China’s National Day: a golden week guide
China’s National Day — in 2026, the seven days from Thursday 1 October to Wednesday 7 October — is not only a patriotic celebration of one billion and four hundred million Chinese people, but also an observation window opened to the world. May you think it’s just an ordinary public holiday? But in fact, it is more like a carefully planned national-level “stress test” – testing the bearing capacity of the transportation system, the reception capacity of tourist attractions, and the explosive power of the commercial market. For foreigners who want to come to China for tourism, study, or business, it is perhaps more important to understand the logic behind the festival than to remember the location of the Great Wall.
What is China’s National Day?
In short, China’s National Day is a legal holiday commemorating the founding of the People’s Republic of China. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the founding of the new China in Tiananmen City Tower, which was recorded in history. But the key is that the current national day has long gone beyond the simple significance of commemoration.
Under the national holiday measures revised with effect from 1 January 2025, three of those days are statutory — 1 to 3 October — and the full seven-day block is built out from them with adjusted weekends (General Office of the State Council, 2024). What does that mean in practice? It means the whole country enters a predictable, high-energy pause at exactly the same moment. This mode is extremely important for foreigners planning to come to China – you must plan in advance, or you may face the dilemma of sky-high ticket prices or no room to book.
The 2026 dates, and why this year splits into two holidays
The State Council publishes the arrangement each November for the year ahead. For 2026 it reads (General Office of the State Council, 2025):
- National Day: Thursday 1 October to Wednesday 7 October 2026 — seven days.
- Mid-Autumn Festival: Friday 25 September to Sunday 27 September 2026 — three days, a separate holiday this year.
- Make-up workdays: Sunday 20 September and Saturday 10 October. Both are normal working days nationwide.
That split is the thing to plan around. Mid-Autumn follows the lunar calendar and drifts: in 2025 it fell on 6 October, inside the National Day break, and the two merged into a single eight-day run. In 2026 it arrives nearly a week early and stands alone, so the country gets two peaks with three ordinary workdays — 28, 29 and 30 September — wedged between them. Plenty of people will book leave for those three days and stitch the whole thing into thirteen days off, which is why trains on 30 September fill first. Our Golden Week 2026 guide works through the booking windows day by day, and the Double Ninth Festival on 18 October closes the autumn calendar a fortnight after the holiday ends.
Let me show you the real data on who travels. During the National Day in 2024, the national border inspection authorities handled 13.098 million entries and exits, including 1.014 million foreigners, an increase of 37.2% over the previous year (Ministry of Public Security, 2024). Note the growth rate: far above the overall figure. It shows that coming to China for the National Day holiday is a new trend among foreign visitors, and inbound travel orders on several booking platforms rose about 60% year on year (NetEase, 2024). Behind that figure, countless businesses and service providers are waiting for you.
Hard-core experience list during China’s National Day
Tiananmen flag raising ceremony: a national emotional resonance.
If you are in Beijing, it may sound unbelievable to get up at four in the morning to watch the flag raising. But believe me, this may be the best classroom to understand the collective spirit of the Chinese people. Every national day, tens of thousands of people gather in Tiananmen Square, and many of them sleep on the floor overnight in advance. When the national flag class soldiers are walking through the Jinshui bridge, the national anthem is played, and the national flag is raised, the spontaneous solemnity and pride – no director, no rehearsal, just shocking.
Highway free: the best time for self-driving.
Since 2012, the state has implemented the expressway free policy during the National Day (weather net, 2021). This policy directly gave birth to the “self-driving tide”. In 2023, the Mid-Autumn National Day holiday was 8 days, the domestic tourism revenue reached 753.43 billion, and the number of tourists reached 826 million (Tencent News, 2023). I mean, you can imagine the picture of the whole country flowing. The key is, can a foreign driver’s license be used in China? The answer is: short-term tourists can apply for temporary driving permits, and the specific procedures are recommended to be consulted with the local vehicle management office.
Rural Tourism: underrated hidden play
Don’t just focus on the Bund in Shanghai or the Terracotta Army in Xi’an. According to the data from the National Day in 2024, the rural tourism of inbound tourists was extremely popular. Around the theme of the National Day, more than 1,000 “rural Creative Life Season” series activities have been carried out around the country, leading to a substantial increase in rural tourism orders (NetEase, 2024). For example, some ancient water towns in Jiangsu and Zhejiang attracted a large number of foreign tourists with their unique charm. The density of tourists in these places is low, and the experience is more authentic. You can even live in the homestay reconstructed from the century-old house, play Go chess, and listen to Pingtan with the local older people.
Survival Guide for foreign tourists
Traffic: don’t be superstitious about “say go.”
During the National Day, China’s G-Series High-Speed Train tickets are often sold 15 days in advance. You may not expect that the 12306 system will process more than 10 million visits per second. My suggestion is: purchase tickets through the 12306 official website or the Ctrip platform immediately after confirming the itinerary. If you can’t buy a direct ticket, try a “segmented ticket” – for example, if there is no ticket from Beijing to Xi’an, buy a Beijing ticket, and then supplement the Shijiazhuang-Xi’an ticket.
Accommodation: How much will the price rise?
The answer is: 2-3 times is normal, and 5 times is not rare. During the National Day in 2023, the average cost of tourists in Hangzhou was 1,485.84 yuan/person, and that in Shanghai was 1,372.89 yuan/person (Tencent News, 2023). Among them, accommodation accounts for the majority. But there is a trick: many hotels will release the cancelled reserved rooms one week before the festival, or you can choose the youth brigade and the homestay. Airbnb has a good coverage in major cities in China, and the price is relatively transparent.
Safety: self-protection in the crowd
It’s common sense to be alert in crowded places. But more importantly, don’t worry too much. The security level of China’s major cities is high globally. Focus on three points: 1) petty theft may exist in the subway station; 2） Black car drivers around the scenic spot may ask for a lot of money, so you must take a taxi with didi or Gaode; 3） Hot restaurants may encounter “Yin and Yang menus” (foreign language menus are more expensive), so it is recommended to use the public comment on this kind of APP to compare prices in advance.
Beyond tourism: opportunities that have not been talked about
The golden window of business investigation
If you want to come to China to talk about cooperation, maybe before and after the National Day is more suitable than the holiday itself. Why? Because before the festival, enterprises are busy rushing for performance, and after the festival, they begin to plan for the next year. Instead, it is the best time to observe the real face of the consumer market. You can see which restaurants are in a long line, which business circles are most crowded, and which products are snapped up. This is more intuitive than any Market Research Report.
The “window period” of study abroad consultation
Many colleges and universities will release a new round of enrollment information in 9-10. Using the National Day holiday to visit the campus and communicate with students in private, this kind of information acquisition efficiency is far beyond online consultation. Some universities even open green channels for potential international students to provide one-on-one consultation.
Plan your itinerary for China’s National Day: a three-step strategy.
- Lock the destination. Don’t be greedy, seven days is only enough to play 1-2 areas in depth. Recommended combination: Beijing (historical and political center) + a two or three-tier city (real China experience); Or Chengdu (Food Culture) + Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area (natural scenery).
- Book as soon as possible. The ideal situation is to book air tickets 45 days in advance, hotels 30 days in advance, and G-Series High-Speed Train tickets 15 days in advance. If you see the right price, don’t hesitate to place an order decisively.
- Prepare digital tools. Download WeChat (for payment and communication), Alipay (payment), Baidu map (navigation), MeiTuan (looking for restaurants), and Ctrip (booking tickets). These apps can solve 90% of your problems.
Summary
China’s National Day is much more than flag raising and holidays. It is a national social experiment, showing the organizational capacity and consumption potential of the country. For foreigners, it is both a challenge – crowds, price hikes, congestion; What’s more, it’s an opportunity – you can see the most real, vivid, and unadorned picture of Chinese society.
The key is that you have to think clearly: do you want to be a spectator or a participant? Do you want to punch in scenic spots or experience deeply? Do you want to go with the flow or lay out in advance? The answer is different, the play is totally different.
Reference
- Ministry of Public Security (2024). During the national day, 13.098 million people entered and left the country Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China. https://www.mps.gov.cn/n2254098/n4904352/c9798347/content.html
- General Office of the State Council (2024). Notice on the arrangement of some holidays in 2025, the Chinese government website https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/jiedu/tujie/202411/content_6986385.htm
- General Office of the State Council (2025). 国务院办公厅关于2026年部分节假日安排的通知 [Notice on the 2026 holiday arrangement]. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2025/issue_12406/202511/content_7048922.html
- NetEase (2024). Expert opinion during the national day of 2024, inbound tourists’ rural tourism was hot on Mobile NetEase. Com https://m.163.com/dy/article/JEA0UJBJ0514BTAB.html
- Tencent News (2023). The number of tourists is more than twenty million, and the per capita consumption is more than 1,000! Where is the most popular Golden Week? Take a look at the official data from Tencent. Com https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20231007A08JUC00
- Weather net (2021). What is the nickname of the national day of China Weather Network calendar https://wannianli.tianqi.com/news/280815.html