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Austria bans unvaccinated (inc children 12+) and those vaccinated 9+ months ago from hotels

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If you have a ski holiday booked in Austria this Winter, you may have a problem.

The Austrian Government has announced sweeping new coronavirus restrictions which will come into force on 5th December. There is no let-off for children over 12 under the initial plans.

Austria is currently seeing a sharp rise in covid cases due to low levels of vaccination.

Hotel Aurelio Lech Austria

This is what will happen from 5th December, as I read it:

  • adults will not be allowed into Austria without quarantine if their second dose of coronavirus vaccine was received more than 9 months ago (the current rule is 12 months) – booster vaccinations will not count as these do not show in the scannable NHS covid app
  • anyone who cannot show full vaccination (two doses, the latter delivered less than 9 months ago) or proof of recovery will not be allowed into hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, leisure centres, gyms, cinemas, museums or theatres – children over 12 are not exempt

As the rules are written, children from the UK aged 12+ will be banned from entering hotels and restaurants in Austria because they will not have received two doses of coronavirus vaccination. They are still allowed to enter the country as long as they are travelling with a vaccinated adult.

The official Government tourist website says that ‘a solution is being worked on’ for children aged 12+ but there is no indication of what this may be. It would be difficult to give children of tourists a waiver to allow them to stay in a hotel when unvaccinated children of Austrian citizens would be banned.

The UK Government is also planning to update the NHS app so that booster jabs show, although there is no time line for this.

Note that gov.uk has not been updated to reflect these changes and still says that a covid vaccination within 360 days of arrival is accepted.

Category

General

Comments (151)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Bluekjp says:
    10 Nov10 November 17:51

    I clearly remember reading somewhere a couple of weeks ago that the NHS was working on a way to show boosters on the Covid Pass.
    So perhaps hold fire for some days on cancelling, unless you wish to change the destination of your trip now whilst there might be better availability elsewhere.

  • Richie says:
    10 Nov10 November 18:13

    Is there a goid train from Munich?

    • Richie says:
      10 Nov10 November 18:13

      *good

    • John says:
      10 Nov10 November 19:54

      To where?

    • Phil W says:
      10 Nov10 November 22:07

      Yep. The IC Bahn 1h30 but it’s expensive.

      If you go for the Bayern Karte you can travel across Bavaria on regional trains cheaply and Salzburg is included. The Bayern Karte will get you from MUC to Munich Hbf to Salzburg.

      However, hotels, restaurants and bars in Austria were fastidious about checking vaccine status when we were there 6 weeks ago… So not sure The Munich Dodge will catch on.

      • Fiona says:
        11 Nov11 November 09:43

        Not expensive – we are going in 3 weeks time and cost €140 total for 3 of us. Munich -Seefeld (via Garmisch) – Munich (via Innsbruck) You will be required to fill Pre-Travel Clearance forms for Austria/Germany and show to relevant authorities!

    • Max says:
      10 Nov10 November 22:37

      For Skiing better check out Poland (Zakopane) or Ukraine (Bukovel, Drahobrat) this winter.
      Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Slovakia are too annoying with their invasive and repetitive ‘public health ID2020 Green Pass’ checks.

      • Nick says:
        10 Nov10 November 23:39

        Austria is checking everyone’s ID and covid docs carefully – some friends are there now and have never seen docs scrutinised so carefully before. Schengen arrivals at VIE and train crossings from Germany are not exempt from this so I wouldn’t rely on a ‘schengen dodge’. They’re taking it very seriously.

      • Bagoly says:
        11 Nov11 November 11:33

        It’s difficult to forecast when the fourth wave will reach which highs in which (parts of which) countries.
        But if you break your leg badly while skiing in Poland since last week, you will typically have to endure hospital alone – visitors are banned from many hospitals due to Covid.

        • Max says:
          11 Nov11 November 18:30

          It’s not about the waves which come and go as nature pleases, but about the silly restrictions imposed by clowns r7nn7ng the governments.

          Unlike in Austria, in Poland and in Ukraine you will not get harassed at every corner in daily life.

    • Rebecca says:
      11 Nov11 November 06:40

      At the moment non-EU-citizen kids over 12 aren’t allowed into Germany at all without full vaccination, so it wouldn’t help.

      • J says:
        11 Nov11 November 12:23

        @Rebecca: Unless they either quarantine, or are visiting family. So there’s a loophole for anyone who has close relatives in Germany.

        • Rebecca says:
          12 Nov12 November 07:07

          Yes, but that isn’t going to cover most UK skiing holidaymakers heading for Austria! (Just quarantining isn’t an option for non-EU citizens, incidentally. It’s full vaccination only for over-12s, unless you meet one of a very narrow list of exceptions.)

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 09:20

            Just wanted to clarify your comment because a lot of people are under the impression that they can’t visit family in Germany with kids 12+. They can – they don’t need to be an EU citizen, they don’t need to be vaccinated , and they don’t need to quarantine.

          • Rob says:
            12 Nov12 November 11:31

            That’s not true. They will let you in but there is compulsory quarantine for kids 12+ if not double vaccinated, even if German citizens. I should know …

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 11:52

            @Rob: That’s wrong, there’s a loophole for visiting family. We did it in September. It’s in the detailed rules, and the digital form has a check box for it. It’s obviously not heavily publicised, but it’s how the law is written and works in practice.

          • Rob says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:12

            Only with a one generation difference. I can take my daughter to visit her mother, should her mother be there (which clearly she isn’t) but not her grandparents. This loophole only exists to benefit children whose parents are separated.

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 11:53

            @Rob: But only if visiting close family.

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:09

            The flow goes:
            Section 3) Digital registration
            Section 4) Quarantine.
            Then the exemptions in section 6 are:
            6) 11. Stays of under 72 hours to visit friends and family exempts you from Digital Registration. Given our stay was longer than 72 hours we were not exempt for this so had to register.
            6) 2. 1. B. aa. Section 4 exemption to Section 4 (2) sentence 3 first half sentence – for “visiting relatives of the first or second degree who do not belong to the same household. Spouse or partner or a shared custody or a right of access”.
            What this part means is that the need to wait 5 days to test is removed for those visiting family members. And the result of this is that a test taken before your flight can be uploaded to the digital registration and removes the need to quarantine. For this second part there is not 72 hours limit. All you need to do is register on the Digital Registration form, upload a negative test result before flying, and you are good to go – no quarantine.

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:16

            One this to bear in mind is that the whole family need to test prior to arrival for this. Even infants – otherwise they would be stuck in a 5 day quarantine whilst the rest of the family were free.

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:18

            “I can take my daughter to visit her mother, should her mother be there (which clearly she isn’t) but not her grandparents” – nope – “first or second degree”

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:22

            @Rob: Basically, you absolutely can take your whole family to visit your wife’s parents. We did it, it’s totally legit. Just requires a little more prep. And for obviously reasons, they don’t promote it.

          • Rob says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:40

            The wording is clear that only one generation of separation is allowed. My wife has many German friends in London in the same boat and who all have the same understanding, so either the entire West London German mothers coven is incorrect or you snuck in ….

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:30

            @Rob: P.S. I was a sceptical as you when my wife showed me this and spent a whole evening working through the law trying to figure out why she was wrong 🙂

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:46

            @Rob: “des Besuchs von Verwandten ersten oder zweiten Grades, des nicht dem gleichen Hausstand angehörigen
            Ehegatten oder Lebensgefährten oder eines geteilten Sorgerechts oder eines Umgangsrecht”. That’s the wording. I promise you, your German friends are wrong – most of our German friends were also wrong and have now travelled since we explained this. The law is complicated, but clear. We did it. Happy to give you a call if that would help explain how it works.

          • J says:
            12 Nov12 November 12:52

            “The wording is clear that only one generation of separation is allowed” – this is for whether or not Section 3 applies i.e. whether or not you have to do the digital registration. This clearly would not apply so you would have to complete the digital registration. The first or second degree relatives bit applies to Section 4 exemption, the quarantine requirement. And the exemption removes the need to wait 5 days to do the test, and allows the test to be added pre flight, which removes quarantine entirely.

          • Rob says:
            12 Nov12 November 13:05

            I will dig out the German language version of the rules and give it to the Missus to translate ….

  • Ken says:
    10 Nov10 November 20:09

    A brothel in Vienna is offering a 30 minute ‘sauna session’ with a woman of your choice to those who get their jabs done in the brothel (Fun Palast).

    Considering what HfP readers will do for a free coffee or sausage roll, I’m surprised there hasn’t been a story on it.

  • TGLoyalty says:
    10 Nov10 November 20:56

    A proof of a negative test is accepted and this article completely missed that out?

    • Cat says:
      10 Nov10 November 21:51

      No, it’s not. The copied and pasted info above is the 3G entry rules, they’re using 2G if you want to stay in a hotel or eat in a restaurant now.

      “For hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, leisure centres, gyms, cultural institutions (cinemas, theatres etc.), ski lifts and body-related services (such as hairdressers) proof of vaccination/recovery is mandatory (children under the age of 12 are exempt).”

  • Andrew says:
    10 Nov10 November 21:37

    Just to be clear, the (English) NHS app shows every Covid vaccination in the medical history tab. My booster showed 24 hours after it was given.

    It’s just that the pass only relates to the standard two jags.

    So, if you have to, you can evidence three jags via your app records or even the NHS paper cards that were issued.

    • davef says:
      10 Nov10 November 21:43

      Can we refer to 3 jags as the Johnson/Prescott certificate?

    • Andrew H says:
      10 Nov10 November 22:15

      The NHS paper cards would probably not be acceptable.

    • Tracey says:
      11 Nov11 November 08:03

      My booster shows in my medicine history, but it only shows Pfizer and the date, no batch number and a screen shot of that view wouldn’t include my name!
      Luckily my surgery, after probably too many queries from patients with flights booked to relevant destinations, will issue a signed stamped headed paper record of covid vaccines.

  • Char Char says:
    10 Nov10 November 21:54

    So AirBnb and Uber eats will be popular!

  • Andrew H says:
    10 Nov10 November 22:14

    Proof doesn’t have to be on the app. Other forms of proof would be acceptable – a letter from GP, or under other medical information on the app, but you may have to ask GP
    for this to be included.

  • Paul says:
    10 Nov10 November 22:27

    My 2nd vaccine will be older than 9 months when I was due to travel. If I was to go and catch covid nearer the time, I can go a couple of weeks later?

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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