Calendar and holidays
Shared care in Spain: how to split Christmas, Easter and summer holidays in 2026-27
Published on · Updated on · 7 min read
This guide is about Spain: Spanish family law and the Spanish school calendar, which every region sets for itself. If your court order or agreement comes from another country, none of the legal references below apply to you, but the calendar logic still helps.
Children who move between two homes every week hit a snag when holidays arrive: the usual rhythm stops working. Who has Christmas Eve? Who has Easter? How do you split summer? Here is how it is usually solved in Spain, put on real dates from the 2026-27 school year.
What the law says and what it doesn’t
The Spanish Civil Code doesn’t set how holidays are shared. It requires the convenio regulador (the agreement between the parents that a judge approves in a divorce) to cover care of the children and contact arrangements (art. 90.1), regulates guarda y custodia (custody), including shared care (art. 92), and contact with the parent who doesn’t live with the children day to day (art. 94). The detail of each holiday is agreed by you, or decided by a judge if you can’t agree.
So the rule is one: what your agreement or court order says is what counts. The rest are common formulas, not obligations.
Dates come from your region
Every autonomous region approves its own school calendar each year, and they differ. Two official examples:
| Period | Madrid (Orden 2034/2026) | Asturias (Resolution of 13 May 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| First day of classes | 7 September 2026 | 9 September 2026 |
| Christmas | 23 December 2026 to 6 January 2027 | 23 December 2026 to 10 January 2027 |
| Easter (Semana Santa) | 20 to 28 March 2027 | 22 to 28 March 2027 |
| Last day of classes (Madrid: pre-school second cycle and primary; Asturias: pre-school, primary, secondary and baccalaureate) | 18 June 2027 | 23 June 2027 |
| Summer | after classes end | from 1 July 2027 |
Christmas is 15 days in Madrid and 19 in Asturias. The same “two halves” rule gives different halves depending on where you live. For the other regions, see our guide to the school calendar by region.
Even and odd years
To avoid negotiating every year, many agreements use a simple rule: in even years one parent goes first, in odd years the other.
The question is which year counts. Christmas crosses the new year (starts in 2026, ends in 2027). The practical choice is the year in which the period starts, written into the agreement. With that convention, this school year:
| Period | Starts in | Counts as |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas 2026-27 | December 2026 | even year |
| Easter 2027 | March 2027 | odd year |
| Summer 2027 | July 2027 | odd year |
If your agreement says “in even years parent A has the first half of Christmas”, then A has it this Christmas. If it uses another convention, theirs applies.
Christmas: two halves with a cut-off day
Using the Madrid dates, classes end on Tuesday 22 December and the children go back on Thursday 7 January. A common split cuts at noon on 30 December:
- First half: from school pick-up on 22 December until Wednesday 30 December at 12:00. It includes Christmas Eve (Thursday 24) and Christmas Day (Friday 25).
- Second half: from 30 December at 12:00 until school resumes on 7 January. It includes New Year’s Eve (Thursday 31), New Year’s Day and the Epiphany (Wednesday 6 January, the day Spanish children get their presents).
If A has the first half in 2026 (even year), A has Christmas Eve and B has New Year’s Eve. The following Christmas, which starts in December 2027 (odd year), they swap.
Other formulas: alternate the key dates (Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, Christmas Day and Epiphany) from one year to the next instead of cutting the period, or fix a few dates in each home and split the rest in halves. Any of them works if it’s written down and leaves no doubt.
Two details that cause trouble: the time of the handover (school exit, noon, 8 pm) and who the cut-off day itself belongs to.
Easter: halves or a year each
In Madrid it runs from Saturday 20 to Sunday 28 March 2027 (9 days), with Holy Thursday and Good Friday inside. Two frequent options:
- In halves. First half: from the end of school on Friday 19 until Wednesday 24 at 8 pm. Second: from then until Sunday 28 at 8 pm, so the children are back at school on Monday 29. Who starts is up to your agreement (2027 counts as an odd year).
- The whole week, alternating. One year all of Easter is with A, the next with B. Simpler, at the cost of one parent missing the most symbolic days.
Check local public holidays and long weekends in your town too: they aren’t in the regional calendar.
Summer: half-months or halves
Here we take July and August as the summer period. Common arrangements:
- July with one parent, August with the other, reversed the next year.
- Alternating half-months. In 2027: 1 to 15 July, 16 to 31 July, 1 to 15 August and 16 to 31 August. If A has the first and the third, B has the second and the fourth, and each has one half-month in July and one in August. It reverses the next year.
- Chosen periods. Each parent picks some days with the children, giving notice before a deadline. Many agreements set that deadline and who picks first; yours will say.
If the children are going to a camp or an activity in one of the half-months, note it before you split.
Check before each holiday
- Which half is the first, and in which years, according to your agreement.
- The dates of the school year in your region’s official bulletin (sometimes they’re corrected).
- Time and place of handover, and who does it.
- Local holidays and long weekends.
- If either of you is travelling: give notice early and in writing.
If you can’t agree
Start by talking and writing it down. What weighs most on children is conflict between the adults, so it’s worth making sure logistics aren’t one more reason to argue. Family mediation can help you agree without going to court. If circumstances have changed substantially, the agreement can be modified through the courts (Civil Code art. 90.3). For that, speak to a lawyer.
Keeping track with Vaivén
In Vaivén you choose the halves, the cut-off day and who goes first in even years, and the calendar shows who the children are with each day, with your region’s school calendar already loaded. The calendar is free and stays on your iPhone. The app is Spanish-based and currently covers Spain.
In Vaivén
The calendar splits the school holidays into halves and comes with your region's school year loaded. Free. See: Calendar
Frequently asked questions
How are Christmas holidays split under shared care in Spain?
The most frequent formula is two halves with a cut-off day (often between 30 December and 1 January), alternating who has the first half each year. What applies to you is what your agreement or court order says.
What counts as an even or odd year for Christmas?
The law doesn't say. The practical choice is the year in which the holiday starts: Christmas 2026-27 starts on 23 December 2026, so it would be an even year. If your agreement doesn't say, write it down together.
Who decides school holiday dates in Spain?
Each autonomous region approves its school calendar every year. The Civil Code doesn't say how the holidays are shared between parents: the divorce agreement does, or a judge if you don't agree.
What if we can't agree?
Start by writing down what the agreement says and what each of you understands. Family mediation can help. If circumstances have changed substantially, the agreement can be modified through the courts (Civil Code art. 90.3); talk to a lawyer.
Sources
Sources checked in October 2026.
- BOE. Código Civil (consolidated text, in Spanish), arts. 90, 92 and 94 (the divorce agreement, shared care, and contact with the other parent)
- BOCM. Orden 2034/2026 of 25 May, school calendar for the Community of Madrid, 2026-2027 (BOCM no. 131, 4 June 2026)
- BOPA. Resolution of 13 May 2026 of the Education Department of Asturias, school calendar 2026-2027 (BOPA no. 103, 1 June 2026)