Long weekends in South Africa, 2026
In 2026, holidays give South Africa5 runs of at least three consecutive days off, the longest lasting 4 days. Below they are listed in calendar order, followed by the bridge days that stretch a short break into a long one.
Every long weekend, in date order
| Starts | Ends | Days off | Because of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 3 Apr | Mon 6 Apr | 4 days | Good Friday, Family Day |
| Sat 25 Apr | Mon 27 Apr | 3 days | Freedom Day |
| Fri 1 May | Sun 3 May | 3 days | Workers' Day |
| Sat 8 Aug | Mon 10 Aug | 3 days | National Women's Day |
| Fri 25 Dec | Sun 27 Dec | 3 days | Christmas Day, Day of Goodwill |
Bridge days
A bridge day is a lone working day sitting between a holiday and the weekend. Book that one day as leave and the time off joins up into four days or more. Offices tend to be quiet on these dates even though nobody is officially off.
| Date | Weekday | Next to |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Jan 2026 | Friday | New Year's Day |
| 15 Jun 2026 | Monday | Youth Day |
| 25 Sep 2026 | Friday | Heritage Day |
The cheapest leave of the year: spending 3days of annual leave on the bridges above gives you 3 breaks of at least four days. Expect colleagues to have the same idea, so request these early.
How we find them
Each day of 2026 is marked as a working day or a day off, using South Africa's weekend pattern and its nationwide holidays. Consecutive days off are joined into runs; a run of three days or more that includes at least one holiday counts as a long weekend. A plain two-day weekend never qualifies.
Regional holidays are not part of this calculation. If your region has its own dates, you may get extra long weekends that do not appear in the national list.
Back to the South Africa2026 holiday calendar or check working days between two dates.