World
Summer vacations in Germany: A journalist spends a day at a highway rest stop during peak travel season
On July 18, 2026, first day of school holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany's most populous state, journalist Sebastian Dalkowski of Handelsblatt spent the day at Holmmoor Ost rest area on the A7 near Quickborn, north of Hamburg. This stop — the first with services after the motorway tunnel under the Elbe — provides an observation point for summer traffic flowing north. Germany has 440 service rest areas on its motorway network.