France holidays easier from today as vaccine passport rules relaxed

Holidays in France become easier from today, as the country drops its strict vaccine passport rules and face masks.

Prime minister Jean Castex announced the change of rules on 3 March, saying that the rules around requiring full vaccination to access public venues would be relaxed from 14 March and citing infection numbers dropping across the country.

As of this week, holidaymakers no longer need to show Covid Passes to access cafeterias, restaurants, cinemas, stadiums, markets and fairs.

“After the fifth wave of Covid-19 of unprecedented magnitude, the health situation has improved markedly for several weeks. In particular, the pressure weighing on hospitals due to the epidemic is greatly reduced, allowing the lifting of white plans and a gradual resumption of scheduled activities,” Mr Castex said in a televised address.

The country has also scrapped its rule about needing face masks in most indoor spaces from today, though you’ll still need to wear them on public transport.

One exception to the vaccine passport rule is hospitals and care homes, where visitors will still need to show proof of vaccination - though ministers have said that if the Covid situation continues to improve, this rule could be removed before the end of July.

In terms of entry to the country, vaccinated travellers can continue to show their proof of full vaccination; while unvaccinated adults still need to provide an essential reason for their visit, as well as a PCR test result.

“Fully vaccinated” for the purposes of visiting France means at least two doses of a vaccine, with the second dose having been given within the pass 270 days - after this deadline you’ll need a booster dose to qualify as fully jabbed.

France’s vaccine passport rules, introduced in 2021, had been complex and confusing for travellers - especially families, whose unvaccinated children aged 12 to 15 had to upload recent Covid test results in order to enter many indoor venues on holiday.

Meanwhile, unvaccinated adult visitors simply could not access certain indoor venues without their proof of vaccination.

France is one of the first champions of the vaccine passport to relax its rules in this way, with Germany, Austria and Italy all continuing to require proof of vaccination for some venues.

Germany will start a phased easing of its domestic Covid-19 rules on 20 March, with Italy expected to follow in early April, after the country’s state of emergency around Covid-19 comes to an end on 31 March.