School Holiday Travel Windows

For SA expats in Asia — navigate both the SA school calendar and Asian public holiday periods that push fares up.

Planning a trip home means navigating two calendars at once: SA school terms and the big Asian public holiday blocks that send airfares surging. The windows below show when the two align — and when to book before they do.

No booking windows yet — run database/sprint7_migration.sql to seed data.

SA school breaks (green) and key Asian holiday periods (amber) across 2026–2027. Best booking windows shown in blue.

National approximate dates. KwaZulu-Natal and some provinces vary by 1–3 days. Verify your specific province each year.

2026

2027

2026 key Asian holiday periods

2027 key Asian holiday periods

Country-by-country detail for all 14 nations is in the full guide below. View SA terms →

Book Asia → SA at least 90 days out for school holiday periods. Seats on the best connections (Doha, Nairobi, Dubai) fill fast once SA schools announce term dates.

Mid-week departures (Tuesday/Wednesday) are typically R2,000–R5,000 cheaper than Friday departures during school breaks.

Avoid the double-peak zones — late December and early January are both SA summer break AND New Year. The combination makes fares the highest of the year.

Set a fare alert for your route. Set up an alert →

International school teachers — your school's holiday calendar may differ slightly from the national SA dates. Always cross-check both calendars.

Lunar New Year / Tet — if you're in Vietnam, travel before Jan 25 to avoid the holiday rush. After Tet, fares usually drop again mid-February.