This year you’re in the right place in terms of days off. In fact, the official holidays fall conveniently, so you need to take a minimum of days off to maximize your vacation. No fewer than 7 holidays fall on a weekday. You get these days off as a gift. If you plan your vacations smartly, you can even manage to have 60 days off in 2024! Even though you don’t have to be free to go on workation, you can spend these days off at your destination to vacation and do some fun things. Believe me, if you go on a day off to do a beautiful hike in the interior of Spain, for example, it really feels great!
When are the holidays in 2024?
In the Netherlands, we have official holidays on which most of us are off. Legally, employers are not obliged to do anything and it may depend on your collective bargaining agreement. There are also sectors where you are not normally free on these days, for example in healthcare, but for most people the days off below apply in 2024:
- New Year’s Day: Monday, January 1, 2024
- Good Friday: Friday, March 29, 2024
- Easter (1st and 2nd Easter Day): Sunday, March 31 & Monday, April 1, 2024
- King’s Day: Saturday, April 27, 2024 (unfortunately this is on the weekend)
- Liberation Day: Sunday, May 5, 2024 (unfortunately this is on the weekend)
- Ascension Day: Thursday, May 9, 2024
- Pentecost (1st and 2nd Pentecost): Sunday, May 19 & Monday, May 20, 2024
- Christmas 2024 (Christmas Day and Boxing Day): Wednesday, Dec. 25 & Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024
When is the best time to travel?
Most holidays fall in April and May. In addition, those are ideal months to go on workation in southern Europe. Certainly countries like Spain and Portugal are wonderful in terms of temperature then. Usually it is around 24 degrees there at that time. Turkey and Greece are also perfect destinations for spring. Actually at that time even nicer than summer, because then it is actually too hot in these places. There is also less tourism then, which means lower prices and less crowds. Win-win! I even spent a week in Tenerife once in April and had clear blue skies and 28 degrees all week. Suddenly you imagine yourself on summer vacation! So take a day off at the right times, stick it to a holiday, combine it with a week and enjoy a long workation with lots of days off.
Smartly plan your days off in 2024
So if you plan your days off smartly in 2024, you can have a long period of time off. Who wouldn’t want that! For example, if you take 4 days off after Easter, you will be free for a total of 10 days in a row. An ideal period for a nice workation in Italy for example. If you take the days off between Ascension and Pentecost and include the weekends, you only need 6 days off to get away for 12 days. If you take the week before Ascension and after Pentecost off completely, you can even get away for 23 days, while it only costs you 13 days off.
When I was a salaried employee, I used to travel around holidays. That day off cost me nothing and I could use it to do something fun. I remember very well that on a holiday in Spain I went on a road trip with locals. That really felt like a vacation!
One month on workstation
So if you’ve always wanted to go remote for a somewhat longer period of time, April or May is the perfect timing for that this year. Again, of course you don’t have to take time off work to go on workation. But it is really nice if you can do fun day trips at your destination on the holidays without having to give up vacation days. In short, grab your calendar and start planning your days off in 2024. It is not very often that you can schedule the holidays so favorably that you can have up to 60 days off. So take advantage of this benefit and plan that workation. Check here if you’re looking for inspiration for fun destinations.
