Tenerife 2026: Turn 12 Leave Days Into 40 Days Off

Christmas is over, and as we get back to our routines, many of us are already wondering when the next holiday will be. Summer feels a long way off, and the next public holiday seems slow to arrive. But even now, it's possible to start planning your days off for 2026. If you plan carefully, you could turn just 12 to 15 days of your own leave into many more consecutive days off. Thanks to a mix of local, island, and national holidays, Tenerife's work calendar offers plenty of chances to make the most of your time off.

Everyone wants to enjoy as many days off as possible each year. By following these tips, you could get between 35 and 40 days off, which is much more than the legal minimum of 23 working days. The law states that you get 2.5 calendar days of holiday for each month you work, adding up to 30 calendar days or 23 working days per year. Plus, many company agreements offer even more, helping employees use this clever, completely legal trick to get extra time off.

Each year, workers have 14 public holidays. These are split into local, island, regional, and national holidays. Nine national holidays are celebrated across all of Spain. The remaining holidays are: three regional holidays, set by the Government of the Canary Islands; one island holiday, chosen by each island's council; and two local holidays, decided by each town hall. This combination is key for planning your holidays well and getting longer breaks.

Here are the national holidays for 2026:

• January 1: New Year's Day
• January 6: Epiphany / Three Kings' Day
• March 28: Good Friday
• May 1: Labor Day
• August 15: Assumption Day
• October 12: Hispanic Day
• November 1: All Saints' Day
• December 6: Spanish Constitution Day
• December 8: Immaculate Conception Day
• December 25: Christmas

You'll notice that many of these national holidays fall on a Monday or Friday, making it easy to create long weekends. For regional holidays, the Canary Islands will have an extra day off in 2026 because All Saints' Day, which falls on a Sunday (November 1st), will be moved to the following Monday.

• March 27: Maundy Thursday
• May 30: Canary Islands Day
• November 2: All Saints' Day (moved from November 1)

Island holidays vary depending on which island you are on:

• Tenerife: February 3 (Candlemas Day)
• La Palma: August 5 (Our Lady of the Snows Day)
• La Gomera: October 6 (Our Lady of Guadalupe Day)
• El Hierro: September 25 (Our Lady of the Kings Day)
• Gran Canaria: September 8 (Our Lady of El Pino Day)
• Fuerteventura: September 20 (Our Lady of La Peña Day)
• Lanzarote: September 15 (Our Lady of Sorrows Day)

On top of these, each town also chooses two local holidays. Carnival Tuesday, which is on February 17th in 2026, is a very common choice for a local public holiday in many cities. Below are some examples of local holidays in towns within the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife:

• Santa Cruz de Tenerife: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and May 3 (Founding of Santa Cruz)
• San Cristóbal de La Laguna: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and September 14 (Feast of the Holy Christ of La Laguna)
• Adeje: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and October 14 (Our Lady of Adeje Day)
• Arona: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and October 7 (Our Lady of the Rosary Day)
• Puerto de la Cruz: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and July 16 (Our Lady of Carmen Day)
• Los Realejos: May 3 (Feast of the Crosses) and May 30 (Canary Islands Day)
• Candelaria: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and August 15 (Our Lady of Candelaria Day)
• Granadilla de Abona: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and June 24 (Saint John's Day)
• La Orotava: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and June 26 (Corpus Christi)
• Santiago del Teide: February 17 (Carnival Tuesday) and July 25 (Saint James's Day)

By planning your work calendar well and using national, regional, island, and local holidays, workers in the Canary Islands can significantly increase their time off without using many extra vacation days. The trick is to take off the working days that fall between holidays and weekends.

By combining these different types of holidays with a few of your own vacation days, it's possible to get between 35 and 40 days off per year, all while staying within labor laws.