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India Long Weekend Calendar 2027: Leave Hacks + Underrated Trips Under ₹10,000
Every 2027 date on this page is checked against the government's own holiday circular and confirmed by code, not eyeballed off a PDF. Eight real long weekends, what one or two days of leave buys you for each, and an underrated place to spend it — most for under ₹10,000 a head.
Photo: Billjones94, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Search "long weekends 2027 India" and you'll find pages that disagree with each other on the same date — one calling Holi a Saturday, another a Monday, a third a Tuesday. None of them says where they got the date from. That's a real, avoidable problem for something this easy to verify.
So this page starts from the primary source: the Department of Personnel and Training's official 2027 holiday circular for central government offices, cross-checked against the National Portal of India's own Holiday Calendar tool (which states outright that it draws from the same DoPT circular). Every weekday below was then independently computed from the calendar date in code — not read off the PDF by eye — so a transcription slip can't sneak in. Where it matters, the differences between what a central-government employee gets, what your state gives, and what a private company actually grants are called out rather than glossed over.
Read this before you book anything. This calendar is built on the central government's holiday list for Delhi/NCT offices. It is not automatically your employer's calendar. State governments set their own gazetted holidays, which differ from state to state and from this list. Private companies set their own again — most follow the three national holidays (Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti) plus a handful of regional festival days that vary by company and city. Confirm your own leave calendar with HR before you book anything you can't cancel. Id-ul-Fitr, Id-ul-Zuha and Muharram also depend on the sighting of the moon and can shift by a day from the date fixed here for planning — recheck those three close to the date.
The 2027 long weekends, at a glance
Eight windows in 2027 turn into four or more days off for one or two days of planned leave. This table is the whole calendar — the sections below explain the "why" and the trip ideas for each one.
| Long weekend | Dates | Days off | Leave needed | Anchor holiday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Day | Sat 23 – Tue 26 Jan | 4 days | 1 (Mon 25 Jan) | Republic Day, Tue 26 Jan Gazetted |
| Holi | Sat 20 – Tue 23 Mar | 4 days | 1 (Mon 22 Mar)* | Holi, Tue 23 Mar Gazetted |
| Ram Navami → Mahavir Jayanti | Thu 15 – Mon 19 Apr | 5 days | 1 (Fri 16 Apr) | Ram Navami Thu + Mahavir Jayanti Mon Gazetted |
| Independence Day → Raksha Bandhan | Sat 14 – Tue 17 Aug | 4 days | 1 (Mon 16 Aug) | Independence Day Sun + Raksha Bandhan Tue Gazetted |
| Janmashtami | Wed 25 – Sun 29 Aug | 5 days | 2 (Thu 26, Fri 27 Aug) | Janmashtami, Wed 25 Aug Gazetted |
| Dussehra week† | Wed 6 – Sun 10 Oct | up to 5 days | 0–2 (varies) | Vijaya Dashami, Sat 9 Oct Gazetted |
| Diwali | Thu 28 – Sun 31 Oct | 4 days | 1 (Thu 28 Oct) | Diwali, Fri 29 Oct Gazetted |
| Christmas / year-end | Fri 24 – Sun 26 Dec | 3 days | 1 (Fri 24 Dec)* | Christmas, Sat 25 Dec Gazetted |
*Some employers already grant this day as a Restricted Holiday, so it may cost zero extra leave. †Dussehra/Durga Puja week varies hugely by state and employer — see that section. Days off assume a standard Saturday–Sunday weekend; adjust if your employer runs a six-day week.
Missed from this list: Id-ul-Zuha (Mon 17 May, already a free 3-day weekend), Good Friday (Fri 26 Mar, free 3-day weekend right after Holi — see below), Guru Nanak's Birthday (Sun 14 Nov, falls on a Sunday with no easy bridge) and Gandhi Jayanti (Sat 2 Oct, also a Saturday). All real gazetted holidays — none of them needs a leave-hack write-up because they either already give you a free weekend or don't bridge to one.
1. Republic Day — Saturday 23 to Tuesday 26 January
Republic Day falls on a Tuesday in 2027. Taking Monday 25 January as leave bridges the weekend straight into it — four days off, Saturday to Tuesday, for one day of leave. Late January is peak dry season across most of the country, which makes it a strong window for anywhere you'd rather see without haze or heat.
Photo: Chaduvari, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Go to Gandikota, Andhra Pradesh — "India's Grand Canyon," instead of another Rajasthan fort. A red sandstone gorge and a ruined 13th-century fort with almost none of the crowd or entry fees of a Rajasthan monument. Cheapest way in is train plus local bus into Kadapa (~₹700 one-way), and January is dry-season-clear — no haze over the canyon. Ballpark for a couple, four days, bus/train + stays + food: roughly ₹12,000 total, about ₹6,000 per person.
Plan your own Gandikota weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →From Hyderabad, go the other direction to Bidar, Karnataka — Deccan sultanate domes and a fort that gets a fraction of Hampi's visitors, three hours out by train (~₹300). Four days for a couple: roughly ₹11,000 total, about ₹5,500 per person.
Plan your own Bidar weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →2. Holi — Saturday 20 to Tuesday 23 March
Holi falls on Tuesday 23 March 2027. Holika Dahan, the bonfire the night before, is Monday 22 March — a Restricted Holiday many employers already grant, which can make this bridge free rather than a day of leave; check your own calendar. Three days later, Good Friday (26 March) gives a second, separate free three-day weekend — the two don't overlap, but they sit close enough that a short mid-week leave block (24–25 March) turns the whole stretch into an eight-day run for two days of leave, if that's ever useful to you.
Photo: Justin Morgan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Go to Bundi, Rajasthan — painted havelis and a hilltop fort, instead of Jaipur and Jodhpur. Direct train from Delhi or bus from Jaipur (~₹400–900). Four days for a couple: roughly ₹12,000 total, about ₹6,000 per person.
Plan your own Bundi weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →From Chennai, try Chettinad instead — mansion villages near Karaikudi, instead of another Rajasthan haveli town, two hours by bus from Madurai (~₹120). Four days for a couple: roughly ₹11,000 total, about ₹5,500 per person.
Plan your own Chettinad weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →3. The Ram Navami → Mahavir Jayanti bridge — Thursday 15 to Monday 19 April
This is the best value on the whole calendar. Ram Navami falls on Thursday 15 April and Mahavir Jayanti on Monday 19 April 2027 — four days apart, with a weekend sitting neatly in between. One day of leave on Friday 16 April turns it into five straight days off for the cost of one. Mid-April is late in the travel season for the high Himalaya (snow-melt roads are only just opening) but good for mid-elevation hill country.
Photo: Ankitwadhwa10, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Go to Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh — instead of Manali, a trout-stream valley with none of Manali's traffic. Overnight bus from Delhi to Aut, then a short local ride (~₹1,400 one-way). Five days for a couple: roughly ₹21,000 total, about ₹10,600 per person — over the ₹10,000 mark because of the distance and the extra day, but that's five real days off for one day of leave.
Plan your own Tirthan weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →From Bengaluru or Kochi, go to Munnar instead — instead of Ooty, greener before the monsoon crowds arrive. Cheapest route is train to Aluva then bus up (~₹1,400). Five days for a couple: roughly ₹21,000 total, about ₹10,600 per person.
Plan your own Munnar weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →4. Independence Day into Raksha Bandhan — Saturday 14 to Tuesday 17 August
Independence Day falls on Sunday 15 August 2027, which on its own doesn't create a long weekend — it just eats a Sunday you'd have had anyway. But Raksha Bandhan two days later (Tuesday 17 August) does the job: one day of leave on Monday 16 August bridges Saturday through Tuesday into four days off. This lands in the middle of monsoon — the best window of the year for the Western Ghats and the North East.
Photo: PJeganathan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Go to Meghalaya (Shillong, Cherrapunji, Nongriat) — instead of Kerala in the monsoon — to see living root bridges and waterfalls at genuinely peak flow. This is the priciest pick on this page: flying into Guwahati is close to unavoidable, and it's a long way from most of India. Four days for a couple: roughly ₹28,800 total, about ₹14,400 per person — well over ₹10,000, flagged honestly rather than fudged down. Worth it for August specifically; skip it if budget is the hard limit this trip.
Plan your own Meghalaya weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →For a true under-₹10,000 monsoon trip from Bengaluru, go to Agumbe instead — instead of Munnar in the rains — one of the wettest places in India, dripping rainforest and full waterfalls. Bus and local connections run under ₹1,100. Four days for a couple: roughly ₹10,400 total, about ₹5,200 per person.
Plan your own Agumbe weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →5. Janmashtami — Wednesday 25 to Sunday 29 August
Janmashtami falls on Wednesday 25 August 2027 — a mid-week holiday, which is the expensive case for a leave-hack (two days needed either direction). Bridging forward (leave on 26–27 August) gets five straight days, Wednesday to Sunday. Late August is still monsoon on the west coast but has largely cleared over Tamil Nadu's coast and interior.
Photo: Rainer Halama, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Go to Pondicherry — instead of Goa for a quiet week — colonial streets, quiet cafés, a proper five-day pace rather than a rushed weekend. Bus from Chennai every 15 minutes (~₹600 one-way). Five days for a couple: roughly ₹18,800 total, about ₹9,400 per person.
Plan your own Pondicherry breakLive fares, stays, day plan →From Kochi, go to Thekkady instead — instead of a big-name tiger reserve — with the extra two days to actually explore the spice-estate trails properly. Bus from Kochi or Kottayam (~₹300–1,000). Five days for a couple: roughly ₹16,400 total, about ₹8,200 per person.
Plan your own Thekkady breakLive fares, stays, day plan →6. Dussehra week — Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10 October (regional)
This is the one week on this calendar where "how many days off" genuinely depends on where you work. Vijaya Dashami/Dussehra itself is a Saturday (9 October) gazetted holiday. But the three days before it — Saptami, Mahashtami and Mahanavami (6–8 October) — are Restricted Holidays, not automatic days off. In states and companies where Durga Puja or Dussehra is treated as a block break (much of West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand, and many private companies that follow the eastern-India calendar), this can already be a five-day break with zero or one day of leave. Everywhere else, it's a standard Saturday holiday with a normal weekend either side. Check your own company calendar for this one specifically — it's the single biggest source of "which long weekend do I actually get" confusion in the whole year.
Photo: Kiran Guha, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
From Hyderabad or Visakhapatnam, go to Araku Valley — instead of Ooty — via one of India's most scenic train rides, 58 tunnels and 84 bridges from Visakhapatnam, for about ₹300. Five days for a couple, if your employer treats this as a block break: roughly ₹12,500 total, about ₹6,200 per person.
Plan your own Araku Valley tripLive fares, stays, day plan →From Delhi, go to Khajuraho instead — instead of the Golden Triangle — temple carving without the Agra-Jaipur crowd crush. Direct overnight train (~₹900). Five days for a couple: roughly ₹15,900 total, about ₹8,000 per person.
Plan your own Khajuraho tripLive fares, stays, day plan →7. Diwali — Thursday 28 to Sunday 31 October
Diwali (Lakshmi Puja) falls on Friday 29 October 2027 — already a free three-day weekend on its own. The day before, Naraka Chaturdasi (Thursday 28 October), is a Restricted Holiday many companies grant as part of a Diwali block; if yours does, this costs zero extra leave and runs Thursday to Sunday, four days. If not, one day of leave does the same job. We've covered Diwali travel in more depth, including places not repeated here, in a separate Diwali underrated-places guide — that one is dated to 2026, so treat the destinations as the useful part and this page as the date authority for 2027.
Go to Chikmagalur — instead of Coorg — post-monsoon green, quieter than its more famous neighbour. Overnight bus from Bengaluru (~₹900). Four days for a couple: roughly ₹14,000 total, about ₹7,000 per person.
Plan your own Chikmagalur weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →From Kochi, go to Vagamon instead — instead of Munnar's tea-country crowds — same hills, far fewer people over Diwali. Bus from Kochi or Kottayam (~₹250–400). Four days for a couple: roughly ₹13,500 total, about ₹6,700 per person.
Plan your own Vagamon weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →8. Christmas / year-end — Friday 24 to Sunday 26 December
Christmas Day falls on Saturday 25 December 2027 — a Saturday holiday that, on its own, doesn't extend the weekend. Christmas Eve (Friday 24 December) is a Restricted Holiday; taking it — as leave or, if your employer grants it, for free — gives a proper three-day close to the year, Friday to Sunday. It's the shortest bridge on this page but it's also peak season everywhere obvious, so the underrated-destination logic matters more here than anywhere else on this list.
Photo: Vijaya nanthini, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Go to Rameswaram — instead of a packaged temple tour — a direct train across the open-sea Pamban bridge, without a tour bus in sight. From Chennai or Bengaluru (~₹900–1,200). Three days for a couple: roughly ₹10,000 total, about ₹5,000 per person.
Plan your own Rameswaram weekendLive fares, stays, day plan →A note on Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata
Trip Under's priced destinations currently cluster around Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Guwahati as gateway cities — that's simply where the catalogue has real, checked transport data so far. If you're travelling from Mumbai, Pune or Kolkata, every date and leave-hack calculation on this page still applies exactly the same; we just don't yet have an honestly-priced Trip Under destination gatewayed from those three cities to recommend here. Rather than guess a fare we haven't verified, we're saying so directly — the full planner will show you what's currently available and is the place to check as the catalogue grows.
How the leave-hack math works
Every "days off" and "leave needed" figure above was computed the same simple way, and you can do it yourself for any date:
- Holiday on a Monday or Friday: already a free 3-day weekend. Zero leave needed.
- Holiday on a Tuesday or Thursday: one day of leave (the Monday or Friday next to it) turns it into 4 days off.
- Holiday on a Wednesday: the expensive case — two days of leave either direction (Thu+Fri, or Mon+Tue) for 5 days off.
- Holiday on a Saturday or Sunday: no extra long weekend is created on its own, unless another nearby holiday or Restricted Holiday bridges it — which is exactly what happens with Independence Day into Raksha Bandhan in August.
This is arithmetic on a fixed calendar, not something that needs guessing — which is also why every date on this page was checked in code against the actual 2027 calendar rather than assumed from the source document's own stated weekday.
Book the bus or train first. Every long weekend on this list is also everyone else's long weekend. Fares on popular routes climb fastest in the two weeks before a bridge date, and Indian Railways now opens booking 60 days ahead (reduced from 120 days in November 2024) — for an 15 April 2027 trip, for instance, booking opens around mid-February. Lock transport first; budget stays you can usually sort a few days out.
Sources and verification
Every date on this page traces to a document, not a guess:
- Primary source: the Department of Personnel and Training's 2027 holiday circular for central government offices (Gazetted and Restricted Holidays, Delhi/NCT), issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
- Cross-check: the National Portal of India's own Holiday Calendar tool, which states on the page itself that its holidays "are as per the Circular issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions" — i.e. it's the same primary source, republished. We checked January 2027 on the portal directly and it matches the DoPT circular exactly: New Year's Day, Makar Sankranti/Magha Bihu, Pongal and Republic Day, same dates, same Gazetted/Restricted status.
- Independent verification: every weekday shown on this page (which date is a Tuesday, a Saturday, and so on) was computed from the calendar date using code, then checked against the source document's own stated weekday. Zero mismatches across all 49 gazetted and restricted holidays for 2027.
What we did not do: invent a search-volume number, a "trending" claim, or a specific fare or date we couldn't verify against a live source or Trip Under's own destination data. Where a number couldn't be checked, it's left out rather than filled in.
Frequently asked questions
How many long weekends are there in India in 2027?
Counting only the central government's gazetted and restricted holidays, eight windows in 2027 turn into a long weekend of four days or more with one or two days of planned leave: Republic Day, Holi, the Ram Navami–Mahavir Jayanti bridge, Independence Day into Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtami, Dussehra week, Diwali and the Christmas weekend. How many actually apply to you depends on your employer and state.
Where do these 2027 holiday dates come from?
The Department of Personnel and Training's official 2027 holiday circular for central government offices, cross-checked against the National Portal of India's own Holiday Calendar tool, which states it draws from the same DoPT circular. Every weekday shown on this page was also independently computed in code from the calendar date, not read off the PDF by eye.
What is the single best leave-hack long weekend in 2027?
The Ram Navami to Mahavir Jayanti bridge. Ram Navami falls on Thursday 15 April and Mahavir Jayanti on Monday 19 April 2027. Taking a single day of leave on Friday 16 April turns the gap into five straight days off — Thursday to Monday — for the cost of one day of leave.
Are Id-ul-Fitr, Id-ul-Zuha and Muharram dates in this calendar fixed?
No. Islamic calendar dates depend on the sighting of the moon and can shift by a day in either direction from the government's provisional date, which is fixed in advance for planning purposes. Do not book non-refundable travel around these three dates without a short buffer, and recheck the date roughly a week before you travel.
Does every employer in India get the same long weekends?
No. The DoPT circular this page is built on covers central government offices in Delhi/NCT. State governments set their own gazetted holiday lists, which differ from state to state and from the central list. Private-sector employers set their own calendars again, commonly following the three national holidays (Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti) plus a handful of festival holidays that vary by region and company. Always confirm your own employer's calendar before booking.
Price your own long weekend in five minutes
Pick a place, set your dates and budget, and Trip Under shows the buses, beds, food and a day-by-day plan — with live booking links, no package, no commission.
Start planning →Dates are sourced from the DoPT 2027 holiday circular and cross-checked against india.gov.in as described above; Islamic-calendar dates are provisional pending moon sighting. Costs are indicative ballparks for two people travelling on a budget and change with season and demand — always check live bus, train and room prices before you book (the place pages pull them up). This is not a substitute for your own employer's official leave calendar. Trip Under features underrated destinations only and is reader-planned, not an agency.