UK workers could turn 24 days of annual leave in 2027 into 57 days off by booking around the bank holiday calendar, according to online travel agent Opodo, part of eDreams ODIGEO.

The analysis picks out six points in the year when a handful of leave days, placed next to public holidays and weekends, produce breaks of nine or 10 days. For companies and the people who travel for them, it doubles as an early map of the weeks when colleagues, clients and suppliers are most likely to be out of the office.

How do you maximise annual leave in 2027?

The answer is to attach leave to bank holidays rather than scatter it through the year. Opodo’s six windows are:

  • January: book 4 to 8 January (five days) for 10 days off from 1 to 10 January, built on New Year’s Day.
  • March: book 22 to 25 March (four days) for 10 days off, with Good Friday on 26 March and Easter Monday on 29 March.
  • May: book 4 to 7 May (four days) for nine days off from 1 to 9 May, after the Early May bank holiday on 3 May.
  • June: book 1 to 4 June (four days) for nine days off from 29 May to 6 June, following the Spring bank holiday on 31 May.
  • September: book 31 August to 3 September (four days) for nine days off from 28 August to 5 September, after the Summer bank holiday on 30 August.
  • December: book 29 to 31 December (three days) for 10 days off, running through to Monday 3 January 2028.

December is the most efficient of the six. Christmas Day and Boxing Day both fall on a weekend, so their substitute bank holidays land on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December.

The dates match the government’s official list of 2027 bank holidays for England and Wales. Scotland’s calendar differs: its summer bank holiday falls on 2 August and Easter Monday is not a bank holiday there, so the March and September windows work differently north of the border.

What the 2027 bank holidays mean for work trips

For travel bookers, the same dates mark the weeks to avoid for client meetings. Decision-makers are more likely to be away in the first full week of January, the week before Easter, the weeks after each May bank holiday and the turn of September. Scheduling work trips either side of those periods should improve the odds of a full room, and anyone who has to fly during them would be wise to book early, since they coincide with peak leisure demand.

Employers have their own planning to do. Government guidance on holiday entitlement confirms that bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave and can be counted within the statutory 5.6 weeks, so not every employee will have 24 spare days to deploy. The most popular dates will attract competing requests, and firms that open leave booking early, with clear rules on cover, will avoid a scramble. Travelling for Business previously reported on turning 25 days of leave into 57 days off in 2026.

Where Opodo suggests going

Opodo pairs each window with destinations. For January it recommends Cape Town, Phuket and Cancun for long haul, with the Canary Islands and Marrakesh closer to home. March suits Japan for cherry blossom season, or Seville and Valencia before the summer heat. May is pitched as Europe’s shoulder season in Portugal, Croatia or southern Italy, and June as a chance to see the Greek islands or the French Riviera before schools break up.

For September, the agent points to Sicily or Turkey, or a safari in Tanzania or Kenya. December options are Sydney or Cape Verde for sun, and Lapland for a festive feel.

Several of those are established business destinations, which makes them candidates for adding leave to a work visit, a habit examined in our feature on the rise of bleisure travel. Employer attitudes matter here: a Good Business Travel study found 41 per cent of UK business travellers feel guilty about extending a work trip. Anyone planning annual leave in 2027 around a business visit should agree in advance who pays for what.