Summer Vacation 2026 Dates Released for All German States
Germany's largest automobile club, ADAC, has published the 2026 summer vacation dates for all federal states. The schedule aims to help families plan and avoid peak travel congestion.
ADAC, Germany's largest automobile club, has released the official schedule for the 2026 summer school vacations across all federal states. This information is crucial for millions of students and their families, as well as for individuals planning travel outside of school holidays to avoid congestion.
The summer holidays in 2026 will commence in several states at the end of June. Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland will be the first to begin their break on Monday, June 29. Shortly after, Bremen and Lower Saxony will follow on Thursday, July 2. Four states – Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia – will start their holidays on July 4.
ADAC highlights that the staggered start dates for summer vacations are intended to prevent overload on roads and within the tourism sector. For 2026, the federal states have 94 days available for summer holidays. However, ADAC criticizes that only 78 days are utilized, which it argues leads to unnecessary bottlenecks in traffic and tourist flows.
Traffic is expected to be particularly heavy in early July as students in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia begin their holidays. The start of vacation in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, on Friday afternoon, July 17, and officially on July 20, is also anticipated to cause travel disruptions, especially around metropolitan areas and routes heading south or towards the Netherlands. Relief for travelers may come from the Saturday truck driving ban in July and August.