UAE public holidays 2025: How to turn 13 days off into 45 days break with smart planning
Zuhara Safa, an Indian expat and marketing manager, 23 years old, knows how to book a holiday in January. She started 2025 on Wednesday, January 1, mixing annual leave with the New Year's public holiday.
"I was off 2 and 3 Jan, and on Saturday and Sunday as they are my weekends, I got five days off and went to India," Zuhara said.
She’s not the first time to get leave managed well. She attended a friend’s wedding in India in 2024 by fitting her annual holiday with two days of National Day holidays. "I was off after the holidays for two days so I have six days (plus weekends) to make it to the event," she said.
The graphic designer Talal Mansoor in 2022 split his vacation time between National Day festivities. "Fortunately my employer doesn't use public holidays and weekends as annual leave. ‘Sharing a few leave days and making it weekends and public holidays, I got a long holiday,’ the 30-year-old said. And if it came up again, I would do it all over again," he said.
Now there are many ways for UAE citizens besides the 13-day public holidays to bag some long vacations in 2025—if you time your leaves. But don’t stress, we have you covered! So we have calculated and are breaking the public holidays down for you so you can get planning.
Jan: 5 days (New Year’s holiday)
We’re done with New Year’s break, but like Zuhara many of you might have taken the opportunity for five days. You probably got five days of vacation (and you add those days to the normal weekend if you had it so far) if you took time off Thursday, 2 and Friday, 3 January.
April: 9 days (Eid Al Fitr)
This year residents will get up to four days off thanks to the Islamic holiday Eid Al Fitr. As per UAE Cabinet the first 3 days of Shawwal (the month after Ramadan) are going to be holidays. If Ramadan is 30 days, then 30th of Ramadan will be holiday also and all the people have four days off (Ramadan 30 to Shawwal 3).
But if Ramadan is 29 days then holiday will cover only the first three days of Eid (Shahwal 1 – Shahwal 3).
If Ramadan begins on Saturday March 1, and ends on Sunday March 30, depending on the lunar sighting Eid Al Fitr is going to take place from Monday, March 31 to Wednesday, April 2. You get nine days of leave if you want to go on the break Thursday, April 3, and Friday, April 4.
June: 10 days (Arafah Day/Eid Al Adha)
The holiness of Islam Arafah Day is a holiday in this year, celebrated on Dhul Hijjah 9. Following that will be a three-day vacation for Eid Al Adha (Dhul Hijjah 10-12), which will give the people a four-day vacation all together.
Arafah Day will be observed depending on moon sighting on Friday, June 6 as declared as a public holiday. Eid Al Adha break then will commence on Saturday, June 7th through Monday, June 9th. You can be a little daring and go on another four days of annual leave, from Tuesday, June 10 to Friday, June 13, and take 10 days off, then you can hit the ground running on Monday, June 16 to do it all again (right? ).
June: 3 days (Islamic New Year)
Residents will get a day off for Muharram 1 which is just few weeks away from Eid Al Adha holiday. It will likely be a Friday, June 27, so when you factor that into the weekend, you’ll have 3 days off.
September: 9 days (birthday of Prophet Muhammad)
Residents will receive a holiday on the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) birthday (which is supposed to be on Rabi Al Awwal 12). For 2025, that’s Friday, September 5. If you aren’t interested in using any annual leave, you will get 3 days of it anyway. But if your employer is tickled pink, go ahead and ask for four days of annual leave so you have 9 days until Sunday, September 7.
December: 9 days (National Day of UAE)
This year’s last two public holidays are two days off during the week for National Day — Tuesday, December 2 and Wednesday, December 3. But why stop there? Turn it into a vacation by taking annual leave on Monday, December 1, Thursday, December 4 and Friday, December 5. When you add up the two weekends you get a 9 days vacation to finish off the year.
But not everyone can afford to work public holidays along with their yearly leave. W.L, a 43-year-old Pakistani childminder, told me about her work in a nursery where workers were forbidden to combine vacation and holidays. "If we crossed public holidays and annual leave in our instance, the public holidays would go towards our annual leave account. That compelled staff to work through their leave in a timely manner".
Important: Except Eid holidays, every other week can be put on the earlier or later part of the week. Only by an UAE Cabinet decision can it be done. And holidays like the Islamic calendar depend on the moon.
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