How 10 Days of PTO Can Deliver Nearly 40 Days Off in 2026

If your goal is to travel more in 2026, then knowing how to maximize your holidays and paid time off (PTO) is key.

Some jobs give more days off than others, but with so many places in the world to visit, it never feels like enough.

Given that most people don’t have unlimited amounts of vacation time each year — plus conflicts with school calendars and other activities — here’s how you can strategically maximize your PTO in 2026.

Federal Holidays in 2026

Many federal holidays are days when most people aren’t working, allowing you to take time off without using PTO. Here’s a look at the federal holidays in 2026:

• New Year’s Day: Thursday, January 1
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Monday, January 19
• Presidents Day: Monday, February 16
• Memorial Day: Monday, May 25
• Juneteenth: Friday, June 19
• Independence Day: Saturday, July 4
• Labor Day: Monday, September 7
• Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Monday, October 12
• Veterans Day: Wednesday, November 11
• Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 26
• Christmas Day: Friday, December 25

You might not have every holiday off, but timing your PTO around the days you do already have off can help you turn just 1 or 2 PTO days into a multi-day trip.

Use 1 or 2 Days of PTO for Long Weekends in 2026

Did you know just 1 day of PTO can stretch into a 4-day travel weekend? This strategy works when a federal holiday falls on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday (unfortunately, not on hump day).

MLK Day, Presidents Day, Labor Day, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day always fall on a Monday, so you can use just 1 PTO day on the Tuesday after the holiday to create a 4-day weekend. While taking the Friday before the weekend is another option, it’s more likely to be a busy travel day. Tuesday tends to have cheaper fares. This will use up 4 days of PTO if you use this strategy for all of these weekends.

The same goes for Memorial Day, which always falls on a Monday. Traveling on the Friday before Memorial Day often involves traffic jams, high gas prices, and crowded airports. Instead of taking off on May 22, use 1 day of PTO on Tuesday, May 26, to create a 4-day weekend.

If you have Juneteenth off, you can create a 4-day weekend by taking off Thursday, June 18, or Monday, June 22. And since the Fourth of July is on a weekend this year, your job might give you Friday, July 3, off in observation, so that you can stretch it into a long weekend.

Veterans Day is always observed on November 11, and this year, it falls on a Wednesday. If you have the day off, you can turn it into a 5-day weekend instead by using just 2 days of PTO on either side of the holiday.

Since Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday in November, if your workplace doesn’t give you the day after (Friday, November 27) as a day off, consider using a day of vacation instead. And since Christmas is on a Friday in 2026 (December 25), you can make a final 4-day weekend by taking off on Thursday, December 24.

Buffering Kids’ School Schedules

If you have school-aged children, spring break probably ends with the feeling that you need a vacation to recuperate from your vacation. How many miles did you walk at that theme park last year?

Beyond our recommendations in this post, why not take 1 or 2 days of PTO after your kids go back to school? Assuming you have more vacation days than what we’ve already used in the examples above, take some time to rest, do laundry, and catch up on household tasks after returning from a week away.

Final Thoughts

By using your limited PTO days wisely, you can maximize the limited number of paid days off you’ll get in 2026. Requesting 1 or 2 days off around federal holidays and taking a rest period after spring break can help you make the most of your PTO.

We’ve only discussed federal holidays and spring break in this article. If you get any other holidays off from your work, these same strategies still apply.