Short answer
China's holiday calendar decides more of your trip than the weather does. In 2026 there are seven statutory holidays covering 33 days off, and six make-up workdays — weekends that become ordinary working days so the neighbouring holiday can run for five to nine days.
Two blocks swallow the country: Spring Festival, 15-23 February 2026 (nine days, Chinese New Year on 17 February) and National Day Golden Week, 1-7 October 2026. Train tickets, hotel rooms and timed-entry slots at the headline sights go weeks ahead inside those windows. Everything else is a three-to-five-day surge that is busy but manageable.
The practical rule: move your sightseeing to the days immediately before or after a peak, book the fixed date you cannot move as soon as it opens, and remember that a make-up workday Sunday is a working day for offices and banks, not a quiet one for you.
The 2026 calendar at a glance
These are the seven statutory holidays as arranged for 2026, with what each one does to travel inside China. The pattern to notice is that the two long blocks are built by borrowing weekends from either side.
| Holiday | Days off in 2026 | What it does to travel |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thu 1 - Sat 3 January | A short domestic surge. Intercity trains fill on 2-3 January as people return home. |
| Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) | Sun 15 - Mon 23 February, nine days | Chinese New Year falls on Tue 17 February. The largest movement of people on earth; the worst week to arrive without bookings. |
| Qingming Festival | Sat 4 - Mon 6 April | Three days of grave-sweeping trips. Highway tolls peak, city hotels stay quiet. |
| Labour Day | Fri 1 - Tue 5 May | Five days and heavy domestic tourism. Beach cities and mountain resorts sell out. |
| Dragon Boat Festival | Fri 19 - Sun 21 June | Three days. River cities with races get local crowds but little international traffic. |
| Mid-Autumn Festival | Fri 25 - Sun 27 September | Three days. Moon-viewing weekends, family meals, short regional trips. |
| National Day | Thu 1 - Wed 7 October | The busiest week of the year for Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Zhangjiajie and Huangshan. |
Under the current holiday regulation there are 13 statutory paid days in the year: New Year's Day 1, Spring Festival 4, Qingming 1, Labour Day 2, Dragon Boat Festival 1, Mid-Autumn Festival 1 and National Day 3. The rest of the 33 days off come from weekends and the make-up mechanism.
How the make-up workday system works
China stretches a two-day statutory holiday into a week-long break by borrowing the weekends next to it. Those borrowed Saturdays and Sundays become make-up workdays (调休 / 补班): regular working days for government offices, banks, schools and most companies.
In 2026 there are six, and they explain a lot of odd-looking opening behaviour.
| Make-up workday | Borrowed for |
|---|---|
| Sun 4 January | New Year's Day break |
| Sat 14 February | Spring Festival, nine days |
| Sat 28 February | Spring Festival, nine days |
| Sat 9 May | Labour Day break |
| Sun 20 September | National Day Golden Week |
| Sat 10 October | National Day Golden Week |
Two consequences for a visitor. First, embassies, visa centres, banks and government offices abroad and in China may be open on a Saturday and shut on an ordinary weekday around these dates. Second, a make-up workday is a bad day to treat as a quiet weekend: commuter trains run at full volume and offices are staffed.
What closes
The holiday calendar does not shut the country down the way some guides suggest. It shuts specific things, and the pattern is predictable.
- Government offices, banks and post offices close on the statutory days. Banks reopen on the first working day after, which may be a make-up workday weekend. ATMs keep working, so carry enough cash for a day or two rather than a week — see cash and ATMs in China.
- Hospital outpatient departments run reduced schedules during the long breaks. Emergency departments stay open, and travel insurance with a clinic network is the practical answer.
- Museums and galleries commonly close one fixed weekday — usually Monday — and stay open on public holidays instead of taking them off. Closure day and hours vary by venue and season. Check the official channel for the specific museum.
- Small restaurants, family workshops and neighbourhood shops in cities that empty out during Spring Festival can close for several days. Chain restaurants, hotel dining, convenience stores and malls generally keep trading.
- Factories, wholesale markets and exhibition halls go quiet for one to two weeks over Spring Festival. Business travellers who need a supplier or a market visit should not schedule it for mid-February.
What surges
The bigger risk is everything that opens and then sells out.
- High-speed rail. Tickets are released on the official 12306 app in a fixed window before travel, and the popular corridors — Beijing to Shanghai, Shanghai to Xi'an, Guangzhou to Chengdu, Beijing to Harbin in winter — clear within minutes when a peak date opens. Check the official channel for the current sales window; it has changed more than once.
- Flights. Prices rise rather than sell out, and the domestic peak extends a day on either side of the official dates.
- Hotels. The real bottleneck. Rooms near the Forbidden City, the Mutianyu and Badaling wall sections, Zhangjiajie, Jiuzhaigou and Huangshan sell out weeks ahead at prices well above the normal range.
- Timed-entry attractions. Sites that issue a daily quota release slots a fixed number of days ahead. Those slots vanish fastest on holiday dates.
- Taxis, Didi and airport transfers. Demand spikes at the start and the end of the break, exactly when you need to reach a station.
The two peaks, and how to work around each
Spring Festival, 15-23 February 2026
This is the one to respect. The official break is nine days, and the travel period around it — the spring rush known as chunyun — runs roughly 40 days, covering the weeks before and after. Two different situations live inside it.
In the big coastal cities, Spring Festival is the quietest week of the year: offices empty, traffic disappears, some restaurants close. In every city with a famous sight, and on every long-distance train, it is the worst week of the year.
If you are in China anyway, the good move is to spend the actual holiday days in a tier-one city doing city things, then travel on 24-25 February when the return wave has passed. If the Forbidden City or the Great Wall is the point of the trip, buy the dated ticket the hour the quota opens and get there at opening.
National Day, 1-7 October 2026
Seven days, pleasant weather across most of the country and a backlog of pent-up travel demand. Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Zhangjiajie and Huangshan absorb the worst of it. The classic sights can see queues measured in hours, and the wall sections that are normally calm — Mutianyu, Jinshanling, Simatai — fill up too.
Two workable strategies. Either accept the crowds and pre-book every fixed element, or shift your itinerary to second-tier cities — Kaifeng, Datong, Quanzhou, Luoyang — where the holiday surge is milder. Domestic travellers concentrate on the famous names, which leaves plenty of excellent places at ordinary volumes.
2027: what is confirmed and what is not
The fixed festival dates for 2027 are set by lunar and Gregorian reckoning. The days off and the make-up workdays are not: they arrive with the State Council notice, expected in late 2026.
| Holiday | Fixed date in 2027 | Status of the arrangement |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Fri 1 January | Falls on a Friday, so a three-day weekend is very likely |
| Spring Festival | Sat 6 February (Eve Fri 5 February) | Statutory block 5-8 February; the extended break and make-up workdays are pending |
| Qingming Festival | Mon 5 April | Pending |
| Labour Day | From Sat 1 May | Pending; usually a five-day block |
| Dragon Boat Festival | Wed 9 June | Pending |
| Mid-Autumn Festival | Wed 15 September | Pending |
| National Day | From Fri 1 October | Pending; usually extended to a seven-day golden week |
2027 is a Year of the Goat and Chinese New Year lands on 6 February. If you are planning a February 2027 trip, hold off on non-refundable hotels until the notice appears, then book the same day.
How to plan around the peaks
- Put the two peak blocks in your calendar before you book anything15-23 February and 1-7 October 2026. If your dates overlap them and you have flexibility, move a week either side. The difference in crowds is large.
- Book the dated items firstTrain tickets, attraction slots and the first two nights of accommodation. Everything else can be adjusted later. For attraction quotas see how to book Chinese attractions.
- Travel on the shoulders of a break, not inside itThe day a holiday ends is usually calmer than the day before it. Departing on the last holiday day is often easier than departing on the first.
- Use the make-up workdays to your advantageWhen offices and schools work a weekend, leisure travel is lighter. Those weekends are decent dates for the big sights.
- Keep one flexible day per weekA sold-out train or a closed museum is recoverable if the itinerary has slack. It is not if every hour is committed.
- Prepare your phone before the tripTicketing, hotel and bike systems all live in apps. Install and verify them at home, not in a station queue — see the apps to install before China.
Frequently asked questions
Which 2026 holiday should I avoid if I only have one trip?
Spring Festival (15-23 February 2026) and National Day Golden Week (1-7 October 2026). Both empty the big cities and fill every train, flight and hotel near the headline sights. Spring Festival has the extra problem that small restaurants, workshops and shops shut for days.
What is a make-up workday in China?
A Saturday or Sunday that the government turns into a normal working day so the neighbouring holiday can run for five to nine days. In 2026 there are six: 4 January, 14 and 28 February, 9 May, 20 September and 10 October. Government offices, banks and schools open on those weekend days.
Do trains and flights really sell out during Chinese New Year?
Yes, on the main corridors. The Spring Festival travel period runs about 40 days around the holiday, with hundreds of millions of trips. High-speed tickets on routes such as Beijing-Shanghai, Guangzhou-Chengdu and Shanghai-Xi'an go quickly when the sales window opens. Book on the official 12306 app the moment your dates open and check the official channel for the current sales window.
Are museums open during public holidays in China?
Most museums and many attractions close one fixed weekday, commonly Monday, and open through public holidays instead. Hours and closure days change between institutions and seasons, so confirm on the venue's own booking page before you build a day around it.
Is 2027 worth planning around yet?
Only the fixed festival dates are settled: New Year on 1 January, Chinese New Year on 6 February (Eve on 5 February), Qingming on 5 April, Labour Day from 1 May, Dragon Boat Festival on 9 June, Mid-Autumn Festival on 15 September and National Day from 1 October. The exact days off and the make-up workdays arrive with the State Council notice, usually in late October or November of the year before. Until then, check the official channel rather than a projected calendar.
Do prices actually rise during golden week?
Yes, and hotel rooms go first. Room rates near major sights climb sharply for the peak weeks and the cheapest categories disappear weeks ahead. Train fares are fixed by the operator, so transport is a supply problem rather than a price problem, except for flights, which do rise.
Will restaurants and shops be closed?
During Spring Festival, yes, in patches. Family-run restaurants, small workshops and neighbourhood shops in cities that empty out can close for several days. Chain restaurants, hotel dining rooms, convenience stores and larger malls generally stay open. National Day and Labour Day are busier but far less disrupted.
Should I visit the Great Wall during a holiday?
It can be done, but book the date-and-time slot in advance, arrive at opening and expect shuttle queues. A weekday inside a short three-day break is easier than the middle of a seven-day one.
How far ahead do attraction tickets open?
Quotas and windows differ per site. Major sites with timed entry commonly release slots from a few days to about two weeks ahead, and holiday dates sell out within hours. Set a reminder for the release date and check the official channel for that specific site.
Does the holiday calendar affect visa or entry paperwork?
No. Immigration and visa rules do not change because of domestic holidays, though visa application centres and embassies close on the Chinese calendar as well as local ones. Plan a visa application away from the Spring Festival and National Day weeks.
Related reading
If your trip starts inside a peak, sort entry first: the entry requirements in one page covers passports, visas and the arrival card, and hotels that accept foreign guests explains what to book when the good rooms are gone.
Compiled from the State Council holiday arrangement for 2026, published national holiday calendars, and foreign-visitor reports on peak-period transport and attraction quotas, cross-checked 30 September 2026. Days off, make-up workdays and ticketing windows are set by official notice and change year to year; the notice and the venue's own booking page are the authoritative version. Nothing on this page is financial or legal advice.