In Germany it almost always pays to plan ahead as the prices of transportation to accommodation tend to be higher the closer you get to the date of your trip.
This is especially true for families for whom vacation plans are often limited to school holiday windows, when every other family in their state is also making travel plans.
Knowing the exact dates of the school holidays to come is essential for families in Germany making plans for the coming season. But it's also useful for residents and visitors that don't have kids and may want to try and avoid peak summer holiday congestion.
2026 summer holidays
In Germany, summer vacation periods differ between the country's 16 states, which is intended to reduce nation-wide holiday-related traffic and ease crowds at the country's most popular destinations.
Holiday periods rotate each year, with the exception of the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg (and yeah, that's kind of an issue), so school children will have slightly different dates off for their summer breaks each year.
Here are the summer holiday dates for 2026 in each German state:
Baden-Württemberg
From Thursday, July 30th until Friday, September 11th.
Bavaria
The Free state of Bavaria is the last state to break for summer.
Starting from Monday, August 3rd until Monday September 14th.
Berlin & Brandenburg
Thursday July, 9th until Friday, August 21st.
Bremen
Thursday July, 2nd until Wednesday, August 12th.
READ ALSO: Five key tips from foreign parents for surviving the German school system
Hamburg
Thursday July, 9th until Wednesday, August 19th.
Hesse
Monday June 29th until Friday, August 7th.
Lower Saxony
Thursday July, 2nd until Wednesday, August 12th.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Monday July, 13th until Friday, August 21st.
North Rhine-Westphalia
Monday, July 20th until Tuesday, September 1st.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Monday June 29th until Friday, August 7th.
Saarland
Monday June 29th until Friday, August 7th.
Saxony & Saxony-Anhalt
Monday, July 6th until Friday, August 14th.
Schleswig-Holstein
Monday, July 6th until Friday, August 14th.
Schools on the islands of Sylt, Föhr, Amrun, Heligoland and Halligen have an altered break schedule with summer holidays from Monday July 6th until Friday, August 7th.
Thuringia
Monday, July 6th until Friday, August 14th.
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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 or up to two weeks for the other breaks.
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