Do you know when a Bank Holiday is in Spain?

The Spanish phrase for a bank holiday/public holiday/legal holiday is “día de fiesta” or “fiesta nacional”.

Here in Spain there are different kinds of “dias de fiesta” and other things you should know about them:

•Each autonomous community has regional and local holidays each year in addition to the standard national holidays. Local holidays usually include a local “community day” and some days in which there are religious celebrations.

•If a public holiday is on a Sunday it may be celebrated on a weekday

•All banks, most shops, Town Halls, Tax Offices, Post Offices, museums, etc close on public holidays. Bars and restaurants outside tourist areas may be close too but you do not have to worry about this, because bars and restaurants, or even shopping centers in this area use to be open all year.

•Hospitals and emergency services do not close on public holidays.

•Taxis may increase their rates those days.

•When a public holiday is on a Thursday or Tuesday, it is common practice to “make the bridge” (hacer puente) by taking off the Friday or Monday and creating a very long weekend. When this happens you may find businesses running on short of staff or even closed for the full period, but nowadays it rarely happens.