Germany has no single school holiday calendar. Each of the sixteen federal states sets its own dates, deliberately staggered so the motorways and the airports do not all fill on the same Friday. The spread is wide: summer 2026 opens on 29 June in Hesse and closes on 14 September in Bavaria.
That stagger is the planning problem and the opportunity at once. Below are the confirmed 2026 dates, the public holidays and who actually gets them, and the bridge-day arithmetic counted out rather than asserted.
The six holiday periods in 2026
| Period | Starts first | Ends last | Where people go |
|---|---|---|---|
| ❄️ Winter | 30 January, Hamburg | 21 February, Saxony and Thuringia | Austrian and Swiss Alps, the Canaries |
| 🌷 Easter and spring | 2 March, Hamburg | 17 April, Saarland and Thuringia | Rome, Lisbon, Mallorca, Andalusia |
| 🌿 Ascension and Whitsun | 11 May, Hamburg | 5 June, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria | South Tyrol, Lake Garda, Croatia, the Greek islands |
| ☀️ Summer | 29 June, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland | 14 September, Bavaria | North Sea and Baltic coasts, the Mediterranean, long-haul |
| 🍂 Autumn | 5 October, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland | 6 November, Bavaria | Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, London, Vienna |
| 🎄 Christmas | 21 December, five states | 12 January 2027, Hesse | Lapland, Southeast Asia, the Canaries |
Five states have no winter holiday at all in 2026: Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. Three have no Whitsun break: Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland.
Winter, spring and Whitsun, state by state
| State | Winter 2026 | Easter or spring 2026 | Ascension and Whitsun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baden-Württemberg | none | 30 Mar to 11 Apr | 26 May to 5 Jun |
| Bavaria | 16 to 20 Feb | 30 Mar to 10 Apr | 26 May to 5 Jun |
| Berlin | 2 to 7 Feb | 30 Mar to 10 Apr | 15 May, 26 May |
| Brandenburg | 2 to 7 Feb | 30 Mar to 10 Apr | 26 May |
| Bremen | 2 to 3 Feb | 23 Mar to 7 Apr | 15 May and 26 May |
| Hamburg | 30 Jan | 2 to 13 Mar | 11 to 15 May |
| Hesse | none | 30 Mar to 10 Apr | none |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 9 to 20 Feb | 30 Mar to 8 Apr | 15 May, 22 to 26 May |
| Lower Saxony | 2 to 3 Feb | 23 Mar to 7 Apr | 15 May and 26 May |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | none | 30 Mar to 11 Apr | 26 May |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | none | 30 Mar to 10 Apr | none |
| Saarland | 16 to 20 Feb | 7 to 17 Apr | none |
| Saxony | 9 to 21 Feb | 3 to 10 Apr | 15 May |
| Saxony-Anhalt | 31 Jan to 6 Feb | 30 Mar to 4 Apr | 26 to 29 May |
| Schleswig-Holstein | none | 26 Mar to 10 Apr | 15 May |
| Thuringia | 16 to 21 Feb | 7 to 17 Apr | 15 May |
Hamburg is the outlier at both ends: a single winter day on 30 January, and a spring break in early March that no other state shares.
Summer, autumn and Christmas, state by state
| State | Summer 2026 | Autumn 2026 | Christmas 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baden-Württemberg | 30 Jul to 12 Sep | 26 to 31 Oct | 23 Dec to 9 Jan |
| Bavaria | 3 Aug to 14 Sep | 2 to 6 Nov | 24 Dec to 8 Jan |
| Berlin | 9 Jul to 22 Aug | 19 to 31 Oct | 23 Dec to 2 Jan |
| Brandenburg | 9 Jul to 22 Aug | 19 to 30 Oct | 23 Dec to 2 Jan |
| Bremen | 2 Jul to 12 Aug | 12 to 24 Oct | 23 Dec to 9 Jan |
| Hamburg | 9 Jul to 19 Aug | 19 to 30 Oct | 21 Dec to 1 Jan |
| Hesse | 29 Jun to 7 Aug | 5 to 17 Oct | 23 Dec to 12 Jan |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 13 Jul to 22 Aug | 15 to 24 Oct | 21 Dec to 2 Jan |
| Lower Saxony | 2 Jul to 12 Aug | 12 to 24 Oct | 23 Dec to 9 Jan |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 20 Jul to 1 Sep | 17 to 31 Oct | 23 Dec to 6 Jan |
| Rhineland-Palatinate | 29 Jun to 7 Aug | 5 to 16 Oct | 23 Dec to 8 Jan |
| Saarland | 29 Jun to 7 Aug | 5 to 16 Oct | 21 to 31 Dec |
| Saxony | 4 Jul to 14 Aug | 12 to 24 Oct | 23 Dec to 2 Jan |
| Saxony-Anhalt | 4 Jul to 14 Aug | 19 to 30 Oct | 21 Dec to 2 Jan |
| Schleswig-Holstein | 4 Jul to 15 Aug | 12 to 24 Oct | 21 Dec to 6 Jan |
| Thuringia | 4 Jul to 14 Aug | 12 to 24 Oct | 23 Dec to 2 Jan |
Every date given is the first and last day of the holiday itself. The weekend either side is usually free on top, which is where the extra two or three days in a booking window come from.
Public holidays in 2026
Nine apply everywhere.
| Holiday | Date | Falls on | What it is worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | 1 January | Thursday | Four days if you take Friday 2 January |
| Good Friday | 3 April | Friday | Anchors the sixteen-day Easter block |
| Easter Monday | 6 April | Monday | Closes the same block |
| Labour Day | 1 May | Friday | Three days, no leave spent |
| Ascension Day | 14 May | Thursday | The best single bridge day of the year |
| Whit Monday | 25 May | Monday | Opens the Whitsun week |
| German Unity Day | 3 October | Saturday | Nothing. It falls on a weekend |
| Christmas Day | 25 December | Friday | Opens the ten-day New Year block |
| St Stephen’s Day | 26 December | Saturday | Nothing on its own |
Eight more depend on where you live.
| Holiday | Date | Falls on | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epiphany | 6 January | Tuesday | Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt |
| International Women’s Day | 8 March | Sunday | Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern |
| Corpus Christi | 4 June | Thursday | Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland |
| Assumption | 15 August | Saturday | Bavaria, Saarland |
| World Children’s Day | 20 September | Sunday | Thuringia |
| Reformation Day | 31 October | Saturday | Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia |
| All Saints’ Day | 1 November | Sunday | Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland |
| Repentance Day | 18 November | Wednesday | Saxony |
German Unity Day and the second Christmas day both fall on a Saturday in 2026, and Germany gives no day in lieu. Five of the eight regional holidays fall on a weekend as well. The three that do not are the ones worth planning around: Epiphany on a Tuesday, Corpus Christi on a Thursday and Saxony’s Repentance Day on a Wednesday.
The bridge days worth taking
| Block | Dates off | Days of leave | Consecutive days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easter | 28 March to 12 April | 8 | 16 |
| Labour Day | 1 to 3 May | 0 | 3 |
| Ascension to Whit Monday | 14 to 25 May | 6 | 12 |
| Ascension through Whitsun week | 14 to 31 May | 10 | 18 |
| Corpus Christi | 4 to 7 June | 1 | 4 |
| Christmas to New Year | 25 December to 3 January 2027 | 4 | 10 |
The leave days themselves: Easter is 30 March to 10 April with Good Friday and Easter Monday already free, so eight. Ascension needs 15 May, then 18 to 22 May, which is six; carry on through 26 to 29 May and it becomes ten. Corpus Christi needs only Friday 5 June, and applies in the six states listed above. New Year needs 28 to 31 December.
Take the Easter block, the full Whitsun block and the New Year block and you spend 22 days of leave for 44 consecutive days off. Nothing else in the 2026 calendar comes close.
Booking around the stagger
The stagger is public information, which means the airlines have it too. The changeover weekends in the three largest states are the ones that price badly: North Rhine-Westphalia runs 20 July to 1 September, Baden-Württemberg 30 July to 12 September and Bavaria 3 August to 14 September, which is why Mediterranean fares hold their nerve into the second week of September.
The other direction works as well. Travelling into Germany rather than out of it, the same tables tell you which weeks to avoid on the Baltic coast and in the Alps, and a Germany eSIM keeps live Deutsche Bahn times in reach on the days when half the country is moving at once.
FAQ
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Dates checked against the Kultusministerkonferenz holiday calendars for 2025/26 and 2026/27 and the DGB public holiday list, September 2026.
