For millions of students, the school year is comes to an end in June. However, the summer holiday (Sommerferien) dates vary from state to state, with the last state (Bavaria) not set to begin its break until the beginning of August.
School breaks tend to coincide with the broader summer vacation season in Germany as millions of parents across the country plan their travel or longer breaks from work around their kids time off from school.
Even for visitors and those without children, it's helpful to know when school vacations are happening because it gives a sense of when certain regions will see the biggest crowds.
That summer holiday periods differ from state to state is no accident. The staggered schedule is intended to avoid overburdening travel infrastructure. But with whole states out for break at once, you can expect local roads as well as regional trains and buses to be quite a bit more congested during school breaks.
LISTED: The major rail disruption to prepare for in Germany this summer
Here are the summer vacation periods for Germany's 16 federal states this year:
Baden-WĂĽrttemberg
From Thursday, July 31st until Friday, September 12th.
Bavaria
The Free state of Bavaria is the last state to break for summer.
Starting from Friday, August 1st until Monday September 15th.
Berlin & Brandenburg
Thursday, July 24th until Friday, September 5th.
Bremen
Thursday July, 3rd until Wednesday, August 13th.
Hamburg
Thursday July 24th until Wednesday September 3rd.
Hesse
Monday July, 7th until Friday, August 15th.
Lower Saxony
Thursday July, 3rd until Wednesday, August 13th.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Monday July, 28th until Friday, September 5th.
North Rhine-Westphalia
Monday, July 14th until Tuesday, August 26th.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Monday July, 7th until Friday, August 15th.
Saarland
Monday July, 7th until Thursday, August 14th.
Saxony & Saxony-Anhalt
Monday, June 30th until Friday, August 8th.
Schleswig-Holstein
Monday July, 28th until Friday, September 5th.
Thuringia
Monday, June 30th until Friday, August 8th.
Germany's school vacation periods
School children in Germany receive 75 days of holiday per year which are divided into six school holiday periods: autumn, Christmas, winter, Easter, Whitsun and summer holidays.
Of these the summer holiday period is the longest by far: It's six or seven weeks compared to a few days up to two weeks for the other breaks.
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