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Here are the countries where you can travel without quarantine …. if they let you in

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The Government has just published two lists which may help clarify your travel options this Summer.

The first list covers countries where quarantine is no longer required when you return to the UK.

The second, longer, list covers countries where the Foreign Office no longer advises you to avoid visiting.  This is important because it means that your travel insurance will now be valid if you travel to these places.

These rules only apply for residents of England.  If you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland different rules will apply, and are likely to be more stringent.  This means that you may prefer to return to an English airport and take a train or ferry back home.

The two lists are not identical.  For example, the Foreign Office no longer recommends against travel to Latvia or Canada BUT you would still have to quarantine on your return.

In summary:

if you return from a country on the first list below from 10th July, you will no longer have to quarantine

you WILL need to quarantine if you transit through a country which is not on the first list below

if you have previously returned from a country on the list below, you can end your quarantine on 10th July

from tomorrow, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice on avoiding ‘all but essential’ travel will be lifted for countries on the second list below. This means that your travel insurance will be valid again.

you will still need to provide your contact information when you return to the UK, unless you fall into one of the categories on this list 

For absolute clarity, just because the UK allows you to travel to a certain country and return without quarantine, it does not mean that you will be allowed in.  This is obvious from the fact that New Zealand is on the list, for example.  For a good, updated daily, list of restrictions on UK residents, take a look at this article from Wanderlust.

You should not book travel to any country on the list below without checking if the country accepts arrivals from the UK full stop, or only accepts arrivals who agree to a period of quarantine.

These are the places where you can travel from 10th July without having to quarantine on your return (the source list is here).  Remember that there is no guarantee that these countries will let you in – good luck getting into New Zealand before 2021.

Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Barbados
Belgium
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
Croatia
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominica
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Polynesia
Germany
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Malta
Mauritius
Monaco
Netherlands
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Réunion
San Marino
Serbia
Seychelles
South Korea
Spain
St Barthélemy
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Pierre and Miquelon
Switzerland
Taiwan
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Vatican City
Vietnam

You can also travel to the 14 British Overseas Territories.  Ireland is automatically included as part of the Common Travel Area.

For clarity, if you transit in a country not on this list (for example in Dubai / United Arab Emirates or in Doha) then you WILL have to quarantine on your return to the UK.  I accept that this sounds unnecessary if you do not enter the country where you are transiting, but the wording appears clear.

The second list ….

These are the countries where the Foreign Office advises you can travel to safely from 4th July which means that your travel insurance will be valid once again.

Remember that – unless a country also appears on the ‘no quarantine’ list above – you will still have to quarantine for 14 days on returning to the UK.

Click the link for specific Foreign Office advice for each country.  The source page is here.

Europe

Americas

Asia-Pacific

Africa

Antarctica

Category

General

Comments (225)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Crafty says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:25

    British Antarctic Territory, here I come…

  • stevenhp1987 says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:25

    Several countries you’ve listed don’t appear in the official list: https://headforpoints.com/2020/07/03/countries-you-can-visit-without-quarantine/

    e.g. Canada

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      3 Jul3 July 15:26

      ooops, wrong URL copy + paste!

      https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors

    • ChrisA says:
      3 Jul3 July 15:28

      Yes this list is the one where the FO advice is changing, not the ‘travel corridors’ i.e. no quarantine needed on return.

      • stevenhp1987 says:
        3 Jul3 July 15:33

        The title of the article is explicitly states “Here are countries where you can now travel without return quarantine…”

        But, that’s in-accurate. Canada, Turks and Caicos Islands & Portugal are some that are listed but the UK Government’s official list doesn’t exempt them from quarantine.

        • Rob says:
          3 Jul3 July 15:53

          Article now has both lists.

          • stevenhp1987 says:
            3 Jul3 July 15:55

            ah-ha.

            I re-read it and I was like “I swear this list wasn’t here before”. At least I’m not going crazy!

  • Sundar says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:26

    Antartica ! Do we need a Visa for it ? 😁

  • J says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:27

    Good point to clarify. I know arrivals from UK are not welcome in Finland yet either.

  • Patrycja says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:34

    It would be great if we could get an article on where we can actually travel without quarantine/entry restrictions at the destination. Summer holidays are back on🥳🥳🥳 wooooooo!

    • Anna says:
      3 Jul3 July 15:44

      But they can change at any time. It’s a risk going anywhere to be honest. I might not even get my staycation now as my town is on the list of those with high infection rates and might go into local lockdown!

      • Patrycja says:
        3 Jul3 July 15:54

        Completely understand but I would be up for booking cheap flights for the next couple of months and risk it. If the flights don’t go ahead, I would be happy to rebook for another date rather than wait for refund.

        • Anna says:
          3 Jul3 July 15:57

          Yes, I just meant there’s not much point HFP doing an article as countries could change their rules at any minute!

          • Patrycja says:
            3 Jul3 July 16:12

            I guess that depends on point of view… I’m planning to book something for travel in July and entry requirements are unlikely to change within such short timescales. Many countries only lifted quarantine for UK at the start of July. As long as the article would focus on July plans, I’m sure there would be other travellers that are up for booking with little notice to enjoy some sunshine abroad.

      • Rob says:
        3 Jul3 July 20:04

        He’s been invited to Ibiza by BA CityFlyer, so I’d give that a miss 🙂

    • marcw says:
      3 Jul3 July 16:06

      Europe and some other countries, like Mongolia I believe.

  • Anna says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:35

    A lot of people are going to fall foul of this (not HFP types!) because they won’t understand that this isn’t a reciprocal agreement. As you point out, New Zealand is on the list, as are the Cayman Islands. The Cayman borders are closed to anyone except residents and work permit holders until at least September 1st and probably the end of 2020, and I’m sure other countries have all sorts of restrictions that are going to make a visit more of an ordeal than a holiday! (If you go to Bermuda you will have to present yourself for testing every 3 days!).

    • Roy says:
      3 Jul3 July 16:11

      Yes. I think originally they only wanted to list countries where they had reciprocal arrangements, but then they decided it would be silly to insist on quarantining New Zealanders (for instance).

      Interestingly, they had said that they would insist on reciprocity in all but the case of ultra-low-risk countries like New Zealand – so supposedly Greece was not going to make the list of this reason. Looks like they changed their mind on that….

      • Alan says:
        4 Jul4 July 00:49

        The whole thing seems to have been totally chaotic, although that’s no surprise given the current Gov’t…

  • G K says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:43

    Nearly half of the countries on this list won’t allow you in, some will ask you to quarantine upon arrival. This is a very dangerous goverment message that will mess up many people’s travel plans!

    • Baji Nahid says:
      3 Jul3 July 15:54

      lol thats the governement standards

    • Aston100 says:
      3 Jul3 July 17:00

      Business as usual in the number ten circus

    • BJ says:
      3 Jul3 July 17:13

      That’s why they told you to Stay Alert!

    • Chris Heyes says:
      3 Jul3 July 20:20

      G k@ I Disagree is it not the fault of “IDIOTS” booking flights without doing due diligence
      surely if you are going to book a flight or holiday.
      The First “TWO” things to do are check have correct insurance (you are happy with)
      Can you get in and out (on terms you are happy with)
      i say that because some travelers wouldn’t mind quarantine (wouldn’t bother us, on return)
      posts are “NOT” the place for “due diligence” no matter how good

  • The Lord says:
    3 Jul3 July 15:49

    Summer 2020 back on

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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