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Long weekends · Christmas & New Year 2026
Christmas & New Year 2026: Two Long Weekends and a 10-Day Break
Christmas (Friday 25 December) and New Year's Day (Friday 1 January) both land on a Friday. Four leave days, 28 to 31 December, join them into 10 days off. Here is the leave maths, the dates to book trains around, and 14 underrated places that are not the default Goa-and-Manali list.
Photo: Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In most years Christmas falls on a weekday and the year-end break means juggling leave. In 2026 it works in your favour: 25 December is a Friday, and so is 1 January 2027. That gives you two ready-made long weekends, one week apart. Take the four working days between them, Monday 28 to Thursday 31 December, and you are off for ten days in a row.
It is also one of the most crowded fortnights of the travel year, and the places everyone defaults to are where the crowd concentrates. November to February is the dry season across South India, so every place below is in its best months. None of them is on the usual list.
The calendar: four ways to use it
| Plan | Dates | Days off | Leave needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas weekend | Fri 25 – Sun 27 Dec | 3 | None. Christmas is a Gazetted Holiday |
| New Year weekend | Fri 1 – Sun 3 Jan | 3 | None if 1 Jan is a holiday for you, otherwise 1 |
| The 5-day bridge | Wed 30 Dec – Sun 3 Jan | 5 | 2 (Wed 30, Thu 31), or 3 if 1 Jan is not a holiday |
| The 10-day break | Fri 25 Dec – Sun 3 Jan | 10 | 4 (Mon 28 – Thu 31), or 5 if 1 Jan is not a holiday |
Check 1 January with your employer before you book. On the central government's 2027 holiday list, New Year's Day is a Restricted Holiday, not a Gazetted one: central employees can pick two Restricted Holidays a year. Many private companies and state governments give the day off, and many do not. The same list is the source for our 2027 long weekend calendar.
Book these first: train dates
Indian Railways opens advance booking 60 days before the journey date. For this fortnight that means the windows open between 25 October and 4 November, so the dates below are the first things to put in your calendar.
| You travel on | Booking opens | For |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 24 Dec | Sun 25 Oct | Thursday-night departure for the Christmas weekend |
| Fri 25 Dec | Mon 26 Oct | Friday departure |
| Mon 28 Dec | Thu 29 Oct | Start of the 10-day break (Monday) |
| Wed 30 Dec | Sat 31 Oct | Start of the 5-day break (Wednesday) |
| Thu 31 Dec | Sun 1 Nov | Thursday-night departure for the New Year weekend |
| Fri 1 Jan | Mon 2 Nov | New Year's Day departure |
| Sun 3 Jan | Wed 4 Nov | Return on the last Sunday |
Dates are the journey date minus 60 days, computed by code. The booking window was 120 days until November 2024 and has changed before, so confirm it on IRCTC.
3 days: the Christmas weekend or the New Year weekend
Three days means leaving on Thursday night and coming back on Sunday night, so choose somewhere where the journey is a night, not a day. Costs below are ground costs only: stay, food and local transport for one person, from each place's own page. Your fare to get there is separate.
| Place | Instead of | 3 days on the ground, solo |
|---|---|---|
| Gandikota | Another Rajasthan fort | ₹2,400–4,200 |
| Chettinad | Another Rajasthan haveli town | ₹2,700–4,800 |
| Udupi & Malpe | Goa in December | ₹2,700–4,500 |
| Bekal & Kasaragod | Kovalam or Varkala | ₹2,700–4,500 |
| Kolli Hills | A crowded hill station | ₹2,400–4,500 |
Shoestring: lodge or hostel, local bus, thalis. Mid-range: guesthouse or hotel, AC bus, cafés. Couples share rooms and pay less each; the place pages show the split.
1. Gandikota: the fort nobody queues for
A ruined fort on the lip of a red sandstone gorge, with a mosque, a granary and a Vishnu temple inside the walls, and almost nobody there. November to February is the only workable window, because the plateau hits 44°C on bare rock from March to June. The gorge rim is unfenced and the drop is 90 metres, so keep back from the edge. There is no shade, so carry three litres of water each.
Plan a Gandikota tripFull guide, live transport, day plan →2. Chettinad: mansions instead of another haveli town
Seventy-five villages of merchant mansions built with Burmese teak and Italian marble, most of them locked, and some of the hottest food in South India. December is the cool end of the year, which matters because none of the old houses has air conditioning. Most are private property: knocking is normal, walking in is not.
Plan a Chettinad tripRoute, stays, mansions, costs →3. Udupi & Malpe: the Goa alternative for December
A hexagonal basalt island offshore, the Krishna Matha temple, and a beach with no shacks on it. November to February is dry, warm and calm. Two things to know: the dress code at the temple is enforced (men are often asked to remove shirts in the inner area), and the sea at Malpe has rip currents, so swim only between the flags.
Plan an Udupi tripKonkan Railway route, stays, St Mary's Island →4. Bekal: fort, empty beaches and Theyyam season
A circular laterite fort on a headland with quiet beaches on either side, and Theyyam performed in village shrines from roughly December to April. Theyyam is a religious ritual, not a show: ask before photographing, dress modestly and do not obstruct. The beaches have no lifeguards and the currents are strong. Little English is spoken inland, so a homestay host who can translate is worth having.
Plan a Bekal tripTrain route, fort, beaches, costs →5. Kolli Hills: the hill station with seventy hairpins
A plateau of pepper, jackfruit and honey at the top of seventy hairpin bends, with the Agaya Gangai waterfall at the bottom of a long flight of steps. The waterfall is fullest after the north-east monsoon, October to December. There is very little accommodation, so book ahead. Do not drive the hairpins for the first time after dark, and skip the steps if you have bad knees: they are steep and slippery.
Plan a Kolli Hills tripRoute, stays, waterfall, costs →5 days: Wednesday 30 December to Sunday 3 January
Two leave days buy five days off, enough for two places instead of one. These pairs are close enough to link by bus. The bus legs and fares come from each place page, so check timings before you go: ghat buses are infrequent.
Badami, then Hampi (2 + 3 days)
Badami has four rock-cut cave temples carved into a red sandstone cliff above a tank, with Aihole and Pattadakal within an hour. From there it is about 140 km by bus to Hampi (around ₹300, via Ilkal or Gadag). Both are at their best from November to February. Hampi is the one place on this page that gets properly busy over Christmas and New Year, so book your stay early and pick your side of the river first: the bazaar side is quiet and vegetarian, and Virupapur Gaddi across the water is where the cafés and the crowd are.
Plan BadamiCaves, Aihole, Pattadakal, costs → Plan HampiScooter routes, stays, full cost breakdown →Vagamon, then Thekkady (2 + 3 days)
Vagamon is meadows, pine forest and tea at 1,100 metres without Munnar's queues; paragliding season there is February to March, so not this trip. Thekkady is 70 to 90 km away by bus. You enter the Periyar reserve on a bamboo raft at dawn, and December to February is the best stretch of its year. The forest department's small-group programmes sell out weeks ahead, so book before you travel, and use the official counter: agents in Kumily sell "park safaris" that are not forest department programmes.
Plan VagamonMeadows, stays, route, costs → Plan ThekkadyPeriyar programmes, spice farms, costs →
Photo: Sivahari, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Udupi, then Agumbe (3 + 2 days)
Beach and temple town first, then a 55 km bus up the Ghats (about ₹80) to Agumbe, the wettest place in South India. In the dry season, October to February, its sunset point over the Arabian Sea actually delivers, which is the only reason to go in December.
Plan AgumbeSunset point, rainforest, route →10 days: Friday 25 December to Sunday 3 January
With four leave days you can string several places together. Both loops below use only the bus and ferry legs listed on the place pages, and stay in the Dec–Feb best window for every stop. Costs are the sum of each stop's daily ground cost plus the local legs, for one person, and leave out your fare in and out.
Loop 1: Karnataka's coast and the Ghats
| Stop | Days | Leg to the next stop | Ground cost, solo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Udupi & Malpe | 2 | Bus up the ghat, 55 km, about ₹80 | ₹1,800–3,000 |
| Agumbe | 2 | Bus via Thirthahalli and Sagara, 110 km, about ₹220 | ₹1,800–3,000 |
| Jog Falls | 2 | Bus via Kumta, 140 km, about ₹200 | ₹2,000–3,800 |
| Gokarna | 4 | — | ₹3,200–5,600 |
| Whole loop | 10 | Local legs included | about ₹9,300–15,900 |
Beach, rainforest, the 253-metre Jog Falls, then Gokarna's five beaches strung along a cliff walk. In December the falls give clear views rather than the monsoon roar. Gokarna is also a working pilgrimage town, so keep beachwear off the temple streets.
Loop 2: Kerala's quiet side
| Stop | Days | Leg to the next stop | Ground cost, solo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kollam | 2 | State ferry to Alleppey, 8 hours, about ₹400, then auto to Marari, about ₹60 | ₹1,800–3,400 |
| Marari | 2 | Bus to Kottayam, about ₹90, then up to Vagamon, about ₹100 | ₹2,000–4,400 |
| Vagamon | 2 | Bus to Thekkady, 70 to 90 km, about ₹120–200 | ₹2,000–3,800 |
| Thekkady | 4 | — | ₹4,400–7,600 |
| Whole loop | 10 | Local legs included | about ₹11,100–20,100 |
Kollam's ferry to Alleppey is one of the longest backwater cruises in India for the price of a bus ticket. It runs once a day and can be suspended in very heavy weather, so confirm it is running and book a window seat early. Marari is a working fishing-village beach, not a resort strip, though some resort prices there are as high as anywhere in Kerala, so a homestay is the better value.
Ten days is also long enough to leave the country. Our visa-free countries guide lists the easy-entry options, and flags the widely repeated claims that do not hold up.
What to book, and in what order
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 25 Oct – 4 Nov | Trains, on the day each window opens (table above) |
| Now | Stays at Kolli Hills, Hampi and Bekal homestays: all have limited rooms |
| Now | Thekkady forest department programme, from the official counter or site only |
| Before you go | Confirm the Kollam–Alleppey ferry is running (Loop 2 only) |
| The week before | Check Gokarna and Malpe beach conditions locally; do not trust an old blog post |
Frequently asked questions
Is 25 December 2026 a long weekend?
Yes. Christmas Day falls on a Friday in 2026, so Friday 25 to Sunday 27 December is a three-day weekend with no leave needed. Christmas is a Gazetted Holiday on the central government list, and most employers observe it.
Is 1 January 2027 a holiday in India?
On the central government list, New Year's Day (Friday 1 January 2027) is a Restricted Holiday, not a Gazetted one. Central employees may choose two Restricted Holidays a year, and many private employers and state governments give the day off, but not all do. If yours does not, treat it as one extra day of leave.
How many leave days do I need for 10 days off at Christmas and New Year 2026?
Four: Monday 28 to Thursday 31 December. That joins Friday 25 December to Sunday 3 January into 10 days off in a row, if 1 January is a holiday for you. If it is not, you need a fifth leave day for Friday 1 January.
When does train booking open for Christmas 2026 travel?
Indian Railways' advance booking window is 60 days, so a Thursday 24 December departure opens on Sunday 25 October, and a Friday 25 December departure opens on Monday 26 October. For 1 January 2027 it opens on Monday 2 November. Confirm the window on IRCTC before you plan around it, because the rule has changed before.
Where can I go at Christmas and New Year without the crowds?
November to February is the dry season across South India. Gandikota, Chettinad, Kolli Hills, Udupi and Bekal are all in their best months and are far quieter than Goa or Munnar. Hampi is the one place on this page that gets properly busy over Christmas and New Year, so book a stay early if you go.
Keep planning
- India long weekend calendar 2027: every long weekend next year, with leave hacks.
- Diwali 2026: 8 underrated places to go: the November window, before this one.
- Visa-free countries for Indians: where to use a 10-day break abroad.
Price your own year-end break
Pick a place, set your budget and dates, and Trip Under shows the real buses, stays, food and a day plan. Book each piece yourself, direct.
Start planning →Costs are indicative ballparks for budget travel, based on each place page's daily ground cost, and change sharply with season and demand, year-end week especially. Check live bus, train and flight prices before you book. Holiday rules vary by employer and state: 25 December is a Gazetted Holiday and 1 January is a Restricted Holiday on the central government list, so confirm yours. Railway booking windows can change; confirm on IRCTC. Trip Under features underrated destinations only and is reader-planned, not an agency.