2026 Long Weekend Planner
India Public Holidays 2026 — Long Weekend Guide
Which of 2026's national holidays line up with a weekend, and which are worth a single day of leave to stretch further. For the plain list of gazetted holidays, see Public Holidays.
Natural 3-day weekends — no leave needed
These holidays already fall next to a weekend.
Sat 24 – Mon 26 Jan
Republic Day (Mon). No leave needed — Republic Day lands right on a Monday.
Fri 3 – Sun 5 Apr
Good Friday (Fri) + Easter Sunday. A rare double: Good Friday and Easter fall in the same long weekend.
Fri 1 – Sun 3 May
Buddha Purnima (Fri). No leave needed — falls on a Friday.
Fri 4 – Sun 6 Sep
Janmashtami (Fri). No leave needed — falls on a Friday.
Sat 12 – Mon 14 Sep
Ganesh Chaturthi (Mon). Regional holiday in Maharashtra, Goa and parts of South India.
Fri 2 – Sun 4 Oct
Gandhi Jayanti (Fri). No leave needed — falls on a Friday.
Fri 25 – Sun 27 Dec
Christmas (Fri). No leave needed — falls on a Friday, right before the New Year weekend.
Worth a day of leave
One well-placed leave day turns these into a longer break.
Wed 4 – Sun 8 Mar
Holi (Wed). Two days of leave turns Holi into a 5-day break.
Fri 14 – Sun 16 Aug
Independence Day (Sat). Independence Day falls on a Saturday — one Friday leave bridges into a 3-day weekend.
A note on regional variation
Ganesh Chaturthi is a bank/gazetted holiday mainly in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — check your state's holiday list if you're elsewhere. National holidays (Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti) apply everywhere. See the full 2026 holiday list or festival calendar for everything else happening across the year.