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Summer travel, popular places, weekends versus weekdays?

I know that the narrow answer is "it is site specific," but what are your general thoughts on how busy popular tourist places are weekdays vs weekends?

Specifically, I'm thinking about staying in Bruges, and if so when to work it into the itinerary. But I'm wondering if there might be some general rules of thumb, maybe with busy tourist places broken down into a couple categories?

I do prefer visiting big cities on weekends, Sunday always seems to be nice relatively quiet, and Saturdays a lot of fun street life.

But maybe mid-size very touristy places that draw some local visitors tend busier on weekends? Maybe beach-type places are in this category? Cute villages near big population centers?

And probably not, but places where a lot of traveling tours start and finish busy on the weekends because a lot of itineraries are Saturday to Saturday? I'd imagine certain cruise ports can get impacted like this, seems to happen in summer in Seattle.

Anyway, curious if there are useful ideas around the subject. Thank you!

Posted by
817 posts

Great question. As for tourist spots, it does appear to matter as more locals seem to be visiting or seeing the sites on weekends. Business areas are much less busy on the weekend, as you would expect. You'll notice this if you stay at a hotel in a business zone. Shopping areas crowded on Saturday mornings and in most Euro cities, all but empty on Sunday. I'll add that major sports or cultural events have a huge impact on how busy a city is on a weekend.

Posted by
2023 posts

Your note above, about checking for major events before you pick a time to visit ... chef's kiss!

Posted by
346 posts

Must like at home. Smaller places that are a respite for local city dwellers while be more crowded on weekends. For example, Lake Garda was hammered on Saturday and Sunday in July but wonderful Monday and Tuesday. Don’t even get me started on Annency. We expect the same in Cortina this July.

Posted by
2023 posts

Thanks Jonathan, those are helpful data points.