2019 Public Holidays and Travel Ideas

As 2019 approaches, with rising exchange rates, we're starting to make plans for next year. Planning early is a must for travelling economically. The first job in planning: which days are the public holidays? You can't do without knowing these.

But with exchange rates rising unstoppably, we've generally started planning domestic trips. Of course, affordable international routes are waiting for you below too.

Compared with European countries, in our country we have fewer days of annual leave and we aren't allowed to take block holidays. So almost everyone starts combining public holidays with weekends and planning little getaways. Some go to their summer house, some spend it at home, and people like us make travel plans for these dates, whether at home or abroad. Little getaways are always extra motivation for us! Dreaming of them, sometimes we don't even notice how time passes.

Although 2019 will make us miss 2018 in parts, overall it will be a generous year for holidays. With a year like this waiting for us, we sat down and planned for you the 2019 public holidays and what can be done on which days.

You might think, "Why so early?" We buy our plane tickets at least 6 months in advance. Thank goodness, so far we haven't had a ticket go to waste, but making plans like this is a bit of risk and a bit of excitement!

Easy to say: in 2019 we have 104 weekend days, 12 weekday holidays, 2 half days, making a total of 117 days of public holiday. Come on, let's see what they are and what's best to do on these dates, timing-wise?

1 January | Tuesday

A wonderful time for those who want to experience Christmas in Europe. Taking Monday off, or if you like the last week of December 2018, we can say it's the best time to see the Christmas Markets in Europe. In 2017 we visited all the cities worth seeing at New Year, such as Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent . For the details of the trip, step this way ..

23 April | Tuesday and 1 May | Wednesday

By combining 23 April and 1 May, we drew ourselves a 4000-kilometre route. Starting from Bulgaria , then Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Greece , we'd prepared ourselves a breathtaking 10-day route. Spring is the best time for the places we mentioned: neither too hot nor cold. In short, the perfect time to travel!

4(1/2)-7 June & Ramazan Bayramı | Tuesday - Friday

We took the chance of the Ramazan Bayramı and threw ourselves into the happiness of Scandinavia with our backpacks for 16 days! Our route was so full that we did all four Scandinavian countries, and on top of that discovered wonderful cities! Taking Monday off, a 9-day holiday awaits us.

Finland: Helsinki and Turku; Sweden: Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Malmö; Denmark: Copenhagen, Humlebaek, Helsingor, Fredensborg, Hillerod, Roskilde, Vejle, Billund, Aarhus, Aalborg and Hirtshals. Then it was the turn of the land of fjords, Norway.. With Bergen, Voss, Flam, Oslo, Trondheim, Bodø and Tromsø, we finished our route. :)

15 July | Monday

In previous years 15 July fell on a Saturday and Sunday. This year, for the first time it falls on a Monday, so you should plan a short 3-day route. Our suggestion is somewhere very close to Istanbul: İğneada, Bozcaada or the Gulf of Saros..

10(1/2)-14 August & Kurban Bayramı | Saturday - Wednesday

This time Kurban Bayramı doesn't fall on a full 9-day holiday. You can take 5 days off before it to make a 12-day holiday, or take 2 days after it to plan a 9-day holiday. In 2018 we had a perfect holiday in Ukraine. There are places that suit your budget, where you can eat freely and explore just as much. If you haven't been before, be sure to do the Odessa, Lviv and Kiev trio!

30 August | Friday

Another 3-day getaway is coming. If you want to camp, Kıyıköy awaits you, or again Bozcaada and İğneada are options to consider.

28(1/2)-29 October | Monday - Tuesday

Here comes another 4-day holiday! What a bountiful year for holidays, isn't it? 117 days of holiday, easy to say! Taking the chance of autumn's arrival, it's the perfect time for a Safranbolu route to see the colourful leaves!

We hope 2019 will be a year full of travel and joy! Happy New Year to everyone in advance!