If there's one thing that we can all get excited about, it's all the public holidays and long weekends in store for us. If you haven't already heard, out of all the 11 gazetted public holidays in 2025, four will fall on a Friday or Monday. This means that we'll get to enjoy a total of four long weekends. That's one long weekend less than what we got in 2024 (which is admittedly a tad disappointing) but it turns out that two public holidays happen to fall on a Saturday – so those on a five-day work week have the option of claiming those as an off day, or receiving salary in lieu. Our advice? Create your own long weekend by taking that off-in-lieu day on a Friday or Monday too.
Now that New Year's Day and our two-day Chinese New Year break are over, these are all the eight remaining public holidays to look forward to in 2025, with long weekends marked by an asterisk:
- Hari Raya Puasa: March 31, Monday*
- Good Friday: April 18, Friday*
- Labour Day: May 1, Thursday
- Vesak Day: May 12, Monday*
- Hari Raya Haji: June 7, Saturday
- National Day: August 9, Saturday
- Deepavali: October 20, Monday*
- Christmas Day: December 25, Thursday
If you're required to work on a public holiday, remember that you're entitled to time off in lieu, an extra day's salary at your basic rate of pay, or even overtime pay depending on your particular scenario, as part of Singapore's Employment Act. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has a useful calculator to help you figure out the compensation you should receive.
And for the rest who don't have obligations to work during public holidays, start planning quick beach getaways, nearby road trips, or a luxurious hotel staycation to make the most of your long weekends. Lock in your leave dates ASAP before your colleagues reserve theirs first!
READ MORE
Singapore will be getting a new Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat Nature Park
The new Raffles Sentosa Singapore is the country’s first all-villa resort, bookings are already open
World’s 50 best cities in 2025: Singapore officially ranks fifth in Asia