Public Holiday

Public Holidays are a national treasure as there are so many of them each year!! They include a mix of religious Roman Catholic, national and regional ones and are taken on the exact day they fall whether that be midweek or weekend. The holiday is not moved to the Monday or Friday to create three day weekends as is often done in other countries. This means that a large percentage of people take days off, a 'puente' which means bridge, to create long weekends which last for four or five days! Known as 'red days', each municipality is allowed to have a maximum of 14 public holidays per year; a maximum of 9 of these are chosen by the national government and at least 2 are chosen locally.

During a public holiday in Spain everything except the bars, cafes, restaurants, emergency services and a handful of shops like petrol stations close down. Nothing is open, so make sure you have planned for the national and regional Public Holidays!

There are many local Public Holidays plus the 'Dia de Valencia' which is observed in the province of Valencia only and is on the 9th October. The Public Holidays which are observed in all regions of Spain are: