This year’s public and national holiday schedule presents several opportunities for those wanting to enjoy a long weekend or an extended break.

To maximise time off, the best strategy is to pair public holidays with annual leave to create extended breaks while using as few leave days as possible.

There are six long weekends to look forward to due to public holidays falling on either a Monday or Friday.

Two fall on a Friday - Good Friday (April 18) and the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) - while four take place on a Monday. 

St Paul’s Shipwreck (February 10), Freedom Day (March 31), Victory Day (September 8) and the feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8) all fall on Mondays. 

In fact, the first day of the week will host the most public holidays in 2025, with four out of 14 falling on Mondays.

Another four public holidays will take place on a weekend, with Saturday playing host to Sette Giugno (June 7) and Republic Day (December 13).

The feast of St Peter and St Paul (June 29) and Independence Day (September 21), meanwhile, will both be on Sundays.

Workers do not lose out on leave when public holidays fall on a weekend, however, as employers are obliged to add these four days to their workers’ annual leave allocation.

Smart choices

Those looking to get away for Easter could feasibly be away for three weeks while only using 13 days of annual leave by booking weekdays off from Tuesday April 1 to Thursday April 16 and bookending the break with Freedom Day and Good Friday.

Another standout opportunity is the week leading up to Santa Maria weekend, with those booking off weekdays leading up to the Feast of the Assumption able to potentially enjoy the whole week off.

At Christmas time, one can make the most of the Feast of Immaculate Conception (December 8) and national holiday Republic Day (December 13) by booking leave from December 9 to 12 - giving the whole week off.

Finally, plan leave around December 26 to 31 to extend the Christmas and New Year period.