TravelMatch
Bank holidays 2027: turn a few days off into long weekends
It is a Tuesday in October and someone in the office says it out loud: "Have you seen Christmas next year? The bank holidays are on the Monday and Tuesday." Three people agree you should definitely go somewhere. By February, one has booked leave for something else, another is waiting on a wedding date, and the third has used up her days. The long weekend comes and goes between a supermarket shop and a box set.
The bank holidays 2027 calendar for England and Wales is already published on gov.uk: eight days, with Easter falling early (Good Friday 26 March, Easter Monday 29 March) and Christmas Day and Boxing Day landing on a weekend, so the bank holidays move to Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December. Book 19 days of annual leave in the right places and you get 47 days off across five breaks. The calendar is rarely what goes wrong. Finding people who are free on the same dates usually is.
2027 bank holidays in England and Wales, date by date
| Bank holiday | Date in 2027 | Days off in a row | Annual leave needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Friday 1 January | 3 | 0 |
| Good Friday + Easter Monday | Friday 26 and Monday 29 March | 4, or 10 | 0, or 4 |
| Early May bank holiday | Monday 3 May | 3, or 9 | 0, or 4 |
| Spring bank holiday | Monday 31 May | 3, or 9 | 0, or 4 |
| Summer bank holiday | Monday 30 August | 3, or 9 | 0, or 4 |
| Christmas Day and Boxing Day (substitute days) | Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December | 4, or 10 | 0, or 3 |
One thing before you count on any of these: according to gov.uk, bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and an employer can include them in your statutory annual leave. If you work shifts, in retail or in hospitality, check your contract first.
Easter 2027: early, and the best ten days of spring
Easter Sunday is 28 March, so Good Friday to Easter Monday gives you four days for nothing at the very end of March. Take Tuesday 30 March to Friday 2 April and you are off from Friday 26 March to Sunday 4 April: ten days for four days of leave. You can do the same in the other direction (Monday 22 to Thursday 25 March, ten days from Saturday 20), or take both weeks: sixteen days for eight.
An early Easter suits cities better than beaches. And school Easter holidays vary by area, so if someone coming has children, ask before you pick a week.
May 2027: two Mondays, two nine-day breaks
The Early May bank holiday is Monday 3 May: add Tuesday 4 to Friday 7 and you have nine days, from Saturday 1 to Sunday 9 May, for four days of leave. The Spring bank holiday is Monday 31 May: add Tuesday 1 to Friday 4 June and you are off from Saturday 29 May to Sunday 6 June.
They are four weeks apart, too far to join up. Pick one for a week away and keep the other as a three-day weekend. With school-age children, check your council's term dates: half-term often sits around the end of May.
The August bank holiday, and the long gap after it
The Summer bank holiday in England and Wales is Monday 30 August. Four days of leave (Tuesday 31 August to Friday 3 September) turn it into nine days, Saturday 28 August to Sunday 5 September.
Then comes the awkward stretch: no bank holiday until Christmas, so any autumn trip comes out of your own leave. A Friday or a Monday in early December is well spent, and it is the right time for European Christmas markets, most of which close before the 25th.
Christmas 2027: ten days for three days of leave
Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on Saturday and Sunday, so the bank holidays move to Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December, and gov.uk already lists Monday 3 January 2028 as the substitute day for New Year's Day. Take Wednesday 29, Thursday 30 and Friday 31 December and you are off from Saturday 25 December 2027 to Monday 3 January 2028: ten days for three days of leave.
Christmas Eve, Friday 24 December, is not a bank holiday. Add it and you get eleven days for four.
How to maximise annual leave in 2027
The numbers, before you talk to your manager:
- 3 days at Christmas gives you ten days off in a row.
- 11 days (Easter, Early May and Christmas) gives you three breaks of nine or ten days.
- 19 days (Easter, both May bank holidays, August and Christmas) gives you 47 days off in five blocks.
The catch: gov.uk says most people on a five-day week are entitled to at least 28 days a year, but if your employer counts the eight bank holidays inside that, you have 20 to spend, and putting 19 of them here leaves almost nothing for anything else. Two or three of these breaks is a more realistic plan.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland has nine bank holidays in 2027. There is no Easter Monday, but 2 January falls on a Saturday, so Monday 4 January is a substitute day: Friday 1 to Monday 4 January for nothing. The Summer bank holiday is Monday 2 August. St Andrew's Day is Tuesday 30 November: take Monday 29 and you have four days, or add Wednesday 1 to Friday 3 December for nine, right in Christmas market season. At Christmas, Tuesday 4 January 2028 is also a bank holiday, so three days of leave give you eleven days. Not every employer gives St Andrew's Day off, so check.
Northern Ireland has ten. St Patrick's Day is Wednesday 17 March, nine days before Good Friday. Take Monday 15, Tuesday 16, Thursday 18 and Friday 19, then Monday 22 to Thursday 25 March, and you are off from Saturday 13 to Monday 29 March: seventeen days for eight days of leave. The Battle of the Boyne holiday is Monday 12 July, a three-day weekend.
In Ireland, according to Citizens Information, the 2027 public holidays are 1 January, Monday 1 February (St Brigid's Day), Wednesday 17 March, Easter Monday 29 March, and Mondays 3 May, 7 June, 2 August and 25 October. Good Friday is not a public holiday, and Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day fall on a Saturday and Sunday.
Why bank holiday weekends end up on the sofa
The problem is almost never the calendar. It is that your dates are not everyone else's. One friend works Saturdays. Another has promised Easter to her family. Your sister is in Scotland and her August bank holiday was four weeks earlier. One "maybe" is enough for the plan to drift until the flights have doubled.
Two ways out: fix firm dates with your group now, not "let's see in January", or choose your weekend and destination yourself and look for people who are free then. If "no one is ever free" sounds familiar, there is more in I have no one to travel with.
Who to go with on a bank holiday weekend
On TravelMatch you post your trip with a destination and dates, say Saturday 1 to Sunday 9 May, and people who are free then ask to join. Before you accept anyone, you see their profile, your compatibility percentage and reviews that only people who have travelled with them can leave. Once you accept someone, they join the group chat. Or ask to join a trip someone else has posted for the same weekend. It is free, and the app does not book anything for you: you organise it between you.
Post early: two months ahead gives people time to find it and you time to find sensible trains. To agree the important things before you say yes, how to choose travel companions has the questions people only think to ask on day three, and if you are going with friends, how to travel with friends and stay friends covers money and pace.
And if nobody fits, four days is a good length for a first trip alone: where to travel alone in Europe has easy starts.
Before you book your leave
Check how your employer handles bank holidays, ask when 2027 leave requests open, and decide who you are going with before prices rise, not after.
The 2027 calendar is already out. All it needs now is names next to the dates.
→ Find someone to share your long weekend on TravelMatch · Free.
Reviewed in October 2026. Bank holiday dates for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are from gov.uk/bank-holidays, which already lists 2027, read on 7 October 2026; annual leave rules from gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights on the same date. Irish public holidays are from Citizens Information (citizensinformation.ie), read on 7 October 2026. Day counts assume a Monday-to-Friday working week.