Dutch school holidays 2026-2027: one week apart in autumn, two in summer

The first year of raising children in the Netherlands, the thing that catches people out is not tuition or language but the holiday dates. Many parents assume the whole country breaks at once. In fact the education ministry staggers school holidays across three regions, noord, midden and zuid, to spread traffic and pressure on holiday destinations. For 2026-2027 the gaps are real. The autumn break runs from 10 to 18 October in noord, while midden and zuid only start on 17 October and finish on 25 October. Spring reverses it: zuid goes first, 13 to 21 February, and noord and midden follow on 20 February. The summer of 2027 is the widest of all, with noord starting on 10 July and zuid not until 24 July, a fortnight apart. If two children attend schools in different regions, or you and your partner book leave against different regional calendars, that fortnight is the number you have to work out yourself.

• Autumn 2026: noord 10 to 18 October; midden and zuid 17 to 25 October. Christmas is identical in all three, 19 December to 3 January.
• Spring 2027: zuid 13 to 21 February; noord and midden 20 to 28 February. The May break is identical everywhere, 24 April to 2 May.
• Summer 2027: noord 10 July to 22 August; midden 17 July to 29 August; zuid 24 July to 5 September.
• Only two of these are advisory: the autumn and spring breaks, which a school may move if the parent and staff council agrees and the change is written into the schoolplan. Two weeks at Christmas, six weeks in summer and one week in May are fixed by law, and a school may deviate only in special situations and only with OCW's permission. What settles it is your own school's schoolgids, not a national table. (source 1, source 2)

Hokimi field note: write down the start and end dates for your region, subtract the other region's, and the days left over are the window where you can travel outside the peak. Flights and holiday houses cost most in the single week when all three regions are off together. If you are planning across regions, one phone call to the school beats any summary table.