Many Germans take the long Ascension Day weekend as an opportunity to take a short break. Drivers must therefore expect more traffic jams during this time. According to ADAC’s traffic jam forecasts, a significantly higher traffic volume is to be expected than in the previous two years, as the corona crisis no longer restricts domestic travel.
Especially the highways of larger cities are sometimes very prone to traffic jams. Furthermore, there are many road construction sites in Germany; currently there are more than 1000.
It has been backed up since Wednesday
In order to enjoy as much time as possible in the holiday destination, most holidaymakers start on Wednesday afternoon, May 25th. Therefore, ADAC predicts the first peak of traffic jams that day, between 1pm and 7pm. The federal states of Berlin, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia are particularly affected, as the Friday after the public holiday is officially free from school.
But it is also common in the other federal states that many take the bridge day off. In addition, many drivers from Hamburg and Saxony-Anhalt are likely to be on the road, because the week-long vacation ends in these two countries.
The wave of return trips will likely reach its peak on Sunday afternoon. On the other hand, Friday should be relatively quiet on the main roads in Germany.
These routes have the highest potential for congestion during the Ascension Day long weekend:
- Main roads to and from the coasts
- Large areas of Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich
- A1 Cologne – Dortmund – Bremen – Hamburg – Lübeck
- A2 Berlin – Hanover – Oberhausen – Dortmund
- A3 Emmerich – Oberhausen – Cologne – Frankfurt – Würzburg – Nuremberg
- A4 Triangle of Kirchheim – Erfurt – Chemnitz – Dresden
- A5 Hattenbacher Dreieck – Darmstadt – Karlsruhe
- A6 Heilbronn – Nuremberg
- A7 Hamburg – Hanover and Würzburg – Füssen/Reutte
- A7 Hamburg – Flensburg
- A8 Stuttgart – Munich – Salzburg
- A9 Munich – Nuremberg
- A10 Berlin ring
- A40 Venlo-Duisburg-Essen-Dortmund
- A43 Wuppertal – Recklinghausen – Münster
- A61 Mönchengladbach – Koblenz – Ludwigshafen
- A81 Stuttgart – singing
- A93 Inntal–Kufstein triangle
- A95 /B 2 Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen
- A99 Munich ring road
But not only in Germany travelers have to contend with traffic jams. Ascension Day is also a public holiday in Austria and Switzerland. This will be particularly evident on the access roads to hiking regions in the subordinate road network of the Alpine countries – for example in Austria the lakes of Carinthia, the Salzkammergut, Lake Neusiedl and the recreation areas of the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Valais. Slightly longer journey times should be expected for the Tauern, Fernpass, Brenner, Rheintal and Gotthard lines.
According to ADAC, the stay at the borders in and out of the country should not last more than 30 minutes.
Tank Tipp
If you have planned your vacation on Ascension Day, you should also pay attention to the right time to refuel. Do not refuel in the morning of the day of departure, but the evening before between 18:00 and 19:00 or between 20:00 and 22:00. According to the ADAC, this can save up to ten cents per liter of fuel.
