Holidays in Andalusia | Bridge days and more

Public holidays in Andalusia | Special regulations

It is well known that Spaniards love to party. Hardly a weekend goes by without a so-called “feria” taking place in some town or other. These holidays are announced in good time on various Facebook pages. Public holidays in Spain, such as Christmas, are regulated differently. There are also a few other special features:

In 2025, each municipality in the province of Málaga will once again have 14 public holidays. However, two of the holidays are local holidays that can be freely chosen by each individual municipality and are always determined at the end of the year.

If a public holiday falls on a Sunday, it is automatically moved to Monday so that Spaniards do not lose a day off work. This always results in “extended weekends” that can be used for a short vacation by the sea. This year, for example, the Spanish national holiday on October 12 falls on a Sunday, so it will be moved to Monday, October 13.

That’s what I call employee-friendly.

But that’s not all: if a public holiday falls on a Thursday or Tuesday, many employers give their employees Friday or Monday off. These days are known as puente (bridge days). This is also very clever, as no one is “off”.

All public authorities are closed on public holidays, as are many stores and Spanish supermarkets. Supermarkets run by foreign companies (Aldi & Lidl) have special opening hours on these days.