Which European countries have opened their borders ?

Austria opened its land borders with Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic on June 4th. The country reopened its border with Italy from June 16th, but a travel warning will be issued for the region of Lombardy. There are no restrictions with most European Union countries except for travellers from the UK, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal who must still present a medical certificate and self-isolate. People arriving in Austria “from any other country” must also produce a medical certificate proving a negative COVID-19 test. The certificate cannot be more than four days’ old. Entry by air is prohibited to citizens coming from countries outside the Schengen Area.

Belgium. Borders with the European Union as well as the UK and the four other Schengen countries (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway) have reopened. There is no quarantine or health certificate condition. Non-essential travel to and from outside the EU and Schengen countries remains prohibited until July 1st.

Bosnia and Herzegovina. The border is only currently open to citizens of neighbouring Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia – other foreign arrivals are not permitted. There are some exceptions, including freight drivers, residents and diplomats.

Bulgaria opened its borders on June 1st to EU countries, the UK, San Marino, Andorra, Monaco, Vatican, Serbia and North Macedonia citizens, as well as to medical workers and family members of Bulgarian citizens. Travellers from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro are also allowed. But some exemptions remain. Tourists from Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, and the UK must self-isolate for 14 days. Tourists from the other countries must meanwhile submit a declaration acknowledging the have been informed of the country’s anti-epidemic measures and with risks associated with COVID-19 to health inspector at the border.

Croatia reopened its borders to all EU citizens, including from the UK, on June 15th, with no obligation to quarantine. Croatia opened its borders in mid-May without restriction to nationals from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Germany and Slovakia.

Cyprus resumed tourist travel on June 9 after closing its borders for almost three months. The country will also cover health costs in case of coronavirus contamination occurring on the Mediterranean island. Authorities have created two lists of countries.

Travellers from Category A countries — Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland — face no restrictions.

Those from Category B nations — Israel, Poland, and Romania —must present a health certificate no older than three days.

Travel from other EU countries not included in the lists is only allowed in exceptional cases and requires government approval. These include the country’s two main tourism markets, Britain and Russia. However, flights from Britain could restart in mid-July, and a few weeks later from Russia. Citizens of the US, France, Spain, and Italy remain excluded until further notice. Entries from countries outside the EU/EEA/Schengen are for now not allowed.

Czech Republic borders with Austria and Germany reopened on June 5th, 10 days earlier than expected. The country opened its frontier with Slovakia and Hungary on May 27th, but with restrictions.

From June 15th, Czech residents and EU citizens from green countries — eastern and Baltic member states, Finland and Norway — were able to travel to and from the country without any requirements.

Those from the yellow group, which includes France, Italy, and Spain, must have a valid health certificate to enter.

Test and quarantine conditions will apply for people entering from the UK and Sweden — the two red nations in Europe.

Denmark. From June 15th tourists from Germany, Norway and Iceland have been allowed to travel to Denmark but must show documentation of a valid hotel booking on their arrival. Citizens of other nations are still not permitted to enter Denmark, which imposed one of the earliest and strictest lockdowns in Europe.

Estonia. Opened borders to Baltic neighbours on May 15th and to the rest of the EU, the Schengen area, and the UK on June 1st. Travel documents and medical symptoms are checked” at points of entry. Those coming from countries with a high infection rate will have to self-isolate for two weeks.

Finland has allowed travellers from Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from June 15 and recommends against unnecessary travel to other countries. People travelling from these countries also will not need to quarantine. Finland will continue to have border checks with Sweden though the aim is to enable unrestricted travel from Sweden to Finland as quickly as the disease situation allows. Travel for work purposes is possible from EU countries as well as for residents or family purposes. Borders with non-EU countries will remain closed until at least July 14th.

France. Travellers from EU member states as well as Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, and the Vatican have been allowed to visit the county since June 15th without a health certificate or any form of quarantine upon arrival. But passengers from Spain and the UK are asked to sumit to a voluntary quarantine, “in reciprocity” to current regulations in place in both countries. International borders with countries outside the EU “where the epidemic has been controlled” will reopen on July 1st.

On June 15th, Germany lifted border restrictions for travellers coming from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and the United Kingdom. Germany, however, decided to extend until August 31 its warnings on travelling outside the EU.Those that do manage to get in must self-isolate for 14 days.

Greece. The Foreign Affairs Ministry published , its plan for reopening borders, which entails three different phases.

Phase 2 saw tourism travel from EU countries resume on June 15th, with flights landing in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Travellers coming from any of these airports listed by the European Aviation Safety Agency, as well as Italy, Spain, the Netherlands or Sweden are tested upon arrival until June 30th, with the authorities stressing that an overnight stay is required. If the test if negative, travellers can then continue on to their final destination. Only essential travel from Albania and North Macedonia is permitted while a travel ban from the UK and Turkey is maintained and all visitors are subject to sample testing. Phase 3 is expected to start on July 1st. International flights will be allowed into all airports in Greece and all travellers subject to random tests upon arrival. Additional restrictions regarding certain countries will be announced at a later date. Arrivals by sea will also be allowed on July 1st, with travellers subject to random testing.

Hungary opened its border with Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Serbia on June 12th without the need for going into quarantine. Bulgarians may also enter with a special reason such as an official mission or a business trip.

Iceland reopened to EU and UK travellers on June 15th.

Tourists are tested upon arrival. A few hours later, they get the result on their phone, after downloading a tracking app. The test, free for a period of two weeks, will cost 15,000 Icelandic Krona (€100) from July 1st. Children born in or after 2005 will be exempt. Authorities are yet to clear procedures for those who test positive.

Ireland. The Irish health authorities currently require anyone coming into Ireland, except from Northern Ireland, to self-isolate for 14 days, upon arrival, including Irish residents. Arrivals have to complete a passenger locator form, although exemptions are in place for providers of essential supply chain services such as hauliers, pilots and maritime staff.

Italy opened its borders on June 3rd to EU, UK, Schengen area, Andorra and Monaco citizens, following the nationwide lockdown which came into force on March 9th. Borders also opened with Vatican City and San Marino on this date. Travellers coming from the above countries don’t have to undergo quarantine unless they have been in any other country in the 14 days before reaching Italy. The same confinement rules will apply in the same way to all regions. The country entered lockdown “phase 2” on May 18th, allowing restaurants, bars, hotels and cafe to reopen, however, restrictions could be restored at any time if the epidemiological situation worsens. Cruises on Italian ships are currently suspended.

Latvia. Opened its borders to Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania on May 15th. Since June 1st, there have been no border checks with Lithuania. From 3rd June, residents of EU and EEA countries, as well as Switzerland, have also been able to enter the country without being submitted to a 14-day quarantine if the country they travelled from has a 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases not exceeding 15 per 100,000 population. Flights to and from European countries where the number of cases per 100,000 within the last 14-day cumulative period is between 15 and 25 can also resume.

Lithuania has opened its borders to citizens from the EU, EEA, Switzerland and the UK provided the incidence of COVID-19 in the country they reside in does not exceed 25 cases per 100,000 population in the last 14 calendar days. Requirements to self-isolate have been lifted.

Luxembourg’s border with Germany reopened on May 15th and travel has not been restricted with other European nations, although travel from outside Europe is banned.

Malta’s Tourism Ministry announced that it will reopen tourism travel on July 1st. On that date, borders will reopen to travellers from Germany, Austria, Cyprus, Switzerland, the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia, Iceland, Slovakia, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Israel, Latvia, Estonia, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Poland, Spain, Croatia, and Greece. Restrictions on flights from certain regions in France, Spain, and Italy will, however, continue to apply until July 15th when flights restrictions are expected to be lifted. Malta was the first country in Europe to ban flights from Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland, on March 10th.

Entry to Montenegro is allowed without quarantine, so long as you are coming from a country with a rate of transmission less than 25 per 100,000 inhabitants. The Montenegro government is keeping an up to date list of countries where people are allowed to enter from.

The Netherlands. The Dutch government is restricting non-essential travel from people from third countries until July 1st, but EU citizens – including British nationals – can now enter the country. Tourists from the UK and Sweden are being urged to self-isolate for 14 days. Like many other nations, there are strict requirements around shaking hands, maintaining social distancing and hand-washing.

Norway has closed its borders and only travellers for fellow Nordic countries — Denmark, Iceland, and Finland — will be able to return on June 15th. Sweden was excluded from the measure. The government is to decide by July 20th whether travellers from other nearby countries can visit but the ministry of foreign affairs is, for now, advising against all non-essential international travel into the country until August 20th. Norway currently has a 10-day quarantine for those returning from international travel.

Poland. Borders reopened for EU nationals on June 13th with no quarantine condition. Restrictions on international flights from the bloc are to be lifted on June 16th.

Portugal. Nationals of EU countries, Schengen area and passengers on flights from the UK, Brazil, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the US, Canada, Venezuela and South Africa are allowed in the country. Border controls have been in place since March 16th. There is currently no requirement for arrivals to go into quarantine, except in The Azores and Madeiras island.

On June 8th.

Russia said it will partially reopen its borders as the country eases coronavirus restrictions. Travelling abroad for work, medical or studying purposes will be allowed, as well as for taking care of relatives. Russia will let in foreigners seeking medical treatment or taking care of family members.

Romania. People coming from Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Croatia, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Island, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary can go in without the need to quarantine. People coming from EU/EEA/Schengen countries not listed above must still self-isolate for 14 days. Flights to a number of European countries including Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and the UK remain suspended.

Serbia’s borders are open.

Slovakia reopened its borders to Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland on June 10th. The country’s borders to Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic were opened a few days earlier, on June 5th.

Slovenia reopened borders to citizens coming from 18 countries on May 15th, including neighbouring countries such as Austria, Croatia and Hungary. Montenegro and Italy were added to this list from June 15th. Anyone entering from a country with high levels of COVID-19 will have to quarantine for 14 day.

Spain reopened its borders to EU member states, Schengen area countries and the UK on June 21th. None of these travellers have to self-isolate. Portugal is the only exception to that, with borders scheduled to reopen on July 1st. Borders with France and Portugal have been closed since March 17th, allowing access only to Spanish citizens, people residing in Spain, cross-border workers and those who could provide documentary proof of necessity. None of the regulations were applicable to Andorra or Gibraltar. Borders to non-EU countries are expected to reopen on July 1st.

Sweden has introduced border restrictions but it only applies to non-essential travel from countries outside the EU/EEA, except the UK and Switzerland. That restriction came into effect on March 19th and has been extended until June 30th.

Switzerland, who brought in border controls on March 13th, will reopen borders to all EU countries, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein on June 15th, instead of July 6th as previously planned. Any foreign nationals who currently try to enter Switzerland without a valid residence or work permit will be refused entry. Air passengers from abroad are currently only able to enter the country through the airports at Zurich, Geneva and Basel. The Swiss authorities have not imposed any quarantine measures on persons entering the country. However, you must comply with the government’s hygiene and social distancing rules.

Turkey has opened its border to foreign travellers, except for the land border with Iran. Arrivals may have to go through health checks.

United Kingdom are currently open. Since June 8th, visitors from abroad are required to quarantine for 14 days. Those exempt from these measures include people travelling from Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

As in other countries, certain professions are exempt from these rules, such as healthcare workers travelling to deliver healthcare in the country. Upon arrival, those who are required to self-isolate need to provide their journey and contact details.

The government says these measures will be reviewed every three weeks.