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Les Grandes Vacances: What you need to know about France’s summer holidays in 2020

France kicks off the annual "grandes vacances" on Friday, but the global pandemic has made things a little different this year. Here’s what you need to know about this year's summer holidays.

Published: 3 July 2020 17:49 CEST
Les Grandes Vacances: What you need to know about France's summer holidays in 2020
Photo: AFP

In France, like most countries, les grandes vacances (the big holidays) is an important annual event. Every summer, the French take weeks off work to head away on holiday. Schools close for two months, shops close and even many boulangeries.

When are they?

The French summer holidays begin when schools break up and last until la rentrée (school start), which this year is July 3rd (or 4th if the school has Saturday classes) until Tuesday September 1st.  

What happens during the grandes vacances?

Basically most of France takes a holiday which means there's a lot of people moving around the country. Which can mean a lot of traffic on the roads on certain days, especially Saturdays throughout the holidays.

 

How bad is traffic going to be?

Bison Futé, the government-run site that monitors traffic levels, has classified traffic for those leaving for their holidays in Paris this weekend as red – the second highest level – which means the situation on the roads will be “very difficult”. 

The rest of the country is classified as orange – which means the situation on the roads will be “difficult” on Friday and Saturday.

Traffic in the other direction – with people coming back from holidays – will however be largely as normal across the country all weekend. 

Source: Bison Futé.

A of next week, roads will become even more crowded.

From July 14th to August 15th, roads will be between 30 to 70 percent busier than usual, according to the French highway association Asfa

Bison Futé has marked the following dates as days to avoid: July 11th, August 1st and 8th for going on holiday and August 22nd and 29th for coming back.

Keep up-to-date with the situation on their website here.

Is everyone going by car?

Not everyone, but this year – due to the coronavirus health crisis – many people say they will choose the car above other means of transport to avoid crowding in trains or planes. 

National rail operator SNCF has said it expects its train ticket sales to drop by 20 percent this summer compared to last year.

In July, the operator said it expected about 50 percent of its normal sales levels, while August would be a slump down to only 15 percent of normal levels.

 

Where are the French going this year?

More people than usual are opting for staycations this year after the coronavirus pandemic brought international travel to a standstill for several months.
 
As usual, most people want to be close to the ocean. 
 
Among the most popular French destinations are Brittany and Normandy – both on the northwestern coastline – along with other lesser known places near the sea, but also in the mountains and in the countryside.
 

More people than usual are looking for peace and quiet when booking their summer getaways, and France's more secluded areas have reported a surge in demand from tourists – both international visitors and French residents – eager to explore less popular destinations this year.

 
Are people going away for two months straight?
 
French people don't actually take off on holiday early July only to come back at the end of August. Nor does the whole country switch off for the entire month of August, although cities – especially Paris – are remarkably calmer in August than the rest of the year.
 
Authorities even have rules for boulangeries in Paris during the summer to make sure they don't all go on holiday at the same time and Parisians can't get any bread.
 
The French have five weeks of mandatory holiday a year and most people taking a few weeks off in July or August.
 
The picture below is a chart of French holiday tendencies since 1979, showing how the July-August period has a longstanding tradition as being France's favourite holiday months.
 
Photo: Insee
In fact, the two months have become emblematic symbols of two different kinds of holidaymakers, juillettistes and aoûtiens – people who go away in July versus those who prefer August.
 
Most of the differences are based on myths that the juillettistes, are more “chic” than aoûtiens, as the latter group used to be more working class (people who went on holiday when the factories shut down).
 
However in recent years a new group has been created, les septembristes, referring to those who go on holiday in September. 

READ ALSO: How much holiday time do the French really get every year?

What do the kids do?

The grand parents are normally in demand in the summer, but due to Covid-19 fears, grand parents may understandably not be offering themselves as babysitters this summer. Local authorities run holiday clubs at schools known as centres des loisirs which will be heavily in demand this summer.

 

 

 

 

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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