Spring is arguably the best season for public holidays in Germany. Here’s how you can to turn a series of scattered days off into longer breaks with just a bit of forward planning.
The spring season in Germany can be a good time for anyone who enjoys a break from work, as it brings a series of public holidays.
Employees in Germany often book time off strategically around these holidays these holidays to set themselves up for a long weekend, with three or four days that can be used for a quick vacation.
This year, regularly employed workers in Germany will benefit from a couple given three or four day weekends, and they can take advantage of a couple more by requesting off the bridge day (Brückentage) between public holidays and the weekends.
Here’s your guide to the holidays on the horizon this spring, and how you can maximise your days off around them. Act fast, as Germans tend to book their vacations well in advance and prices for travel and accommodation rise quickly.
International Women’s Day
The first notable date in the spring calendar is International Women’s Day on March 8th.
International Women’s Day is only a public holiday in Berlin and Mecklenburg‑Western Pomerania, but falling on a Sunday this year, most workers in these states won’t get an extra day off of work for the occasion this time around.
However, the holiday is worth noting as it will see marches, rallies and other events celebrated all over the Berlin and in other German cities.
READ ALSO: What’s on in Germany – Seven unmissable events this March
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Easter
Easter is a moveable feast, in other words its among the Christian holidays that lands on different dates from year to year.
This year the Easter weekend brings the first opportunity for many workers in Germany to take a four-day weekend. Or even more if you book off a few days leading up to it.
The Easter holiday begins with Good Friday, which falls on April 3rd this year, and ends with Easter Monday on April 6th. Both of these days are national public holidays in Germany, giving most workers a built‑in four‑day weekend for the occasion.
Maudy Thursday is marked on the Thursday, April 2nd, but this is not a public holiday.
If you’re already keen for an even longer break, you could maximise your time away by booking leave from Monday, March 30th to Thursday, April 2nd. Then you get ten consecutive days off from Saturday, March 28th through to Easter Monday, by using just four vacation days.
Three holidays in May
May remains Germany’s strongest month for public holidays this year.
May Day or Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit) on May 1st is a nationwide public holiday. Falling on a Friday this year, it automatically creates a three‑day weekend.
If you want to extend this break a bit, you could take off an additional day or days on either side — e.g. taking Thursday, April 30th off to turn this into a four‑day break.
Just about two weeks later comes Ascension Day (Christi Himmelfahrt) on Thursday, May 14th, which is also observed nationwide.
Often called ‘Father’s Day’ or ‘Men’s Day’ in Germany, it’s a classic opportunity for a Brückentag. Taking Friday, May 15th off provides another four‑day weekend.
EXPLAINED: Why Germans get wholly wasted on Ascension Day
On Father’s Day, people ride a Spreewald barge on the rivers. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Frank Hammerschmidt
Finally, Whit Monday (Pfingstmontag) rounds off the month on May 25th this year.
Truly ambitious planners can link Ascension Day and Whit Monday by taking the intervening working days as leave. This effectively gives you a twelve day break for the cost of six days of leave. To do so, you’d request time off on May 15th as well as the 18th to the 22nd.
READ ALSO: Seven signs that spring has arrived in Germany
One regional holiday at the start of June
While Corpus Christi (Fronleichnam) is not a public holiday in all of Germany, for many workers it provides a final chance to take a four day weekend or even to create an extended spring vacation.
Corpus Christi is among the Christian holidays that is only a public holiday in some German states; Baden‑Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine‑Westphalia, Rhineland‑Palatinate and Saarland.
Falling on Thursday, June 4th this year, workers in these regions can take an easy four-day weekend by booking Friday, June 5th off work.
Alternatively, it can be linked to the previous Whit Monday for a longer late-spring vacation.
If you were to take eight days of annual leave (May 26th–29th, June 1st–3rd and the bridge day on Friday, June 5th), you can turn the period from Saturday, May 23rd until Sunday, June 7th into a 16‑day break.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
