This Thursday, March 19, workers in five autonomous communities will not have to go to work, as Father’s Day has been declared a holiday. These are Galicia, Murcia, Navarre, the Basque Country, and the Valencian Community—coinciding with the end of the Fallas festival. And no: Madrid, as has been the case for several years now, is not among them.
The reason lies in the decision made by each city council and autonomous community when selecting the regional holidays (a total of twelve) and local holidays (two) to be observed throughout the year, and in the case of Madrid’s local governments, they decided not to include St. Joseph’s Day among them, with the exception of one: the City Council of Pinto, which has chosen it as one of its local holidays.
It’s normal for questions to arise about this date every year, given that there was a time when Father’s Day was a holiday throughout Spain. It’s also understandable to be looking forward to the next break on the calendar, since the last holiday in Madrid is already a long way back: it was January 6.
In contrast, Holy Week is already on the horizon: in just two weeks, there will be two consecutive holidays, Holy Thursday (April 2) and Good Friday (April 3).
The remaining holidays on the 2026 work calendar in Madrid
The 2026 work calendar for Madrid was approved at the end of 2025, and these are the holidays coming up this year:
- April 2: Holy Thursday
- April 3: Good Friday
- May 1 (Friday): Labor Day
- May 2 (Saturday): Community of Madrid Holiday
- May 15 (Friday): Saint Isidore the Farmer
- August 15 (Saturday): Assumption of the Virgin
- October 12 (Monday): Spain’s National Holiday
- November 2 (Monday): Transfer of All Saints’ Day
- November 9 (Monday): Almudena Day
- December 7 (Monday): Rescheduled Spanish Constitution Day
- December 8 (Tuesday): Immaculate Conception
- December 25 (Friday): Christmas