When: Annually, April/May.
At the end of April and the beginning of May, de Meivakantie (the Dutch May Holiday) takes place for primary and secondary school students. The dates mentioned are indicative. They are therefore not definitive dates. The central government leaves these dates to the schools themselves.
No holiday staggering
The May holidays are the last holidays before the summer holidays begin. Unlike this summer holiday (“big holiday“), it was decided not to apply a holiday staggering for the Meivakantie (Dutch May holiday). All three educational regions (Central, North and South) will therefore have holidays at the same time. On paper. Schools may decide for themselves how to fill in the holidays. As a rule, this means that a holiday can usually consist of two weeks, in connection with holidays such as Bevrijdingsdag (Dutch Liberation Day) and/or Ascension Day.
Tulip holiday
Another name for the May holiday is the tulpvakantie (tulip holiday). because of the blooming period of these flowers. The holiday was a successor to all kinds of shredded days and the Crocus and Easter holidays. From the 1990s, a change in holidays was already being considered. Easter holidays were the first to be dropped from 1995. Then Queen’s Day (30 April) and later King’s Day (27 April) were included as holidays in a holiday, along with Liberation Day (5 May). There was a chance that Ascension Day could fall on the same holiday, as it could take place somewhere between 30 April and 3 June. Precisely because there were several days between certain holidays, it could happen that a May holiday thus became two weeks. This became the rule rather than the exception as time went on, although it was not formalised.
The Dutch government is leading
The central government sets dates for holidays once every three years. Therefore, some dates for holidays are not yet final. Some holidays therefore have a provisional status. The central government’s website lists exactly which years these are. The information on this website in this case is indicative, not leading. No rights can therefore be derived from the dates mentioned.
More information
The links below refer to websites of the Dutch government and are therefore displayed in Dutch.
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