Curious when is the next school holiday in the Netherlands in 2024 and how the Dutch school holidays (schoolvakanties) system works? Here is everything you need to know.
The Netherlands are divided into 3 school holiday regions:
- North,
- Central
- South.
Here you can check the overview of these regions, with their provinces and municipalities, and find out where your school belongs to. Spreading the school holidays across the regions helps control peaks in holiday traffic.
The holiday dates below are in 2024 for primary, special and secondary education. Please note that all dates are inclusive.
School holidays in the Netherlands in the 2023/2024 school year
| North region | Central region | South region | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn holidays (Herfstvakantie 2023) Visit Disneyland Paris >> |
21 October to 29 October 2023 | 14 October to 22 October 2023 | 14 October to 22 October 2023 |
| Christmas holidays (Kerstvakantie 2023-2024) | 23 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 | 23 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 | 23 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 |
| Spring holidays (Voorjaarsvakantie 2024) What about visiting the Rotterdam Zoo? |
17 February to 25 February 2024 | 17 February to 25 February 2024 | 10 February to 18 February 2024 |
| May vacations* (Meivakantie 2024) | 27 April to 5 May 2024 | 27 April to 5 May 2024 | 27 April to 5 May 2024 |
| Summer vacations (Zomervakantie 2024) | 20 July to 1 September 2024 | 13 July to 25 August 2024 | 6 July to 18 August 2024 |
* Schools may extend the May holiday by one week if they wish. For the exact dates please check your school’s agenda.
** These dates are advisory. For the exact dates please check your school’s agenda.
Please note! In the Netherlands children start school at the age of 4. Until they become 5, you can take them out of school for extra days off. But when children reach the age of 5, they must go to school every school day. It is not allowed to them out of school to go on holiday.
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