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

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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.

UK quarantine list

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

Austria
Andorra
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France (overseas territories of France are listed separately, where included in the exemption)
Germany
Gibraltar
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
The Netherlands (not including the constituent countries and special municipalities located in the Dutch Caribbean)
Norway
Poland
Portugal (only The Azores and Madeira)
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
Turkey

Americas

Asia-Pacific

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

John says:

3 Jul3 July 15:50

Derisive comments from Michael O’Leary in 5,4,3,2…
BJ says:

3 Jul3 July 15:51

There are countries on this list that we currently cannot even travel to 😀 I wonder how long it will be before the sh*t hits the fan.
- Anna says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 15:54
  
  Exactly – also a lot of these countries are also open to travellers from countries like the USA with much higher infection levels, so how long they remain safe to visit is another issue.
Baji Nahid says:

3 Jul3 July 15:54

This is so going to cause a massive second wave.
- ChrisBCN says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 16:04
  
  Evidence?
  - Baji Nahid says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 16:07
    
    mark my words, ill refer the article to you once it all kicks off x
    - ChrisBCN says:
      
      3 Jul3 July 16:20
      
      I’m not questioning if you are right or wrong, just curious as to how you came to this opinion. There are many countries which are several months ahead of the UK that havent seen a significant second wave, so what makes you think this?
      - Andrew says:
        
        3 Jul3 July 16:41
        
        Just look a Florida. We are weeks away from a second lockdown.
      - ChrisBCN says:
        
        3 Jul3 July 17:56
        
        Florida is in its first wave, not second.
  - BJ says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 16:46
    
    Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson…all the evidence you should need!
- The Lord says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 16:09
  
  Just like the bank holidays, the protests, the people going back to work, people going to beaches etc. re-opening shops etc.
- Rob says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 18:07
  
  Only if you fly with a coach party from Leicester 🙂
  
  Current infection rate in West London is 8 per 100,000, so 1 in 12,500. I doubt there are 12,500 people flying BA per day at the moment, so you would probably be unlucky if a single person with CV passed through Terminal 5 on the same day as you, let alone had to shake your hand or do whatever would be necessary to infect you!
  - Chris Heyes says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 20:25
    
    Or Bradford, or Kirklees, or Western Super Mere, OR London next Month lol
  - Jeff 99 says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 23:19
    
    Tube use is still only around 15% of last year’s level (hardly any change from before the shops opened again) so most people are working from home (most will continue to do so for a while). There’s no imminent threat of an increase in London.
- J says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 19:12
  
  This won’t cause a second wave, but will allow the government to blame other countries/foreign visitors when more of their own incompetance causes one.
- Jeff 99 says:
  
  4 Jul4 July 07:35
  
  How long before some idiot Brit in eg Spain carries on with their holiday even though they’ve got symptoms? “It can wait until I get home”
Gruntfuttock says:

3 Jul3 July 16:12

There goes our BA Holidays fly drive trip in early September to Albania 🙄 sigh
- GinSling76 says:
  
  4 Jul4 July 08:27
  
  We also have a road trip in Albania booked but in the first week of August. We were also going to include Kosovo and north Macedonia but abandoned that idea a few weeks ago. Looks unlikely we will go and now wishing we hadn’t accepted our LGW to LHR flight switch earlier in the week as I expect we are now stuck with the travel voucher option unless BA cancel the flight
NFH says:

3 Jul3 July 16:12

It’s worth comparing this list against Lithuania’s equivalent list, which additionally shows infection rates. Lithuania takes a much more open approach than the UK, specifying the maximum infection rate that it will tolerate in a country of origin for for open entry, 14-day quarantine and no entry. Until recently, the UK was on the no-entry list. http://koronastop.lrv.lt/en/news/no-restrictions-on-arrivals-of-foreigners-from-29-countries-including-the-united-kingdom
- Bagoly says:
  
  4 Jul4 July 13:09
  
  Yes, all the Baltic states have published numeric thresholds (as does Germany for internal purposes).
  It is truly weird that the English government has put Lithuania on here but not the other two, because the three countries have a “travel bubble”, and similarly low rates of infection.
Graeme2 says:

3 Jul3 July 16:32

I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but the following appears to be a useful souce, updated on a daily basis, of which countries will and won’t let you in:
https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/coronavirus-travel-updates/
Fraser says:

3 Jul3 July 16:35

Clear as mud, as usual, from this government. The omission of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the first list seems to suggest a 14 day quarantine is necessary if arriving from those countries. And they’re not on the second list either, so you can’t travel there.

So if you change flights from Edinburgh in London to connect, do you need to quarantine for 14 days both on the way out, and the way home? Or is this not allowed at all?

When you leave the airport, who is checking where your home is if you’re travelling by road to Newcastle or Gretna?
- Paul says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 16:51
  
  “Coronavirus regulations mean that you must self-isolate for 14 days if you return to the UK from a country outside the common travel area.”
Jeremy I says:

3 Jul3 July 16:39

Hi all, we’re currently in Portugal on holiday for the last week. It’s lovely. Anyway we had a small bash in the rental car yesterday. Do you think amex car hire insurance won’t cover us because we travelled to Portugal against the FCO advice ? Thanks so much Jeremy
- monsieurcurt says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 16:47
  
  As much as I believe it should only not cover medical care – I don’t think you’re covered for anything I’m afraid…
- Anna says:
  
  3 Jul3 July 17:07
  
  Is this a joke?! If not, you must be relieved you weren’t seriously injured and looking at a 5 figure bill for repatriation.
  - meta says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 19:06
    
    It is a reasonable question though. I enquired with Amex/Axa for a trip to Iceland in September and it seems they would cover car hire. The only thing they won’t cover is anything covid related i.e. quarantine due to covid, hotel in case of lockdown, flights back home, etc.
  - Gormlesstraveller says:
    
    3 Jul3 July 19:17
    
    Why would you want to be repatriated if you were seriously injured? Better to stay in Portugese hospital on your EHIC.