There’s still half the year left to go – but we’re only left with three public holidays for the rest of 2025. Sounds like a long road ahead, but here’s some news to cheer you up a lil’: Singapore’s public holiday dates for 2026 have just been officially announced by the Ministry of Manpower, and turns out, we’re getting a total of six long weekends out of the 11 gazetted public holidays. That’s not a bad deal at all, even though we’ll be getting one less public holiday than we did this year – because of Polling Day 2025 giving us an additional ‘free’ rest day.
Here’s the full list of public holidays in Singapore for 2026, with long weekends marked by an asterisk:
- New Year’s Day: January 1, Thursday
- Chinese New Year: February 17 and 18, Tuesday and Wednesday
- Hari Raya Puasa: 21 March, Saturday
- Good Friday: April 3, Friday*
- Labour Day: May 1, Friday*
- Hari Raya Haji: May 27, Wednesday
- Vesak Day: 31 May, Sunday*
- National Day: 9 August, Sunday*
- Deepavali: 8 November, Sunday*
- Christmas: 25 December, Friday*
As per MOM’s Employment Act, whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, your next working day will be a public holiday in lieu. In other words, if you’re on a standard five-day working schedule from Monday to Friday, then your off days for the three consecutive public holidays that fall on Sundays will be on the following Mondays instead: June 1 for Vesak Day, August 10 for National Day, and November 9 for Deepavali.
Moreover, Hari Raya Puasa falls on a Saturday this year. If that’s a non-working day for you, then you should be getting time off in lieu as well – or salary in lieu, if you’re asked to work. Some companies may standardise this off in lieu date for the following Monday (March 23), while others may credit it to your overall leave balance for you to use whenever you like, within a certain period of time. If the latter, we suggest taking this extra day off on a Friday or Monday so as to create another long weekend for yourself.
If you’re made to work on a public holiday that falls on a rest day or non-working day, bear in mind that you’re legally entitled to one extra day’s salary at your gross rate of pay or even overtime pay, depending on your work scenario. Singapore’s MOM website has a clear table of entitlements as well as a handy calculator so you can easily find out what sort of compensation you should be given – take note of this and don’t let your company shortchange you!
Now that these public holiday dates for 2026 are official, it’s never too early to start planning your long weekend getaways out of Singapore. Need some ideas? Check out our lists of travel destinations less than five hours from Singapore, beach vacation spots near Singapore, and best mountain hikes near Singapore. If you’re one of many Korea-loving Singaporeans, you’ll be glad to hear of T’way Air’s new direct flights to Jeju under $350. Else, venture further by hopping onto a Singapore-Vancouver direct flight or explore Europe’s City of Music with direct low-cost flights to Vienna.
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