With Singapore’s borders reopened to quarantine-free travel from all countries, now also including unvaccinated travellers, recent confirmation of the Lion City’s public holiday dates for 2023 makes it time to lock in your leave days for next year.
This will allow you to snag long weekends for regional overseas trips, plus leave-efficient longer breaks for more far-flung vacations.
A recent revision of the date Vesak Day will be observed next year has brought more good news, with an additional long weekend in store during June 2023 – perfect weather season down in the likes of Bali and Lombok!
There are now eight long weekends in 2023, where you’ll get three days off without having to take any leave whatsoever, and these can easily be extended to a 4-day break (5 days in one example), for taking only a single leave day at either side.
For longer trips, you’ll only have to part with 3 days of annual leave to get 9 consecutive days off around Chinese New Year, or take advantage of a 10 days off option for only 4 days of leave over Christmas, right at the end of 2023.
Here’s how the options look.
Long weekends (no leave needed)
If you’re a fan of preserving your precious annual leave days for longer trips and you’re happy with a three or four day break for a regional jaunt, there are now eight opportunities to do just that in 2023, thanks to the new Vesak Day benefit in June.
2023
Zero-leave 3/4-day trip options
| Holiday | Observed Date(s) | Days for a trip |
| New Year’s Day | 2 Jan (Mon) | 3 days |
| Chinese New Year | 23 Jan (Mon) 24 Jan (Tue) |
4 days |
| Good Friday | 7 Apr (Fri) | 3 days |
| Labour Day |
1 May (Mon) | 3 days |
 Vesak Day |
2 Jun (Fri) | 3 days |
| Deepavali | 13 Nov (Mon) | 3 days |
| Christmas Day | 25 Dec (Mon) | 3 days |
| New Year’s Day (2024) |
1 Jan 2024 (Mon) | 3 days |
Extending long weekends (single leave day)
Happy with 4 or 5 consecutive days off work for taking just a single annual leave day?
Here’s our rundown of nine opportunities to do just that in 2023, with an additional long weekend option in June from Hari Raya Haji falling on a Thursday (take leave on the Friday in this case, for 4 consecutive days off).
That’s on top of the new Vesak Day benefit, so two four-day weekends are possible in June for taking just a single leave day in each case.
2023
Leave-efficient 4/5-day options
| Holiday | Observed Date(s) | Apply for leave on | Days for a trip |
| New Year’s Day | 2 Jan (Mon) | 30 Dec 2022 (Fri) or 3 Jan 2023 (Tue) |
4 days |
| Chinese New Year | 23 Jan (Mon) 24 Jan (Tue) |
20 Jan (Fri) or 25 Jan (Wed) |
5 days |
| Good Friday | 7 Apr (Fri) | 6 Apr (Thu) or 10 Apr (Mon) |
4 days |
| Labour Day |
1 May (Mon) | 28 Apr (Fri) or 2 May (Tue) |
4 days |
Vesak Day |
2 Jun (Fri) | 1 Jun (Thu) or 5 Jun (Mon) |
4 days |
| Hari Raya Haji | 29 Jun (Thu) | 30 Jun (Fri) |
4 days |
| Deepavali | 13 Nov (Mon) | 10 Nov (Fri) or 14 Nov (Tue) |
4 days |
| Christmas Day | 25 Dec (Mon) | 22 Dec (Fri) or 26 Dec (Tue) |
4 days |
| New Year’s Day (2024) |
1 Jan 2024 (Mon) | 29 Dec (Fri) or 2 Jan 2024 (Tue) |
4 days |
The final option here takes advantage of New Year’s Day in 2024 falling on a Monday, giving you a long weekend to take advantage of at the very end of 2023 using a 2023 leave day, or by dipping in to your 2024 allowance if you prefer.
Of course you can always extend these options slightly too with an extra leave day (2 leave days in total) to make them 5-day or 6-day trips.
2 days of leave over National Day = 5 days off
Even though National Day falls on a Wednesday in 2023, which doesn’t help you have a long weekend for a single leave day, you can always take two leave days either side of this public holiday and give yourself a five-day stretch to enjoy a trip somewhere.
2023
National Day leave option
| Holiday | Observed Date(s) | Apply for leave on | Days for a trip |
| National Day | 9 Aug (Wed) | 7 Aug (Mon) 8 Aug (Tue) or 10 Aug (Thu) 11 Aug (Fri) |
5 days |
3 days of leave over CNY will score you 9 days off
Interested in a longer trip in 2023?
Travelling around the Chinese New Year period is usually expensive, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, with both airlines and hotels hiking their prices around the popular holiday.
That’s especially true this year, with pent-up demand still outstripping supply to and from many popular holiday spots, but there are still good deals to be had.
Nonetheless if you can take the likely hit on cost, you’ll at least save on annual leave days, with only 3 days of leave enough to score you a full 9 days out of the office, enough to be quite adventurous with this one.
2023
Leave-efficient 9-day option
| Holiday | Observed Date(s) | Apply for leave on | Days for a trip |
| Chinese New Year | 23 Jan (Mon) 24 Jan (Tue) |
25 Jan (Wed) 26 Jan (Thu) 27 Jan (Fri) |
9 days |
You can also consider a longer break over the Christmas and New Year period right at the end of 2023, with this 10 days off for 4 days of leave option, extending into 2024 by a single day.
2023
Leave-efficient 10-day option
| Holiday | Observed Date(s) | Apply for leave on | Days for a trip |
| Christmas Day (2023) |
25 Dec (Mon) | 10 days | |
| 26 Dec (Tue) 27 Dec (Wed) 28 Dec (Thu) 29 Dec (Fri) |
|||
| New Year’s Day (2024) |
1 Jan 2024 (Mon) |
Summary
Don’t waste your annual leave in 2023, with several options available for stretching out a number of overseas trips next year, including a great opportunity for 9 consecutive days off with only 3 days scrubbed from your leave balance!
There are plenty of options for shorter 4- and 5-day trips too (even 3- and 4-day ones with no leave needed), with the revised Vesak Day providing an extra option here compared to the initial public holidays announcement back in April.
Obviously we’re assuming that most of our readers are office-based ‘Monday to Friday’ types, so you’ll have to examine the full public holiday calendar yourself if you normally work on a different pattern of days, to identify where your personal ‘sweet spots’ lie in 2023.
There are already hundreds of countries now offering two-way quarantine-free travel for Singapore residents, almost all of which are completely test-free in both directions.
The list has recently grown even longer, now including favourites like Taiwan and Japan, in addition to a range of regional options including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Wherever you’re hoping to jet off to, it’s worth locking in your annual leave now to maximise your days off, then work out where to go later based on fares, award availability, and the latest border measures, now that an almost global range of leisure travel options has returned.
(Cover Photo: Club Med)
Take note there is one more holiday too but i am not too sure when it will take place as it is elections
Elections???
Presidental Election
Urmm how bout hari raya…..
Hari Raya Puasa has no benefit next year as it falls on a Saturday (22nd April)
Hari Raya Haji (Thu 29th June) allows a 4-day weekend with one day of leave, as shown.
Tis is not fully UPDATED. Where is HARI RAYA HOLIDAYS. Not Haji
As mentioned above, there is no benefit from Hari Raya Puasa next year. It falls on a Saturday!