Itinerary choices for COVID era summer travel 2021?

You might want to take a look at this thread, where some of us are discussing multi-country Europe itineraries . . .
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/one-key-thought-on-traveling-in-europe-for-the-time-being

Difficult, isn't it?

Have you seen this current thread? https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/one-key-thought-on-traveling-in-europe-for-the-time-being

Requirements for testing don't care if you cross the border in a plane, a car, a train or a canoe (just threw that one in since you will have 2 12 year olds who are perfectly made for paddling canoes). Same requirements.

Nobody knows what will be happening in just 10 short weeks. Plenty of nasty virus variants floating about in Europe and the rest of the world. What will happen? We can hope but that may or may not be realistic. If you were talking about next year it might be easier to predict an easier time.

For factual data without commentary here is the best I have been able to put together of what is currently open and under what general terms: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/tracking-what-is-open-in-europe.

But please read the source and double check everything on your own including the fine print like 72 hours before flight time vs 72 hours prior to landing and to find the various paperwork items required by each country

The safe, easy, bet right now is the Balkans as they are mostly open on a Vaccine and travel between countries is easy but requires some advance paperwork (in 3 weeks I begin a month in 4 countries; only the first requiring a PCR test and that might go away by then).

There are instances where crossing land borders or commuting by air between various European countries carry different requirements; often better but in a few instances worse, so always check that when planning.

No country has gone backward after opening, so things do appear to be opening up more and by your travel dates I suspect you will have many more options.

Thanks for the links, read through them and they generally confirm my more sensible impulses. Plan on one country, and if the possibility to expand emerges then take advantage. If not enjoy your chosen country, and if that shuts down ... leisure travel is icing on the icing of a fortunate life anyway so no need to gnash teeth or winge.

Which country becomes the question. We like all of Europe, and particularly the German speaking world (my wife is just a notch less than fluent). But Germany seems more reticent to open to tourism than others, naturally as the German industrial and financial economies are so powerful. Maybe France is the best choice? Great diversity of places and France is somewhat more tourism dependent?

Lastly I came across an article about transiting through international airports in Europe. More complex than you'd think, varies by airport. We for instance are booked into Amsterdam. Can easily tack on another European destination to our itinerary (Lyon for instance). But according to the article, one is subject to Dutch entry rules (same as if ending travel in the Netherlands) if passing on to a Schengen zone destination. So maybe flying direct to destination country is the best choice? Or at least transiting through a looser connecting hub (LHR or FRA maybe)?

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/transiting-european-airports-covid/

I came across an article about transiting through international airports in Europe. More complex than you'd think.

Yeah that's the thing. Things are complicated, different everywhere, and changing frequently, so the complexity actually simply meets my expectations and is a big part of why I think single-country traveling — if at all — is the way to go this summer.

Fully agree with Kim.

I think unless you are in San Marino, you can spend 18 days in most countries, though of course the bigger ones lend themselves more easily to both direct travel from the US and to more flexibility regionally and more to see.

I think you can't go wrong with that long in France, Spain, Germany, or Italy, but really most places would be fantastic. I would love to do a slow tour through Romania myself. That said, it's hard to predict what will and won't be open. A look at both Covid rates and vaccination rates may help you make your decisions.

1. USA to Ukraine: Ukraine issued COVID insurance ($6) and a PCR test 72 hours prior to landing (the only PCR test required on this trip) arriving July 2
2. Ukraine to Turkey: Turkish E-Visa (pre COVID requirement) and on-line health form, technically no vaccine required because arriving from Ukraine, arriving July 8
3. Turkey to Croatia: On-line health form, vaccine card, arriving July 12
4. Croatia to Montenegro and back: vaccine card
5. Croatia to Greece: On-line health form and vaccine card, arriving July 20
6. Greece to Turkey: Same E-Visa and new on-line health form, arriving July 27

Been reading about problems in Greece, where we hope to be in late July. Random tests at the airport have put some in quarantine. No PCR test given for days. We fly into Paris and might go overland to get to Greece, avoiding the airports.

Overland from Paris to Athens is likely to add up to close to 36 hours in transit, much of it by bus. Assuming you don't want to travel overnight, that's at least three very long days--and you wouldn't have long enough breaks at your overnight stops to do much sightseeing along the way. I don't think that would be a good start to your vacation.