The Best Days to Take Off in the UK in 2025
By Dean Clark. Published 3-Jan-2025
Here’s how you can get the most out of holiday time in the United Kingdom this year.
Watching the grass grow in Hyde Park, London, UK.
©iStockphoto.com/xeipe
Use Bank Holidays to Your Advantage
To enjoy the longest possible stretches of free time, try adding your vacation or personal time off days to bank holidays to create longer weekend breaks.
The Best Days to Take Off
- January 2: Add to New Year’s Day on January 1 to create a 2-day break before the weekend. (In Scotland, January 2 is a bank holiday, so take off January 3 instead for a 5-day weekend.)
- April 17 or 22: Add to Good Friday on April 18 and Easter Monday on April 21 for a 5-day break. (Scotland doesn’t have a bank holiday on Easter Monday, but you could take April 17 or April 21 to create a 4-day break instead.)
- May 2 or 6: Add to Early May Bank Holiday (May 5) to create a 4-day weekend.
- May 23 or 27: Add to Spring Bank Holiday (May 26) to create a 4-day weekend.
- August 22 or 26: Add to Summer Bank Holiday on August 25 to create a 4-day weekend. (In Scotland, the Summer Bank Holiday falls on August 4, so you have to take off August 1 or August 5 to enjoy a 4-day break.)
- December 24 or 29: Add to Christmas Day (December 25) and Boxing Day (December 26) to create a 5-day break.