Right now Americans can only go to Iceland in Europe. Maybe Croatia as well.

From mid May, in a few days, we're suppose to be able to go to Greece.

Iceland and Greece supposedly vaccination will mean no quarantine or tests to go to those countries. But for returning to the US, you need to have tests 72 hours within departure.

Italy and France has said Americans will be able to visit some time in June, under the same requirements.

The EU has said the 27 EU countries will accept all the vaccines that are being used in the US, since those same vaccines are being used in the EU.

Just beware. A supposed expert on 'travel insurance coverage' was interviewed on the CBC-TV yesterday and cautioned viewers who were considering travel after seeing all the current discounts on offer. That expert said, "The thing is, very few insurance companies are now offering any meaningful covid coverage for travelers."

I am done. the delayed gratification

Europe
 

Thanks for the update.


Lynn

At the moment, all of what iscrb11 has said applies only to arrivals from countries on the "C list", which is mostly countries in the EU, the UK, and a few others. Americans are still on the "D list", which is the most restricted. In addition to Covid testing, and a contact tracing form, they have to go into quarantine for 10 days on arrival in Italy, and can travel to their final (quarantine) destination only by private means (rental car, for example). I think they still have to be tested and quarantined on return to the US.

There are "covid tested" flights to Italy which require two negative tests before departure: One several days earlier, and a second one at the departure airport. There is another test at the arrival airport. (I think all these flights arrive in either Rome or Milan; they keep adding new departure airports.)

I was hoping that my daughter and granddaughter, both fully vaccinated, could come to visit at the end of July, by which time I will also be fully vaccinated. However, the covid-tested flights are scheduled to end on June 30th. I read that they might continue through the summer,and that there might be new guidelines that would allow fully vaccinated arrivals to forego the quarantine and take a train to final destination, but there are still no rule changes, and no covid-free flights available after June 30th. My daughter, quite reasonably, doesn't want to buy a ticket based on a "probable" loosening of restrictions.

Restaurants are still only allowed to have outdoor seating, but that's going to change very soon, I think next week.

The unrestricted travel mostly applies to travelers from the EU, UK, Switzerland, and a few other countries. They keep saying it will probably change in June, but people need to arrange their vacation times well in advance, and I'm sure many people are giving up on any hope of visiting Italy this summer.

<<I was hoping that my daughter and granddaughter, both fully vaccinated, could come to visit at the end of July, by which time I will also be fully vaccinated. However, the covid-tested flights are scheduled to end on June 30th. I read that they might continue through the summer,and that there might be new guidelines that would allow fully vaccinated arrivals to forego the quarantine and take a train to final destination, but there are still no rule changes, and no covid-free flights available after June 30th. My daughter, quite reasonably, doesn't want to buy a ticket based on a "probable" loosening of restrictions. >>

bvienci, what about meeting up in Croatia, where the restrictions are far less strict? After 2 weeks, they can also travel to Italy with just a negative test taken within 48 hours. Italy allows anyone to enter from the EU after they’ve been in another EU country for 2 weeks.

My daughters consider Italy their second home, and have friends and relatives here. Croatia just wouldn't be the same thing, and anyway they can't stay longer than two weeks, because my granddaughter's school starts in early August.

If we were to meet somewhere else, it would probably be Ireland. We also have many relatives in Northern Ireland, and it's easier to get to from the US. However, they haven't been to Italy in two years and were really looking forward to being able to come here. Maybe they still can; if they loosen the restrictions in early June, there would be time to organize the trip.

bvl - i do hope that your family are going to be able to visit this year after such a long gap in your being able to see each other. i too am longing to get back to Italy but as I have no family to visit i am going to wait until the situation is more stable and less likely to change while I'm there.

There's not much logic to some of these policies. US has lower infection rates than most EU countries and higher vaccination rates. For instance you can look at new infection rates per 100k, over a 7-day average. Italy is at 6.9 and US is at 7.3. But Italy's neighbors France is at 14.7, Germany is at 7.2, Switzerland is at 13, Austria is at 7.2.

The UK is lower infection rate and higher vaccination but now with the Indian variant outbreaks in the UK, their infection rates are going up and Germany has quarantined them and France is about to as well.

But Portugal and Spain is welcoming them, with Greece as well.

Most of Italy's tourist revenues come from visitors from other EU countries. American tourists visiting Italy aren't as numerous as those from EU. But they probably spend a lot more per capita than these other EU tourists.

I understand though that Italy has to commit to EU's freedom of movement so they're going to prioritize EU tourists, while at the same time officially putting tourists from Australia and some of the Asian nations on the list of people who would face minimal restrictions, as was the case last year. The only thing is, people in those countries aren't even allowed to travel and they have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the world.

Problem is that situation could change fairly quickly. Last summer, most of Western Europe had really low rates of infections and then that started to change by late August or September.

India was doing well until about March and then it turned instantly. Similar instant rises in some of the Asian countries right now and South America is a mess.

I agree, though I also believe the situation is different because of the vaccine. I hope you see your family soon, and hope you find your way.

I am from India and DH and I were there till end February. A huge vaccination drive had started and everyone was talking of having defeated Covid, but this led to complacency and the situation took a dramatic turn for the worse. Cases skyrocketed and vaccines were in short supply, not to mention vaccine hesitancy. All in all extremely distressing.

Things are sort of starting to look up, but there’s talk of a third wave in September/October. I sincerely hope people have learned from their mistakes and prepare for this eventuality.

Bvlenci, I wholly empathise with you and hope your daughter and granddaughter are able to visit Italy this summer. Family is most important to me and what has hit me hardest this past 18 months is not being able to see my near and dear. I too am praying this will work out soon...

Bvi, I hope your kids can visit this year.

To all. I'd be worried by Oz citizens visiting as so few have been vaccinated.

UK new covid rates/day are roughly 2500, up from 2000 in early May so I think "climbing" is a bit over the top.
Italy's rates are crashing down at about 4000 as of yesterday as are the following countries
France rate 8500
Germany 5500
Spain 5500
USA 24000

Just to give a larger picture

Numbers shown are slightly deceptive, of course. The US has a population roughly 4X that of France, so that the rates per 100,000 over the last 2 weeks are more reflective of the situation. The US rate was 7 per 100,000 while France is 13 per 100,000. Both are trending down. The UK is 3.8 per 100,000 with a very slight uptick.

I would like to make a clarification with this statements as there are some misinformation. I will be on a covid-tested flight beginning August on Delta. I will be tested before and after boarding but not several days before departure. No quarantine is necessary once test after arrival is negative. These flights will go on till October 30th. Routes will be added some beginning July others beginning August. Traveling before July 1st requires 2 testing prior to departure on SOME routes but after July 1st, only 1 test before departure on ALL routes.

The rules have changed recently, and the Covid-tested flights have been extended beyond the original June 30th ending date. The number of pre-flight tests required has been reduced from two to one. The post I made was accurate at the time I wrote it.

Anyway, one of my daughters has decided to get tickets for a trip to visit us in July. If conditions change, she would be able to change the dates free of charge. In that case, she might plan to come here for Christmas, or for next summer. The other daughter is still pondering her options.

Thanks for the update, bvl. As it emphasises, the situation can change very quickly, not just for arriving but of course for going home too.

I hope you can get to see your family soon.

Italy is now fully open to American tourists. Arrivals from UK face a 5-day quarantine.

Don't have to do covid test flights.

Plan to drive from Salzburg to Corvara and other places at beginning of August. Yes Austria is confirmed too so hoping going through the Brenner Pass by then will be relatively uneventful.

Italy has really driven the numbers down.

<<Italy is now fully open to American tourists. Arrivals from UK face a 5-day quarantine.>>

I don't blame Italy at all but humph.