China’s 2026 National Day Golden Week runs from Thursday, October 1 through Wednesday, October 7. The official State Council notice makes Sunday, September 20 and Saturday, October 10 adjusted working days. Mid-Autumn Festival is a separate three-day holiday from September 25–27, leaving three normal working days before Golden Week begins.
If your China trip overlaps October 1–7, do not reduce the problem to “Will it be crowded?” Decide where you will sleep, which intercity journeys are essential, when those train tickets enter sale and which attractions require their own reservation. The holiday is manageable when the plan has fewer dependencies; it becomes fragile when every day needs a specific train, room and timed entry to work perfectly.
The official 2026 dates
| Date | Official status | What it means for planning |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, September 20 | adjusted working day | some offices and workplaces may follow a weekday schedule; verify the specific organization |
| September 25–27 | Mid-Autumn Festival holiday | a separate three-day holiday immediately before the final working days of September |
| September 28–30 | ordinary working days | not part of either official holiday block |
| October 1–7 | National Day holiday, seven days | the period commonly called October Golden Week |
| October 8–9 | ordinary working days | the national holiday has ended, though individual travel demand does not reset on a timer |
| Saturday, October 10 | adjusted working day | many organizations will work; weekend opening still depends on the specific office or business |
These are mainland China’s national arrangement. Hong Kong and Macao use their own public-holiday calendars. A Chinese embassy or consulate abroad can also publish an office-closure schedule that differs from the mainland’s seven-day block. Check the exact institution if a visa, document or appointment depends on it.
Should you avoid Golden Week?
There is no honest universal answer. Use the constraint that is hardest to change.
| Your situation | Better decision |
|---|---|
| Dates are flexible and the trip is mainly famous sights | move the trip outside October 1–7 if doing so does not create a worse flight or visa problem |
| International flights are fixed, hotels are refundable | reduce the number of cities before cancelling the whole trip; one stable base removes several ticket and check-in risks |
| Flights and hotels are fixed | keep the trip, reserve the few timed entries that matter and design unreserved alternatives for every day |
| You must travel between cities on a fixed date | treat the train or flight as the first booking dependency, not something to solve after the sightseeing plan |
| You are visiting family or one company | staying in one place may make the holiday workable even when a multi-city sightseeing trip would be brittle |
| The trip is for supplier meetings | reconfirm each company’s actual closure and response window; the national calendar does not prove that every factory or office closes for all seven days |
Avoiding the holiday can simplify transport and reservations. Staying can also reveal how parks, shopping streets, museums and public space are used during a major domestic break. The trade-off is not “real China versus tourist China.” It is whether your schedule can absorb unavailable tickets, changed opening arrangements and longer transitions without collapsing.
Train tickets: the sale dates you can calculate now
China Railway’s current passenger rules set an advance-sales period of 15 days including the travel date. That means the normal first sale date is 14 calendar days before departure. The operator can change the window and releases tickets from different departure stations at different times, so confirm the exact time in Railway 12306 before relying on this table.
| Departure date | Normal date it enters the 15-day sales window |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, September 30 | Wednesday, September 16 |
| Thursday, October 1 | Thursday, September 17 |
| Friday, October 2 | Friday, September 18 |
| Saturday, October 3 | Saturday, September 19 |
| Sunday, October 4 | Sunday, September 20 |
| Monday, October 5 | Monday, September 21 |
| Tuesday, October 6 | Tuesday, September 22 |
| Wednesday, October 7 | Wednesday, September 23 |
| Thursday, October 8 | Thursday, September 24 |
Entering the sales window is not a ticket guarantee. It is the point when you can attempt the real purchase through the official channel. A third-party “reservation” placed earlier is a request for that company to try later; it is not an issued China Railway ticket.
Prepare before the release date
- Create or open your Railway 12306 account.
- Enter every passenger’s name and passport details exactly as they appear in the document.
- Complete any identity review the account requires before the day you need to buy.
- Search the exact origin and destination stations—not only the city names—and save several acceptable trains.
- Check the departure station’s release time in 12306’s On-Sale Time Inquiry.
- Decide in advance which changes are acceptable: earlier time, later time, different class, nearby station or different day.
- Carry the original passport used for the booking when you travel.
Our foreign-passport China Railway guide covers account, name and boarding details separately. Do that setup now; do not make Golden Week sale morning the first time you discover that the account cannot match your passport.
If your preferred train is unavailable
Keep the decision inside official order states. Check another departure time, an alternate station that genuinely works for your route, a different day or the official standby option if 12306 presents it. Do not pay a stranger for a screenshot, an account or a promise to “unlock” inventory. A screenshot without a valid order tied to your passport is not a travel credential.
Before creating a complicated split journey, check the transfer time and station names. Two tickets can introduce a missed-connection risk that one unavailable direct train did not have. A slower direct service may be a stronger plan than a theoretically faster chain with no recovery time.
Hotels: control the cancellation rule, not a guessed price
There is no defensible national “Golden Week hotel multiplier.” Price and availability depend on city, exact dates, room type, demand, booking channel and cancellation terms. Compare one real room for your dates rather than relying on an article’s generic percentage.
For each booking, save:
- the property’s name in English and Chinese;
- the street address and phone number;
- confirmation that the hotel accepts the passport you will use;
- check-in and late-arrival terms;
- the cancellation deadline in China Standard Time;
- the total after taxes and fees;
- the booking-channel support route.
If you are still changing the itinerary, a refundable room can be worth more than a lower headline price. Reconfirm directly before arrival if you will reach the hotel late. Do not interpret one platform’s “available” label as proof that every room type or check-in condition is settled.
Attractions: one fixed anchor, one open alternative
Museums, monuments, parks and scenic areas set their own calendars, booking windows, capacity rules and passport flows. Golden Week does not create one national attraction-booking rule.
Build each day with two layers:
- one anchor: a timed place you have actually reserved through an official or clearly identified channel;
- one alternative: a neighborhood walk, public waterfront, ordinary park, food street or other activity that does not depend on the same ticket system.
Check the attraction’s current notice shortly before the booking window opens and again before departure. A Monday closure pattern, same-day ticket policy or passport counter used in an ordinary week may change during a holiday. A social post can alert you to a change; the venue’s current notice controls the plan.
Avoid schedules that require crossing a large city between two fixed entries. The more important the booking, the more buffer it deserves. If the attraction only matters because it is famous, ask whether the trip would be stronger with one fewer queue and more time in the surrounding district.
City transport and everyday life do not simply stop
Golden Week is a national holiday, not a seven-day shutdown of every metro, restaurant, convenience store and shopping district. Passenger services and visitor-facing businesses may remain active or adjust capacity. Government offices, company teams, neighborhood businesses and independent restaurants can follow different schedules.
Use specific questions:
- Is this metro or bus operating a holiday timetable?
- Does the restaurant take reservations, or has it posted closure dates?
- Is a bank branch, museum counter or customer-service line open on the day I need it?
- Will the company contact I am meeting actually be working September 28–30 or October 8–10?
The two adjusted workdays are especially easy to misread. They mean the national schedule moves work onto September 20 and October 10; they do not guarantee that a foreign consulate, tourist attraction or privately run shop follows an ordinary weekday timetable.
If you work with a Chinese supplier or team
Send one concrete schedule rather than “Are you closed for Golden Week?” Ask for:
- the team’s last normal response date;
- warehouse, production and carrier cutoffs;
- which days, if any, a duty contact will answer;
- the first date normal dispatch or approval resumes;
- whether September 20 and October 10 are working days for that company;
- what happens to an urgent quality, customs or payment issue during the break.
Do not infer a factory shutdown from a government-office calendar or promise a shipment based on an employee’s informal reply. Put the agreed dates, order number and responsible contact in writing. If a deadline matters financially, build margin before September 25 rather than treating September 28–30 as three guaranteed recovery days.
A practical plan from today
Before September 10
- choose whether the trip stays in one city or moves between cities;
- verify passport details in every transport account;
- hold suitable hotels with understood cancellation terms;
- list attraction booking windows and official channels;
- move supplier approvals and physical samples earlier where possible.
September 16–24
- monitor the relevant 12306 sale date and station release time;
- buy the essential intercity journey through an official route;
- keep acceptable alternatives written down before inventory opens;
- confirm that the name and document number on every issued ticket are correct.
September 25–30
- recheck hotel, attraction and transport notices;
- download confirmations and addresses for offline access;
- keep one low-dependency alternative for every day;
- avoid adding a new city merely because one booking failed.
October 1–7
- carry the original passport tied to reservations;
- allow transitions to take longer without inventing a universal buffer;
- follow live operator and venue notices;
- change the plan when a dependency fails instead of trying to preserve every item.
Questions readers ask next
When is Golden Week in China in 2026?
The National Day holiday is October 1–7, 2026. Sunday, September 20 and Saturday, October 10 are adjusted working days under the official schedule.
Is Mid-Autumn Festival part of Golden Week in 2026?
No. Mid-Autumn Festival is September 25–27. September 28–30 are normal working days, followed by the National Day holiday on October 1–7.
When do October 1 train tickets go on sale?
Under the current 15-day period including the travel date, an October 1 departure normally enters sale on September 17. Check the live 12306 calendar and the departure station’s release time because China Railway can adjust the window.
Does everything close during Golden Week?
No. The national notice defines public holidays and adjusted workdays; it does not impose one opening schedule on every train, metro, restaurant, attraction, factory, bank or overseas consulate. Verify the specific service.
Is October 8 safe from crowds?
The official holiday has ended, but a calendar cannot guarantee a crowd level or ticket supply. October 8 train tickets normally enter the current sales window on September 24. Check the actual route, room and venue rather than assuming demand disappears overnight.
Should I cancel a China trip during Golden Week?
Not automatically. If dates are flexible and the trip depends on several famous attractions and intercity moves, changing dates can simplify it. If flights are fixed, reducing the city count and securing the few essential bookings may be a better decision than discarding the whole trip.
Sources and scope
- State Council 2026 public-holiday notice in English — official dates, durations and adjusted workdays for Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.
- Chinese government publication of the State Council notice — document number, issue date, current validity and original Chinese schedule.
- China Railway passenger rules — current 15-day inclusive advance-sales rule, official purchase channels and operator-change boundary.
- Railway 12306 advance-sales query — live sale-window check; use it again for the actual travel date.
- Railway 12306 English FAQ — official account, foreign-passport, ticket and travel guidance.
Dates and railway rules were checked on 26 August 2026. The holiday dates are official; the train on-sale dates are calculated from the current 15-day inclusive rule and must be rechecked against live 12306 information. Hotels, attractions, private businesses, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas Chinese missions set their own schedules.