Spanish Public Holidays, Saints Days and Puentes

Never the ones to miss out on the chance of a party, the Spanish have a complicated system of national, regional and local public holidays. Frankly, we don't stand a chance of getting every detail right here, but we've tried our best. If you turn up in a town or a little village and unexpectedly find the streets closed and a huge procession passing through the centre, well, sorry; you'll just have to park up and join in the fun.

The concept of a "puente" requires a little explanation. Most holidays fall on a fixed date rather than a day, so if that date is a Saturday or a Sunday, you lose out. On the other hand, if the holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, it's really not worth going to work on the Monday or Friday, so it's a "puente". For example, this year Día de Andalucía is a Tuesday, so Monday is a puente and everyone has two days off. (Literal translation: "puente" = "bridge".) It all balances out in the end.

Here are the national holidays that are celebrated all over Spain:

And now it gets a bit more complicated! The following is a reasonably accurate list (I hope!) of some of the regional and local holidays :