Swiss border closure regulations for tourists?
A traveler named Kim is planning to enter Switzerland on September 4th from Germany but is concerned about potential border closures for US citizens due to changing regulations. They seek clarity on what actions they may need to take if restrictions are implemented after their arrival, reflecting on past experiences during the holiday season.
- Monitor both Swiss and German travel updates regularly to stay informed about any changes that may happen close to your travel dates.
- Make use of the Swiss Travel Pass for convenient travel between different regions in Switzerland.
- Fill out the Swiss Entry Form online, especially if arriving by plane, to know your specific entry requirements.
- Consider staying in Switzerland for the entire trip to avoid complications with traveling to Austria during uncertain times.
- Explore areas like Montreux for different scenery and activities while in Switzerland.
AI-generated summary-
Yesterday Germany moved US to “area of high risk” and will meet again on 25 August to announce additional changes to “area of high risk” and “area of variant concern” categories. If US remains only in “high risk” vaccinated Americans may still enter the country. If US is moved to “variant concern” the borders close to Americans.
I understand Switzerland has a somewhat similar process and those announcements can come at any time.
We are planning to enter Switzerland 4 September, coming from Germany. What happens if, after we arrive in Switzerland, the Swiss authorities close the border to US citizens? Are we required to leave right away? Isolate?
I appreciate that the Swiss government and health authorities are deliberate, thoughtful, and usually give “fair warning” However, over the 2020 Christmas holidays I understand that when Switzerland suddenly closed their borders to UK citizens those already in country were forced into isolation for 10 days. Complete with authorities checking on them. Perhaps this was just a “blip” and won’t be repeated.
Any insight, links, what have you into this situation would be much appreciated!
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Hi Kim,
Based on my understanding, under the current travel regulation only vaccinated travellers from high-risk areas are allowed to enter Germany. Unvaccinated travellers from high-risk areas will have to quarantine for 10 days. If you are coming or have been in areas of variant concern, if you are permitted entry you are obligated to quarantine for 14 days even if you are fully vaccinated. I’m not sure about the travel bans you mentioned. It may or may not happen.
At the moment in Switzerland, the infection rates are rising but still under control . And while the government has pointed out that it’s not keen to introduce another lockdown or restrict movement, if the infection rates become exceptionally high within and outside its borders then there is the possibility of (re)introducing travel bans or restricting border-crossing to prevent further spread of the variant.
In the case of a travel ban, I’m sure travellers will be given a fair warning to plan their exits or go into quarantine.
For the latest updates on travel restrictions and regulations in Switzerland, I would recommend checking this thread constantly: http://www.myswissalps.com/forum/topic/does-the-corona-virus-affect-trips-to-switzerland
Also, as you will be travelling to/from Germany, make sure you get real time updates about the situation in Germany. This link might be useful:
Regards,
Anna
Thank you, Anna, for your early reply! (early in the day if you are in Switzerland for sure!)
Thank you for the links. I do follow those (and about a dozen others from Germany and Switzerland) daily. They are helpful of course but only provide information about what has happened, not what might. On the one hand, one approach is to dismiss any speculations as mere rumors until decisions are publicly announced by authorities. That said, I have always found it very helpful to read/hear “chatter” from people that are on the ground, based on what’s being said through unofficial channels. I am building alternative scenarios and our potential responses/actions based on what might happen during this unprecedented time. That way we are not left flailing around without direction at the last minute should bad news arise. We are fighting hard to make this trip happen 🙂
And thanks also for the clarification that only vaccinated Americans may still enter Germany without quarantine. That was made clear by the official announcements but I neglected to include that very important information in my post for others that might be following along.
You have reiterated what I have heard elsewhere, that Swiss authorities will provide fair warning about any changes. That is reassuring. I was taken aback that German officials only provided 48 hours warning.
Thank you again!
You may find the following useful:
This is also in German, French, and Italian.
Close to the top of this page you will note a link to Travelcheck. At Travelcheck you fill in a number of fields and answer various questions and at the end of the process it will tell you what restrictions (if any) apply in your case.
Hi Kim,
I signed up for the Daily News from EU Schengen Visa site. It has been very useful to learn about the latest changes:.
Kim,
I forgot to mention this : the Swiss Public Health set up an excellent system. It requires that tourists fill out an Entry Form, after typing in all the necessary information, at the end it tells you exactly what pandemic related requirements apply to you.
Peterli, thank you very much for the great link. I have been viewing many links from BAG but this one summarizes everything very nicely. And, yes, I have been running through the TravelCheck pages daily! A very nifty tool, creative and well-implemented.
Yeldus, the EU-wide Daily News summary is also valuable. I will be consulting this on a daily basis as well.
As for the Formular, is this a requirement to enter the country even for fully vaccinated tourists? When I go through the TravelCheck pages it says that nothing is required for entry via train.
Thanks all!
Kim,
Thanks for asking this question. We are in a similar predicament…vaccinated, arriving in Switzerland on September 1st, planning to go to Austria after a week in Switzerland then flying back out from Zurich to the US on September 13th. I will be tracking the same information as the trip gets closer. We are wondering if we should skip the part of our trip that goes to and from Austria, just to make things logistically easier and just stay in Switzerland the whole time.
Terry
Hello Terry,
I am following this thread, and though your post is addressed to Kim, I am going to ask/say a few things. First of all, are you going to be traveling by car or by public transportation ? If it is the latter, are you planning on buying one of the passes available ? Either way, your trip as now planned involves travel in Switzerland at both ends of your time.
As for the last bit of your post (skipping the Austria segment, and spending all your time in Switzerland, all I can say is that September 1 to 13 is a pretty short amount of time (11 full days at best) and that there is plenty to see and do in Switzerland that will fill in all of those days. If you were to state the kind of things that interest you, I am sure that a number of the experts who watch this site would come up with suggestions. Perhaps a start would be to know what you had in mind for that first week. Personally, I am partial to recommending that visitors, if they have the time, try to see a bit of the three language areas (I would go roughly 60% German, 30% French, and 10% Italian). But it all depends on your interests.
Hi Terry and welcome!
Both Austria and Switzerland are lovely.
I have been both places. Austria 3 times and this will be our 25th trip to Switzerland. I guess that tells you my preferences!
Unless you have a strong and specific desire to visit Austria I think I would simplify things and stay in Switzerland. Just IMO of course, it’s all a personal preference. You can easily stay in Switzerland for 3 months and never run out of fabulous things to do and see. We did that a few years back and it was divine. Where are you planning to base?
Thank you so much Kim and Peter,
This will be my 4th trip to Switzerland (first time for my husband…we got married last year and this is another try at having a honeymoon because we had to cancel two trips already). This would be the first time for both of us in Austria, which is why we added it on. We will be based in Grindelwald and plan to mostly hike. I did a nine day trek through the Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen region a decade ago. Our idea with adding in Austria was because it was new to us and we could ‘lop it off the itinerary’ if covid became more complicated (which it is)! Anyway, many years ago I was in Bellinzona and loved the contrast. I’ve never been in the Geneva area, so that’s also an option if we don’t go to Austria. But, our focus of the trip would be to hike and to roam around beautiful villages, rather than go to museums or cultural events (because of covid and our preference to be outside). Our mode of transportation will be by train wherever we go. And the highest priority is to not be trapped with a 10 day quarantine as our long-awaited ‘vacation’.
I have also been doing the TravelCheck periodically. It’s very helpful, but of course, things could literally change while we are in the air flying from the US!
Terry
Hi Kim,
You will only need to fill up the entry form if you are entering Switzerland by airplane.
Regards,
Anna
Thank you Anna! That was my reading of the regulations but it gave me pause with the entry form included arrival by train as an option and asked for carrier, coach, and seat number! Perhaps they included that in case they change entry requirements later. . .
Hi Kim,
I’m not sure if you are already aware of this link, but here’s where I based my information from: http://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/empfehlungen-fuer-reisende/quarantaene-einreisende.html#489451312
The rules may change so it’s best to always keep ourselves up to date 🙂
Regards,
Anna
Thank you, Anna. I found my way to that excellent site by way of Peterli’s link yesterday. Very very helpful and I will be following it daily.
Ok, regrouping. We are thinking it will make it a more sane vacation to not go to Austria and just stay in Switzerland (Sooooo, much easier than figuring out the different covid adjustments between Switzerland and Austria, especially because we don’t want to find out things have changed in Switzerland…where our flights arrive and depart for the U.S…..while we are in Austria). We’ll keep our reservations in Grindelwald, a place I’m familiar with and we’ll enjoy hiking in that area for a few days. But we are thinking of adding another Swiss region to our itinerary for some contrast. Would Montreux be a place to enjoy very different scenery, different hikes, beautiful city strolls and as a base for other things in the area? (We don’t want to be in a very big city, but something larger and different than Gridelwald). I have not been to the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
Your answers have been invaluable! Thank you so much to all of you.
Terry
Hi Kim,
From the “Swiss Federal Office of Public Health FOPH” site it is my understanding that the form needs to be filled. It is just an Entry Form and at the end it tells you your specific entry requirements based on the data you entered. Perhaps this form is also provided by the Airlines.
I am sorry that I missed the fact you are entering by train. As Anna told us the form is only for Airline passengers. I apologize.
Hi Terry,
This is a good question. I think you should start a new thread and we can all provide our relevant inputs. It’s best to keep this thread strictly about cross-border regulations.
Thanks and regards,
Anna
Ok, thanks Anna. I will do that. 🙂
Terry
Yeldus, your link to the form was very helpful even though we are planning to arrive via train. As It stands now I am “covering my bases” by looking into making back up plane reservations to arrive in Switzerland directly from the US in case Germany won’t let us in. Then I would definitely need that form! So thank you!
Terry,
highly recommend staying in the Montreux area, there are so many things to do there: walk through the Lavaux vineyards, visit Gruyères, enjoy the nice towns along the lake, maybe a boat ride…
Enjoy!
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