Here's a list of all the national holidays (festivos) in Spain, as well as those for the Comunidad de Madrid for 2011. If a holiday falls near a weekend, Spaniards normally make it a long weekend or a puente and quite often travelling at these times can be more expensive and accommodation harder to find.
Spanish National Holidays
1 January (Saturday) – New Year's Day
6 January (jueves) – Kings' Day
22 April (Friday) – Good Friday
1 May (Sunday) – Labour Day
25 July (Monday) – Santiago Apósto
15 August (Monday) – Asunción de la Virgen
12 October (Wednesday) – Spain's National Day
1 November (Tuesday) – All Saints' Day
6 December (Tuesday) – Spanish Constitution Day
8 December (Thursday) – Inmaculada Concepción
25 December (Sunday) –Christmas Day
These holidays are celebrated in the Comunidad de Madrid in addition to the national ones:
21 April (Thursday) – Holy Thursday
2 May (Monday) – Comunidad de Madrid Day
23 June (Thursday) – Corpus Christi
In Madrid at least, on most of these holidays public transport runs and most big stores, museums, tourist attractions, restaurants, bars and cafés will open, although operating on a Sunday schedule. In other parts of Spain, especially smaller places this might not be the case and you may find everything shut. Just about everything closes on 1st Jan, 6th Jan and 25th December in Spain, the exceptions being public transport and perhaps some restaurants. We recommend double checking if in doubt beforehand.
One of the best things about Spain is the Bull fight where visitors would thong the town to participate in the annual tradition. The prominently attractive football arenas and the zealous football lovers of the country are another speciality of Spain. So one must watch a football match while on a holiday.
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