Open in May?

No to the first, yes to the second, when allowed.

No one can predict the future, especially when such unpredictable elements as the evolution of a new virus or the behavior of French bureaucracy is involved, but I would consider the probability of being able to leisure travel to France in May 2021 from outside the EU to be low. A vaccination requirement might be in the mix, but there is an odd anti-vaccination stream within French society, so it's difficult to to foretell how that might be manifested in official government policy.

France is way behind the U.K. in terms of number of people already vaccinated and for the U.K., it’s been suggested today by the government that all adults should have had their first vaccine by September, with restrictions including face masks remaining in place until the end of the year. Apparently, the French are more wary of vaccinations, so this may slow the process down.

I can’t see France being fully open for business by May and yes, you are likely to require a negative Covid test or vaccine. That’s my guesswork. Of course, the vaccines don’t offer 100% protection. France has been very strict about their curfews and making sure you are only out if you should be. A friend who lives there is often stopped by the police and has to prove why she is out. That doesn’t happen in the U.K.

Highly unlikely for all the above stated reasons.

sorry, I think you will likely (almost certainly) be disappointed

We are postponing our April 20 trip to April 22 -- I doubt if things are swinging in May of 21 and I would certainly hope that no airline would be transporting anyone who couldn't prove they had been vaccinated. And the country would certainly not want tourists who might burden their health system.

Maybe -- with vaccine -- but I would not put money down.

The questions, "do you think the country will be open" will certainly get you answers, but all wild and uninformed guesses. The answers you do get will most likely be extensions of personal bias and subject to definition of "open". It would not surprise me if it were possible to enter France for the purpose of tourism, with or without a vaccine, this coming spring. The hoops you might have to jump through, the availability of the activities you want to participate in and personal concerns for health might lead you to decide to wait ............... or not.

I would suggest just watching the situation and pulling the trigger in April if things look good.

France this mid May, do you think the country will be open

For tourists? No way.

I don't think International travel will happen until at least the Fall of this year, if at all. And yes to the vaccine.

Who knows. Certainly not anyone on this forum. But I bought my ticket for late May, early June already (I have a specific event I want to attend in Normandy). I just don't want to find out then that I can go, but can't afford a last minute ticket. Time will tell...

Jeanne,

I would strongly suggest you plan for May 2022. I have family in the UK and I don't even know if my trip will happen in June. I will be brutely honest, do not book anything for this May. It's no fun having to unwind a vacation and having to get money back or other people's money back when you are the trip planner. (I did this in 2020 for a four- lady trip to Germany/Austria). Even with Free cancellation, watch the fine print closely. I was lucky we got everything back. I would suggest you arrange some getaway in the US this year. Perhaps a Lady Spa trip or rent a house on the beach. I know it won't be Paris, but it can still lift your spirits and then plan for 2022. I just hate to be a Debbie Downer but this is the reality. I am really expecting my UK trip to end up being a road trip somewhere in the US.

Margaret

I don't think International travel will happen until at least the Fall
of this year, if at all. And yes to the vaccine.

This sort of exemplifies my previous comment. “International travel” happens now, today, and will continue tomorrow. A trip report went up today from a forum member who just returned from Mexico. I could travel to several countries tomorrow with nothing more than a COVID test, if I wanted to. So, the statement is an over generalization of a desired situation, and not responsive to the question. Of course, the flaw is in the OP’s question. It isn’t answerable. I am pretty sure Jean Castex couldn’t answer the question. A lot of people will want the vaccine to be administered in various percentages before they will feel comfortable traveling. I get that, its reasonable, and its absolutely defendable.

A more interesting, and answerable, question might be: What do you think the requirements for international tourism should be? When do you think those requirements will be met by most of the major tourist destinations?

The financial, physical and emotional cost of travel right now can be pretty high. Gives room for a lot of thought before moving forward with any plans. For me, long haul travel is off the table for the time being.

Do you think it will be cloudy on May 14 in Cincinnati? The answer to that question and yours is....."nobody knows."

Remember, almost all the answers you have gotten are opinions. No one really knows what will happen in May. There is no harm in planning but just make sure everything is fully refundable.

Whether or not vaccinations are required, anyone traveling should probably be inoculated.

So I wonder, do the 4 of you fit into any category that will get you shots earlier than the rank-and-file people under 65, without certain pre-existing medical conditions, and not essential workers?

And also, are you planning on seeing Normandy (including Mont Saint-Michel), and/or Southern France in May?

From the three persons on the ground, living in France, the answers were: low, highly unlikely, and no way.

Thank you for all the responses to my question. Our proposed trip to France is flying into Paris, Mont Ste Michelle, Normandy, Dordogne region, and then down to the coast. A total of three weeks

Remember, almost all the answers you have gotten are opinions. No one
really knows what will happen in May. There is no harm in planning but
just make sure everything is fully refundable.

Jeanne, I'll throw my vote in with this option. Really, no one can possibly know what the situation is going to look like in May so go ahead and plan but I wouldn't make any non-refundable bookings. Even if they are labeled as "refundable", understand if that means monetary refund or a voucher to be used in the future.

Whether or not vaccinations are required, anyone traveling should
probably be inoculated.

Without question! Personally, the DH and I won't even think about getting on a plane until we've been vaccinated. Along with just not wishing to get really sick far from home, there are potential issues with many travel insurance policies excluding expenses incurred for pandemic-related illness or cancellation. Here's a Forbes article on that subject from consumer advocate Christopher Elliott:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherelliott/2020/06/07/what-travel-insurance-does-not-cover-after-the-pandemic/?sh=676b90852d1d

I looked at your posting history and saw that in the previous answers to your previous questions from spring and even fall 2020 everyone was upbeat about you being able to go. But this pandemic is dragging on, your lead time is shortening, vaccinations are moving slowly in France, new variants are emerging, and the TV news doctor flew the trial balloon tonight about another possible lockdown in March if case numbers are high when they expect the South African variant to take hold here in France. Things could change, but this is what's happening on the ground. Kim, Sammy, Gooster, please correct anything I got wrong.

Bets,

The government is clearly trying to balance economic interests with public health concerns. As you know for the moment they've set aside the idea of yet another confinement. And yet the number of new infections seems to be holding steady at >20K per day. That's not good and is more than four times what was hoped for at this point. The effect of the recent geographic expansion of the curfew is yet to be felt, but I can't imagine its effect to be anything more than subtle.

I've only lived in France for a little under a decade, so I can't tell what the government might do as this drags on. The elections are approaching, and M. Macron will want to position himself as favorably as possible. How that interest might translate into public policy is difficult to predict. But I think the tendency will be to take actions that ease the pain in the economic sector -- especially restaurants and bars -- both for the societal salve they provide and for the revenue such openings might generate.

And yet there's that pesky virus that keeps killing people.

As I said, it's hard to predict.

But tourism? Not likely.

Update 23 January: today it is being reported that a government source described the chance of a third confinement (or quarantine) in response to the English variant of the virus is "de plus en plus probable":

"The quarantine hypothesis is more and more likely," a government
source told AFP, citing projections released by Inserm and the Pasteur
Institute that predict an exponential increase in the epidemic because
of the more contagious English variant.

"If we see in the coming days the positive effects of the curfew at 6
p.m., we might say that we still have one or two weeks of leeway. But
it seems unlikely that this will be enough," the same source added.

On Friday, the number of patients in intensive care was 2,902 while 323
Covid-19 patients died in hospitals.

The new variants that have popped up are troubling, to say the least. They trouble me, anyway. So far as I've (briefly) read, they seem to think the existing vaccines will work on them but.... Remember when the CDC and WHO said last winter that the general public didn't need to mask up? IMHO, the learning curve maybe isn't on the downhill slope yet.

Not to say that at least having vaccines that'll deter most of the virus isn't a bright spot!

Remember when the CDC and WHO said last winter that the general public didn't need to mask up?

I suspect that was driven by the need to deploy what masks were available to medical facilities and their personnel

What I keep reading is that:

• Restaurants may remain closed until Easter
• Cafés and bars may not reopen until June
• A 3rd confinement is not totally out of the question

Anyone planning to visit France this year should make no reservation that is not fully refundable.

And....as many learned the hard way, and sadly many still do not understand, fully refundable does not always mean refundable. If you can afford to lose every penny on a reservation then go for it. If losing the money has an adverse effect on your budgeting then don’t. Wait for France to reopen for tourism then book and go.

For those of us in the U.S. soon we will find out what the restrictions will be for us returning to the U.S. after overseas travel. Will a quarantine be required upon our return from Europe or elsewhere. That puts a damper on things.

brushtim; we sort of already know. And it is; YES. But if you are living in CA or NY, then your quarantine upon return is just life as normal. So maybe not much of a damper.

onefastbob; interesting. I canceled my December trip and it cost me not a cent. Sometimes, if you take the time to understand what you are doing, refundable might mean refundable or it might mean you were never charged to begin with (my hotel bookings in 4 cities).

James E - Exactly. The operative terms are “sometimes” and knowing exactly what you are doing. I assume the reservations you make are cancelable (up to x days before arrival) vs refundable where you pay a substantial deposit at the time of booking that they promise you will get back if properly canceled (thus the reimbursable language).

James E - Exactly. The operative terms are “sometimes” and knowing
exactly what you are doing. I assume the reservations you make are
cancelable (up to x days before arrival) vs refundable where you pay a
substantial deposit at the time of booking that they promise you will
get back if properly canceled (thus the reimbursable language).

None of the hotels charged my card, not even $1, until 24 or 36 hours prior to the reservation time. I had no problems. Right now that sort of arrangement is pretty common. And rooms are 30% to 60% discounted. I think the average RS forum reader can do the same.

I will start booking my April trip hotels the day after my second vaccine jab. I will purchase the air tickets about 2 weeks in advance of the trip. I dont think it will cost me any more than buying them now.

Bobby, read the news about the lock down riots in Europe. They aren't taking it as well as we are. Follow the science. At some point medical science curve and social science curve and will cross and things will change..... I am guessing 4 April at 14:33 GMT.

Bobby, read the news about the lock down riots in Europe. They aren't
taking it as well as we are.

Respectfully, there are not currently lockdown riots in "Europe" in the sense of widespread across Europe, but rather really in one country. There is, similarly, no "they" here: we are citizens many nations, who are responding in very different ways to the current situation.

Concerning travellers and openings: it does no one any favours to extrapolate from the events in the Netherlands to the rest of the continent.

As for who is rioting, note that it’s made of groups who believe conspiracies, anti-vaccers, and white supremacists who dream of abolishing democracy to remain top dogs, but by no means the vast majority of the voting public. Yes, the same crap is all over European internets.

Yes, my post was an inexcusable gross overstatement. My Apologies. It's in only two countries right now. But no one can contest 4 April at 14:33 GMT.

Well if the USA is projecting that most Americans should be vaccinated by the end of summer, and lord knows that that is optimistic, here my 2nd summer in France will be cancelled. 2 summers down the toilet as a teacher. These trips did so much more for my "esprit" than I even imagined. Now i officially have stopped planning about 2 weeks ago. And I've been planning ever since the lock down last year. Sure, sure...many of us are lucky to have our health. Platitudes abound.

Agnes put up a brilliant link that showed graphically how each country was doing with the Vaccines. Your could pick the countries to show and the graphs popped up so you could do comparisons. They graphed every imaginable category from total numbers to how many per 100,000 population.

My takeaway after looking at is that Israel needs some sort of award for good business (securing the vaccines) and efficiency in getting them in arms. They were ten times ahead of anyone else. The UK came in second by a very large margin. Then third was the US, then another massive spread to reach Europe. The jest of it is, we might be where we need to be by summer, but the host countries will probably not be.

I'm not saying that is the determining factor. Some of the countries in the worst Vaccine shape are the ones trying to open. Maybe their thinking is if they stay closed until they all get vaccinated there wont be anything left to open. So bite the bullet and go for it. Montenegro is open and they have been hammering the social media this week with "come to Montenegro!!!"