Bridging days 2024: How you can double your vacation this year

Vacation planning - Bridging days 2024: How you can double your vacation this year

For many people, vacation is the best time of the year. Unfortunately, this time is very limited, especially for employees. Anyone who works full-time in Germany is generally entitled to at least 20 days' vacation per year, with some employers giving their employees up to 30 days' vacation per year. That's four to six weeks that we have available for our vacation planning.

However, if you are early and plan well, you can almost double your vacation time. By making clever use of the bridging days this year, you can make the most of your vacation days. And 2024 is a good year for this, as the public holidays are conveniently located. For example, we start the new year with a Monday off, as New Year falls at the beginning of the week this time. So anyone who took vacation between the years could take ten days off in a row with the Christmas holidays and New Year's Eve.

Bridge days 2024: lots of fun in spring

In March, residents of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in particular can look forward to extending their weekend by one Friday off with Women's Day on March 8. And the Easter holidays also fall in March in 2024. Good Friday is on March 29, which, like Easter Monday (April 1), is also work-free in all federal states. As is the case every year, Easter is perfect for getting 16 days off with eight vacation days.

In May in particular, travel fans can look forward to many opportunities to extend their free time. The month starts nationwide with Labor Day (May 1), which falls on a Wednesday this year. If you take two days off before or after, you can fly to the sun for five days. Those who take the Friday after Ascension Day (May 9) get four days off. If that's not enough, you can go one better and take a vacation from Ascension Day until the following Whitsun weekend (Monday is free). In this case, with six vacation days, you end up with 12 days off.

If you live in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate or Saarland, you can even turn eight vacation days into 16 days off in May. In these federal states, Corpus Christi is celebrated as a public holiday on the 30th, directly in the week after Whitsun. So if you take four vacation days in each of the two weeks, you have more than two weeks to discover the world or simply relax.

Vacation planning: making the most of the Christmas holidays

While summer is, as usual - with a few exceptions such as Ascension Day (15 August), which is a public holiday in Bavaria and Saarland - rather ungrateful when it comes to bridging days, autumn offers more opportunities to extend your vacation. In October, we celebrate German Unity Day (October 3) throughout Germany - this falls on a Thursday in 2024, as does Reformation Day (October 31), which is celebrated in nine federal states. With a day off on Friday, you will therefore have four days off again.

In some federal states, November also offers some public vacations that invite you to take an extended vacation. For example, November 1 is a day off in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland due to All Saints' Day. This year, the weekend is extended as the holiday falls on a Friday. In Saxony, on the other hand, the Day of Prayer and Repentance is off - and it takes place on a Wednesday every year, in 2024 on November 20. By submitting their vacation slips for the two days before or after, employees can plan five days off. If you take all four days, you can even take nine days off.

The Christmas holidays are also optimally timed in 2024. Christmas Eve is on Tuesday, so the non-working holidays are on Wednesday and Thursday. With just five vacation days, you can enjoy the festive time of year for a whole 12 days without having to think about work. However, as with all other bridge days, it pays to be quick, as bridge days are known to be the most popular vacation days.