Pentecost Next weekend (17 to 21 May) many people will come on a short holiday. All students in Germany have at least one long weekend, some even have a week or two of vacation. It is also the case in almost all neighboring countries Pentecost Monday is a public holiday. Like the ADAC as well as the Auto Club Europe (ACE) therefore expects many traffic jams on the highways.
According to the ADAC, the travel destinations are mainly the Alps, the low mountain areas, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea and neighboring countries. But excursions to the local recreation areas of big cities also bring a lot of cars onto the streets.
From Friday there is a risk of traffic jams in North Rhine-Westphalia
According to the ADAC, there is a risk of traffic jams on the highways of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Friday afternoon before the long Pentecost weekend. “The meeting of commuters and short-term holidaymakers will once again be an absolute test of patience and nerves,” ADAC traffic expert Roman Suthold said in advance. Especially in the Greater Cologne region and the Ruhr area, many traffic jams can be expected between 2 p.m.
Saturday is the main travel day
Pentecost Saturday is considered the most important travel day. Serious disruptions and sometimes long traffic jams must therefore be taken into account between approximately 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Especially in the south of the republic. Particularly busy are the routes to the Alps and the Mediterranean, but also to the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
On Pentecost Sunday it is a little quieter on Sunday
In any case, things can be a bit more relaxed on the highways on Sunday. However, during the day there will likely be heavy excursion traffic on secondary routes and around excursion destinations and local recreation areas.
Last year, the Friday before the Pentecost weekend was one of the busiest days of the year, according to the car club, which expects the biggest disruptions to occur on Friday afternoon and Monday this year. In the south it can probably also be quite busy on Saturday morning.
Numerous closures and construction sites during the Pentecost weekend
More than 1,200 construction sites contribute to the traffic jams. And in addition to the long-term closures on highway sections, there will be more short-term closures this weekend – the ADAC provides detailed information about this on its website.
In addition to the roads around major cities, according to the car clubs, you can expect the most traffic jams on the following highways (often in both directions):
| A1 | Lübeck – Hamburg – Bremen – Dortmund – Cologne |
| A2 | Dortmund – Hannover – Berlin |
| A1/A3/A4 | Cologne Ring |
| A3 | Oberhausen – Frankfurt – Würzburg – Nuremberg – Passau |
| A4 | Kirchheim Triangle – Chemnitz – Dresden – Görlitz |
| A5 | Hattenbach Triangle – Frankfurt – Karlsruhe – Basel |
| A6 | Nuremberg – Heilbronn – Mannheim – Kaiserslautern |
| A7 | Flensburg – Hamburg – Hannover – Kassel – Würzburg – Ulm – Füssen/Reutte |
| A8 | Karlsruhe – Stuttgart – Ulm – Munich – Salzburg |
| A9 | Munich – Nuremberg – Berlin |
| A10 | Berlin ring |
| A11 | Berliner Ring – Uckermark Triangle |
| A19 | Wittstock/Dosse – Rostock triangle |
| A24 | Berlin – Hamburg |
| A61 | Ludwigshafen – Koblenz – Mönchengladbach |
| A81 | Heilbronn – Stuttgart – Singing |
| A93 | Rosenheim-Kiefersfelden |
| A95 | Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen |
| A99 | Munich motorway ring |
Large wave of travel to neighboring countries
According to the ADAC, the Pentecost travel wave also affects the classic holiday destinations Austria, Switzerland, Italy And Croatia. It is especially busy there on the Tauern, Inntal, Rheintal and Brenner highways, as well as on the Gotthard Route, but also on the main roads to the Croatian coast.
The access roads to the excursion regions in the subordinate road network of the Alpine countries also suffer from traffic jams – for example in Austria at the Carinthian lakes, the Salzkammergut, Lake Neusiedler 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 from and to to Poland And The Netherlands. In the Austrian state of Tyrol, traffic jam alternative routes along major transit routes are also closed on weekends and public holidays until October. Exit closures also apply on the Tauernautobahn.