Ascension in Belgium

I'm doing a long weekend ride in the Ardennes 18th-22nd May. Thurs
17th is Ascension Day, a public holiday in Belgium. I never book
hotels in advance and normally don't have a problem finding one. Only
problems in the past have been the Ascension and Pentecost (end May)
holidays in France.

Could any Belgians out there (or Belgium scholars) advise me whether
Ascension Day expands to become a holiday weekend? i.e. could be busy
hotel-wise when I'm going.

Many thanks, Reg

writes:

I'm doing a long weekend ride in the Ardennes 18th-22nd May. Thurs
17th is Ascension Day, a public holiday in Belgium. I never book
hotels in advance and normally don't have a problem finding one. Only
problems in the past have been the Ascension and Pentecost (end May)
holidays in France.

Could any Belgians out there (or Belgium scholars) advise me whether
Ascension Day expands to become a holiday weekend? i.e. could be busy
hotel-wise when I'm going.

It normally is a long weekend in The Netherlands and a lot of them travel
to the Ardennes...

Roos

wrote:
I'm doing a long weekend ride in the Ardennes 18th-22nd May. Thurs
17th is Ascension Day, a public holiday in Belgium. I never book
hotels in advance and normally don't have a problem finding one. Only
problems in the past have been the Ascension and Pentecost (end May)
holidays in France.


Dunno about Belgium. Here in France, Ascension, which always happens on
a Thursday, typically seeds a long weekend or "pont", with so many
people taking the Friday off that a number of businesses actually close.

Pentecost Monday, by the way, is no longer a holiday in France. However,
the 1st and 8th of May are bank holidays and since both fall on Tuesdays
this year, there will probably be a lot of long-weekenders in the first
three weeks of May.

I myself will be off between April 30th and May 21st - running together
a series of bank holidays, RTTs and congés payés.

So it might be safer to book...

EFR
Ile de France