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Public Holiday & Long Weekend Planner
Find every long weekend of the year for your country and see which days of leave give you the longest break.
What Is a Public Holiday and Long Weekend Planner?
A long weekend is a break of three or more days in a row, made of your normal weekend plus a public holiday next to it. Planning for them early lets you book travel, ask for leave and spend time with family before the dates sell out.
This planner loads the public holidays of your country for the year you pick, marks your weekend days and finds every long weekend. It also finds the bridge days: one or two working days between a holiday and a weekend that you can take as leave to turn a short break into a longer one.
How to Use the Long Weekend Planner
- Choose your country and year. The weekend days are set for the country, and you can change them.
- Add changes. Put Eid, Ashura and other moon-based holidays in the box on the left, one per line, when the official date is announced. Lines in the box replace the holiday on the same date.
- Read the long weekends. The first table lists breaks of three days or more that contain a holiday.
- Check the bridge days. The second table shows how many days off you get for 1 or 2 days of leave.
How Bridge Days Work
A bridge day is a working day that sits between a weekend and a holiday. For example, if a holiday falls on a Tuesday and your weekend ends on Sunday, taking Monday as leave gives you Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off together with the weekend before it, a break of four days for one day of leave. The planner ranks these options by the days off you get for each day of leave.
Weekend Days by Country
| Region | Usual weekend |
|---|---|
| Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan | Friday and Saturday |
| United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Turkey, most of Europe and the Americas | Saturday and Sunday |
Some employers and schools use a different week, so change the weekend days if yours are not the same.
Holiday Dates That Can Change
Islamic holidays follow the lunar calendar, so Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha move by about 11 days earlier each year, and the exact day depends on the moon sighting. Governments announce the final date shortly before the holiday and often add extra days around Eid. Use the box on the left to enter the official dates as soon as they are announced.
Tips for Planning Your Leave
Book leave for the bridge days that give the most days off. Make travel plans for Eid early, because flights and buses fill quickly. Check with your employer which holidays apply to your job, because private companies and government offices sometimes follow different calendars.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a long weekend?
It is a break of three or more days off in a row, made of your weekend and a public holiday next to it. The planner lists every such break in the year that you choose.
Where do the holiday dates come from?
The planner loads them from a public holiday data service for the country and year that you choose. If the service is not available, it shows only the fixed-date national holidays that are built in for Bangladesh, and you can add the rest by hand.
Why are Eid dates marked as changeable?
Eid depends on the sighting of the moon, so the official date is announced only a few days before. Enter the announced dates in the extra holidays box to update the plan.
How do I change my weekend days?
Use the Weekend days list. It is set automatically when you choose a country, and you can change it if your employer uses another week.
What does a bridge day mean?
It is a working day between a weekend and a holiday. When you take it as leave you get one longer break instead of two shorter ones.
Why does a holiday on a weekend not add a day off?
If a holiday falls on a weekend day, you are already off. Some governments give a replacement day, so add that date in the extra holidays box.