Who doesn’t love a good holiday, and 2026 is another year where planning your leave early can unlock some impressive breaks while using minimal annual leave. While 2026 doesn’t quite line up the way 2025 did, there are still some excellent opportunities to stretch your time away from work. The key is spotting public holidays that fall close to weekends or cluster together, then strategically adding a few leave days around them.
The Best Opportunity in 2026: The End-of-Year Break!
The standout opportunity in 2026 falls at the end of the year. With Christmas and Boxing Day creating a strong public holiday block, and New Year’s Day close behind, you can enjoy a substantial break with very little leave required. Here’s how it works:.
- Friday 25 December 2026 — Christmas Day (public holiday)
- Saturday 26 December 2026 — Boxing Day (public holiday)
- Sunday 27 December 2026 — Weekend
- Monday 28 December 2026 — Additional Boxing Day public holiday
- Tuesday 29 December 2026 — Annual leave
- Wednesday 30 December 2026 — Annual leave
- Thursday 31 December 2026 — Annual leave
- Friday 1 January 2027 — New Year’s Day (public holiday)
- Saturday 2 January 2027 — Weekend
- Sunday 3 January 2027 — Weekend
By taking just three days of annual leave, you can enjoy a 10-day break from Friday 25 December 2026 through to Sunday 3 January 2027.
Put Your Leave Form in Early
This is one of those leave windows that tends to disappear fast once people realise how good it is. If you want to secure this break, it is worth getting your leave request in early, before everyone else clocks on.