New travel advice clears way for French holidays, but Lisbon is back at amber

The foreign affairs ministry is revising its travel advice for France from amber to yellow, meaning people returning from the Netherlands’ favourite holiday destination will not have to quarantine or show a negative test when they get back and opening the door to French tourists.

However, people from the Netherlands planning to holiday in France, must still have either a negative coronavirus test or have been fully vaccinated to travel there, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Most of Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, all of Greece apart from Athens, Slovenia and the region around Zagreb have also moved from amber to yellow, the latest list from the ministry shows.

At the same time, the Portuguese capital Lisbon has gone back from yellow to amber because of the rise of the Delta coronavirus variant there. The rest of the country remains yellow. Spain is amber, and although progress has been made, it is still not safe enough for unlimited travel, the ministry said.

On Tuesday it emerged that nearly 300 people, mainly youngsters celebrating passing their exams, had tested positive for coronavirus after holidaying in Spain and Portugal.

The US is one of several non-EU countries which have also been downgraded to yellow, but the country is not yet open for foreign tourists.