The European Union is lifting restrictions for travel to several countries on June 15th & 16th, but for now, visitors from the U.S. are not on the list.
In the past couple of weeks, Greece, Croatia & Portugal already started reaching out to tourists. There are some important things to know.
Greece will initially open for travel from 29 countries. Albania, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Korea, Switzerland & Switzerland. Random COVID-19 testing may be done & travelers may be required to quarantine. Those arriving from areas of high infection must take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and stay overnight at a designated hotel. A 7 day self-quarantine is required for negative tests and a 14 day for positive results.
Austria has already opened its borders to Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Liechtenstein & Slovakia. As of today, all member states of the European Union with the exception of Sweden, Spain & Portugal can visit without a medical certificate or quarantine. Travelers from Britain & the United States are not permitted at this time.
As of June 17th, Germany’s borders will open and restrictions will ease for travelers from the European Union, Britain, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The exceptions are Spain with a date of June 21st, and Sweden with no specific date mentioned. Travel bans for more than 160 countries including the U.S. are likely not to change until August 31, 2020.
Italy and Bulgaria have already reopened their borders to residents of most European countries. Iceland, Belgium and Switzerland are opening their borders to all EU and Schengen Area travelers, and France will announced opening plans in the coming days. Spain is scheduled to reopen its border to the EU & Schengen Area nations in July.
At the time of this post, most countries have set no specific date for when travelers from the United States will be allowed to enter.
Our suggestion is if you want to travel to Europe this year, consider Christmas Market tours or river cruises, which run in late November and early December or plan for next year. Most tour operators have released pricing for next year, and are offering early booking deals. Browse Italy tours 2021, France tours 2021, Spain tours 2021, Germany tours 2021 or to cover multiple countries in one trip, browse Europe tours 2021.
This is a developing story. For up-to-date information on traveling during the coronavirus outbreak, please visit the U.S. State Department, Centers for Disease Control & the World Health Organization’s websites.
