As the crowds increase, European holidays to avoid?

Hi Pat, this website (Rick Steves) keeps an updated list of all the major holidays and events for each country. Here is the one for Italy.

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/festivals

They are also in the RS guidebooks.

I also use google to check for marathons and school holidays before picking my dates.

Thanks for this thread, Pat! Our tour was in Germany during the holiday this early June. Here's what I found out about it:
**Pentecost* weekend is still celebrated. In 2025, Whit Sunday fell on 8 June and Whit Monday on 9 June.*
It happened that we arrived in Fussen, Germany on that Sunday afternoon, toured the castle on Monday and left for our next city on Tuesday. I'd guess that at least 98% of every shop was closed both days. Grocery stores, deli's, restaurants, souvenir shoppes, pharmacies... all closed. We basically had a handful of places to go into and made the best of it. My bad for not checking on this beforehand.
We're to be in Amsterdam on April 21, 2026 with the tour ending on the 23rd. King's Day is on Monday, April 27th this year. Should I be concerned ? It would seem staying extra days in that area would be a bad idea for someone that likes to avoid crowds (ME!)

CarrieI continue to learn from you. Thanks for the links. I had been in other countries on May 1 several times, and nary a celebration .
And regarding May 1 in Italy, my stepson was stationed in Italy twice, an AF Base north of Venice, for a total of two deployments, seven years, and he never remembers May 1 being a major holiday. I guess things have changed post-Covid.
Thripleblessings, from what I learned here, Kings Day is a major celebration in the NL, with many closures, shoulder-shoulder folks, especially in Amsterdam, and even public transportation runs on a modified schedule. I have heard rumors that copious amount of beer are involved, so swimming in the canals is not advised. (Wink emoji ) I don't think the days around it are affected, but I'm sure Dutch Traveler will chime in. Folks have said King's Day is a great day to go to Keukenhof.
Thanks for sharing!

Fringe Festival , most of August, Edinburgh , Scotland -
This is the largest performing art festival in the world. I love going, but lodging prices increase, and availability decreases greatly. But it is fun!

In Germany, it also depends on which state you're in but you can find holiday lists on google. School holidays also vary from state to state. I always check everything carefully to avoid traveling during those times.

The biggest holiday in Hungary is St Stephen's day 20 August and the days leading up to it. There are more people in Budapest than usual, but if you have an opportunity to be here and miss it, that would be your loss.

While I might avoid a holidays when everyone goes to church and then stays home with their families, I look for national holidays where people are in the street celebrating their history and culture. Thats where you learn a lot about a country. Don't hide, embrace.

Also remember to check the schedule of the nearest stadium to see if your planned dates coincide with any major concert or sporting event, as this will make lodging scarce and drive the price of it way, way up. (Thank you, Taylor Swift, for teaching many of us this valuable lesson.)

In Poland, the first three days of May are an extended holiday. May 1 is International Worker’s Day (Labor Day, except in the U.S.!), then May 2 is Flag Day (we arrived in Warsaw on the second last month, and Polish Flags were EVERYWHERE, not just at schools and government buildings), and May 3 is Constitution Day, observing the date in 1791 that Poland established the first constitution in Europe, and the second in the world, just four years after the U.S.A.

Not necessarily anything to avoid, but it’s helpful to be aware of (I wasn’t)! Many streets in Warsaw were closed off to cars on the 2nd and 3rd of May, with just pedestrians and bikes… LOTS of bikes, plus rented stand-up scooters. Restaurants, bars, and snack vendors were open, but many shops and museums were closed.

“ We're to be in Amsterdam on April 21, 2026 with the tour ending on the 23rd. King's Day is on Monday, April 27th this year. Should I be concerned ? It would seem staying extra days in that area would be a bad idea for someone that likes to avoid crowds (ME!)”

If you want to avoid crowds than you’ve chosen the wrong time for Amsterdam. Not because of Kingsday which is only celebrated on the day itself, but because of the tulips. Your dates coincide with the expected peak blooming of the tulips and Amsterdam and surrounding area will be very busy. However the crowds are there for a good reason, the sight of the tulip fields in full bloom is stunning! If you wish to avoid the worst of the crowds, you should look into staying in Haarlem or Leiden.

I've always found it advantageous to travel when kids are in school.

greg, your kids, or the kids at the destination? :)

You’re right, though, and english school holidays mean LOTS more families at attractions.

It also seems that EVERY destination we’ve been to in the past three years - most of southern Africa excluded - is a university town. College students on scooters, hanging out on sidewalks or at fountains in parks and plazas, and vaping (!) Presumably, some have classes to attend, research to conduct, and tests to take in the spring and fall, when we’re primarily traveling.

As Mignon noted there are the set National holidays, and then there are the State ones. In Germany there are 10 National holidays, but over 20 State holidays, and that varies, depending on where you are. For example, June 19th is a State holiday (Corpus Christi) in much of southern Germany. Holidays are a major concession to the unions, and very much a political subject.

It is a good idea to check school holidays in which ever city you are planning to fly to or from or spend time in. The flight price can increase by a lot if you are flying in anytime a school vacation is going to begin or end.
Be aware that in Germany, each of the 16 states, has staggered vacation times. The kids in Berlin may not be on vacation as the kids in Frankfurt or in Munich. This goes for the summer, as well as the fall, winter, and spring breaks. This eases traffic jams on the autobahn. These dates change every year too!

Let's face reality. In some areas it's almost impossible not to be beset by crowds.

I don't like crowds. But I want to go to places others wish to visit. So what do I do....

1) Check for holidays, days when kids are off from school, major events, and festivals. (I try to avoid them.)

2) I do most of my travel either shoulder season or off season. (Since I travel full time, I spend the summer months--when most people travel--in places off the mind of most tourists. I use this time to rest and plan future travel. ) If you can avoid traveling in the summer it might help with crowds. But if you can't, you can''t.

3) Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it. If crowds bother you, prepare yourself mentally. Plan something after your day of crowds that is calmer and more peaceful.

If all that fails, there's always.....(insert your drink of choice.)!!

Well, then there are wine festivals and Oktoberfest, which combine crowds AND a chosen drink!

As we need to be more strategic for a quality travel experience, in
light of greater crowds just about everywhere in Europe,

"Just about everywhere in Europe"? More people, sure, but "crowds" is pretty subjective. I dont think that on whole Europe is represented by the dozen or so places that make the news. There are plenty of amazing sights and experiences without crowds in Europe.

The advice here is excellent for those dozen or so, and that's a shame because you miss out on cultural experiences by avoiding holidays, but I get it. For a balance, specifically look for holidays and events and festivals in less traveled locations. The special dates often turn ho-hum destinations into world-class destinations if only for a few days.

The holidays can be fun. Johannesnacht this weekend was good in Mainz. The weather was perfect, and the long days made the fest pretty attractive in the evening. But they had blocked off a couple places I specifically wanted to get to, so annoying also. Still, there's always the Roman ruins and the walk along the Rhine when the Altstadt gets too crowded.

No one likes crowds, but never forget that we (as travelers) become part of the whole crowd issue. Why be upset if other people wanted to go to the same place you wanted to go to?

I'm all for being attentive to off-season timings or how holidays could impact a trip, but sometimes I just "grin and bear it" knowing that my presence there is someone else's frustration as well.

The holidays can be fun

Yes, they can. I have travelled to Carnival, Oktoberfest, etc. and will traveling for multipile festivals in German and UK later this year.

I agree that unexpected crowds and business and tourist site closures can unsettle a travel experience. The key IMO is to plan and research.

In some places, the crowds are presenting safety issues.
What I witnessed this year was the stress and bad behavior of crowds as trains ran late, were canceled, and /or overcrowded. Once folks have waited an hour plus , often in the sun, for delayed/ canceled modes of transportation, often pushing and shoving and bully behavior erupts.
In Milan, on the train to Varenna, this past May, a young man approached a train car so crowded that folks were standing in the entry ways. He picked up his bike and attempted to throw the bike into the train, above the heads of the standing passengers. Thank goodness there was staff present, who prevented this young man from boarding . The previous train had been canceled, so our train had double the passengers.
Other folks reported experiences of crowds rushing to board trains, preventing passengers from getting off a train, and elderly folks with poor balance were afraid of injury.
So- attempting to avoid such situations.

I don’t recall any time a holiday resulted in crowds where I was. However in pre-ATM days, holidays always seemed to be on days when I needed to go to a bank to exchange travelets checks

I agree that unexpected crowds and business and tourist site closures
can unsettle a travel experience. The key IMO is to plan and research.

And relax and go with the flow.

Someone mentioned Labor Day up above. Great holiday here. Worth being here for.

The Fete de la Musique on June 21 in France. If you are in Paris that day do not make plans to be out later than 8:30 pm. Be back at your hotel by then. We are in Paris right now and things started to get wild on our street around that time yesterday. And tonight we met another couple who told us they were at a restaurant last night and left at 9:30 pm and there were mobs of drunk people stampeding on the street and they could not get through. It took them 2 hours to get back to their hotel from a restaurant that was only a 10 minute walk away. The wife had big scratches on her arms from fighting through the stampeding crowds.

Lin, like Mr. E. said, just go with the flow.

1. Find out when Golden Week is in China.
2. Avoid it.

-- Mike Beebe