Rhiannon Ingle
We hope, for the most part, that we work to live instead of live to work.
And, as anyone who is part of the daily slog that is the 9 to 5 will know, those 28 days of annual leave are beyond precious.
Whether you book them off for a big girls' holiday, a romantic weekend getaway or simply to lounge about at home without a care in the world - it's clear we probably wouldn't say no to almost doubling our annual leave.
Well, there's actually a way you can do that if you think ahead and strategically maximise your time off around bank holidays and weekends, so that you can spend more time travelling and spending time with loved ones in the places you’ve always wanted to visit.
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So, without further ado, here are all the dates you need to book off to turn your 28 days of annual leave into 63 days off (including weekends either side of these breaks).
Extend your New Year’s celebrations by booking off Friday 2nd January.
In 2026, bank holiday New Year’s Day falls on a Thursday, so you can turn a single day of annual leave into a four-day weekend.
In April, use eight days of annual leave to get 16 days off in a row.
Bank holidays Good Friday (3 April) and Easter Monday (6 April) create two four-day weeks, so be sure to book that time off if you want to get more than two weeks of uninterrupted holiday.
Take four days of leave for a nine-day break in May.
There are actually two opportunities to do this, with bank holidays on Monday 4th May and Monday 25th May.
So, if you book off Tuesday-Friday, with the weekend either side, that adds up to a full nine-day break.
Do this for both bank holidays and you’ll get 18 days off in May in total!
To get nine days off in September, just book off four days from Tuesday 1st to Friday 4th September at the start of the month.
Thanks to the summer bank holiday on Monday 31st August, there’s another chance to have just over a week off for a perfect late summer holiday.
Hotels, car rental and flights are all likely to be cheaper too, as it’s around the time the schools go back in many UK counties.
Extend your Christmas break by taking off Monday 21st December until Thursday 24th December, as well as Tuesday 29th to Thursday 31st December too, and you’ll turn seven days off into 16 days of holiday.
If that's still a tad too wordy to wrap your head around, here are the exact dates to book off in 2026 to turn your 28 days of annual leave into 63 days of holidays - weekends and bank holidays included, of course.