As 2025 winds down, British travel enthusiasts are already plotting how to maximise their adventures in the coming year. The secret lies not in having more holiday allowance, but in strategically planning when to take it.
Mastering the 2026 Bank Holiday Calendar
England and Wales benefit from eight bank holidays in 2026, providing the perfect framework for extended breaks. By booking annual leave around these public holidays, you can secure significant time away from work while conserving your precious paid leave allowance.
The year begins with a simple but effective opportunity. Booking Friday, January 2, 2026 creates a four-day weekend, since most employees will automatically have New Year's Day off.
Easter and Spring Getaway Opportunities
Easter presents the first major chance for an extended break. By taking eight days of annual leave from March 30 to April 2 and April 7 to 10, you can secure an impressive sixteen consecutive days off work.
This works because Good Friday falls on April 3 and Easter Monday on April 6, creating natural bridges between your booked leave periods.
May offers two separate opportunities for nine-day breaks using the same smart approach. Both the Early May bank holiday on May 4 and the Spring bank holiday on May 25 can be extended by booking the following four working days off.
Summer and Christmas Holiday Planning
The summer's final bank holiday on August 31, 2026 provides one last chance for a extended sunny getaway. Again, booking the four subsequent working days creates another valuable nine-day break.
Christmas 2026 falls perfectly for maximising time off. With Christmas Day on a Friday and Boxing Day on a Saturday (with the substitute holiday on Monday, December 28), you only need to use seven days of leave to secure sixteen days off around the festive period.
Research analysing over 230,000 annual leave requests for summer 2025 revealed the most popular weeks for holidays. The week commencing August 4 was most popular with 17.51% of requests, followed by the week of August 18 (16.72%), then the week of July 28 and the week of August 11 receiving 16.55% and 16.53% of requests respectively.
Forward-thinking travellers who plan their annual leave around these bank holiday patterns can significantly extend their travel opportunities throughout 2026 without exhausting their leave allowance.
