Summer vacation starts in southern Netherlands; Busy roads expected

The school holidays start in the south of the country on Friday. The ANWB expects traffic on the roads to holiday destinations this weekend, as many Netherlands residents travel for summer vacation by car.

The southern region includes the provinces of Gelderland, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, and Zeeland. Last week, the summer holidays started in the central region, which was the first to go on holiday this year. Next week, the children in the north will be the last to end off the academic year. The holidays end for children in the center and south at the end of August. In the north, they’ll return to school at the beginning of September.

In addition to the Dutch, many people from other countries are also hitting the road for their holiday this weekend. The ANWB expects long traffic jams in France on Saturday, and holidaymakers in Germany can also expect delays on the road, partly due to around 1,400 “baustellen” due to road works.

In Austria, where holiday traffic is not allowed to use local roads during the day to avoid traffic jams, the Karawanken tunnel is the biggest bottleneck. Traffic jams are also expected toward the northern Italian lakes and the coast. The extra travel time for the Swiss St. Gotthard tunnel toward Chiasso can amount to over two hours.

The ANWB advised holidaymakers not to leave at 3:00 a.m. but to wait until after breakfast. That way, they should avoid ending up in the longest traffic jams.