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EXPLAINED: The German roads to avoid as school holidays come to an end

Germany's largest motoring club has warned drivers that this weekend and the coming days will be busy on the roads as summer holidays in five states are set to end soon.

People drive on the Autobahn in Laichingen in Baden-Württemberg.
People drive on the Autobahn in Laichingen in Baden-Württemberg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Stefan Puchner

Many holidaymakers are likely to be on their way back home this weekend or next weekend so key routes on the Autobahn will be crowded, said the ADAC. 

The auto association expects more traffic jams than normal from Friday onwards. 

In five German states, the school holidays are ending around the same time: in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Saxony-Anhalt, the last day of the school holidays is on August 16th, in Saxony it’s August 18th and in Thuringia it’s August 19th.

Adding to the mix is that the third week of holidays is about to begin in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.

Plus Bavaria and Saarland have a regional holiday coming up with Assumption Day – or Mariä Himmelfahrt – on Tuesday, August 15th. It’s expected that many people will use this holiday as part of a long weekend and take Monday as a ‘bridge day’ off work. 

READ ALSO: When are Germany’s state and national holidays in 2023?

According to the ADAC, there will likely be traffic backed up in key areas at peak times such as Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday.

Particular hotspots are expected to be around the German border crossings with Austria, including the A3 between Linz and Passau, the A8 between Salzburg and Munich and the A93 between Kufstein and Rosenheim.

According to the ADAC, these stretches could get crowded:

Trunk roads to and from the North Sea and Baltic Sea

A1 Lübeck – Hamburg – Bremen

A3 Passau – Nuremberg – Frankfurt

A4 Kirchheimer Dreieck – Bad Hersfeld – Erfurt – Dresden

READ ALSO: Can I take my child out of school in Germany to go on holiday?

A5 Karlsruhe – Basel

A6 Heilbronn – Nuremberg

A7 Flensburg – Hamburg

A7 Hanover – Hamburg and Füssen/Reutte – Ulm – Würzburg

A8 Salzburg – Munich – Stuttgart – Karlsruhe

A9 Munich – Nuremberg – Halle /Leipzig

A19 Rostock – Wittstock/Dosse junction

A24 Berlin – Hamburg

A45 Giessen – Dortmund

A61 Ludwigshafen – Koblenz – Mönchengladbach

A72 Hof – Chemnitz

A81 Stuttgart – Singen

A93 Inntaldreieck – Kufstein

A95/B 2 Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen

A99 Munich bypass

Watch out for building sites

The ADAC also warned drivers that construction on roads could add to the build-up of traffic.

There are more than 1,450 construction sites around Germany currently. 

People taking to the roads during this busy time of year are advised to try not to travel at weekends or travel early or in the evening. 

According to experts, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are good times to travel. 

The ADAC added that the holiday ban on HGVs, which is in force from 7 am to 8 pm on Saturdays until the end of August, will ease the situation.

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TRAVEL NEWS

What’s the environmental fee Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss airlines will charge you?

German airline group Lufthansa, which includes national flyers Austrian and Swiss airlines have said it will add an environmental charge to passenger fares in Europe to cover the cost of increasing EU climate regulations.

What's the environmental fee Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss airlines will charge you?

How much will the cost be?

The extra cost will be added to all flights sold and operated by the group departing from EU countries as well as Britain, Norway and Switzerland, the group said in a statement.

It will apply to flights from January next year and, depending on the route and fare, will vary from €1 to €72.

What’s the justification for the cost?

“The airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own,” said Lufthansa.

The group — whose airlines include Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines — said it is facing extra costs from EU regulations related to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The aviation sector is among the toughest to decarbonise and SAF — a biofuel that produces lower carbon emissions than traditional jet fuel  — is seen as a crucial ingredient to hitting emissions targets but is currently more expensive to produce.

In March, Airlines for Europe, which represents the continent’s largest airline groups including Lufthansa, complained that production of the fuel in Europe is minimal and lags far behind projects launched in the United States.

Lufthansa said it also faces extra costs from changes to the EU’s emissions trading system, and other regulatory measures.

The group aims to halve its net carbon emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, and to go carbon neutral by 2050.

What is the EU legislation?

The EU legislation requires airlines to gradually increase use of the fuel on routes departing EU airports.

Carriers will need to include two percent of SAF in their fuel mix from next year, rising to six percent in 2030 and then soaring to 70 percent from 2050.

What’s the sate of Lufthansa group’s finances?

After having to be bailed out by the German government during the coronavirus pandemic, Lufthansa racked up healthy profits in 2022 and 2023 as travel demand roared back.

But it was hard hit by a series of strikes at the start of this year, reporting a hefty first-quarter loss.

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