Holidays from the UK are now dependent on whether your destination sits on the government’s red, amber or green list.
Which countries are on the green list?
As of 26 August, 7 new destinations were added to the green list (in bold), although note that many of these have closed borders to arrivals from the UK. Also be aware that many of these are now on the government’s ‘green watchlist’, which means that they could turn amber at any time:
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Australia (borders closed)
- Austria (UK arrivals not permitted)
- The Azores
- Barbados (5-day quarantine on arrival, 2 days for fully vaccinated travellers)
- Bermuda (14-day quarantine on arrival, 4 days for fully vaccinated travellers)
- British Antarctic Territory
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- Brunei (borders closed)
- Bulgaria (UK is on their ‘red list’)
- Canada (borders closed except to fully vaccinated US arrivals)
- Cayman Islands (14-day quarantine on arrival, 10 days for fully vaccinated travellers)
- Croatia
- Denmark (entry permitted for fully vaccinated travellers)
- Dominica (5-day quarantine on arrival)
- Falkland Islands (borders closed)
- Faroe Islands (four-quarantine on arrival unless fully vaccinated or have had Covid)
- Finland
- Gibraltar
- Germany (entry permitted for fully vaccinated travellers)
- Grenada (48-hour quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers)
- Hong Kong (21-day quarantine at designated hotel on arrival)
- Latvia
- Iceland (5- or 6-day quarantine unless fully vaccinated)
- Israel (borders closed)
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania (10-day quarantine unless fully vaccinated)
- Madeira
- Malta
- Montserrat
- New Zealand (borders closed)
- Norway (10-day quarantine at government hotel)
- Pitcairn Islands (borders closed)
- Romania (14-day quarantine on arrival)
- Singapore (borders closed)
- Slovakia (entry permitted for fully vaccinated travellers)
- Slovenia
- South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
- St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (10-day quarantine on arrival)
- Switzerland (entry permitted for fully vaccinated travellers)
- Taiwan (borders closed)
- Turks and Caicos Islands
Which countries are on the amber list?
There were no amber-list changes in the most recent update.
Which countries are on the red list?
Thailand and Montenegro have been added to the red list.
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What does the traffic-light system mean?
What precautions are required when travelling to countries on the green, amber and red lists? They are separated into tasks and tests that travellers need to complete before leaving the UK and upon return home, dependent on the category of their destination:
Green-list countries
- Before departure: One pre-departure test up to 72 hours before returning to the UK (type unspecified).
- On arrival: One PCR test on or before day two of arrival in England/Wales. No quarantine is required unless a test is positive.
Amber-list countries
- Before departure: One pre-departure test.
- On arrival: Self-isolate at home for 10 days on arrival, unless fully vaccinated. A PCR test is required on days two and eight of quarantine. Travellers can reduce their self-isolation period by paying for an additional PCR test on day five, but they will still have to take their test on day eight too.
Red-list countries
- Before departure: One pre-departure test.
- On arrival: Passengers must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days at the cost of £2,285 per person. A PCR test is required on days two and eight of quarantine. Passengers must book and agree to pay for this quarantine package before beginning travel back the UK.
- Note that direct flights from red-list countries to the UK are currently banned, so travellers returning from one of these destinations will have to travel via a third nation (and must abide by their entry restrictions).
What decides which countries are on the green list?
The ‘green-amber-red’ traffic light-style approach that categorises countries on the requirements needed when travelling there or back, has been devised based on factors like number of vaccinations, new variants and infection rates – often recorded as R value (where R =1 means that every 10 people infected will infect 10 other people on average).
How to stay up to date
There will be as several revisions to the green list before the summer, when some countries could be promoted from the red list to the amber, or from amber to green. As things stand, the lists will be reviewed every three weeks.
Most of the information here is for England only, and because laws on foreign travel are made by each UK nation, at the moment, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have made no announcements.
For more information on these green-list countries, check out our range of guides:
