Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Where can you still travel to from the UK? We make a list

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

With weekly changes to the UK travel quarantine list, it is difficult to keep track of where you can travel to from the UK. Which countries can you visit from UK without having to quarantine on your return?

For the last few weeks we’ve been running a Friday article featuring the latest changes to the list of countries where you can travel without having to quarantine on your return.

What is more useful, of course, is a list of countries where you CAN travel freely from the UK without having to quarantine on your return.

Updates since publication:

Iceland – moved to ‘no’ as Foreign Office does not mention that five days quarantine is needed

Grenada – moved to ‘no’ due to requirement to wear a tracker bracelet and restrictions on your movement

Where can you can currently travel to from the UK?

Here is the list countries which are not on the Foreign Office ‘do not visit’ list. If you are reading this article days or weeks after the date of publication, you will find the latest version on gov.uk here.

Of course, there is no guarantee that these countries will allow you in. Australia and New Zealand are on the list, for example, but they aren’t going to welcome you.

To find out whether you qualify to enter any particular country – and what covid test results may be required – click the link under each country name. This takes you to the relevant page on the Foreign Office website.

We have added a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ by each country. This is a one word summary of whether you could enter if you wished WITHOUT compulsory quarantine on arrival. Obviously seek your own advice if you look to book, because one word summaries never tell the full story.

There are other countries which you can enter freely as a UK resident but which would require you to quarantine when you returned to the UK. The UAE, for example, is not on the list below because whilst you can enter Dubai you need to quarantine when you come home.

Countries which are NOT on the Foreign Office ‘do not travel’ list:

[List deleted as links now broken]

Category

General

Comments (139)

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

  • Rh says:
    31 Aug31 August 11:38

    I just got back from a week in Cyprus at the Four Seasons. We all had to do the test to get in, but was the best airport experiences I have had at both ends. Everyone kept their masks on all flight (Ryanair and the staff to their credit took it all very seriously). The only real impact on the holiday once on Cyrpus was having to wear a mask in the breakfast buffet and in taxis and also having to book an hour slot at the gym (5 people allowed to train at once). The waterpark was open and nice and quiet!

    • JP-MCO says:
      31 Aug31 August 18:18

      There’s a Four Seasons in Cyprus? That one certainly passed me by – I wasn’t aware of that! Thanks for the heads up.

      • Phillip says:
        31 Aug31 August 21:31

        It’s not a “real” Four Seasons!

        • Goldmember says:
          31 Aug31 August 22:04

          It’s an independent 5* Hotel called Four Seasons Hotel Limassol which came about before the Canadian Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts chain which assumed their name for their brand and which most people are familiar with. If you went expecting a FS Resorts (chain) experience you’d probably be disappointed but the fact is it’s a most decent independent property.

          • Rh says:
            31 Aug31 August 22:21

            Agreed – we had a great stay, so good we have booked to go back at half term! And I have stayed at a lot of the Four Seasons proper chain, E.G. Seychelles, Bahamas and this one of the same name was excellent! We normally go to Dubai in October but Cyprus seems a better bet….!

  • Brian says:
    31 Aug31 August 11:50

    What’s your point here Nick? Ban all travel?

    • Nick_C says:
      31 Aug31 August 12:23

      In terms of travel, and shopping, I would say you must wear a surgical mask, to protect vulnerable people who are sharing the space with you.

      Ban all travel? No. But it would be nice to have a clear strategy. No harm in healthy young people going about their lives as before. Just ensure vulnerable people can be protected. I’m quite happy avoiding pubs, clubs, restaurants, and public transport. But I want to feel safe when shopping for groceries and other essentials.

      • Brian says:
        31 Aug31 August 12:51

        Well I’d say the strategy is fairly clear. Travel corridor mainly based on an understandable threshold anyone can track. Face coverings are already compulsory on public transport and in shops with limited exemptions. Not entirely sure what else you think a government can do here to make you feel safer. You can’t control the behaviour of every single individual person, no government can.

        • Mike P says:
          31 Aug31 August 13:02

          And all of this for a virus that killed one person in England yesterday and with which a grand total of 64 people are currently on ventilators for. Bonkers.

          • Peter K says:
            31 Aug31 August 14:35

            The figures are always lower on a Sunday but let’s go with that. The problem with an exponential increase is that it doesn’t take long for it to get much worse. It was doubling every 3 days in March if your remember so starting with 64 on ventilators, in 21 days we could end up with over 8000 on ventilators.
            Ignoring any human cost for the moment, the effect a spike like that would have on the economy would undo the recovery due to increasing confidence we are seeing now.

      • Lady London says:
        31 Aug31 August 14:01

        +1

  • Anna says:
    31 Aug31 August 12:12

    It’s utterly depressing. I am seriously considering getting vaccinated as soon as it becomes available (privately if necessary), because even though I harbour a healthy scepticism about big Pharma, I can’t see how else we are ever going to be able to reliably plan travel again. The prospect of no travel is sending me into a decline, espcially with another northern autumn and winter imminent.

    • Anna says:
      31 Aug31 August 12:14

      Before anybody starts, I am not automatically expecting the NHS to fund vaccinations, but they may well adopt a position of actively encouraging people to have it, especially those in “vulnerable” groups (over 50, apparently). It’s cheaper to vaccinate someone than have them in intensive care on a ventilator for 2 weeks, after all.

      • Jonathan says:
        31 Aug31 August 12:28

        The NHS will vaccinate everybody as soon as they’ve got a proven vaccine. They’ve already committed to purchasing 340 million doses of 6 different vaccines and they’re manufacturing millions of doses/month of the Oxford vaccine already.

        The issue will be the order they do it which will be health/key workers then vulnerable groups then healthy/young so you may be waiting a while although I’d expect every doctor/nurse/pharmacist in the country to be mobilised to get it done ASAP.

        Why not join the vaccine trial now though & you’ll have a 50/50 chance of getting an already proven to be safe & capable of generating significant quantities of antibodies vaccine in a week?

        • Anna says:
          31 Aug31 August 13:30

          I will have a look! I didn’t know it was open to anyone. I’ve never had flu or the flu vaccine, even though my entire career was spend in close contact with the public.

          • Anna says:
            31 Aug31 August 13:42

            I’ve signed up. I do think, however, that a LOT of people will refuse to be vaccinated, or at least refuse to let their kids have it. The MMR debacle, even though it’s been debunked, had a huge impact on the way people now view vaccines. On the FB timeshare owners group I belong to (99% American), a lot of them have been saying they will give up gping abroad rather than get vaccinated. But then I suppose they have domestic options like Hawaii and the Virgin Islands once their travel re-starts!

          • Harry T says:
            31 Aug31 August 14:50

            Americans are statistically unusually vaccine adverse (obviously not all of them).

          • Anna says:
            31 Aug31 August 17:28

            Yes and it’s all the more perplexing as these are educated middle class professionals who travel quite a lot and have a fair bit of disposable income. Not quite the doomsday prepper type from the Appalachians!

          • The Savage Squirrel says:
            31 Aug31 August 17:29

            Indeed and measles outbreakd in the USA are becoming more common as the population immunity starts to fall. Globally it’s a tragedy that 150,000 people (nearly all children under 5 – contrast that to Covid19!!) die from a disease that is incredibly simple, and cost effective, to prevent. It will probably take a few more outbreaks like Swansea 2013 and a few child deaths to really push up uptake in the UK. The USA with their cultural distrust of vaccines will need something much worse.

      • Nick_C says:
        31 Aug31 August 12:35

        Although I think people who need vaccinations to go on holiday should pay for them themselves, if we do get a Covid vaccine it should be free for everyone, we should encourage people to get vaccinated, and we should start with the most vulnerable.

        Cheaper to vaccinate as many people as possible than to treat those who become seriously ill from Covid, or who develop “long Covid”.

        I’ve just booked for my winter ‘flu vaccination in two weeks time. £12.99 at Sainsbury’s. I was talking to my 70 year old brother about this at the weekend. He and his wife have never had a ‘flu vaccination; even though an average of 17,000 people a year can typically die from ‘flu in the UK.

        Both my previous employers offered free flu vaccines for all the staff, as part of a comprehensive policy to encourage good health.

        • Anna says:
          31 Aug31 August 13:44

          I haven’t been anywhere that needs jabs since my son was born but you always had to pay for them at my GP. We got Hep C jabs through work though, so didn’t have to pay for those.

    • MrHandBaggageOnly says:
      31 Aug31 August 12:21

      Agreed. We were lucky enough to just squeeze in a short stay in Porto, but it felt like a holiday as we’ve done so little travelling this year. We booked flights a few minutes after the announcement 10 days ago and only did Sunday to Friday. Seems to be the only way at the moment… Wait for the government to decide what’s best (ha!) on Thursday, then book last minute and make sure you’re back by the following Friday. It’s certainly no fun at all. I love a long haul trip, but have resigned myself to the fact there will not be one this year. 🙁

    • Henry Young says:
      31 Aug31 August 14:23

      Vaccines never have 100% efficacy, some being as low as 60%. Therefore it’s likely some nations will continue to require a PCR test (complete with it’s high rate of false positives), irrespective of your vaccination status. It’s also yet to be determined how cross border vaccine certification will be administered with the probability that fake certification will be rife in some parts of the world i.e. it’s simply impractical at global scale. All that, with numerous compensation cases still stuck in the courts from SARS vaccine injury cases, and it seems to me the best vaccine is to have had Covid19 yourself, assuming you are otherwise healthy. Then you have short term antibody immunity and longer term T-cell immunity – job done (assuming a normally functioning, non-drug suppressed immune system). Of course many people (as high as 80% in some countries) already have cross-reactive T-cell immunity from a sufficiently similar prior common cold coronavirus. My own conclusion is that for the vast majority of the young and healthy, the best option is natural immunity which will contribute to herd immunity, thus protecting the elderly and those with comorbidities. Of course the establishment wants to keep us in masks to maximise the market potential (profits) for a vaccine. Cui bono ? Follow the money 😉

      • Anna says:
        31 Aug31 August 17:32

        But people have been proven to contract COVID-19 twice so I can’t see any country accepting previous infection as giving guaranteed immunity. I am looking at this from the persepective of future travel; even if I still had to have a test, being vaccinated would hopefully give me a better chance of that test coming back negative! It’s also for peace of mind – I would be far less stressed in airports and on planes if we were all vaccinated.

        • Brian says:
          31 Aug31 August 18:07

          Doesn’t that mean that a vaccine will also not be a guarantee? After all, don’t vaccines work by essentially giving you a mild version of the illness, so that your body is then immune, just like if you had had the real thing? So if you can contract Covid twice, then a vaccine will be no more help than proof of previous infection.
          I personally intend to wait before even considering a Covid vaccine. Research what happened with the swine flu vaccine and it will make you think twice. I see no reason why this time will be any less risky, given the unnaturally short development time.

        • Henry Young says:
          31 Aug31 August 18:20

          Not strictly correct Anna. There has been one single case reported Hong Kong recently in a draft paper that has not yet been peer reviewed or formally published. That is one case in 23 million – hardly statistically significant. Please be very careful about anecdotal reports, statistically insignificant evidence and outright cod science. It’s very easy to latch onto these things if they are consistent with your beliefs on the topic. Critical thinking remains important – question everything !

          • TGLoyalty says:
            31 Aug31 August 19:05

            COVID19 hasn’t been around long enough for them to say for certainty.

            However, from other coronavirus they know immunity lasts a relatively short time (no where near lifetime) and vaccination is required every year or so just like the flu.

          • Peter K says:
            31 Aug31 August 19:14

            My best friend’s cousin is a hospital nurse and she has had coronavirus twice. Just because it’s not in the news or a peer reviewed article doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.

      • Anna says:
        31 Aug31 August 17:39

        Interestingly, the Bahamas had to go back into lockdown shortly after re-opening and it was reported in their local media that this was partly due to people coming in with fake COVID-negative test certificates!

    • JacksonD says:
      31 Aug31 August 14:40

      I’m sure things could be a lot worse that not having a holiday for a year.
      Let’s not lose perspective, and let’s not be too entitled – after all, lives have been lost, and livelihoods have been destroyed this year.
      In the grand scheme, having to wait for a trip abroad isn’t something anyone should be ‘going into decline’ over.

      • Anna says:
        31 Aug31 August 19:42

        I’d been hoping the virue-signalling trolls had started to leave this site, to be honest. It’s not about not having a holiday for a year, you are deliberately misrepresenting what people are saying here. It’s about the very real prospect of never being able to go abroad again, whether that’s because you have a health condition which makes you vulnerable, or you can’t get travel isurance, or the country where your family live won’t admit you. This is a travel forum, what do you expect people to talk about?

    • James says:
      31 Aug31 August 15:42

      My word. Let’s have some perspective please.

      • Anna says:
        31 Aug31 August 19:44

        See above, to all the tiresome virtue-signallers. You have no idea why people want or need to travel. There are families who have been separated for months on end, you have no idea what my circumstances are.

        • Sam Spills says:
          31 Aug31 August 20:23

          Thanks Anna. I have been struggling quite a bit with my mental health and have been fortunate enough to have access to some online counselling through my work which is helping. It doesn’t help though that I cannot dare mention this without being silenced and told I need perspective or that I’m overreacting.

          • Lady London says:
            1 Sep1 September 09:09

            @Sam Spills at first glance your comment kinda adds blackmail to the virtue-signalling. Yes some of us sometimes on here are a bit ‘entitled’ and take our Western world travel privileges a bit too seriously when there are more important problems in the world than travel restrictions right now.

            Our little complaints do not mean we’re not aware of the serious global situation. People dont always share everything. For all we know @Anna’s OCD-approaching thoroughness and dedication to getting the best deal for her family when organising travel has turned inwards on her and she could currently be receiving counselling. Not everything is shared by people who give and receive support on here.

          • Sam Spills says:
            1 Sep1 September 20:42

            I have no idea what you mean, if you are calling me a virtue signaler (whatever that is) or if the rest of your comment is aimed at me. Being that I was in full agreement with Anna I’m thinking your second paragraph is for someone else??

        • Stoneman says:
          1 Sep1 September 19:52

          That is true. But you just want to go travelling again right? Nothing wrong with that as I share the same sentiment. However, let’s not dress this up as other than middle class whingeing by invoking the “need to see family” card.

        • cinereus says:
          3 Sep3 September 10:46

          I can’t find the comment you’re referring to but no we have no way of telling. However, the vast majority of people currently on flights have absolutely no “need” whatsoever.

  • John says:
    31 Aug31 August 12:36

    Ireland should be both Yes and No

    It is No, unless you arrive by crossing the border from Northern Ireland, in which case it Yes.

    (You can thank the GFA for that- no border checks allowed…)

  • Charlieface says:
    31 Aug31 August 12:51

    BIOT is not uninhabited. It has no permanent residents, but it does have a USAF base on Diego Garcia, closed to the public obviously. I have no idea what the entry requirements for Covid would be.

    • Anna says:
      31 Aug31 August 13:29

      That occured to me as well. The original inhabitants were forcibly deported to Mauritius or the Seychelles (not as nice as it sounds, apparently!) to make way for the base, and have been in a legal battle with the UK government ever since to get their homeland back.

    • John says:
      31 Aug31 August 16:28

      Travel there would be for work or essential travel so I guess there are no requirements

  • Novice says:
    31 Aug31 August 14:56

    I must admit I thought I would be fine not touring for a year, maybe more. But, I feel depressed every time I realise this year I have not toured any country. For the past 7 yrs, on avg. I have spent 1 month abroad touring and now this new normal is awful. This year was supposed to be Maldives/Zambia/Zimbabwe/UAE. The wanderlust is strong with this one.

    • Novice says:
      31 Aug31 August 14:59

      I guess I’ll have to do more touring when eventually I can. personally, I don’t like short breaks that’s why despite having a short break staycation, I feel like there has been no travel this year. I honestly don’t know how ppl are happy having just unto 2 wks holiday a year.

      • Novice says:
        31 Aug31 August 15:00

        *Personally…

        *upto

      • James says:
        31 Aug31 August 15:40

        Good heavens. The state of this. ‘The wanderlust is strong’. Yeah it’s all about you.

        I’m sure things could be a lot worse that not having a holiday for a year.
        Let’s not lose perspective, and let’s not be too entitled – after all, lives have been lost, and livelihoods have been destroyed this year.
        In the grand scheme, having to wait for a trip abroad isn’t something anyone should be ‘going into decline’ over.

    • Anna says:
      31 Aug31 August 17:37

      Pity the Americans, many of whom seem to only get 1 or 2 weeks holiday per year. They always look at us mournfully in GCM when we say we’re there for 3 weeks!

      I am with you on this; my head keep saying I should be able to be just fine without foreign holidays but emotionally I feel as though I have nothing ever to look forward to again!

  • RedBullV says:
    31 Aug31 August 16:06

    Some of these posts are genuinely absurd and some of you need to take a good long look at yourselves.
    We are in the midsts of a global pandemic and the selfish bleating about how life is so hard because you can’t go on vacation is off the scale.
    Entitled doesn’t even come close.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      31 Aug31 August 19:08

      It’s a travel blog. If you don’t want to read about people looking forward to when they can travel again.

      Go read something else

      • Anna says:
        31 Aug31 August 19:48

        Hear, hear. Save the virtue-signalling for Twitter, please. I hoped these judgemental trolls had started to disperse after the initial flurry of interest back in the spring.

    • Anna says:
      31 Aug31 August 19:49

      What exactly do you visit this site for? Are you blocked from Facebook?

  • JonasDark says:
    31 Aug31 August 16:09

    Doubt everyone will get the vaccine for free, someone like myself, early 30s, if I catch Corona, slim chance it will actually impact my health or make me have to go to hospital. Why would they give me the vaccine?

    I think the most likely outcome will be the elderly and vulnerable will get the vaccine and any countries will require a “Covid Certificate” for entry, like Yellow Fever and will be at the expense of the traveller.

    • Rob says:
      31 Aug31 August 18:52

      We’ve bought 360m doses (70m x 5 vaccines) so I think you’ll find a spare one knocking about.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        31 Aug31 August 19:10

        Over what period of time ?

        I wouldn’t buy the headlines. 70m people arent going to get this vaccine at any single point.

        It’ll be given to the most vulnerable just like the flu vaccine is.

        • Rob says:
          31 Aug31 August 19:42

          Vets and dentists are being lined up to administer it. Seriously.

          • Anna says:
            31 Aug31 August 19:46

            Oof. I hope they’re not going to use those syringes they use on horses!

          • Nick_C says:
            1 Sep1 September 06:52

            And why not. Nurses and pharmacists already administer vaccines. Dentists already administer anaesthesia. And vets are highly skilled.

            Diabetics (and their family members) used to self administer insulin.

            Opticians are probably also a potential resource, along with civilian and military paramedics.

            When we used to get the ‘flu vaccine at work we would do the paperwork while we waited to see the nurse and be in and out of the room in a couple of minutes. It was a bit like getting the BCG at school.

            A technician should be able to administer at least 100 doses a day.

          • Rob says:
            1 Sep1 September 08:48

            Totally agree. Was just replying to the point about capacity.

            Although apparently the bottle neck is going to be syringes / vials.

        • mr_jetlag says:
          31 Aug31 August 19:48

          We all need to be back in the office drinking coffee and soldiering on for capitalism. Vaccines for everyone!

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!