Long Weekends In 2026: Month-Wise Holiday Calendar To Plan Perfect Getaways

New Delhi: The Government of India on December 31, 2025, released the official holiday calendar, listing all gazetted and restricted holidays for the year 2026. The gazetted holidays are compulsory closures for central government offices and are also followed by most banks and public sector institutions. Meanwhile, a restricted holiday is a paid, optional holiday that an employee can choose to avail based on their, personal, cultural or religious preferences.

Republic Day (January 26) is the first gazetted holiday of 2026.

Here is a list of month-wise public holidays declared by the Central government:

January

There are four restricted holidays and one gazetted holiday in the month of January.

1. January 1- New Year's Day (Restricted Holiday)
2. January 3- Hazarat Ali's Birthday (Restricted Holiday)
3. January 14- Makar Sankranti / Magha Bihu / Pongal  (Restricted Holiday)
4. January 23- Sri Panchami, Basant Panchami (Restricted Holiday)
5. January 26- Republic Day (Gazetted Holiday)

February

The month of February has four restricted holidays:

1. February 1- Guru Ravi Das' Birthday
2. February 12- Birthday of Swami Dayananda Saraswati
3. February 15- Maha Shivratri
4. February 19- Shivaji Jayanti

March

The month of March has four gazetted holidays and three restricted holidays, starting with Holika Dahan :

1. March 3- Holika Dahan / Dolyatra (Restricted holiday)
2. March 4- Holi (Gazetted holiday)
3. March 19- Chaitra Sukladi / Gudi Padava/ Ugadi/ Cheti Chand (Restricted Holiday)
4. March 20- Jamat- Ul- Vida (Restricted Holiday)
5. March 21- Id- ul- Fitr (Gazetted Holiday)
6. March 26- Ram Navami (Gazetted holiday)
7. March 31- Mahavir Jayanti (Gazetted Holiday)

April 

The month of April has three restricted holidays and one gazetted holiday:

1. April 3- Good Friday (Gazetted Holiday)
2. April 5- Easter Sunday (Restricted Holiday)
3. April 14- Vaisakhi/ Vishu/Meshadi (Tamil New Year's Day) (Restricted Holiday)
4. April 15- Vaisakhadi (Bengal)/ Bahag Bihu (Assam) (Restricted Holiday)

May

The month of May will start with a public holiday. Here is the list of holidays in May:

1. May 1- Budha Purnima (Gazetted Holiday)
2. May 9- Birthday of Guru Rabindranath Tagore (Restricted Holiday)
3. May 27- Id- ul- Zuha (Bakrid) (Gazetted Holiday)

June

The month of June has only 1 holiday, with June 26 being a gazetted holiday for Muharram.

July

July has no gazetted holiday and only one restricted holiday on July 16 for Rath Yatra.

August

Raksha Bandhan, falling on Friday in the month of August, provides a good opportunity for planning a long weekend. Here's a list of public holidays in the 8th month of the year:

1. August 15- Independence Day (Gazetted Holiday), Parsi New Year's day/ Nauraj (Restricted Holiday)
2. August 26- Milad- un- Nabi or Id- e- Milad (Birthday of Prophet Mohammad) (Gazetted Holiday), Onam or Thiru Onam Day (Restricted Holiday)
3. August 28- Raksha Bandhan (Restricted Holiday)

September

There are two holidays in the month of September:

1. Janmashtami (Vaishnva) (Gazetted Holiday)
2. Ganesh Chaturthi / Vinayaka Chaturthi (Restricted Holiday)

October

The 10th month of the year provides ample opportunity for planning vacations. There are a total of 6 days of holidays in the festive month:

1. October 2- Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday (Gazetted Holiday)
2. October 18- Dusshera (Saptami) (Restricted Holiday)
3. October 19- Dussehra (Mahashtami) (Restricted Holiday)
4. October 20- Dussehra (Gazetted Holiday)
5. October 26- Maharishi Valmiki's Birthday (Restricted Holiday)
6. October 29- Karaka Chaturthi (Karwa Chouth) (Restricted Holiday)

November 

There are a total of 5 restricted holidays and 2 gazetted holidays in the month of November:

1. November 8- Diwali (Gazetted Holiday), Naraka Chaturdasi (Restricted Holiday)
2. November 9- Govardhan Puja (Restricted Holiday)
3. November 11- Bhai Duj (Restricted Holiday)
4. November 15- Pratihar Shashthi or Surya Shashthi (Chhat Puja) (Restricted Holiday)
5. November 24- Guru Nanak's Birthday (Gazetted Holiday), Guru Teg Bahadur's Martyrdom Day (Restricted Holiday)

December

The last month of 2026 has three holidays, with just one being gazetted:

1. December 23- Hazarat Ali's Birthday (Restricted Holiday)
2. December 24- Christmas Eve (Restricted Holiday)
3. December 25- Christmas (Gazetted Holiday)

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