Life Hack: How to hack your annual leave in 2026 to take longer breaks from work

Including how to turn three days of annual leave into a 10-day stretch off work

With some strategic planning, your basic annual leave allowance can translate into long, enjoyable breaks.

Christmas is fast approaching, and many of us are counting the few days — if any — of annual leave we have left to use before the end of the year.

If you feel like you have squandered your days for 2025 and want to really get the benefit from longer breaks next year, you can do this very easily without fruitlessly begging HR for more days to be added to your allowance.

By law, Irish workers who follow a typical five-day working week are guaranteed 20 days of annual leave, plus 10 bank holidays. However, with some strategic planning, this can translate into long, enjoyable breaks.

The key to this is planning to take your leave on dates that blend into bank holidays.

Holiday expert Rob Brooks from On The Beach Ireland has shared some pointers on maximising annual leave in 2026: “If you’re savvy, you can cleverly book days off surrounding public bank holidays to turn long weekends into weeks. This way, you can fully switch off knowing you have more days to relax.”

Here’s how to do it:

• The New Year’s Day bank holiday falls on a Thursday, January 1. Book January 2 off to ease into the weekend and have four consecutive days off work.
• In February, St Brigid’s Day is Monday, February 2. By booking February 3 off you’ll have four days off.
• St Patrick’s Day falls on a Tuesday next year, so book Monday, March 16, off for a four-day weekend ending on March 17.
• Easter Monday is April 6 — by using four annual leave days from April 7 - 10, you could actually have nine days off, including both weekends.
• A similar tactic will give consecutive nine days off in May, as the bank holiday falls on May 4, so booking May 5 - 8 off will see you enjoying a long early summer stretch for the cost of four days of leave.
• We can repeat this in June, taking four days off after the bank holiday on June 1 for a nine-day break as temperatures begin to improve (this is also the start of State exams in Ireland, which typically sees sunny spells that we associate with the Leaving Cert).
• Fancy nine days off at the end of summer? The August bank holiday is Monday, August 3, so booking August 4 - 8 off will give you that nice break.
• And again, you can take another nine days off in October, ideal for that post-Cork Jazz Festival rest. The October bank holiday is at the end of the month, on Monday, October 26. By booking October 27 - 30 off, you’ll also have both weekends bookmarking that week off — it’s also a school midterm, so you’ll have time to help any smallies with their Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating endeavours.

Really planning ahead here...

Finally, we have two bank holidays in a row in December, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day on December 25 and 28 (St Stephen’s Day falls on a Saturday next year, so the coinciding day off work moves to the next Monday). 

With just three days of annual leave being used from December 29 - 31 and feeding into the first bank holiday of 2027 on Friday, January 1, you can enjoy a mammoth 10-day Twixmas period off work to freely wonder what day it actually is in that festive daze.

“There are actually a few caveats to this, to keep in mind,” Brooks advises, highlighting how unlikely it is that you can get every one of these specific days booked off, as some fall during peak holiday season and demand will likely be high.

“It will vary depending on where and who you work for, and some companies will include bank holidays within the entitlement. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to bag all these days off, so I’d recommend prioritising the ones that work best for you, depending on when you like to jet off and relax.”

And he notes: “If you’re self-employed, the rules don’t apply, and you can holiday whenever you wish!”