Maximise your 2023 days off with some crafty holiday planning

With a bit of strategic planning those who have 25 days paid holiday a year can actually get away for 49 days in 2023, the AD reported on Monday.

By law, Dutch workers have the legal right to 20 paid days holiday in a given year, but in most pay deals that has been increased to around 25. The Netherlands also enjoys a number of official public holidays a year, such as Easter Monday and Ascension Day which are also days off for most workers.

This year, some of these public holidays take place close to the weekend, which means you can stretch your holiday by using the minimum amount of your holiday allowance.

For example, Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on a Monday and Tuesday, and New Year’s Day 2024 on a Monday. So by taking just three days off, you can actually be away from work for 10, including weekends.

Ascension Day and Whitsun are also close together and if you take the week before and after off, you can get away for 23 days by using just 13 holiday days. The same trick works around Easter and Kings Day.

This year’s public holidays:

• New Year’s Day: Sunday, January 1
• Good Friday: Friday, April 7
• Easter Sunday: Sunday, April 9
• Easter Monday: Monday, April 10
• King’s Day, Thursday, April 27
• Liberation Day: Friday, May 5
• Ascension Day: Thursday, May 18
• Whitsun: Sunday, May 28
• Whit Monday: Monday, May 29
• Christmas: Monday, December 25
• Boxing Day: Tuesday, December 26
• New Year’s Day: Monday, January 1, 2024

The Netherlands is divided into three regions for school holidays.

• Winter half term: February 18 – 26 (Zuid), February 25-March 5 (Midden and Noord)
• May holiday: April 29 to May 7 (all regions) with the option to take off the week starting April 22 as well.
• Summer holiday: July 8 – August 20 (Midden), July 15 – August 27 (Zuid), July 22 – September 3 (Noord)
• Autumn: October 14 – 22 (Midden and Zuid), October 21-29 (Noord)
• Christmas: December 23 to January 7 (all regions)