Carmen
Travel editor at Reisedrop · 2026-09-20
The Swiss school holiday system is the first thing that breaks every expat family's calendar. There is no national schedule: each canton sets its own dates, your neighbour across the cantonal border has different weeks off, and the holiday names – Sportferien, Frühlingsferien, Herbstferien – don't map onto anything you know from home. Here's the 2027 picture for the biggest expat cantons, and more importantly: when to book what.
The five holiday blocks, decoded
Swiss school years run on five breaks: two weeks of sports holidays in February (skiing, that's non-negotiable culturally), two weeks of spring holidays around April, five to six weeks of summer holidays from early or mid July, two weeks of autumn holidays in October, and roughly two weeks at Christmas. The exact weeks shift by canton. Zurich's sports holidays in 2027 are 8–19 February; Geneva takes just one week (15–19 February); Basel-Stadt goes 22 February–5 March; Zug runs 30 January–13 February. Yes, that means your kids and your colleague's kids in the next canton are off in different weeks. Welcome to Switzerland.
February: the most expensive fortnight in the Alps
Sports holidays are peak season squared. Ski resorts price accordingly, and flights to the Canary Islands – the classic escape for families who don't ski – jump 30 to 50 percent in the Zurich holiday weeks. Two honest options: book your February trip before the end of October, or exploit the cantonal stagger. Because Zug, Zurich and Basel are off in different weeks, departures at the edges of your canton's window are noticeably cheaper than the middle weekend.
Summer 2027: the long game
Zurich's summer holidays run 19 July to 21 August 2027, Geneva starts around 1 July, Basel mid-July. For long-haul family trips – the home-leave-plus-holiday combo many expat families run – book by February or March. For the Mediterranean, the first and last weeks of the break are meaningfully cheaper than the middle. And a quietly great move: the week right after school restarts is the cheapest beach week of the entire summer, if you can travel without the kids or with pre-school ones.
October: the underrated window
Autumn holidays (Zurich: 11–23 October 2027) are the best value of the five blocks. The Mediterranean is still 22 to 26 degrees, family hotels have space, and flight prices sit well below summer. It's also prime time for a first short cruise or a city trip the kids will actually remember. Book six to eight weeks ahead and you're fine – this is the one school holiday where you don't need to panic in advance.