Travel column with Katie Butler: Greece has lifted all Covid-19 travel restrictions

IT’S OFFICIAL! The Greek Government confirmed that from May 1, travellers arriving from the UK are exempt from the requirement to show a vaccine certificate, proof of a negative test or a certificate of recovery of Covid to enter Greece.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Katie Butler writes: This guidance has now been updated on the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) website.

This means that there are no Covid restrictions to travel to Greece regardless of vaccine status.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The announcement comes just in time for the start of the summer season!

KEFALONIA: Greece has lifted Covid-19 travel restrictions. Photo: AdobeKEFALONIA: Greece has lifted Covid-19 travel restrictions. Photo: Adobe
KEFALONIA: Greece has lifted Covid-19 travel restrictions. Photo: Adobe

In addition, Croatia has also dropped all Covid-19 entry requirements.

All travellers entering Croatia can now do so under the same conditions of entry that were in force before the pandemic started.

Other countries continue to relax entry requirements, with Portugal, Malta and Cyprus all scrapping the Passenger Locater Forms required for entry.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, you will still be required to prove that you are fully-vaccinated or provide a negative Covid-19 test.

I am booked to travel to Spain in the summer on an all-inclusive holiday and have seen in the news that I will be limited to drinks, is this true?

There was much speculation last week surrounding this, and while there is some truth in it, the rules around this do not apply to all of Spain.

The Spanish Government have imposed a “six drinks a day” rule to all-inclusive hotels but this only applies to certain resort areas of the Balearic Islands including the resorts of San Antonio, El Arenal and Magaluf.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The introduction of the new rules is an attempt to curb excessive drinking on the islands with officials also banning pub crawls and two-for-one drink deals in these areas.

The rules do not apply to the Canary Islands and mainland Spain, so if you are booked to travel to any of these areas your all-inclusive will not be restricted to these terms.

I am booked to travel to Spain in the main school holidays but I am not deemed as fully-vaccinated, can I have a test before travel?

The Spanish Government will only allow adults to travel to Spain for holiday/leisure purposes if you are deemed as fully-vaccinated.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So as it stands you cannot go on holiday to Spain, the Balearics or the Canary Islands if you are not fully-vaccinated.

The only exception to this is if you have proof of recovery from Covid-19 dated between seven to 180 days after testing positive.

This must be a digital certificate of recovery.

Registering a positive lateral flow test is not sufficient.

Of course Spain are now way behind the rest of Europe, most of which you can travel to with proof of a negative test if not fully-vaccinated.

With the summer season upon us we are hoping that Spain will soon follow suit and allow holidaymakers to travel with a negative test.

If you are booked to travel to Spain in the summer and are not fully-vaccinated we would urge you to contact your travel provider as soon as possible to explore your options.