PublicHolidaysEU

Vacation Window Planner

Enter your country and how many leave days you have. We find the exact weeks where 1 leave day becomes 4+ days off — and show you hotels for those dates.

Planning the Christmas break? See Christmas and New Year public holidays across Europe.

✓ Based on official public holidays✓ 27 European countries✓ 2025, 2026 and 2027✓ Free — no account needed
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How the planner chooses your windows

The planner asks the holiday database for every bridge day in your country and year — a working day stranded between a public holiday and a weekend — and works out what each one buys: how many consecutive days off it produces for the leave it costs. It then spends your allowance on the best ratios first, skipping any window that costs more leave than you have left.

That is a deliberately simple rule, and worth being plain about: it takes the most efficient window first rather than testing every possible combination. A different mix might fit an awkward allowance more tightly. What this rule does guarantee is the most days off per day of leave spent, which is the question most people are actually asking.

Two things it refuses to do. It does not count a day twice when two windows overlap — New Year and Epiphany breaks share days in several countries, so the headline figure is the number of distinct dates you would be away, which can be lower than the sum of the windows listed. And it does not offer breaks that have already finished: a plan made in October covers October onwards instead of restating a long weekend you had in May.

Leave you do not spend on a bridge window is still counted in your total, because you can take it whenever you like. The dates come from one shared function used by all three planners on this site, checked against the stored windows it has to reproduce, so the dates in a window title and the length next to it cannot disagree.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a bridge day?+
A working day between a public holiday and a weekend. Taking it as leave joins the two, so one day off can produce a four or five day break. German speakers call them Brückentage, the Dutch brugdagen and Austrians Fenstertage.
Why is my total lower than adding up the windows?+
Because overlapping windows share days, and a day off can only be counted once. The headline figure is the number of distinct dates you would be away from work.
Does it include regional public holidays?+
No. The planner works from national public holidays only, so if you are in Bavaria, Catalonia or Scotland you may have more options than it shows. Your region’s own page lists the regional dates.
Will my employer accept these dates?+
That is between you and your leave policy. The planner works from statutory public holidays; collective agreements, company shutdowns and part-time patterns all change the answer, so treat the output as a starting point to check rather than an approved plan.

How does the Vacation Window Planner work?

The planner uses official public holiday data for your country and identifies bridge days — working days between a public holiday and a weekend. By taking these specific days off, you turn a 1-day public holiday into a 4, 5, or even 9-day break. The planner ranks all available windows by efficiency and builds you a complete vacation plan for the year.

What is a vacation window?

A vacation window is a period of consecutive days off created by combining a public holiday, a bridge day, and a weekend. For example, if a public holiday falls on a Thursday, taking Friday off gives you a 4-day weekend using just 1 leave day. The planner finds every such opportunity in your country for the year.

Which countries are supported?

All 27 European countries on this site: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Holiday data comes from official government sources — this list is derived from the same configuration the country picker is built from, so it cannot fall behind it (it read 15 countries until October 2026).