The longest weekend in 2026: how Russians will spend the New Year holidays

In 2026, Russians will have record-breaking New Year holidays. The vacation will last 12 consecutive days: from December 31, 2025 to January 11, 2026. Weekends include New Year's Eve, Christmas, and specially rescheduled workdays, which makes the most of the holiday period for vacations and family trips. How working days and weekends will be distributed, as well as how long holidays affect the work schedule, is in the Izvestia article.

New Year's holidays in 2026: how many days do we rest?

In Russia, the New Year holidays in 2026 will be a record—breaking one - it will be possible to relax for 12 consecutive days, from December 31, 2025 to January 11, 2026 inclusive. The schedule was determined by a government decree and adjusted to take into account federal holidays.

The announced non-working days include January 1 (New Year) and January 7 (Christmas). For Russians, this block of days represents the largest continuous rest period of the year. It gives you a chance to plan vacations or extended family trips.

According to the January 2026 calendar, for those who work five days a week, there will be 15 working days and 16 days off this month.

Postponement of days off in 2026

The redistribution of days off is one of the key tools used to create a long block of holidays. In 2026, two postponements are planned: from Saturday, January 3 to Friday, January 9, and from Sunday, January 4 to Thursday, December 31.

Postponements are necessary for optimal allocation of work and rest time. Such changes are also useful because they allow you to use the minimum number of vacation days and get maximum rest. For example, by including a few days of vacation before December 31 or after January 11, you can significantly extend your vacation.

Work on public holidays is allowed only with the written consent of the employee and with mandatory compensation: either in the form of double pay or additional days off. During the New Year holidays, the opening hours of banks and government agencies will be changed.

Most financial institutions will switch to a special regime, the details of which will be announced closer to December 2025.

How long holidays affect your work schedule

A long block of days off has a noticeable impact on the work and production schedule. Employers and HR departments should arrange vacation schedules and payments in advance.

The tourism, hotel, and transportation industries are facing increasing demand for services during the New Year and holiday periods. This requires companies to increase staff, reallocate shifts, and strengthen staff training.

Finally, large holiday blocks also affect the labor economy: work activity decreases, the reporting schedule changes, vacation and processing costs increase, but on the other hand, consumption and service costs increase, which affects the overall economic cycle.

How long will the summer holidays last, why was it proposed to shorten them

In addition to the New Year holidays, schoolchildren will have a long summer vacation in 2026.

However, on November 3, Olga Yaroslavskaya, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Moscow, took the initiative to reduce the summer holidays of schoolchildren from three to two months.

"Our summer holidays are the longest in the world, with three months of summer holidays for children. This is certainly good, but parents do not have the opportunity to take a vacation for the entire period," she said in an interview with the Moscow Says radio station.

The Ombudsman explained that, in fact, the educational process in schools was completed by April: after the May holidays and final exams, students stop learning new topics and go on a long summer vacation. At the same time, parents often face the question of how to organize a useful pastime for children.

Yaroslavskaya proposed making June a full—fledged academic month, focusing on creative and practical subjects such as music, drawing, physical education and labor training. She stressed that in order to implement this idea, it will be necessary to adjust the schedule of the Unified State Exam. Officials and ministries did not comment on the initiative.