School Holiday Dates

With travel and accommodation costs of a holiday abroad constantly spiralling upwards, it is hardly surprising that more and more families are turning to home exchange as a way of enjoying a holiday abroad at minimum cost.

But as families with children usually wish to swap with other families, they sometimes find that differing school holiday dates can be a stumbling block. With the dates varying between countries, and even between regions within countries (eg France and Germany), it would be useful for everyone to have advance information of how their dates might be compatible.

Families contemplating a home swap with families in France might wish to consult the government issued 'calendrier scolaire' which shows the dates for all the holiday periods for each of the three regions into which the country is divided for the scholastic year.

The dates of public holidays in Germany vary considerably to those in the UK and Ireland - and there are more of them. By and large, they revolve around key events in the Christian calendar, but different Länder (federal states) have different holiday dates.

German school summer holidays are staggered so that while some children are off from the beginning of July to mid-August, others are free from the beginning of August to mid-September. The aim is to avoid over-congestion during the peak holiday season. Check the tables for who is off when in Germany.

If any members have information of easy reference points for school holiday dates in other countries, we would very much appreciate your posting the information on the weblog.