MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Does the coronavirus affect trips to Switzerland?
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I would just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who admin this page and all of your efforts to keep us updated. I know you have no direct knowledge of what the various government agencies are doing and their reasoning for their decisions or them not updating lists etc. Everyone is very eager to visit your beautiful country and the frustration of not being able to do so can be quite overwhelming at times. Again, Thank You and keep up the great job you are doing!
I agree 100% with @luvmystang! Thank you for your dedication in helping us navigate all things Switzerland!
Hi WTandBeyond,
I understand you and your disappointment.
Unfortunately, I do not know how FOPH and SEM are working and why they do what they do. All I can tell you that Arno and Annika (as well other moderators) do our best to dispel uncertainty.
I am sorry I cannot help you with more details. Please keep checking the first post in this thread, we all hope to get better news soon,
IldikoHi Luvmystang and Mrodas703,
Thank you very much for your kind words and appreciation on MySwissAlps.com, this means a lot to us. 🙂
I hope that Covid situation will be better soon and we all can travel where we wish.Thank you,
Ildiko
Hi WTandbeyond! We updated our initial post yesterday as soon as we could, as we knew that travelers were waiting for updates. Unfortunately there wasn’t much clarity yet, and we had to wait with further updates until this morning. We adjusted our information again, based on what we know now: please see our first post. And yes, that’s disappointing news. We too had hoped for favorable changes on the SEM list and the lifting of some travel bans, especially for countries that are doing well in terms of vaccination and controlling the virus. It looks like Switzerland is still being careful in terms of international traveling. I’m sure they’ll allow more travelers in as soon as they feel it’s safe.
Anyway, I totally understand that this is annoying for you and for anyone planning a (summer) holiday in Switzerland! One has to start planning and booking at some point, and such uncertainty doesn’t help.
We’ll keep following the news and adding updates!
The confusion is not the fault of anyone on this site. You are doing the best you can with the information you have. The confusion is in the decisions that are being made and how they are being implemented. I join the other voices in thanking you for all you’re doing to try to help us understand.
Thank you too Tourgypsy! Let’s hope together for the best. Ildiko
Hello
Thank you for this important post Me and wife really missing beautiful Switzerland 💓
My question maybe will difficult to answer but if u can i will be appreciated
I live in Saudi Arabia and i have residence also as I’m Syrian Nationality not Saudi
My wife is Saudi nationality and she is my sponsor in Saudi Arabia
We plan to travel from Saudi Arabia to France (allowed As last information from Saudi and france) in Next August as Our chingen Visa approved from France Embassy in Saudi Arabia and France will be the First County for Entry to chingen Union
My question after visiting France can me and my wife visiting Switzerland(Interlaken ) from France By (Train) ?
And is thier any restrictions or PCR test or anything complicated?
Me and My Wife already Fully Vaccined with Phizer and Astrazenica
Note : This not first time i visit Europe countries and traveling from France to Switzerland by train
also i traveled before from Italy to Switzerland by train too
Best Regards
Attachments:
Hi Memok,
If you have a Schengen visa you might be allowed to travel by train into Switzerland. The few times I crossed the border, there were no checks but I could be wrong. And if you have spent the last 10 days in a high-risk area before entering, you might be refused entry or subject to quarantine. So I would advice you to check personally with the Swiss Embassy in your country of origin or in France, about your situation. Arno has updated the list of countries (allowed to enter Switzerland) so please read that first. There are also some useful links in the same post if you need further information.
Best regards,
Anna
thank you for this , but it looks like my trip may get cancelled as I’m from the UK and no one wants us to come to there country even if we are fully vaccinated a little bit disappointing as we miss out last year 🙁 fingers are crossed now that hopefully by 23 July they may let us come and see this beautiful country . thank you for keeping us updated
Marvelett54
Good evening. There hasn’t been a post here for several days.
I am from the US. In the US, the covid restrictions are being eased. Infections rate is down, almost 50% of the population has been or will be vaccinated. I look at the different happenings in Switzerland, reading the different web sites etc. Honestly, I can not get a feel for the chances that visitors ( tourist ) from the US will be allowed in, or when. What I would like is someone to read the tea leaves ( a way of saying educated guess ) and give your opinion. The proposed passport seems to be aimed at Europeans…
Have a good day and hope you enjoy tea!
There seems to be so much contradicting information that it makes my head spin. Just today there is this -> http://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/switzerland-abolishes-quarantine-requirement-for-5-countries-several-regions-of-germany-france-italy/ and there is absolutely no mention of US.
And maybe the issue is with the US since we have not made any mention of when the US is going to re-open to travelers, so maybe other countries are waiting on that reciprocity before they will open to US travelers???
I run a small group travel agency that specializes in trips to Switzerland and I cannot make any plans for such trips because of so much uncertainty.
I appreciate everyone is trying to do their very best, it’s just very frustrating, but hopefully there will be good news SOON!!
I agree that Switzerland hasn’t been overly forthcoming in providing updates and information regarding reopening their country to tourists. We can only speculate as to the reasons. As near as I can tell tourism account for less than 3% of the Swiss GDP (as opposed to 13% in Italy). Of tourists visiting Switzerland, Germans account for 3 times more than the US. I suspect opening to EU and Schengen countries will be the top priority for the Swiss government and the US will be a distant 3rd. Even so Swiss industries like banking and manufacturing are likely much more important considerations than tourism, sadly.
Of course all of us are merely speculating, which if based on experience may be helpful. Likely none of us has had much experience with pandemics or their political consequences.
What we really need is an inside source high in the Swiss government. If anyone is well connected it would be Arno or maybe Annika. Your not holding out on us are you Arno?
I alway said Lucas looked like a Swiss banker. Maybe Arno could check with him.
Mark
Hi @Richard123, @luvmystang and @Mark. If only we knew! We certainly understand your frustration. We do know that Switzerland hopes to release all measures by end July/early August, and this will probably entail the easing of travel restrictions too. The introduction of digital vaccine and test certificates should make things easier as well. Probably this has effect on EU/Schengen states to start off with, but if the concept works, it should be pretty easy to adopt a similar strategy for certificates from other countries.
We hope that the US will be removed from the SEM travel ban list soon, because of the favorable vaccination strategy there. It’s already been announced that US travelers are welcome in the EU this summer. Once this happens, we expect Switzerland to follow along. We just don’t have dates yet.
No, we don’t have any insights in the reasons for the current strategy. We can only guess that Switzerland is being careful. This is a is first-time situation in which each country is trying to find a balanced approach between relaxation of measures and caution, and they all make different choices. Tourism is definitely important for Switzerland and it won’t be neglected.
Rest assured that Switzerland analyzes and updates travel options every two weeks, and sometimes even each week. As soon as we have information, or realistic expectations at the least, we’ll update our post. Our last update (concerning a few other countries) was made yesterday.
@Mark: alas, Lucas lives in Germany now ;-).
Hi @marvelette54! That’s too bad. The current uncertainty for travelers from the UK must be disappointing, especially since you already had to cancel last year. I understand you’d love to travel, especially now that you’re vaccinated. Let’s hope for promising developments! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you.
thank you me too
I also would like to express my thanks to all who are trying to provide qualified information. Our family trip is just over a month away and if we don’t hear something by middle June, it doesn’t seem appropriate to keep the Swiss portion of our family travel. I just created a google earth adventure for my kids to see it all and begin to envision, all knowing we may need to side-step this portion. I hope we all get to visit soon.
Again, thanks for the patience of the site owners! 🙂
Hi
I am from Egypt
Already took Vaccine AstraZeneca
Ask about if i can visit Swiss ???
Hi Merocasper,
Good to hear you’re vaccinated! Egypt is not allowed in yet, unfortunately. Please see my first post for a detailed explanation. That first post is updated on a very regular basis.
We’re glad to assist LTommy, especially during these difficult times. Hang in there, travel will be possible again. Whether it is in time for your trip I don’t know yet 🙁
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