Planning your long weekends 2027 early is worth it this year, because 2027 is an unusual one. Several big holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, including Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Dussehra and Christmas, so they don't give you an extra day off. But spring more than makes up for it: with a few days of leave in March, April and May, you can turn holidays into breaks of five to nine days.
This guide uses the central government's list of 17 gazetted holidays for 2027, issued by the Department of Personnel and Training in July 2026, for offices in Delhi and New Delhi. Your office, state or company may follow a different list, and the dates of Id-ul-Fitr, Bakrid, Muharram and Milad-un-Nabi can move by a day with the moon, so check your own calendar before you book. Use this as a starting point.
2027 holidays at a glance
| Holiday | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| Republic Day | 26 January | Tuesday |
| Id-ul-Fitr | 10 March | Wednesday |
| Holi | 23 March | Tuesday |
| Good Friday | 26 March | Friday |
| Ram Navami | 15 April | Thursday |
| Mahavir Jayanti | 19 April | Monday |
| Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid) | 17 May | Monday |
| Buddha Purnima | 20 May | Thursday |
| Muharram | 16 June | Wednesday |
| Independence Day and Milad-un-Nabi | 15 August | Sunday |
| Janmashtami | 25 August | Wednesday |
| Gandhi Jayanti | 2 October | Saturday |
| Dussehra | 9 October | Saturday |
| Diwali | 29 October | Friday |
| Guru Nanak Jayanti | 14 November | Sunday |
| Christmas | 25 December | Saturday |
Some calendars place Holi on Monday 22 March instead of Tuesday 23 March. Either way, the long weekend below still works.
All the long weekends of 2027
Here's every break, with the leave you need. "Leave" means working days you'd take off, assuming a Monday to Friday week.
| Break | Dates | Days off | Leave needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year | Fri 1 Jan to Sun 3 Jan | 3 | None, if your office closes on 1 January |
| Republic Day | Sat 23 Jan to Tue 26 Jan | 4 | 1 (Mon 25 Jan) |
| Holi and Good Friday | Sat 20 Mar to Sun 28 Mar | 9 | 3 (22, 24 and 25 Mar) |
| Good Friday only | Fri 26 Mar to Sun 28 Mar | 3 | None |
| Ram Navami and Mahavir Jayanti | Thu 15 Apr to Mon 19 Apr | 5 | 1 (Fri 16 Apr) |
| Bakrid and Buddha Purnima | Sat 15 May to Sun 23 May | 9 | 3 (18, 19 and 21 May) |
| Bakrid only | Sat 15 May to Mon 17 May | 3 | None |
| Buddha Purnima only | Thu 20 May to Sun 23 May | 4 | 1 (Fri 21 May) |
| Diwali | Fri 29 Oct to Sun 31 Oct | 3 | None |
| Diwali week | Sat 23 Oct to Sun 31 Oct | 9 | 4 (25 to 28 Oct) |
The two best deals of the year are Ram Navami and Mahavir Jayanti, which gives you five days for one day of leave, and the Holi and Good Friday and Bakrid and Buddha Purnima stretches, which give you nine days each for three.
Block your leave as soon as your office calendar is out. The April and May breaks will be the most popular in every team, and flights and hotels for them start getting expensive two to three months ahead.
Before 2027: the last long weekend of 2026
Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday, which gives you Friday 25 to Sunday 27 December, a three-day weekend. Add Monday 28 to Thursday 31 December and you're off until New Year's Day, which makes it a 10-day break for four days of leave. It's also the busiest and most expensive week of the year to travel, so if you want it, book now.
January: Republic Day weekend (23 to 26 January)
Take Monday 25 January off and you get four days in the middle of winter. This is the best long weekend of the year for snow and for the desert.
Where to go:
- For snow: Manali, Solang and Sissu, or Gulmarg. Our guide to snowfall places in India has ten options.
- For the desert: Jaisalmer or the White Rann. The full moon on 22 January makes the Rann Utsav weekend especially good.
- For a short beach break: Goa or Gokarna, where January is the sweet spot of good weather and post-New Year prices.
Republic Day weekend is busy everywhere. Book stays a month ahead, and expect traffic on the roads out of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru on Friday evening.
March: Holi and Good Friday (up to 9 days)
Holi on Tuesday 23 March and Good Friday on 26 March sit in the same week. Take 22, 24 and 25 March off and you're free from Saturday 20 March to Sunday 28 March.
Where to go:
- For Holi itself: Mathura, Vrindavan and Barsana have the most famous celebrations in India. They're intense and crowded, so plan carefully.
- For a long trip: March is the last good month for Rajasthan, Hampi and the Andaman Islands before the heat sets in.
- For the hills: early spring in Himachal and Uttarakhand, with fewer crowds than summer, or Kashmir for the tulip garden, which usually opens in late March.
Id-ul-Fitr falls a little earlier, on Wednesday 10 March. Taking Thursday and Friday off turns it into a five-day break from 10 to 14 March.
April: Ram Navami and Mahavir Jayanti (5 days for 1 leave)
This is the cheapest long weekend of 2027 in leave terms. Ram Navami is on Thursday 15 April and Mahavir Jayanti on Monday 19 April, so taking Friday 16 April off gives you five days, from Thursday to Monday.
Where to go:
- For the hills: April is a great month for Shimla, Manali, Mussoorie, Nainital and Darjeeling, before the May crowds. Our guide to places to visit in India in summer has more.
- For the Northeast: Meghalaya and Sikkim are fresh and green in April, and North Sikkim's rhododendrons start to bloom.
- For a pilgrimage: Ram Navami in Ayodhya is the biggest celebration of the year there, so expect large crowds.
May: Bakrid and Buddha Purnima (up to 9 days)
Bakrid falls on Monday 17 May and Buddha Purnima on Thursday 20 May. Take 18, 19 and 21 May off and you get nine days from Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 May. Or take just Friday 21 May off for a four-day weekend.
Where to go:
- For the mountains: May is peak hill station season, and the start of the high Himalayan season. The roads to Ladakh and Spiti usually open around this time, though dates depend on the snow.
- For a pilgrimage: the Char Dham Yatra is in full swing by mid-May.
- For Buddha Purnima: Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Sikkim's monasteries hold special celebrations.
May is hot in the plains and very busy in the hills. Book early and travel mid-week where you can.
June to September: few long weekends
The middle of the year is thin. Muharram (16 June) and Janmashtami (25 August) fall on Wednesdays, and Independence Day falls on a Sunday. If you want a monsoon break, use your own leave around a weekend in July or August. Our guide to places to visit in monsoon covers the best of them, from Coorg and the Western Ghats to Meghalaya.
October: Diwali (3 to 9 days)
Gandhi Jayanti (2 October) and Dussehra (9 October) both fall on Saturdays in 2027, so they don't create long weekends. Diwali does: it's on Friday 29 October, giving you a three-day weekend, and Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj fall on the weekend after.
Take 25 to 28 October off and you'll have nine days from Saturday 23 to Sunday 31 October. Many people travel home for Diwali, but late October is also a great time for Rajasthan, the Himalaya before the cold, and the first weeks of the beach season in Goa and Kerala.
November and December
Guru Nanak Jayanti falls on Sunday 14 November and Christmas on Saturday 25 December, so neither gives you a long weekend. For a winter break at the end of 2027, plan around your own leave in late December. Our guide to places to visit in India in winter has twelve ideas.
A sample year: five trips for 12 days of leave
Here's one way to use the long weekends 2027 gives you, with a different kind of trip each time:
| Break | Leave | Days off | Trip idea |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Day, 23 to 26 January | 1 day | 4 | Jaisalmer and the dunes, or snow in Manali |
| Holi week, 20 to 28 March | 3 days | 9 | The Andaman Islands, or a Rajasthan loop |
| Ram Navami, 15 to 19 April | 1 day | 5 | Darjeeling and Sikkim, or Kashmir in spring |
| May break, 15 to 23 May | 3 days | 9 | Spiti or Ladakh as the roads open, or the Char Dham |
| Diwali week, 23 to 31 October | 4 days | 9 | Kerala, or a slow Konkan road trip |
That's 12 days of leave for 36 days away, across five very different trips. Swap any of them for the places closest to you, but keep the principle: the spring breaks are for long trips, and the three-day weekends are for places within a day's journey.
How to make a 3-day weekend feel longer
- Leave the night before. An overnight train or bus on Thursday or Friday night turns a three-day weekend into three full days at the destination.
- Stay in one base. Moving hotels every night eats half a day each time. Pick one place and do day trips from it.
- Keep the journey under six hours. Anything longer and you spend a third of the weekend travelling.
- Book refundable stays. Long weekend plans change. Free cancellation costs a little more and saves a lot of stress.
- Pack the night before. A small bag and an early start beat a big bag and a late one.
Long weekend trip ideas from your city
Not sure where to go? Here's one three-day idea and one longer idea from each big city, all well suited to the 2027 breaks.
| From | 3-day weekend | 5 to 9 days |
|---|---|---|
| Delhi | Agra, Jaipur, Rishikesh or Mussoorie | Spiti, Kashmir or a Rajasthan loop |
| Mumbai | Lonavala, Alibaug or Igatpuri | A Konkan road trip to Goa, or Kerala |
| Bengaluru | Coorg, Mysuru or Hampi | Kerala, or the Nilgiris and Kabini |
| Chennai | Pondicherry or Mahabalipuram | Madurai, Rameswaram and Kanyakumari |
| Kolkata | Shantiniketan, Digha or the Sundarbans | Darjeeling and Sikkim, or Meghalaya |
| Hyderabad | Warangal and Ramappa, or Srisailam | Hampi with Badami, or Goa |
| Pune | Mahabaleshwar, Raigad or Kaas Plateau | The Konkan coast, or Kolhapur and Goa |
| Ahmedabad | Patan and Modhera, or the Little Rann | The Rann of Kutch, or Udaipur and Mount Abu |
| Chandigarh | Kasauli, Shimla or Amritsar | Spiti, McLeodganj and Bir, or Manali |
| Jaipur | Ranthambore, Pushkar or Bundi | Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, or Udaipur |
Our weekend guides from Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Chandigarh have drive times and costs for each place.
Mistakes people make with long weekends
- Booking too late. For the April and May breaks, the cheapest trains and stays are gone two months out.
- Choosing somewhere too far. A 12-hour journey each way leaves you one real day on a three-day weekend.
- Forgetting everyone else has the same idea. Popular hill stations jam on long weekends. A slightly less famous place is often the better holiday.
- Not checking local holidays. State holidays, such as Pongal in Tamil Nadu or Bihu in Assam, can make some places much busier, or give you an extra day off.
How to ask for leave without the stress
Leave is the real currency of long weekends. A few habits help:
- Apply early and in writing. Teams usually approve the first requests for popular weeks, so ask as soon as the holiday calendar is out.
- Swap with colleagues. If you take the Holi week, offer to cover the Diwali week, or the other way round.
- Use half days. Leaving at lunchtime on Friday can be enough for a short trip, and many offices are flexible about it.
- Combine restricted holidays. Central government employees can take two restricted holidays a year; others should check their own company's optional holidays, which can quietly extend a break.
How to plan your long weekends 2027
Decide your big trip first. If you have one long trip in you this year, pick it now: the March, April or May breaks are the best candidates. Then fill the smaller weekends around it.
Book transport first, stays second. Trains open 60 days before the journey and fill within hours for long weekends. Read our Tatkal booking guide for the backup plan, and our guide to finding cheap flights if you're flying.
Leave on Thursday night, not Friday evening. On a long weekend, the roads out of every big city jam on the first evening. Leaving a few hours earlier, or very early on the first morning, saves you hours.
Pick a place that fits the days. A three-day weekend suits somewhere within about 6 hours. Our weekend guides from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai are sorted by drive time.
Plan your 2027 breaks with JrnyLoop
Once your dates are set, JrnyLoop turns them into a trip: the route with realistic drive or train times, every day planned, a budget for your group and a packing list for the season. Not sure where to go for a particular weekend? Where can I go? takes your starting city, the number of days and your budget, and shows you the places that fit.
Going with friends? Create the trip, invite everyone, and run a poll on the dates before anyone books.
The short version
If you take only five days of leave in 2027, take Friday 16 April for a five-day Ram Navami break, and 18, 19 and 21 May for nine days around Bakrid and Buddha Purnima. Block them now, book your travel 60 days out, and you'll have two proper holidays before the summer is over.
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