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Golden Week 2025, 2026 and 2027

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
2025	1 Oct to 8 Oct	Wed to Wed	National Day Holiday
2026	1 Oct to 7 Oct	Thu to Wed	National Day Holiday
2027	1 Oct to 7 Oct	Fri to Thu	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
2024	1 Oct to 7 Oct	Tue to Mon	National Day Holiday
2023	1 Oct to 6 Oct	Sun to Fri	National Day Holiday