Use these UK holiday calendars when planning your visits and getaways up to 2021.
In the UK, legal holidays are known as bank holidays because (with a few exceptions) banks are closed and mail is not delivered on those days. You should be aware of bank holidays if you are making arrangements that depend on the passage of a fixed number of normal business days (ticket delivery, clearing money in a bank account, refunds, for example). Holidays do not count as normal business days, although today the stores are open and some people work in them.
Although many of the same holidays are observed in the four nations that make up the United Kingdom – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, there are slight variations that reflect different national customs and priorities. England and Wales have the fewest holidays, with just 8, and Northern Ireland has the most generous allowance of holidays, with ten.
You may notice that some holidays on these calendars are on different days than the holiday actually occurs. For example, in 2021, the Christmas bank holiday is celebrated on December 27 and boxing day on December 28. That’s because Christmas falls on Saturday that year and Boxing Day falls on Sunday, so Monday through Friday holidays are added to the holiday weekend.
Find out more about UK holidays or bank holidays
Holidays in England and Wales
Holidays in Scotland
Scots celebrate Hogmanay, a three- or four-day New Years break, so the official New Years holiday includes an additional day, simply called the January 2 holiday or the second day of New Years.
The Summer Bank Holiday is held in early August in Scotland, but in late August elsewhere in the UK. But a word of warning if you plan to visit a bank. Most Scottish banks also close at the end of the month, to correspond with the rest of the UK.
St. Andrews Day, the national day in Scotland, has been, since 2007, an optional or voluntary public holiday. Around Scotland, there are a number of traditional festivals, based on local tradition and determined by local authorities. The day of San Andrés can be an alternative to replace one of these local days. Banks and schools may not necessarily be closed on Scottish holidays as they reflect England and Wales for business reasons. Similarly, although Easter Monday is not observed as a public holiday in Scotland, banks, to harmonize with the rest of the UK, are closed.
Holidays in Northern Ireland
Mutual respect for the culture and traditions of the different communities that make up Northern Ireland is embedded in the Good Friday Agreement that has brought peace to the region. For that reason, St. Patrick’s Day and Orange Day (the commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne) are the two public holidays there. However, there are still occasional frictions in parts of Northern Ireland on Orangemen’s Day, when Protestant fraternal organizations traditionally march. You may want to include that in your travel plans.
