Hi, We are a senior couple who have a long time planned driving trip to G/A/S from this Aug 28 to Sept 15.
R/T Miami to Frankfurt then touring The Rhine, Mosel, Rothenburg, Munich, Salzburg and Lauterbrunnen.
Any thoughts on the odds of being able to do this? I'm hoping since we are not on a tour or river cruise that we can do it safely.
Are there limitations still in place for eating and sleeping?
Any knowledge of what's going on there or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Brian
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4828 posts
AFAIK, none of these countries have opened their borders to North American tourists.
Posted by
Karlsruhe, Germany
293 posts
About Germany, the situation in August and September is not clear yet. Also, many rules are applied at the level of individual states, rather than all of Germany, so it is difficult to summarise overall what the picture is, even right now. But in general, yes--there are restrictions currently in place for both restaurants and hotels, although both types of businesses are open in some form, for example, in Baden-Württemberg, where I live.
The biggest question for you is whether travellers living in the United States will be allowed to enter without quarantine at the time of your trip. Right now, (as far as I understand) no international tourists are allowed to enter Germany--only Germans and people with clear non-touristic reasons for being here (like foreign citizens who have residence permits). From 15. June, travel for people from EU and Schengen countries will be possible again, but even then with some restrictions. The rules will likely change again later in the summer, and perhaps will expand to include travel from third-country citizens, but no one can say for certain. However, the German government has already extended its own travel warnings for outside of the EU and Schengen zone until the 31. of August (these are warnings for Germans wanting to travel abroad, so they don`t apply directly to you, but they do give a sense of what the government here is thinking.)
Here is some English-language information about the current situation from the Federal Foreign Affairs Office- https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/einreiseundaufenthalt/coronavirus
And here is the guidance about travel and quarantine from RKI (sort of like our CDC), some of which is in English- https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_Coronavirus/Transport/BMG_Merkblatt_Reisende_Tab.html
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Many travelers posting here have found that, for Switzerland, trains are preferred instead of driving. It depends on your exact itinerary for Switzerland.
Posted by
1 posts
We were signed up for a Rick Steve's tour of the Alps from July 28th thru August 8th, flying RT from Seattle to Frankfurt. Condor air has cancelled all flights from Seattle to Frankfurt through August 31, and I would be very surprised if that was not extended through Sept/Oct.
Posted by
Beverly Hills, MI
797 posts
You are asking for opinions and the nice thing about opinions is that are free and while they are worth on tenth of what you pay for for them they come with a double your money back guarantee.
The world runs on FACTS and the FACT is that nobody knows what is going to happen with the COVID virus. Therefore nobody knows if they will even let people from the US off a plane in the EU. Nobody knows what the cross border transit situation within the EU will be. They may want tourist money but with the half-baked way the pandemic is being handled in this country, they may not want our tourist money just like they are telling people from Sweden not to stay home.
Are you willing to gamble on catching a disease that no travel insurance will cover?
Are you willing to be caught in a sudden lockdown for a few weeks?
Ask yourself these questions and decide for yourself because your opinion is just as good as any opinion you will get here.