Short answer
Golden Week 2026 runs Thursday 1 October to Wednesday 7 October — seven days off, confirmed by the State Council holiday notice published on 4 November 2025. Two weekends are converted into working days to pay for it: Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October.
What breaks: train and flight seats into and out of the big cities, hotel rooms in every resort town, and every timed-entry slot at the headline sights. Rail tickets are released 15 days ahead on 12306, and the 30 September and 1 October departures are gone within minutes of the sale opening.
If your dates flex at all, come in the ten days after 8 October instead — same weather, a fraction of the price and the queue. If Golden Week is your only window, base yourself in one city, book everything before you fly, and stay off the transport network on 30 September to 2 October and again on 6 to 7 October.
The 2026 dates, and what is known about 2027
The October holiday is fixed, not forecast. The State Council publishes the following year's arrangement each autumn, and the notice covering 2026 went out on 4 November 2025.
| Holiday | 2026 dates | Days off | Make-up workdays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-Autumn Festival | Fri 25 – Sun 27 September 2026 | 3 | None |
| National Day Golden Week | Thu 1 – Wed 7 October 2026 | 7 | Sun 20 September, Sat 10 October |
| Spring Festival, for comparison | Sun 15 – Mon 23 February 2026 | 9 | Announced with the same notice |
In 2026 the two autumn holidays are separate. Mid-Autumn is its own three-day weekend on 25 to 27 September, and Golden Week starts the following Thursday. In 2025 they were merged into one eight-day block, so anyone who travelled China in October 2025 had a different calendar from the one running now.
For 2027, 1 October falls on a Friday. The holiday is expected to run the familiar 1 to 7 October pattern, but the notice that locks the rest days and the make-up workdays had not been published when this page was written. Treat 2027 as expected rather than confirmed, and check the official announcement before committing to anything non-refundable.
What actually changes on the ground
Golden Week is not a quiet national shutdown. It is the opposite: almost everything tourist-facing stays open, and a large share of the country's working population moves at the same time. The wider Chinese holiday calendar explains why the peaks land where they do.
- Transport stops being flexible. The railway adds extra services for the holiday, and the extra services sell out too. Motorways are toll-free for small passenger cars on the holiday dates, which sounds like good news and is not: the queues leaving Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on 1 October are measured in hours.
- Prices step up, they do not drift up. Hotel rates in Sanya, Guilin, Zhangjiajie, Lijiang and Huangshan commonly run two to three times an ordinary week in October, and many places impose minimum stays. Domestic flights surge the same way. High-speed rail does not surge — the fare is fixed by distance and class — which is exactly why a seat is the hardest thing to buy.
- Sights switch to quotas. Big attractions run daily caps or timed-entry systems and fill their window within minutes. The Palace Museum in Beijing and the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang are the best-known cases. Tiananmen Square requires a reservation of its own even to walk across it. Turning up at 11:00 without a booking gets a refusal, not a place in the queue.
- Service businesses thin out. Banks, government offices, visa service centres and embassy consular sections are closed for the seven days. Many small family restaurants shut for a few days or the whole week. Malls, hotels, airports, high-speed rail and convenience stores run as normal.
- The weather is good, with one exception. Early October is one of the best windows of the Chinese year in the north: dry, clear, roughly 10–22°C in Beijing, with autumn colour starting in the mountains. Shanghai and Hangzhou sit around 18–26°C. The exception is the south-east coast — tropical-cyclone season is not over, and warnings in Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan can cancel flights and ferries at short notice.
What sells out first
The order is predictable, and it is the same every year. Anything with a fixed number of seats or a daily cap goes first; anything with elastic supply, such as hotel beds in a big city, survives longest.
| What | When it disappears | Where to book |
|---|---|---|
| Rail seats for 30 September and 1 October | Minutes after the 15-day presale opens | 12306, the official railway app and website |
| Flights into resort cities — Sanya, Guilin, Lijiang, Kunming | Weeks ahead; fares climb as seats go | Airline site or a booking platform |
| Timed tickets at capped sites (Palace Museum, Mogao, Jiuzhaigou) | Minutes after that site's reservation window opens | The attraction's own official channel — check the official channel for the release day |
| Tiananmen Square entry reservation | Days ahead; free but quota-limited | The official square reservation channel |
| Hotels in resort towns | Weeks ahead, at peak rates | Hotel direct, or a booking platform with free cancellation |
| Long-distance coaches and overnight sleeper berths | Days ahead | 12306, then the station counter once in China |
If you are going anyway: a plan that survives the week
- Pick one city and stay in itEvery extra transport leg is another sold-out train, another queue, another chance of spending a holiday afternoon in a station. Two cities across seven days is the comfortable maximum.
- Book both legs the hour the presale opensThe 15-day window opens at a fixed hour that differs by departure station, and 12306 lists the release time. Be at the screen then, not later that evening.
- Join the waiting list instead of giving upWhen a train shows as sold out, 12306's waiting-list function queues you for released seats, and extra holiday services are added in batches through the week. It converts often enough to be worth the two minutes.
- Reserve the two or three sights that matter, and no moreReservation systems reward decisiveness. Book the headline sights the moment their windows open, then build the rest of the trip from places that sell tickets on the day.
- Keep two reservation-free backups in every cityAn old commercial street, a city park, a provincial museum with same-day entry, a riverside walk. On 3 October these are the difference between a good day and a wasted one.
- Travel on 30 September or 2 OctoberThe first and last days of the holiday are the worst in each direction. Shifting by a single day cuts the transport crush more than any other change you can make.
- Start at opening timeGates open around 08:00 and the crush builds from 10:00. Two hours early buys you the photographs, the space and the exit.
- Carry ¥300–500 in small notes and a physical cardQR payment works fine, but small stalls slow down under the volume, and a card is the reliable fallback. The pre-trip checklist covers what to set up on your phone before departure.
- Hold 8 October as a bufferOn 7 October the entire country is also hunting for a seat home. A spare day absorbs a cancellation without turning it into a missed flight.
Better windows than Golden Week
Off-peak travel in China is not a small upgrade. Same sights, same weather, normal prices, and a queue that behaves like a queue.
| Window | What it is like | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 25–27 Sep 2026 | Mid-Autumn mini-peak | Three days off; fine for one city, poor for long-haul rail |
| 28–30 Sep 2026 | Rising fast | The exodus has started; trains out of big cities fill first |
| 1–7 Oct 2026 | The peak itself | Book everything in advance or change your plans |
| 8–18 Oct 2026 | The sweet spot | Post-holiday lull; settled weather; rates back to normal |
| 19–31 Oct 2026 | Shoulder | Autumn colour in Beijing, Huangshan and Jiuzhaigou; weekends busier |
| 1–7 Nov 2026 | Quiet, colder | No public holiday; the north starts to bite |
Two make-up workdays catch visitors out. Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October 2026 are ordinary working days across mainland China, so offices, banks and factories run as usual and city transport behaves like a weekday. Neither is a holiday, and neither is a quiet weekend either.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Golden Week 2026 dates confirmed?
Yes. National Day Golden Week 2026 runs Thursday 1 October to Wednesday 7 October, seven days off, as set out in the State Council holiday notice published on 4 November 2025. Two weekends are converted into working days to fund it: Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October 2026.
Do attractions close during Golden Week?
Almost all tourist sites stay open for all seven days, and some museums that normally close on Mondays stay open through the holiday instead. What closes is the booking, not the building: capped daily visitor numbers and timed-entry slots mean the gate shuts the moment the quota for that day is used up. Check the site's own notice in the week before you go.
Are train tickets impossible to get during Golden Week?
Impossible for specific trains, easy for others. Train tickets are released 15 days ahead, so a 1 October departure goes on sale in mid-September and the popular departures and seat classes vanish within minutes. Use the waiting list when a train shows as sold out, keep checking as extra holiday services are released in batches, and consider travelling on 30 September or 2 October instead.
How far ahead should I book hotels for the October holiday?
Weeks ahead in the resort cities, and at the same time as your transport. Rates in Sanya, Guilin, Zhangjiajie and Lijiang commonly run two to three times the ordinary mid-October price, and many hotels impose minimum stays over the holiday. Choose a rate with free cancellation so you can keep comparing after you book.
Is it cheaper to fly or take the train during Golden Week?
The train, for almost every domestic trip that high-speed rail covers in five hours or less. Rail fares are fixed by distance and seat class and do not move with demand, so the only problem is getting a seat. Air fares climb steadily through the booking curve before 1 October, and delays are more likely once the air and road networks saturate.
Is Beijing workable during Golden Week?
Yes, if you book everything before you fly. The Palace Museum and Tiananmen Square both need reservations that are released on a fixed schedule and gone quickly, and any Great Wall section needs a ticket in advance. Use the metro rather than taxis for the sights inside the fifth ring, and expect long security queues at the main railway stations on 1 October and 7 October.
Do restaurants and shops close over the holiday?
Malls, hotel restaurants, convenience stores and large chain restaurants stay open, and many run holiday promotions. Small family-run places often shut for a few days or the whole week, so a specific noodle shop can be shuttered on 2 October with no notice. Banks, government offices and consular sections are closed for the full seven days.
What about Mid-Autumn Festival in 2026?
Mid-Autumn falls on Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September 2026 as its own three-day break. In 2025 it merged with National Day into a single eight-day block; in 2026 the two are separate, which gives two short peaks a week apart rather than one long one. The 25 to 27 September weekend is a mini-holiday for short domestic trips.
Is there any way to avoid the crowds inside Golden Week?
Partly. The calmest hours at any headline sight are the first two after opening and the last two before closing; the middle of the day is the crush. Second-tier sights stay comfortable even on 3 October: a provincial museum, a city park, an old commercial street. If your dates are flexible at all, the ten days after 8 October are the quietest stretch of the whole year at the big sights.
Does Golden Week affect payment apps, cards or cash?
No. Alipay, WeChat Pay, ATMs and card terminals keep working, and hotels, malls and airports accept international cards as usual. The difference is volume rather than availability: ATMs in tourist districts empty faster and small vendors get slower at the counter. Carry some cash as a backup and keep a physical card with you.
Related reading
If the October week does not work for you, the other mega-peak is the Spring Festival travel rush in February, which strains the railways far harder still. Inside Golden Week itself, the single best decision is to move one city instead of five — what is actually being celebrated on 1 October is a founding anniversary, not a religious festival, and most of the country marks it with travel rather than ceremony.
Compiled from the State Council General Office notice on 2026 public holiday arrangements (issued 4 November 2025), China Railway 12306 ticketing guidance on the 15-day presale window and service hours, and the published 2027 public holiday calendar, cross-checked 30 September 2026. Reservation windows, daily quotas, make-up workdays and route capacity change every year — the State Council notice and each attraction's own booking channel are the authoritative version. Nothing on this page is financial or legal advice.