The streets will be full at Pentecost. In addition to the long weekend, some federal states have Whitsun holidays: half of Germany will therefore be on the road. Here are some tips to help you get through.
Pentecost next weekend (May 17th-21st) attracts many people on a short vacation. All students in Germany have at least one long weekend, some even have a week or two of vacation. Whit Monday is also a public holiday in almost all neighboring countries. Both the ADAC and the Auto Club Europa (ACE) are therefore expecting a lot of traffic jams on the motorways.
According to the ADAC, travel destinations are primarily the Alps, the low mountain regions, the North and Baltic Seas and neighboring countries. But excursions to the local recreation areas of the big cities also bring many cars onto the streets.
According to the ADAC, there is a risk of traffic jams on North Rhine-Westphalia motorways on the Friday afternoon before the long Pentecost weekend. “The meeting of commuters and short vacationers will once again be an absolute test of patience and nerves,” said ADAC traffic expert Roman Suthold in advance. A lot of traffic jams can be expected between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., particularly in the greater Cologne area and the Ruhr area.
Pentecost Saturday is considered the main travel day. Therefore, severe disruptions and sometimes long traffic jams must be expected between around 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Especially in the south of the republic. The routes towards the Alps and the Mediterranean region as well as to the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas are particularly busy.
Things could be a little more relaxed on Sunday, at least on the main roads. However, there will probably be a lot of excursion traffic on secondary routes and around excursion destinations and local recreation areas during the day.
Last year, the Friday before the Pentecost weekend was one of the busiest days of the year, according to the automobile club, which this year expects the biggest disruptions to occur on Friday afternoon and Monday. In the south it is likely to be quite crowded on Saturday morning too.
Over 1,200 construction sites are contributing to the traffic jams. And long-term closures on motorway sections will be joined by further short-term closures this weekend – the ADAC provides detailed information about this on its website.
In addition to the roads around large cities, the auto clubs say you can expect the most traffic jams on the following highways (often in both directions):
According to the ADAC, the Pentecost travel wave is also affecting the classic holiday destinations Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia at the weekend. It gets particularly crowded there on the Tauern, Inntal, Rheintal and Brenner motorways as well as the Gotthard route, as well as on the trunk roads to the Croatian coast.
The access roads to the excursion regions in the subordinate road network of the Alpine countries are also affected by traffic jams – for example in Austria at the Carinthian lakes, the Salzkammergut, Lake Neusiedl and the recreational areas of the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Valais and Lake Garda in Italy.
You can also travel longer on the main routes to and from Poland and the Netherlands. In the Austrian state of Tyrol, traffic jam alternative routes along important transit routes are also closed on weekends and public holidays until October. There are also exit closures on the Tauern Autobahn.
