Australia 2021 Public Holidays and Long Weekend Guide

Whether you were patiently waiting for international borders to open or were one of the lucky ones to fit in a domestic trip last year, chances are it’s likely you have some annual leave to spare and it is practically certain you are overdue for a break.

To help you make the most of your 2021 public holidays, we’ve put together a handy quick-reference long weekend guide for where you should be taking annual leave to get more days off and enjoy more long weekends.

On that note of being thrifty, if you are working from home or have flexible hours, you may even be able to finish work early on a Friday without taking the day off in leave too, but we’ll just leave that up to you…

Public Holiday: Australia Day (Tuesday, 26 January)
Long weekend: Saturday, 23 January – Tuesday, 26 January
Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on Monday 25th January

Public Holiday: Labour Day* (Monday, 1 March)
Long weekend: Friday, 26 February – Tuesday, 2 March
Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 26th February

*Western Australia only

Public Holiday: Labour Day* (Monday, 8 March)
Long weekend: Friday, 5 March – Tuesday, 9 March
Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 9th March

*Victoria and Tasmania only

Public Holidays: Good Friday (Friday, 2 April), Easter Monday (Monday, 5 April)
Long weekend: Thursday, 1 April – Tuesday, 6 April
Tip: Submit 2 days Annual Leave on 1st April and 6th April to get six days off work

Public Holiday: Labour Day/May Day* (Monday, 3 May)
Long weekend: Saturday, 1 May – Sunday, 4 May
Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 4th May to get three days off work

*Queensland and Northern Territory only

Public Holiday: Reconciliation Day* (Monday, 31 May)

*ACT only

Public Holiday: Western Australia Day* (Monday, 7 June)

*Western Australia only

Public Holiday: Queen's Birthday* (Monday, September 28)
Long weekend: Friday, September 25 – Monday, September 28

Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 25th September to get four days off work

*National except Queensland & Western Australia

Public Holiday: Picnic Day* (Monday, 2 August)
Long weekend: Friday, 31 July – Tuesday, 3 August

Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 3rd August for four days off work

*Northern Territory only

Public Holiday: Friday before AFL Grand Final* (Friday, 24 September)
Long weekend: Friday, 24 September – Monday, 27 September

Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 27th September for four days off work

*Victoria only

Public Holiday: Queen's Birthday* (Monday, 27 September)
Long weekend: Saturday, 25 September – Tuesday, 28 September

Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 28th September for four days off work

*Victoria only

Public Holiday: Labour Day*, Queen's Birthday^ (Monday, 4 October)
Long weekend: Saturday, 2 October – Tuesday, 5 October

Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 5th October to get four days off work

*ACT, New South Wales, South Australia

^Queensland

Public Holiday: Melbourne Cup*, (Tuesday, 2 November)
Long weekend: Saturday, 30 October – Tuesday, 2 November)

Tip: Submit 1 day Annual Leave on 1st November to get four days off work

*Victoria only

Public Holidays: Christmas Day (Monday, 27 December), Boxing Day Holiday (Tuesday, 28 December)
Long weekend: Friday, 24 December – Monday, 3 January 2022

Tip: Apply 4 days Annual Leave on 24th, 29th, 30th & 31st December to get 11 days off work as Monday 3rd January 2022 is also a public holiday for New Year's Day

Now that you have the long weekend and public holidays guide on hand, you can start the fun part - planning! Always remember to book in advance due to increased demand, wherever possible. It is true that accommodation prices may be higher over public holiday long weekends but knowing this and with some extra time up your sleeve you can still find a great deal.

Need inspiration? Check out which Aussie destinations are trending in 2021.

Discover Last Minute Getaways or see which of the 7 quintessential Aussie Summer Road Trips you’ve ticked off.