Editor’s Note — Coronavirus cases remain high across the globe. Health officials caution that travel increases your chances of getting and spreading the virus. Staying home is the best way to stem transmission. Below is information on what to know if you still plan to travel, last updated on March 26.
The basics
What’s on offer
The historic boulevards of Paris, the fashionable sweep of La Croisette in Cannes and the rolling lavender fields and vineyards of Provence. France remains one of the world’s most enduring tourist destinations.
With superb food, even better wine and landscapes and cities to satisfy every kind of traveler, it never disappoints.
Who can go
From March 12, travelers arriving from Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the UK, as well as EU countries, can enter provided they submit a negative Covid-19 PCR test result taken within 72 hours of departure and a declaration indicating that they have no Covid symptoms.
Cross-border commuters are exempt from the mandatory test requirement.
Those from all other countries outside the EU must have a “compelling” health, family or professional reason for their visit.
What are the restrictions?
Travelers entering France from countries outside the EU for “compelling” reasons are asked to spend seven days in quarantine at a location of their choice.
The list has been widened to include further family situations so that couples and parents split between France and another country can travel to visit each other and/or their children.
What’s the Covid situation?
France has been one of the hardest hit countries in Europe, with more than 4.5 million cases and nearly 94,000 deaths as of March 26. However, the numbers are far lower than they were in early November, when more than 86,000 cases were reported in a single day. In late December, case numbers fell to under 9,000 a day. But they’ve been steadily rising since then, with 45,660 new cases reported on March 26. The situation remains critical, with ongoing concerns about hospital capacity.
What can visitors expect?
France has brought back many of the tough measures from its first lockdown in early 2020. The nationwide nightly curfew, which came into effect on January 16, is to be reduced by one hour to 7 p.m to 6 a.m from March 20.
Bars, gyms, museums and theaters are closed and nonessential shops, excluding book and music shops, will shut their doors again on Saturday, March 20. Masks must be worn at all times on public transport and in enclosed public spaces.
Outdoor gatherings of more than six people are banned. While there have been calls for the government to impose a new national lockdown, President Emmanuel Macron has avoided this so far.
However, 16 French regions were placed under a four-week lockdown on March 20 due to rising Covid-19 infection rates in the country, while a further three are to be added on March 27.
The areas affected are the eight departments of the greater Paris Ile-de-France region, the five departments of the northern French Hauts-de-France region, as well as Alpes-Maritimes, Seine-Maritime, Eure, Rhone, Aube and Nievre.
The new measures allow individuals to go outdoors to walk or exercise, provided they have an approval “certificate” and go no further than 10 kilometers from their homes.
Outings for essential reasons such as grocery shopping, medical appointments, going to work or taking children to school are also permitted, but travel between regions is banned unless there’s a valid reason.
Olivier Veran, the country’s health minister, has previously stressed that it’s “possible and desirable” that France may not need to introduce national restrictions again.
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Joe Minihane, Julia Buckley and Tamara Hardingham-Gill contributed to this report