Plan the year’s long weekends and the best days to take leave
A day of leave on the right Monday can turn a Sunday holiday into a three-day trip, and three days between Holi and Good Friday can give you nine days off. This long weekend planner lists every long weekend in the year and works out which leave days bridge holidays and weekends into the longest breaks for the number of leave days you want to spend — a PTO optimiser for India, the United States and the United Kingdom.
It starts from the official calendars: the Government of India’s central government holiday list (DoPT office memoranda for 2026 and 2027), US federal holidays as published by OPM, and UK bank holidays for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from GOV.UK. Untick holidays you do not get, tick restricted holidays you plan to take, add your state or company holidays, and choose your weekly off. Everything is calculated in your browser.
How to use the Long Weekend Planner & Leave Optimiser
- Choose the holiday calendar and the year — India 2026 or 2027, US or UK 2026 to 2028.
- Set your weekly off: Saturday and Sunday, Sunday only, alternate Saturdays, or Friday and Saturday.
- Enter how many leave days you want to spend, the shortest break you care about and the most leave you would put into one break.
- Open Holidays, restricted holidays and your own dates to match your office’s list.
- Read the suggested breaks and the calendar, then copy the plan, add it to your calendar (.ics) or download a CSV.
Long Weekend Planner & Leave Optimiser features
Official holiday lists
DoPT (India), OPM (US) and GOV.UK (UK) dates, with observed and substitute days.
Optimised plan
Chooses the combination of breaks that gives the most days off for your leave budget — exact, not a rule of thumb.
Restricted and state holidays
Tick restricted holidays and type your state’s or company’s dates.
Any weekly off
Five-day week, six-day week, 2nd and 4th Saturdays off, or a Friday–Saturday weekend.
Year calendar
Twelve months with holidays, weekends and suggested leave marked.
Holiday lists used
- India: DoPT O.M. F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 3 July 2025 (2026 holidays, Delhi/New Delhi), with Id-ul-Zuha moved to 28 May 2026 by O.M. of 22 May 2026 and 14 April 2026 declared a holiday by order of 9 April 2026; and O.M. F.No.12/2/2023-JCA dated 16 July 2026 for 2027 — 17 gazetted holidays, plus restricted holidays of which each employee may take two.
- Offices outside Delhi observe 14 compulsory holidays plus three chosen by the state’s Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committee, so untick or add dates to match your list. Banks follow the RBI/state lists, and private employers their own.
- United States: OPM federal holiday schedules for 2026, 2027 and 2028, using the observed date when a holiday falls on a weekend (so 31 December 2027 is the observed New Year’s Day 2028).
- United Kingdom: GOV.UK bank holidays for England and Wales, Scotland (including the 15 June 2026 World Cup bank holiday) and Northern Ireland.
How the leave optimiser works
Every day of the year is marked as a holiday, a weekend or a working day. Runs of consecutive days off are found, and every way of joining neighbouring runs by taking the working days between them is a candidate break: its length and its cost in leave days. The planner keeps the candidates at least as long as your shortest break and no more expensive than your per-break limit, then picks the set of non-overlapping breaks with the most days off within your budget, using the same weighted interval scheduling method used for timetables. Ties go to the plan with fewer leave days. The self-test checks the result against a brute-force search.
Example for India 2027 with a Saturday–Sunday weekend: Holi falls on Tuesday 23 March and Good Friday on 26 March, so leave on Monday 22, Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 March gives nine days off from Saturday 20 to Sunday 28 March. Diwali on Friday 29 October is a three-day weekend with no leave at all.
Limits
Breaks are planned inside one calendar year, so a Christmas break that runs into January is cut at 31 December. Islamic holidays may move by a day after moon sighting, and DoPT announces changes at short notice. Leave rules — sandwich rules, approval, carry-forward — are your employer’s. For leave balances use the leave calculator, for UK entitlement the holiday entitlement calculator, and to print a year planner the calendar generator.
Long Weekend Planner & Leave Optimiser FAQ
How many long weekends are there in 2027 in India?
With the central government list and a Saturday–Sunday weekend, the planner finds every three-day or longer weekend that needs no leave — for example Good Friday (26–28 March) and Diwali (29–31 October). Change the weekly off or add your state holidays and the list updates.
What is a PTO optimiser?
A planner that places your paid time off next to holidays and weekends so each leave day buys the most consecutive days off. This one finds the exact best combination for your leave budget.
When are the UK bank holidays in 2027?
England and Wales: 1 January, 26 and 29 March (Easter), 3 May, 31 May, 30 August, and 27 and 28 December (substitute days for Christmas and Boxing Day). Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own lists, both included.
Are restricted holidays included?
They are listed but unticked. Central government employees in Delhi may choose any two from the list; tick the ones you will take.
Can I use it for a six-day week or alternate Saturdays?
Yes. Choose Sunday only, Sundays with the 2nd and 4th Saturdays off, or Sundays with the 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays off.
Does it include the sandwich leave rule?
No. Some employers count weekends between leave days as leave; check your policy before applying.