Spain has a reputation for lots of holidays compared to other European countries. But this new study by Mercers suggests that Spaniards get roughly the same amount of paid holidays as the British and the French. Mind you, we definitely get more bank holidays in Spain than in the UK.
And then there is a huge difference between legal minimum and actual.
Spain has 15 Public holidays and most people I know get around 30 days annual Holiday making a total of 45 days.
UK in general is 25 days plus 8 Public Holidays making a total of 33 days.
This is just my take on it. It seems to be different between the south and the north of Spain. In the southern parts of Spain where I have worked and also where my wifes family is from people work very long hours and are seldom really off from work but they are often very ineffective. Try to schedule a meeting with 10 people from different working groups and you will be amazed about how long it will take before everyone have showed up. 95% of the time in a meeting with more people someone just doesn’t show up at all and they don’t even give you a call. Often they don’t even understand why some people might disslike their rude and selfish behaviour. The people from the northern parts more often seem to respect for example what you have to agreed upon.
The only people I know who gets all those holidays in Spain are Public sector workers. Others I know in the private sector have to be content with a couple of weeks.