It’s been quite a wait this year, bit Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower has finally revealed its confirmed public holiday dates for 2025, and that means its time to start locking in your leave days for next year, to snag long weekends for short regional overseas trips or leave-efficient longer breaks for more adventurous vacations.

First the bad news – there are only four long weekends in 2025, one less than in 2023 and two less than in 2022.

On the plus side you’ll still get three days off without having to take any leave whatsoever during these periods, but they are sure to prove popular next year, given the limited opportunities.

These long weekends can be easily extended to a 4-day break, for taking only a single leave day at either side, and the good news is that three public holidays fall on a Thursday in 2025, meaning three additional options if that’s your strategy.

That gives you a total of seven 4-day or 5-day weekend opportunities, if you’re willing to part with a single leave day.

Here’s the full rundown of opportunities.

Full list of Public Holidays in 2025

First of all, here is the full list of the 11 official gazetted public holidays in Singapore for 2025.

2025 Public Holidays in Singapore

Holiday	Date(s)
New Year’s Day	1 Jan 2025 (Wed)
Chinese New Year	29 Jan 2025 (Wed) 30 Jan 2025 (Thu)
Hari Raya Puasa	31 Mar 2025 (Mon)
Good Friday	18 Apr 2025 (Fri)
Labour Day	1 May 2025 (Thu)
Vesak Day	12 May 2025 (Mon)
Hari Raya Haji	7 Jun 2025 (Sat)
National Day	9 Aug 2025 (Sat)
Deepavali	20 Oct 2025 (Mon)
Christmas Day	25 Dec 2025 (Thu)

These public holiday dates are typically announced in April, May or June, but this year it’s taken until early August for them to be confirmed.

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-day break for a regional jaunt, there are four opportunities to do just that in 2025.

2025
Zero-leave 3-day trip options

Holiday	PH Date(s) 2025	Days for a trip (including weekend)
Hari Raya Puasa	31 Mar (Mon)	3 days
Good Friday	18 Apr (Fri)	3 days
Vesak Day	12 May (Mon)	3 days
Deepavali	20 Oct (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 seven opportunities to do that in 2025.

2025
Leave-efficient 4/5-day options

Holiday	PH Date(s) 2025	Apply for leave on	Days for a trip
Chinese New Year	29 Jan (Wed) 30 Jan (Thu)	31 Jan (Fri)	5 days
Hari Raya Puasa	31 Mar (Mon)	28 Mar (Fri) or 1 Apr (Tue)	4 days
Good Friday	18 Apr (Fri)	17 Apr (Thu) or 21 Apr (Mon)	4 days
Labour Day	1 May (Thu)	2 May (Fri)	4 days
Vesak Day	12 May (Mon)	9 May (Fri) or 13 May (Tue)	4 days
Deepavali	20 Oct (Mon)	17 Oct (Fri) or 21 Oct (Tue)	4 days
Christmas Day	25 Dec (Thu)	26 Dec (Fri)	4 days

The additional ones here compared to the long weekend list are:

• Chinese New Year in January, which falls on a Wednesday and Thursday in 2025
• Labour Day in May, which falls on a Thursday in 2025
• Christmas Day in December, which falls on a Thursday in 2025

Of course you can always extend these seven options slightly at either side with an extra leave day (2 leave days in total) to make them 5/6-day trips.

3 days of leave over CNY will score you 9 days off

Interested in a longer trip next year?

If you’re willing to get time off over Chinese New Year then you can earn 9 days out of the office, for taking just 3 days of leave.

Leave-efficient 9-day option
(25 Jan – 2 Feb)

	PH Date(s) 2025	Apply for leave on	Days for a trip
Chinese New Year	29 Jan (Wed) 30 Jan (Thu)	27 Jan (Mon) 28 Jan (Tue) 31 Jan (Fri)	9 days

The downside is that flights to many destinations are very expensive during this period, and award space is therefore limited too.

Best dates for a long trip

Planning a long trip in 2025?

The most efficient time to do this is in the first half of May, to take advantage of Labour Day early in the month at the beginning of your trip and Vesak Day mid-month, which you can pin to the end.

Leave-efficient 12-day option
(1 May – 12 May)

	PH Date(s) 2025	Apply for leave on	Days for a trip
Labour Day	1 May (Thu)		12 days
		2 May (Fri) 5 May (Mon) 6 May (Tue) 7 May (Wed) 8 May (Thu) 9 May (Fri)
Vesak Day	12 May (Mon)

You’ll then score a blissful 12 days off by taking just 6 days of annual leave.

For an even longer trip, consider this late April option to get 17 days off, for 9 days of leave.

Leave-efficient 17-day option
(18 Apr – 4 May)

	PH Date(s) 2025	Apply for leave on	Days for a trip
Good Friday	18 Apr (Fri)		17 days
		21 Apr (Mon) 22 Apr (Tue) 23 Apr (Wed) 24 Apr (Thu) 25 Apr (Fri) 28 Apr (Mon) 29 Apr (Tue) 30 Apr (Wed)
Labour Day	1 May (Thu)
		2 May (Fri)

Still got 2024 leave days to use?

If you’re still holding on to an annual leave balance to use up this year, don’t worry.

We’ve got you covered with our guide to maximising Singapore’s 2024 Public Holidays.

Don’t waste your annual leave in 2025, with several options available for stretching out a number of overseas trips next year, including six options for a 4-day trip with only one day of leave, plus one option for a 5-day trip with only one day wiped from your leave balance!

While it’s the lowest total in a few years, there are even four long weekends for 3-day trips with no leave days required.

Obviously we’re assuming here 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 2025.

Wherever you’re hoping to jet off to, it may be worth locking in your annual leave now to maximise your days off, then work out where to go later, now that Changi Airport and its many airlines are offering almost the full pre-COVID range of travel options.

(Cover Photo: IHG)