Indonesia's 2027 public holidays and the Komodo boat dates they crowd

Three ministers signed Indonesia's 2027 holiday decree on 15 September 2026: Religious Affairs, Manpower, and State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform. The State Secretariat published the list the same day (Setneg, 15 September 2026). It names 18 national holidays and 8 days of collective leave, the cuti bersama that government offices and many companies give their staff (Hukumonline, 16 September 2026).

Collective leave is what turns a single holiday into a long break. Okezone worked out the longest one on 16 September 2026: 10 days in a row, from Saturday 6 March to Monday 15 March 2027. Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence, is Monday 8 March. Eid al-Fitr follows on 10 and 11 March, with leave days on 9, 12 and 15 March.

Two other blocks are worth marking now. Eid al-Adha falls on Monday 17 May, followed by leave on 18 and 19 May and by Vesak on Thursday 20 May. The year ends with leave on Friday 24 December and Christmas on Saturday 25 December (Setneg, 15 September 2026).

Lamborajo 1, 2 and 3 run their 3D2N open trips on the same two days, Monday and Friday. A Monday trip is back on Wednesday, a Friday trip on Sunday. A holiday that lands on one boat's calendar therefore lands on all three, and picking a different boat does not take you off a busy date.

Here are the 2027 departures that start on a holiday or run through one:

• Friday 1 January: New Year's Day is the departure day.
• Friday 5 February: a leave day, with Chinese New Year on the Saturday.
• Friday 5 March, Monday 8 March, Friday 12 March and Monday 15 March: the 10-day Nyepi and Eid break. The 8 March trip leaves on Nyepi itself.
• Friday 26 March: Good Friday, after a leave day on the Thursday; the trip is back on Easter Sunday.
• Monday 17 May: Eid al-Adha, then two leave days, so all three days of the trip are holidays.
• Monday 31 May and Monday 16 August: each trip runs over a Tuesday holiday, Pancasila Day on 1 June and Independence Day on 17 August.
• Friday 24 December: collective leave, Christmas on the Saturday.

The end of 2026 follows the same pattern. Christmas Day 2026 and New Year's Day 2027 both fall on a Friday, and both are departure days.

A daily cap of 1,000 visitors to Komodo National Park took effect on 1 April 2026 (ANTARA, 14 April 2026). The Forestry Ministry calls its yearly limit of 365,000 dynamic, reviews it periodically, and said a rise could be considered once trail and pier works on Padar are finished (ANTARA, 25 April 2026). So the numbers can move. The direction of a holiday week does not.

Holiday demand ran far above that line before the cap existed. Over Lebaran 2025, from 28 March to 6 April, the park counted 14,949 visits at Loh Buaya, Loh Liang, Gili Lawa and Padar. The busiest day, 4 April, reached 2,240. The quietest, 28 March, had 667. Foreign and Indonesian visitors split almost exactly in half: 7,494 and 7,455 (ANTARA Kupang, 9 April 2025).

Put those figures beside the cap. The 2025 peak day was more than twice what the park now lets in. A private group of 20 needs 20 tickets for the same day, which is 2 percent of a 1,000-visitor day. On an ordinary Tuesday in February that is a small ask. In the Eid week it competes with everyone else who has the same 10 days off.

Many guests reach Labuan Bajo through Bali. On Nyepi 2026, Ngurah Rai airport stopped all regular flights for 24 hours, from 06:00 WITA on 19 March to 06:00 on 20 March. Bisnis reported 440 canceled flights, 231 domestic and 209 international (Bisnis, 18 March 2026). In 2027 Nyepi is Monday 8 March, a departure day. If Bali closes the same way, no one flies out of Denpasar that morning in time for a 09:00 boarding.

The open-trip brochures already plan for this kind of gap. They ask guests to arrive the day before, or by 09:15 on the sailing day at the latest. They put the end of the trip around midday and print a flight after 13:00 (Lamborajo 1 and 2 open-trip brochures, May 2026). We advise 14:00. The same brochure gives two finish times, 11:00 in the header and around 12:00 at the hotel or airport in the itinerary, and the extra hour covers that gap plus check-in.

A newer route shows why that margin matters. Wings Air began flying between Makassar and Labuan Bajo on 19 July 2026, four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday (Komodo Airport authority, 19 July 2026). The July schedule lands at 12:25 and leaves again at 12:50 (detikBali, 15 July 2026). The arrival comes after boarding, so a guest on that flight comes in the day before. The departure leaves well before 14:00, so it does not fit the last day of a trip.

• Bali's Nyepi hours for 2027. We have found no 2027 notice as of 20 October 2026; the 2026 closure is the only published pattern.
• The park's 2027 figures. Both the daily cap and the yearly limit are under review (ANTARA, 25 April 2026), and we have not found a published figure for 2027.
• The exact Islamic holiday dates. The decree places Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha by the calendar, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs confirms the days nearer the time.
• Airline timetables for March and May 2027. The Makassar times above are the ones reported in July 2026.
• 2027 boat rates. They are on request; the current price list applies until the 2027 list is issued, and if a rate changes before your balance is due, we tell you first and you can cancel without charge.

Our own limit, plainly: we have no early access to any of these decisions. When one is published, this note gets a new date and the change is written at the top.

For a 2027 holiday date, choose the boat early and the cabin with it. On 12 March or 17 May all three boats face the same week, so a full first choice rarely leaves an easy second one on the same day.

The step between boats is real money. A private 3D2N for up to 12 guests costs IDR 43,000,000 (≈ USD 2,638) on Lamborajo 1, IDR 88,000,000 (≈ USD 5,399) on Lamborajo 2 and IDR 121,000,000 (≈ USD 7,423) on Lamborajo 3. Switching boats on a busy date changes the budget. Moving one departure earlier or later does not, because the price list has no peak-date rate.

• Private groups of 13 to 20: park tickets are issued in each visitor's name for one day, so send the full name list early.
• Flying through Bali for Monday 8 March 2027: plan to be in Labuan Bajo on Sunday 7 March.
• Flying in from Makassar: arrive the day before the trip, and on the last day book a connection that leaves after 14:00.
• Indonesian guests: the park charges its higher holiday rate, IDR 75,000, on public holidays. The park fees page has every line.
• Corporate outings timed to collective leave: 15 March and 18 to 19 May are leave days, not holidays, so check whether your company follows them.

Tell us which block your dates fall in. We answer with the departures still open on all three boats, side by side.