Covid-19: How do I find out about EU travel restrictions?

Reader question: We hope to drive from our home in France to Portugal, therefore passing through Spain, but I could not find out what the rules are for passing the borders within the EU at the moment. Is it necessary to have a Covid 19 test result to show? Are some borders more restricted than others? How do I keep up to date with the situation?

The member states of the European Union (EU) did not initially take a unified approach to coronavirus restrictions, making travel between the countries confusing.

In this article, we explain the travel restrictions in place in France’s eight neighbouring countries.

Recently, though, the EU has started to take a more coordinated approach. A new website provides information on travel restrictions and levels of new Covid-19 cases across the member states.

You can find the information here, or read our article about it here.

The first link will take you to a coloured map of Europe (like the above picture), with different countries or regions marked red, orange or green depending on the number of reported Covid-19 cases there.

A grey colour means there is insufficient information available or too few tests being done to provide reliable data.

If you click on the country, it will provide travel information. For example, clicking on Spain will give you the information that, “travelling from EU Member States + Schengen Associated countries is allowed without restrictions”.

This is also true for Portugal, although there are some additional measures specific to certain Portuguese islands.

This means that there are not any restrictions in place to drive from France to Portugal, via Spain, and no need to provide negative Covid-19 tests.

However, this could change as the coronavirus situation evolves, so it is worth keeping an eye on this site.

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