Best time to visit Westsrn Europe during UK School Holidays

[12345imalive]

Hi all. After a lot of googling I'm little the wiser... Are there any times where UK has school holidays whilst the major Europe countries like France/Germany do not?

It looks like May half term may be one such case but I've found it hard to confirm this.

It's for a Centre Parcs trip if that helps.

i think they tend to break up and go back earlier than England in the summer holidays - probably more in line with what Scottish schools do (end June - mid August), centre parcs prices have been cheaper at the end of Aug when I've looked. You'll usually be able to tell by looking at the prices!

The Scottish school holidays have taken us by surprise. We knew about the summer break , but their half-term breaks are different as well !

Always worth checking the country you're visiting for national & local holidays as well.

Scotland don't have a half term in May (although most have a long weekend around the middle of May), then a similar long weekend in Sept, Oct half term is often earlier than England because they go back to school earlier and some areas have 2 weeks off (traditionally agricultural areas where the kids were needed to help with the harvest), Feb half term and Easter are usually around the same time as England.

You’ll struggle to find a proper “quiet” window tbh, France/Germany holidays are split by regions so something’s always on. May half term still ends up busy, mid-June is usually your best bet if you want it chilled.

We used to book Dutch holiday parks during half terms. We have stayed at Duinrell and at several Landal Greenparks during February or October.

More recently we noticed that the prices went up during UK holidays. The companies had obviously spotted a rise in UK visitors and upped prices accordingly.

I did once try to work out if they posted different prices if you were able to book in Dutch from an IP address in the NL but my research was inconclusive.

danish schools go back to lessons around 15 aug so if you go to Denmark in the last 2 weeks of august, kids attractions are all quiet but the weather is still good. Similar for other Scandinavian countries I think.

Germany has Summer holidays from mid-June to mid-September as each state has their own time slot.

The two southern states also have a two weeks break around Whitsun, so end of May/early June.

So the Centre Parc Lüneburger Heide may work. But with Germany having very good public fun pools, indoors and lidos, I would look for a nice area to go to and see what is on offer.

we found that the CPs in France were ok price wise during the English May half term but are booked up really fast.

Denmark and much of Holland is back to school by the end of August, we have been at that time before.

Thanks all for your experiences. Think I'll chance the May half term 😊

I’m in France, and our holidays vary year to year, since they split the country into 3 zones for some of the hols like Feb and spring (Easter). My DS breaks up today for the 2 week holiday.

We don’t get a half term in June, but do get 3 sets bank holidays in May, so May is tricky in France. We break up for summer end of June. We usually go to a Yelloh village in the first week of July; no Brits, but plenty of Irish families who are already on holiday.

Back to school is 1st September this year …. So that first week will be quiet if you can take holidays then.

In Italy, schools break up mid June, and often don’t go back until mid Sept, depending on location.