Germany or Belgium? When each is busy and when it is quiet

TL;DR

In 2025, Germany's busiest month was August (12.4% of its tourist nights) and Belgium's was July (13.6%). The quietest were January (4.8%) and January (4.4%). Germany's two busiest months carried 24.1% of its year, against 26.6% for Belgium, so Germany's year was less concentrated.

Germany and Belgium, month by month

Each chart shows what share of the place's 2025 tourist nights fell in each month, on the same scale; the two busiest months are highlighted.1

Germany

JFMAMJJA12.4%SOND

Belgium

JFMAMJJ13.6%ASOND

Share of the year, every month

Germany had the smaller share of its own year in six months (February, March, April, July, August and December), and Belgium in five. A smaller share means a quieter month for that country, not fewer visitors than the other.1

Germany and Belgium: share of 2025 tourist nights by month
MonthGermanyBelgium
January4.8%4.4%
February5.1%5.2%
March6.3%6.4%
April8.2%9.0%
May9.6%9.4%
June10.3%9.2%
July11.7%13.6%
August12.4%13.1%
September9.9%8.2%
October9.2%8.6%
November6.2%6.2%
December6.3%6.8%

The key facts side by side

Germany and Belgium: key facts
GermanyBelgium
Busiest monthAugust, 12.4%July, 13.6%
Quietest monthJanuary, 4.8%January, 4.4%
Two busiest months24.1% of the year26.6% of the year
Busiest vs quietest2.6 times as busy3.1 times as busy
From abroadIn 2025, guests living abroad spent 18.9% of Germany's tourist nights. Source pageIn 2025, guests living abroad spent 50.6% of Belgium's tourist nights. Source page
Length of stayGuests stayed an average of 2.4 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Germany in 2025. Source pageGuests stayed an average of 2.3 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in Belgium in 2025. Source page
How seasonalJuly and August together carried 24.1% of the year, making Germany the 32nd most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. Source pageJuly and August together carried 26.6% of the year, making Belgium the 24th most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. Source page
Public holidaysIn Germany, public holidays that apply in every state fall on 9 days in both 2026 and 2027. Source pageIn Belgium, public holidays fall on 10 days in both 2026 and 2027. Source page

Each sentence is copied from the page it links to, where its source is cited.

Weather: Berlin and Brussels

Averages for 1991–2020 at the weather station each page uses: Berlin-Dahlem-FU for Berlin and UCCLE for Brussels.2

Average high and rain by month, Berlin and Brussels, 1991 to 2020
MonthHigh, BerlinHigh, BrusselsRain, BerlinRain, Brussels
January3.4 °C6.1 °C47 mm76 mm
February5.1 °C7.1 °C36 mm65 mm
March9.1 °C10.9 °C41 mm59 mm
April15.4 °C15.0 °C29 mm47 mm
May19.7 °C18.4 °C54 mm60 mm
June22.8 °C21.2 °C59 mm71 mm
July24.8 °C23.2 °C77 mm77 mm
August24.6 °C23.0 °C62 mm86 mm
September19.7 °C19.5 °C46 mm65 mm
October13.9 °C14.9 °C45 mm68 mm
November7.8 °C9.9 °C42 mm76 mm
December4.2 °C6.6 °C46 mm87 mm

One station per place; weather varies within every country. Not a forecast.

What this comparison cannot tell you

  • A share of each place's own year, not a crowd count. A low share means that month was quiet for that place. It does not mean the place had fewer visitors than somewhere else, and a small country's busy month can still be far quieter than a big country's quiet one.
  • Nights, not queues. A national or prefecture total cannot show crowding at one sight, beach or old town. Day trips do not count at all, because nobody stays the night.
  • One year. These are 2025 figures. Another year can differ, for example when Easter moves between March and April.
  • We have not been to these places and make no judgement about which is better to visit.

Want a different pair? Open these two in Compare and add or swap places.

Key takeaways

  • Busiest in 2025: Germany in August, Belgium in July.
  • Quietest: Germany in January, Belgium in January.
  • Two busiest months: 24.1% of Germany's year, 26.6% of Belgium's.
  • What we would skip: picking one over the other on these figures alone. They show when each is busy, not which you would enjoy more.

Sources

The tourism figures come from Eurostat and the weather from the World Meteorological Organization's 1991–2020 normals, published by NOAA. We copied every figure from the two places' own pages, where each source is cited in full. See how we research.

  1. Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
  2. Weather: WMO Member Nations (2023). WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991-2020 (NCEI Accession 0253808), the station named for each country in the table (the same station its country page uses), mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of days with at least 1 mm of precipitation, normals computed from at least 24 years; also station MilanoLinate (station ID 00016080); also station BariPalese (station ID 00016270), from the same files, downloaded 24 September 2026. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.25921/800j-vn07. Accessed 22 September 2026. Released by NOAA under CC0.

Modified data. The monthly shares, orderings and comparisons are our own calculations from Eurostat's counts and the Japan Tourism Agency's figures (「宿泊旅行統計調査」(観光庁)を加工して作成). Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Neither body is responsible for these calculations or for how the figures are presented here.