Behold; our guide on how to hack your annual leave for 2025. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, it’s all about encouraging you to make the most of your holiday allowance when it resets for the upcoming year and creating more time for adventure - whether that means climbing the coastal cliffs of Sardinia or going coast to coast across Bali, New Zealand or Costa Rica.
If you’re anything like us, you never feel more alive than when you’re out exploring nature in a new place, but if you work full-time, your annual leave allowance can get in the way of that.
If you took every suggested holiday below, it’d take your 30 days of annual leave and make it into 65 adventure-ready days of holiday.
Now, we can’t promise to work any magic or talk your boss into giving you more annual leave (sorry), but what we can offer is a simple ‘hack’ which allows you to make your allocation work harder for you than it might’ve done otherwise. Basically, this hack can give you a longer trip.
All this ‘hack’ involves is choosing your travel dates wisely so that they match up with bank holidays. You’ll need a calendar, a spreadsheet, a list of the bank holidays in your country, or failing that… this article - which you’re already reading. Good work. Stick with us.
Now, we appreciate that how much annual leave you get from your employer is going to be a huge variable here. We hope that you have a generous boss who lets you out to play on snow days and gives you long, generous lunch breaks fit for paddling canoes, but regardless of that, the concept behind hacking your annual leave works even if you only have one day of holiday.
For this article, we’re going to take a scenario where you get 30 days of annual leave for 2025, plus bank holidays. In 2023, the average employee in the UK actually took 34 days of annual leave - so this even leaves a few days to spare.
If you took every suggested holiday below, it’d take 30 days of annual leave and create 65 days for adventure, including some big chunks of time - perfect for hiking in Tunisia, paddling in Rwanda or for a long hike through Nepal.
When are the 2025 Bank Holidays?
Every country has different bank holidays, but we've based our list on the following list of the official 2025 bank holidays in England and Wales:
- Wednesday, 1 January (New Year’s Day)
- Friday, 18 April (Good Friday)
- Monday, 21 April (Easter Monday)
- Monday, 5 May (Early May Bank Holiday)
- Monday, 26 May (Spring Bank Holiday)
- Monday, 25 August (Summer Bank Holiday)
- Thursday, 25 December (Christmas Day)
- Friday, 26 December (Boxing Day)
Here’s how to use those bank holidays to make the most from your annual leave:
January
Instead of setting yourself a new year's resolution, opt for less talk and more action by simply heading out on an adventure instead? Less forcing yourself to go to the gym or cutting down on tasty takeaways, more ice climbing, summit bagging or wildlife spotting, out in the incomparable savannahs of wild Africa.
Bank holidays in January 2025: Wednesday, 1 January (New Year’s Day)
Days away from the office: 9 (Sat 28 Dec - Sun 5 January)
Days to book off work: 30-31 Dec, 2-3 January (4 days off)
Annual Leave Hack Adventure ideas for January 2025:
- Trek the Atlas Mountains (28 Dec-2 Jan)
- 250km Coast to Coast Expedition Through Costa Rica (28 Dec-8 Jan)
- The Ultimate Adventure Through Wild Botswana (28 Dec-6 Jan)
- Amazon Rainforest Adventure in Ecuador (28 Dec-2 Jan)
- The Ultimate Adventure Through Rwanda (28 Dec-5 Jan)
- Summit Ben Nevis and Learn Winter Mountain Skills (29 Dec-1 Jan)
- Hike Mount Etna in Winter (30 Dec-3 Jan)
- Snow and Saunas in Estonia (31 Dec-4 Jan)
- Climb Mount Toubkal (4167m): The Winter Edition (1-5 Jan)
- Ice, Snow and Saunas in Arctic Finland (1-4 Jan)
April
Easter comes in late April this year, and as always, will be a time particularly well received by those who love chocolate or bank holidays. Easter brings with it a free four day weekend. Use annual leave to book the days off either side of it and you’ve got two whole weeks for adventure.
Bank holidays in April 2025: Friday, 18 April (Good Friday) and Monday, 21 April (Easter Monday)
Days away from the office: 16 (Sat 12 April - Sun 27 April)
Days to book off work: 14-17 April (4 days off) and 22-25 April (4 days off)
Annual Leave Hack Adventure ideas for April 2025:
- Trek the Annapurna Circuit (12-28 April)
- The Ultimate Galapagos and Amazon Adventure (12-26 April)
- Trek the Annapurna Sanctuary Route & Go on Safari (12-27 April)
- Coast to Coast Traverse of Madeira (13-19 April)
- Hike the Coastal Trails of Albania (13-19 April)
- Trek the Langtang Valley to Summit Yala Peak (13-24 April)
- Explore Jordan and Sleep in a Martian Dome (17-22 April)
- Hiking and Yoga in India (17-27 April)
- The Ultimate Adventure through Cuba (17-27 April)
- Hike, Kayak and Wild Camp the Norwegian Fjords (18-21 April)
May
Consistently, every year, every single person in the UK forgets that May is chockablock with bank holidays. The Early May bank holiday comes along like a fiver you’ve just found in the pocket of an old jacket you’ve not worn in months. Nobody sees it coming, but when it arrives, it’s all surprised smiles and jolly hikes. The Spring bank holiday backs it up at the end of the month. If you do remember they exist in advance, they make for mighty fine adventure time.
Bank holidays in May 2025: Monday, 5 May (Early May Bank Holiday) and Monday, 26 May (Spring Bank Holiday)
Days away from the office: 18 (Sat 3 May - Sun 11 May and Sat 24 May - Sun 1 June)
Days to book off work: 6-9 May (4 days off) and/or 27-30 May (4 days off)
Annual Leave Hack Adventure ideas for Early May 2025:
- The 3 Peaks Challenge in Morocco (3-7 May)
- Kayak and Wild Camp the West Coast of Scotland (3-6 May)
- Hike the Volcanic Island of Gran Canaria (4-9 May)
- Learn to Surf in Morocco in a Week (4-9 May)
- Climb Mount Toubkal (4167m) in a Week (4-9 May)
- Trek the High Trails of Italy's Amalfi Coast (4-11 May)
Annual Leave Hack Adventure ideas for Late May 2025:
- Packrafting Adventure in Croatia (24-28 May)
- Hike, Bike and Wine in Italy's Prosecco Hills (24-29 May)
- Cycling the Jordan Trail to Petra (24 May-1 June)
- Trek the Selvaggio Blu Trail in Sardinia (25-1 June)
- Hike, Bike and Wine in Spain's Basque Country (25-30 May)
- Sea Kayak Italy's Cilento Coast (25-30 May)
August
Ah, summertime! The ideal time to go coast to coast across a country you’ve never been to before; to head to the legendary Machu Picchu, to climb the mountains of Kyrgyzstan or hike, kayak and wild camp the fjords. Do promise us that you’ll remember what that Baz Luhrmann song says, though - always wear sunscreen.
Bank holidays in August 2025: Monday, 25 August (Summer Bank Holiday)
Days away from the office: 9 (Sat 23 August - Sun 31 Aug)
Days to book off work: 26-29 May Aug (4 days off)
Annual Leave Hack Adventure ideas for August 2025:
- Trek Choquequirao to Machu Picchu (23 Aug-3 Sept)
- Packraft, Hike and SUP through Montenegro (23-30 Aug)
- Trek the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan (23-28 Aug)
- Hike, Bike and Wine in Italy's Prosecco Hills (23 Aug-1 Sept)
- Hut-to-Hut Trekking in the Picos de Europa (24-30 Aug)
- Trek the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt (24 Aug-2 Sept)
- The Ultimate Island Adventure in Mauritius (24-31 Aug)
- Hike, Kayak and Wild Camp the Norwegian Fjords (25-28 Aug)
- 100km Canoe Expedition Across Scotland (25-29 Aug)
December
Slade screams: it’s Christmas! Which means you couldn’t possibly go away on an adventure, could you? Could you? Stop being so silly. Of course you could. The idea might seem unusual at first, but we know that the holidays mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. Some may want to spend late December with their family or friends, stuffing themselves with, err, stuffing, while others, for whatever reason, might fancy getting away from the flashing lights and department store sad-verts to somewhere more tranquil and scenic.
Imagine spending Christmas in snowy Lapland, or in the sunny Amazon. Picture yourself ringing in the new year up at Everest Base Camp, or while hiking through a lush forest, deep in the Amazon Rainforest. While others are having a NYE that due to intoxicating beverages, they may not even remember, you could be having an NYE that there is not a single chance you’ll ever forget.
Bank holidays in December 2025: Thursday, 25 December (Christmas Day), Friday, 26 December (Boxing Day), plus Thursday 1 January, 2026 (New Year's Day)
Days away from the office: 13 (Sat 20 Dec - Thurs 1 Jan)
Days to book off work: 22-24 Dec, 29-31 Dec (6 days off)
Annual Leave Hack Adventure ideas for December 2025:
- Trek to Everest Base Camp (20 Dec-3 Jan)
- The Ultimate Galapagos and Amazon Adventure (20 Dec-3 Jan)
- Trek the Annapurna Sanctuary Route (21 Dec-3 Jan)
- Rock Climb, Hike and Snorkel in Egypt (21-27 Dec)
- Guatemala 5 Volcano Challenge (26 Jan-4 Jan)
- Climb Kilimanjaro via the Machame Route (27 Dec-4 Jan)
- The Ultimate Adventure in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula (27 Dec-3 Jan)
- Kayak, Hike and Tree Camp the Rainforests of Costa Rica (27 Dec-2 Jan)
- Cycle, Safari and Stargaze in Namibia (28 Dec-5 Jan)
- The Ultimate Adventure through Vietnam (28 Dec-7 Jan)
- The Ultimate Adventure through Sri Lanka (31 Dec-10 Jan)
Inspired? Browse our full range of adventure holidays now, protecting the world’s wild places - one adventure at a time!