Public Holidays in Singapore 2027: How to Get 46 Days Off With Just 14 Days of Annual Leave

If you're the kind of person who opens the leave calendar the moment public holidays for the new year drop, 2027 is worth the effort. The Ministry of Manpower has gazetted 11 public holidays for 2027, and with the right leave days booked in the right spots, you can turn those 11 holidays into 46 days off the whole year.

The best part? You don't need a fat leave balance to pull this off. Most people we know are working with around 14 days a year minimally, and that's exactly what this plan is built around—14 days of annual leave, stretched into 46 days of actual time off.

Here's the full breakdown, holiday by holiday.

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Public holidays in Singapore 2027

Here's the complete list of official public holidays in Singapore for 2027, fresh from MOM.

Monday, 8 Feb 2027, will be a public holiday, since Chinese New Year's second day falls on a Sunday.

Compared to 2026, this year is a little less generous with free long weekends—Labour Day and Christmas both land on a Saturday, so there's no bonus day off either time. That's exactly why planning your leave properly matters more in 2027 than it did last year.

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How to turn 14 days of leave into 46 days off in 2027

Book your leave against these dates, and 14 days off work turns into 46 days of actual holiday.

Using 14 days of leave to get 46 days off means more than 6 weeks away from your desk for the price of under 3 working weeks of leave.

Not every leave day pulls the same weight, though. Here's how the ratio actually breaks down—days off you get back for every day of leave you spend:

Chinese New Year and Deepavali technically give you the best bang for your leave-buck this year. But if you're chasing the single biggest block of time off, nothing beats the May cluster.

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The one week you shouldn't miss—Hari Raya Haji + Vesak Day (15–23 May)

This is the standout of 2027. Hari Raya Haji falls on Monday 17 May, and Vesak Day follows just 3 days later on Thursday 20 May. Take 3 days of leave—Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of that week—and the 2 holidays merge into one unbroken 9-day break, from Saturday 15 May to Sunday 23 May.

It's the best single leave-to-holiday trade of the year, and it's also the one everyone else in your office has probably already spotted. If there's one block worth locking in early, this is it.

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No long weekend from CNY this year? Send that leave to May instead

Chinese New Year already gives you a solid 4-day break for just one day of leave—Tuesday 9 February bridges you straight from the in-lieu Monday holiday into the weekend. That's a great ratio on its own.

What it won't do this year is stretch much further. Chinese New Year's first day falls on a Saturday, so unlike some years where CNY sits mid-week and lets you build a much longer run with a few extra leave days, 2027's calendar doesn't cooperate the same way. Throwing more leave at CNY this year buys you diminishing returns.

If you've got spare leave you were saving for CNY, put it toward the May cluster instead—the marginal payoff there is considerably bigger.

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Cheapest days off—Deepavali and Labour Day

If you'd rather spread your leave thin across the year instead of committing it all to one big trip, these are the cheapest wins on the calendar:

• Deepavali (28 Oct): take Friday 29 October, and you've got a 4-day weekend (28–31 Oct) for a single day of leave.
• Labour Day (1 May): take Friday 30 April, and you get a 3-day weekend (30 Apr–2 May), also for one day of leave.

Neither needs much planning, and both are easy to slot in even if your leave calendar's already tight.

You might have noticed that Christmas Day also falls on a Saturday in 2027, so the same 1-day-leave move (taking Friday 24 December) would technically stretch it into a 3-day weekend too. Between Labour Day and Christmas Day, we chose to leave Christmas out of the 14-day plan on purpose. Flights and hotel rates tend to spike hardest around the year-end school holiday period, so that marginal leave day tends to go further spent elsewhere, like the May cluster or Deepavali, than on a short trip during the most expensive travel window of the year. But if you've got a 15th day of leave to spare and don't mind year-end prices, it's still a perfectly valid move.

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ALSO READ: Best Time to Book Cheap Flights: A Data-Backed Guide (2026)

Do you get extra time off for Labour Day and Christmas falling on a Saturday?

Possibly—but it's not automatic, and it depends on your employer.

Under the Employment Act, what happens when a public holiday lands on a weekend depends on which kind of non-working day it falls on:

• If it falls on your rest day (Sunday for most employees): the next working day automatically becomes a paid public holiday. No discussion needed—it just happens.
• If it falls on a non-working day that isn't your rest day (Saturday, for employees on a 5-day work week): you're entitled to either a day off in lieu or an extra day's salary at the gross rate of pay—but which one you get is mutually agreed with your employer, not automatic.

Both Labour Day (1 May) and Christmas Day (25 December) fall on a Saturday in 2027, which puts them in the second category. In practice, that means you could end up with:

• A bonus day off in lieu (on top of whatever leave you've already planned around these dates), or
• Just an extra day's pay instead, with no additional day off.

It's worth checking with HR early, especially if you're timing leave around either of these dates. The 14-day plan above assumes no in-lieu day is granted, so any in-lieu day you do get is a bonus on top of it, and you’re free to use it however you like.

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What about off-in-lieu days for schools?

This one's separate from the workplace rule above, and it's already confirmed. MOE's 2027 school terms and holidays release names 3 designated off-in-lieu days for schools—including the General Office, Student Care Centres, and KCare Centres, all closed:

• Tuesday, 9 February (the day after the CNY in-lieu Monday)
• Monday, 3 May (the Monday after Labour Day weekend)
• Monday, 27 December (the Monday after Christmas weekend)

If you've got school-going kids, this lines up nicely with two parts of the leave plan above. Schools are already closed on Monday 3 May, so if you're taking Friday 30 April per the Labour Day plan, your kids get an extra day tacked on at the other end—stretching the family's break to four days (30 Apr–3 May) without any extra leave on your part.

The 27 December in-lieu day is a bit different—it doesn't add anything extra on its own, since MOE's confirmed school vacation already runs from 20 November clear through to 31 December (see the planning tips section below). Schools would be closed that day regardless of the in-lieu designation.

Remember that this only affects your kids' schooling schedule, not your own workplace entitlement. You'd still need to use your own leave (or check your own off-in-lieu situation from the section above) to actually be off work on those days yourself.

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Tips for smooth holiday planning in 2027

Here are a few things worth sorting out before you lock in any of the above.

Check the school holiday dates before you book anything. MOE has confirmed the 2027 school vacation periods:

Note: JC and MI students follow slightly different end-of-year dates—check the release directly if that applies to you.

Two things worth knowing if you're travelling with kids:

• The Hari Raya Puasa break runs straight into the March school vacation. Our workplace leave plan covers 6–14 March, and school lets out for the holidays on 13 March—so your kids are off for a full week longer than your own leave block, through 21 March. You'd need extra leave to stay away with them for that whole stretch, but it's useful to know the runway is there if you want it.
• The Hari Raya Haji–Vesak Day break doesn't overlap with school holidays at all. School term runs right through 15–23 May, with the next school break only starting on 29 May. If you're planning that trip around the kids too, you may need to look at term-time leave rules with the school rather than relying on the calendar to line up.
• The year-end school vacation is much longer than the office break. Schools are out from 20 November all the way to 31 December—so if you're only taking the 25–26 December office weekend from the plan above, your kids are still off for weeks either side of it.

Book early, especially for May. The Hari Raya Haji–Vesak Day window is the standout leave hack of the year, which means everyone's aiming for the same flights and hotels. Early booking usually means better prices and more availability.

Sort your travel insurance before you fly. Whether you're doing a quick regional hop over one of the shorter weekends or a longer trip in May, it's worth comparing travel insurance plans in Singapore before you go—cancellations, delays, and medical costs overseas add up fast without it.

ALSO READ: 8 Best Travel Insurance Plans in Singapore (2026)

Sort out your spending money too. If you're heading overseas, a digital multi-currency account can save you a fair bit compared to changing cash or paying foreign transaction fees on a regular bank card. It's worth comparing a few options rather than defaulting to whichever one you already have installed—rates, fee-free withdrawal limits, and currency coverage vary more than people expect.

ALSO READ: Comparing Digital Multi-Currency Accounts: Wise, YouTrip, Revolut, and More

Check your passport's validity. Most countries want at least 6 months of validity left from your travel date. It's an easy thing to forget until you're at check-in, but a painful mistake. If your passport is expiring within 6 months from your travel date, apply for a new passport at least 2 weeks in advance.   

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Summary—46 days off, 14 days of leave

2027 might have fewer free long weekends than 2026, but the leave-planning math still works out generously: 14 days of annual leave, spent in the right places, gets you 46 days off across the year. The May cluster—Hari Raya Haji into Vesak Day—is the single best move you can make, and it's worth booking before everyone else in your office beats you to it.

Lock in your leave early, set your out-of-office message, and start planning where that time actually takes you.

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