Spain is moving ahead with opening up its borders to tourists, with visitors welcome from outside the Schengen zone welcome – and not just from the United Kingdom.
Basílica de la Sagrada Família, Barcelona.
Spain will welcome visitors from the following countries that are outside the Schengen Agreement:
- Australia
- Israel
- Japan
- New Zealand
- Rwanda
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Thailand
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- China
The enabling legislation can be found here (although get your Google Translate tools out).
Visitors from exempt countries do not require a PCR Test to enter the country as of 00:00 on the 24th of May.
If are considering visiting Spain, you need to fill out the Spain Health Control form (FCS).
And yes, it is mandatory.
The form must be completed and signed online before your trip to Spain. You may access the form and sign it through the Spain Travel Health portal or the apps for Android or iOS devices.
Just because you are allowed, it does not mean you can travel to Spain.
Most countries are still under some sort of legislation that either recommends against travel or bans international travel.
The Spanish Tourist Board has a useful tool at https://travelsafe.spain.info/en/ that gives guidance on what to expect for each country. It is worth the time investigating what the impact could be
However, if you are in the UK, you are going to need to quarantine when you return
We will cover the UK Government posture in this section.
The UK Government has placed Spain in its Amber list for travellers from England- meaning that when you plan to return to the United Kingdom, you will need:
- Take a COVID-19 test before departure
- Complete a passenger locator form
- Take and pay for COVID-19 tests at Day 2 and Day 8 upon your return to the United Kingdom (note, you cannot use NHS Test and Trace Services)
- Quarantine at home for 10 days (reduceable to after five days if you pay to take part in Test and Release)>
Welsh Residents are asked not to travel abroad, whilst Scottish travellers have only just been allowed to commence travel.
Her Majesties Government has been… less than clear if we are blunt on if you can visit these destinations for a holiday, to see family and so on.
From the distilled advice from various ministers, as well as the FCDO, they advise
“You should not travel to amber list countries or territories.”
Of course, with airlines laying on flights, that will be a consideration you will have to take if you are thinking of travelling to Spain.
You might want to hang on for a few weeks, until the next Green List update is published, before making plans to travel to Spain.
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