On average, Brits get 25 days of annual leave to make the most of, plus Bank Holidays. Of course, if you use those extra days cunningly, plotting your holidays around any extra time off you can grab onto, you can set your OOO for more than 50 days. Here are our tips on when to book annual leave in 2023.
January: take 4 days leave and be out of the office for 8 days
Extra days to take off: Tuesday 3 – Friday 6 January
New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday in 2023, which means the Bank Holiday is taken in lieu on Monday 2 January. Book off the first four working days of the year (Tuesday 3 – Friday 6 January) and book an early getaway. Top tip: flights are generally pretty affordable if you book a New Year’s Eve ticket. Lean into an extended Christmas break with a snow-sure escape to Europe – think dog-sledging in Lapland or skiing in the Alps. Or escape winter entirely with a sunshiny break to somewhere far, far away – we particularly like Barbados, Brazil and Belize. Plus, if you’re working in Scotland, you can steal back an extra day’s leave then, too: Tuesday 3 January is an observed Bank Holiday for Scots. Read more about where to go on holiday in January.
Lapland, FinlandGetty Images
Easter: take 4 days leave and be out of the office for 10 days
Extra days to take off: Monday 3 – Thursday 6 June
Good Friday falls on Friday 7 April 2022, while Easter Monday bank holiday is on Monday 10 April. If you book the week preceding Good Friday off (Monday 3 – Thursday 6 April) you’ll be out of office for 10 days, from Saturday 1 April until Tuesday 11 April. Seek out some short-haul spring sun as Europe starts to warm up – Turkey’s Turquoise Coast can skim temperatures in the high 20s in April, but the season doesn’t properly take off until May – making those gorgeous beaches yours for the taking. If you’re more snow bunny than sun worshipper, squeeze in some late-season skiing in high-altitude resorts such as Val Thorens in France or Whistler in Canada. Read more about where to go on holiday in April.
Early May Bank Holiday: take 4 days leave and be out of the office for 9 days
Extra days to take off: Tuesday 2 – Friday 5 May
The early May Bank Holiday is on Monday 1 May 2023. Of course, you could squeeze a weekend break into those 72 hours without using up any annual leave at all – Florence, perhaps, or Paris. But if you book off the Tuesday to Friday following the Bank Holiday, you can get nine days out of office. That’s more than a week to spend swimming in the Bahamas, island-hopping around Greece or cruising through the Norwegian fjords.
Late May Bank Holiday: take 4 days leave and be out of the office for 9 days
Extra days to take off: Tuesday 30 May – Friday 2 June
The bad news: we’re back to one day off for the late May Bank Holiday, following a bumper Bank Holiday weekend in 2022 for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The good news: you can book four days of annual leave (Tuesday 30 May – Friday 2 June) and be OOO for nine days. Plan a long-haul journey to Vancouver Island for whale watching or snorkelling or to California for a Malibu to Napa road trip. Closer to home, Tuscany, Malta and Portugal’s coast all peak around the end of spring. Read more about where to go on holiday in May.
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