Golden Week, month by month around the world

A country on the move; book everything early or go elsewhere.

59 destinations on SeasonMap, ranked within each month by the comfort score — because the point is not only where the season is on, but whether the weather is worth the trip while it is.

← All seasonsThe world's calendar

When it is on

Number of destinations with golden week on in that month. Windows move a little each year.

Golden Week in April

  1. Beppu 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row and the country on the move.85
  2. Osaka 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row and the entire country on the move.83
  3. Nara 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.83
  4. Kumamoto 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe week the country drives, and Kumamoto is on the road to Aso and the Kurokawa hot springs.83
  5. Honolulu 🇺🇸 United StatesJapanese Golden Week · 27 Apr – 7 May (usually)Japan's run of public holidays at the turn of April into May fills Waikiki, the outlet buses and the Diamond Head trail the way nothing but Christmas does.82
  6. Kagoshima 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.82
  7. Fukuoka 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.81
  8. Hiroshima 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.81
  9. Nagoya 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.81
  10. Kobe 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.81
  11. Tokyo 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row put the whole country on the move.80
  12. Kyoto 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row and the whole country travelling.80
  13. Okinawa 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.80
  14. Yokohama 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.80
  15. Nagasaki 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.80
  16. Kamakura 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.80
  17. Sendai 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.79
  18. Matsumoto 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe first week Kamikochi is properly open, so the Sawando bus terminal queues from six in the morning and the castle keep runs a two-hour wait.78
  19. Nagano 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe alpine roads reopen around now and the whole country drives them.78
  20. Kanazawa 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe shinkansen from Tokyo made Kanazawa a Golden Week destination.76
  21. Ishigaki 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe sea is already warm and every seat to the Yaeyamas is spoken for.75
  22. Miyakojima 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.75
  23. Sapporo 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.74
  24. Nikko 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayTwo hours from Tokyo, which is the problem.74
  25. Karuizawa 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.73

…and 6 more in April.

What's on around the world in April →

Golden Week in May

  1. Ürümqi 🇨🇳 ChinaMay Day holiday · 1–5 MayThe second national travel week of the year, five days from 1 May.90
  2. Kanazawa 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe shinkansen from Tokyo made Kanazawa a Golden Week destination.88
  3. Xi'an 🇨🇳 ChinaMay Day holiday · 1–5 MayThe second national travel week of the year, five days from 1 May.87
  4. Harbin 🇨🇳 ChinaMay Day holiday · 1–5 MayThe second national travel week of the year, five days from 1 May.87
  5. Kashgar 🇨🇳 ChinaMay Day holiday · 1–5 MayThe second national travel week of the year, five days from 1 May.87
  6. Sendai 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.87
  7. Hiroshima 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.86
  8. Nagano 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe alpine roads reopen around now and the whole country drives them.86
  9. Tokyo 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row put the whole country on the move.85
  10. Kyoto 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row and the whole country travelling.85
  11. Nara 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.85
  12. Nagoya 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.85
  13. Kobe 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.85
  14. Sapporo 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.84
  15. Matsumoto 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayThe first week Kamikochi is properly open, so the Sawando bus terminal queues from six in the morning and the castle keep runs a two-hour wait.84
  16. Yokohama 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.83
  17. Kamakura 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.83
  18. Takayama 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayOne of the most-visited small towns in Japan in the week the whole country drives.83
  19. Osaka 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row and the entire country on the move.82
  20. Fukuoka 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.82
  21. Beppu 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayFour national holidays in a row and the country on the move.82
  22. Honolulu 🇺🇸 United StatesJapanese Golden Week · 27 Apr – 7 May (usually)Japan's run of public holidays at the turn of April into May fills Waikiki, the outlet buses and the Diamond Head trail the way nothing but Christmas does.81
  23. Shanghai 🇨🇳 ChinaMay Day holiday · 1–5 MayThe other national travel week, and in a good-weather month it is worse than October in the centre.79
  24. Nikko 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayTwo hours from Tokyo, which is the problem.79
  25. Karuizawa 🇯🇵 JapanGolden Week · 29 Apr – 5 MayA run of public holidays from 29 April to 5 May when much of Japan travels at once: trains, flights and hotels fill, rates peak and popular sights are crowded.79

…and 18 more in May.

What's on around the world in May →

Golden Week in October

  1. Hotan 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off nationally from 1 October and the biggest travel surge of the Chinese year.90
  2. Kashgar 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off nationally from 1 October and the biggest travel surge of the Chinese year.89
  3. Qingdao 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctClear, cool and completely full.86
  4. Hangzhou 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctWest Lake takes several hundred thousand people a day in this week and the causeways are managed one-way.85
  5. Guilin 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe Li River boats run at capacity and the terrace villages have nowhere left to sleep.85
  6. Dali 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe one week to avoid outright.85
  7. Pingyao 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day golden week · 1–7 OctOne of the two weeks the whole country travels, and a walled town of one square mile is exactly the wrong shape for it.85
  8. Shanghai 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off nationally, and the Bund, the Yu Garden and Nanjing Road take the whole country at once.84
  9. Suzhou 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe gardens run on daily caps and every one of them sells out for the whole week.84
  10. Beijing 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe whole country travels for a week from 1 October.80
  11. Kunming 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe whole province is booked from this city outward.80
  12. Yangshuo 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctPerfect weather, impossible logistics.80
  13. Chengdu 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days with the whole country travelling.79
  14. Lijiang 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctPeak weather and peak everything else.76
  15. Xi'an 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe Terracotta Army takes tens of thousands a day in this week and the pits are managed as a one-way loop.75
  16. Chongqing 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off and the whole country moving.75
  17. Shangri-La 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe best week of the mountain year is also the one every domestic tour books.74
  18. Xiamen 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe best weather of the year and the worst crowds.73
  19. Lhasa 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off nationally from 1 October and the biggest travel surge of the Chinese year.72
  20. Guangzhou 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off nationally from 1 October and the biggest travel surge of the Chinese year.70
  21. Harbin 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off nationally from 1 October and the biggest travel surge of the Chinese year.70
  22. Zhangjiajie 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe park reaches its stated capacity and closes ticket sales on the day.69
  23. Ürümqi 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctSeven days off nationally from 1 October and the biggest travel surge of the Chinese year.68
  24. Huangshan 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe stone stairways move at a shuffle and the summit beds go the day booking opens.67
  25. Shenzhen 🇨🇳 ChinaNational Day Golden Week · 1–7 OctThe best weather of the year and the worst week to move.65

…and 4 more in October.

What's on around the world in October →