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The school year in Barcelona will start on 8 September and have several long weekends
Barcelona families can now begin organising the next school year. Classes will start on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, for nursery, primary, compulsory secondary, baccalaureate and basic vocational training, with a calendar that includes several long weekends and 17 consecutive days of Christmas holidays.
The main novelty is precisely the start date. 8 September will be the first school day for a large part of the pupil body, while intermediate- and higher-level vocational-training courses and other professional education will begin a few days later, with 14 September as the reference date.
The first break will arrive almost immediately. The Diada falls on Friday 11 September, only three days after classes begin, and will allow a three-day weekend. In Barcelona, La Mercè will also be added as a local holiday on Thursday 24 September.
October will also bring a clear long weekend: 12 October falls on a Monday. This could be joined by Friday 30 October, one of the discretionary days proposed by the Consell d’Educació Municipal for Barcelona schools, which would extend the All Saints' weekend.
December brings together one of the most interesting breaks. Tuesday the 8th will be a holiday for the Immaculate Conception and the municipal proposal places another day without classes on Monday the 7th. If the school approves it, pupils will have four consecutive days of rest, from Saturday the 5th to Tuesday the 8th.
The Christmas holidays will begin on Tuesday 22 December and end on Thursday 7 January, both inclusive. There will be 17 days without classes and the return to classrooms will come on Friday 8 January 2027, just after Epiphany.
The second term will have another possible long weekend around Carnival, with Monday 8 February as a proposed discretionary day. Easter will come shortly afterwards: the holidays will run from Saturday 20 to Monday 29 March, with classes resuming on Tuesday the 30th.
In spring, Barcelona will have Second Easter as a local holiday on Monday 17 May. The proposal to set Friday the 14th as a discretionary day too could turn that weekend into four days without classes for many pupils. The school year will end on 21 June for Early Childhood Education, Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education, although some types of education have their own calendars.
For families, the important warning concerns the four discretionary days: the proposed dates seek to coordinate Barcelona's schools, but each school is responsible for approving them. Before booking travel or activities, it is advisable to consult its final calendar; that is where it will be known which long weekends each pupil will actually have.