Golden Week 2023, 2024 and 2025
Golden Week in China is one of the busiest times of year to travel as tens of millions of people make the most of one week of holidays to visit family or go on vacation. Golden Week begins on 1 October with the National Day celebration and runs till 7 October.
| Year | Date | Day | Holiday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 Oct to 6 Oct | Sun to Fri | National Day Holiday |
| 2024 | 1 Oct to 7 Oct | Tue to Mon | National Day Holiday |
| 2025 | 1 Oct to 7 Oct | Wed to Tue | National Day Holiday |
| 2026 | 1 Oct to 7 Oct | Thu to Wed | National Day Holiday |
| Please scroll down to end of page for previous years' dates. | |||
Technically, Golden Week consists of three days holiday for National Day, a two-day weekend, and two week-day holidays that are replaced with nationally mandated work-days on two Saturdays before or after Golden Week.
The whole idea of Golden Week was to attract tourists and encourage domestic travel around China so as to create more economic activity. The other key “Golden Week” of holidays comes at the beginning of the year for Lunar New Year. At this time, huge proportions of the population travel to their home towns to reunite with family.
While both Golden Week’s are massive and important across the country, the October Golden Week is generally regarded as a time to go on vacation, while the Lunar New Year holiday week is a time to spend with family.
The National Day holiday that begins the October Golden Week commemorates the founding of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October, 1949. The military parade and review in Tiananmen Square in Beijing is the single biggest event of National Day. There are also flag-raising ceremonies, fireworks, and performances.
But it is fair to say that vacation travel is the focus of most people at this time, and it is therefore essential to organise transport, accommodation and destination bookings and plans far in advance to avoid being disappointed.
Previous Years
| Year | Date | Day | Holiday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 Oct to 7 Oct | Sat to Fri | National Day Holiday |
| 2021 | 1 Oct to 7 Oct | Fri to Thu | National Day Holiday |
| 2020 | 1 Oct to 8 Oct | Thu to Thu | National Day Holiday |
| 2019 | 1 Oct to 7 Oct | Tue to Mon | National Day Holiday |
| 2018 | 1 Oct to 7 Oct | Mon to Sun | National Day Holiday |
| 2017 | 1 Oct to 8 Oct | Sun to Sun | National Day Holiday |