contact with your neighbours, local town hall to find out when they are and what they mean.
This is a summary of all the bank holidays people in Spain can enjoy. Most have a very heavy catholic influence and in most areas, special celebrations (concerts, fairs, events..) may be taking place, especially during local and regional holidays. Have fun and enjoy your hols!
On our latest episode we chatted about the Dia de la Hispanidad, one of Spain’s national bank holidays:
