2025-2026 School Calendar by Autonomous Communities: Dates, Holidays, and Festivities for Families

If you’re planning a family trip to Spain — or you’ve recently moved here and your children are enrolled in a Spanish colegio — understanding the calendario escolar 2025 2026 España is genuinely one of the most practical things you can do. Spain doesn’t operate on a single national school calendar; it has seventeen, one for each comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), and dates can differ by weeks. I learned this the hard way when my daughter’s friend in Valencia started school a full week after ours in Málaga, and I’d already arranged pick-ups on completely the wrong schedule.

Spain’s School Year Dates for 2025–2026

The 2025–2026 academic year kicked off between early and mid-September 2025, with the exact start date varying depending on which part of Spain you’re in. According to ayuda-social.es, most comunidades autónomas began the school year somewhere between 3rd and 16th September 2025 — regions like Andalusia, Murcia, and the Canary Islands tended towards the earlier end, while Catalonia and the Basque Country started closer to mid-September.

The end of the school year is similarly spread out. Most colegios finish for summer in late June 2026 — somewhere between 19th and 26th June, depending on the region. Here’s a rough overview:

• Andalusia: starts early September; finishes around 22–26 June
• Madrid: typically starts the first week of September; finishes around 19–23 June
• Catalonia: usually the second week of September; finishes late June
• Canary Islands: often among the earliest starters, early September; finishes late June
• Balearic Islands: mid-September; finishes late June
• Basque Country and Navarre: mid-September; finishes late June

The total number of teaching days (días lectivos) is generally around 175 days per year across Spain, though individual communities set their own precise totals. This is a key figure to know if you’re trying to calculate how many days your child might miss if you take a holiday mid-term — Spanish schools do track absences carefully.

Holiday Dates by Autonomous Community

This is where the calendario escolar 2025 2026 España gets both interesting and complicated. Each of Spain’s 17 comunidades autónomas has its own education department, which sets regional school holidays on top of the national ones. No two communities are identical, and some differ quite substantially.

Andalusia

Andalusia’s school breaks follow a fairly traditional pattern. The region typically observes a break around 1 November (All Saints’ Day), two weeks at Christmas, a few days at Carnaval in February, and roughly two weeks for Semana Santa (Holy Week). The Día de Andalucía (28 February — Andalusian Day) is a regional holiday and a non-school day across the whole community.

Madrid

The Comunidad de Madrid publishes its school calendar directly on their education services page, which is always worth bookmarking. Madrid follows national holidays closely, adding the Fiesta de la Comunidad de Madrid (2 May) as a well-loved local holiday — and one which nearly always extends into a long weekend of some description.

Catalonia

Catalonia adds La Diada (11 September, Catalan National Day) and often a break around La Mercè (24 September) as regional non-school days. Sant Jordi (23 April) is celebrated in schools with roses and books rather than a day off, but it’s worth knowing about for any visit to Barcelona in late April.

Canary Islands and Balearic Islands

Both island groups manage their own calendars independently. The Canary Islands education department is the official source for those dates, though their online calendar has been intermittently unavailable this year. The Balearic Islands — managed by the Govern de les Illes Balears — also include their own regional day (Dia de les Illes Balears, 1 March) plus local festes (festivals) which can add extra days off, particularly in smaller towns and villages.

National Public Holidays and Regional Festivities

Alongside regional calendars, there are national public holidays (festivos nacionales) that apply across the whole of Spain. For the 2025–2026 school year, the key dates are:

• 12 October 2025 — Spain’s National Day (Día de la Hispanidad)
• 1 November 2025 — All Saints’ Day (Día de Todos los Santos)
• 6 December 2025 — Constitution Day (Día de la Constitución)
• 8 December 2025 — Immaculate Conception (Inmaculada Concepción)
• 25 December 2025 — Christmas Day (Navidad)
• 1 January 2026 — New Year’s Day (Año Nuevo)
• 6 January 2026 — Epiphany (Reyes Magos) — hugely important for children, as this is when Spanish kids traditionally receive their Christmas gifts
• 3 April 2026 — Good Friday (Viernes Santo)
• 1 May 2026 — Labour Day (Día del Trabajo)

Each community then adds its own regional public holidays — usually two or three — and towns often layer on local fiestas on top of that. The town’s feria (fair) or fiesta mayor (main town festival) can mean an extra day or two off school that varies from one municipality to the next. It’s delightfully chaotic if you’re used to a more standardised British system.

Christmas, Easter, and Mid-Term School Breaks

Christmas Break (Vacaciones de Navidad)

The Christmas school holidays for 2025–2026 run from approximately 22 December 2025 to 7 or 8 January 2026 across most regions, with some communities starting slightly earlier (around 19–20 December) or returning slightly later. The break always encompasses Reyes Magos on 6 January — no Spanish child is going back to school before their gifts arrive, and quite rightly too.

If you’re planning a Christmas trip to Spain with the family, do bear in mind that this is peak season: accommodation books up quickly and prices rise sharply, especially on the islands.

Easter Break (Semana Santa)

Easter Sunday 2026 falls on 5 April, meaning Semana Santa runs from approximately 29 March to 5 April 2026. Most Spanish schools close for a period of around ten to fourteen days in total, typically covering Holy Week and several days either side.

Semana Santa is one of Spain’s most extraordinary spectacles. The processions — procesiones — are genuinely moving for older children and adults alike, though my five-year-old took one look at the penitentes (the hooded penitent figures) after dark and dissolved into tears. My eight-year-old, on the other hand, was completely transfixed.

Half-Term and Mid-Term Breaks

Unlike the UK’s fairly predictable half-term weeks, Spain’s mid-term breaks vary significantly by community and are often just a long weekend rather than a full week. Common mid-term breaks include:

• Around 1 November — often extended to three or four days
• Carnaval in February — popular in Andalusia and the Canaries especially, typically two to five days off school
• Some communities schedule a short break in late October or early March

There is no universal February half-term equivalent in Spain, and this is one of the bigger culture shocks for UK expat parents. I still find myself instinctively planning a half-term trip in late October and then remembering our colegio has a single Monday off — if that.

Where UK and Spanish School Holidays Overlap

One of the most common questions I get from families visiting from the UK is: “When can we go and avoid the worst of the crowds?” The honest answer is that it takes a bit of strategy.

The main overlapping periods are:

1. Summer — both UK and Spanish schools are out for July and August. This is peak season: highest prices, busiest beaches, longest queues at every attraction worth visiting.
2. Christmas — both are off roughly the same period, mid-to-late December through early January.
3. Easter 2026 — because Easter falls on the same date everywhere, UK schools and Spanish colegios are both off at the same time. Resorts and popular destinations will be very busy.

Where they don’t overlap is actually more interesting for families who can be flexible. Spanish autumn and spring half-term breaks are patchy — often just a long weekend — while UK schools have consistent one-week half-terms in October, February, and May. Visiting Spain during a UK half-term week but outside Spanish school holidays (late October or May are both good examples) can mean a noticeably quieter experience at theme parks and on beaches. This is well worth factoring in when choosing the best time to visit Spain with kids.

If your children attend a British school in Spain (there are many on the Costa del Sol, in Madrid, and in Barcelona), they’ll generally follow the British academic calendar rather than the Spanish one — which creates its own interesting scheduling puzzles when you’re trying to arrange playdates with Spanish neighbours.

Family Trip Planning Around Spain’s School Calendar

Now the practical bit. Whether you’re here full-time or just for a fortnight, the calendario escolar 2025 2026 España genuinely shapes how you should plan your time. Here’s how I approach it:

Book early around Semana Santa and summer. These are the two periods when Spanish families travel en masse. Popular destinations — Mallorca, the Canary Islands, Barcelona, the Costa del Sol — fill up months in advance. If you’re at all flexible, the two weeks just before Spanish Easter (mid-to-late March) can be significantly quieter and cheaper than the holiday period itself.

Target mid-season visits. October and May are the sweet spots — Spanish schools are in session, the weather is still lovely across southern Spain, the parques infantiles (playgrounds) are peaceful, and accommodation prices drop considerably.

Check local festivos for your specific destination. If you’re visiting a town during its feria or fiesta mayor, either embrace it fully (the atmosphere is wonderful) or book well ahead, because parking, accommodation, and restaurant tables become near-impossible to find at short notice. The local ayuntamiento (town hall) website will list local public holidays.

Consider campamentos (holiday camps) for school breaks. If you’re an expat family with children off school during a period when you need to work, Spain has a genuinely good culture of holiday activity camps. Our guide to summer camps in Spain covers the main options, from sports-focused programmes to language immersion weeks.

Finally, if you’ve recently moved to Spain and are still finding your feet — navigating empadronamiento (local registration), getting children into a colegio, sorting your NIE (foreigner ID number) and tarjeta sanitaria (health card) — the school calendar is honestly just the beginning. I’ve written a detailed guide on relocating to Spain with children that walks through the whole process step by step. It’s a lot, but I promise it gets easier.

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Found this useful? I send out a monthly newsletter with practical tips, upcoming Spanish school holidays, local fiestas worth knowing about, and honest reviews of family-friendly places across Spain. Sign up at the bottom of this page — no spam, just the stuff I’d tell a friend. And if you’ve got questions about a specific community’s school dates, drop me a message. I love hearing from families navigating all of this.

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