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COVID-19

How to book that ‘Day Two’ Covid-19 test if you’re travelling from Switzerland to the UK

Fully vaccinated visitors arriving in England from Switzerland do not have to isolate for 10 days, but you will still need to arrange tests for after your arrival in the UK ... and that can quickly get bewildering.

Published: 11 August 2021 17:41 CEST
How to book that 'Day Two' Covid-19 test if you’re travelling from Switzerland to the UK
Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP

Switzerland is currently on the UK’s ‘amber list’ – a list which applies to visiting England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

While broadly similar, Covid-19 travel, quarantine and testing rules are slightly different if you’re heading to Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland

What it means

All passengers, including children, have to take a test on or before ‘Day Two’ after their arrival in England, in addition to the pre-departure test.

But – crucially – this Day Two test must be booked before you leave Switzerland.

The passenger locator form, required for all arrivals into England, cannot be completed without a reference number from a test, booking through one of the UK government’s approved list of suppliers.

For fully vaccinated travellers, after the new rules take effect, the Day Two test will mark the end of their Covid travel requirements, assuming it comes back negative.

Unvaccinated travellers from Switzerland, however, must quarantine for 10 full days and take another test on or before Day Eight of their stay.

It is important to note that for test and quarantine purposes, the day of arrival is counted as Day Zero. The following day is Day One, the day after that Day Two, and so on.

Proof of purchase of the second test must be included on the passenger locator form, which everyone over age 18 must complete and submit within the 48 hours before they travel. Anyone who fails to take this Day Two test faces a fine of up to £2,000.

And, yes, even if your stay is a short one, before you travel you will need to book and pay for tests for Day Two and – if required because you’re not fully vaccinated at the time of travel – Day Eight.

How to book a test

PCR tests in the UK may be carried out at home, or by going to a clinic. Prices vary based on how many tests you require and how quickly you need the results – and many clinics offer a range of packages.

According to the government website, you’ll have a wait of 24 to 36 hours to get your test result. Other sources and anecdotal evidence from frustrated travellers including The Local France’s editor Emma Pearson, however, suggest waits of 72 hours and beyond.

The cost of individual PCR tests varies between £50 and £250 – though many providers offer a range of packages at different prices based on the number of tests required, where you are coming from and how quickly the results are needed, according to the Covid Testing Network website.

You’ll find the companies offer packages depending on the status of the country you are travelling from, in other words green or amber. Even though the tests are the same. Some companies confusingly list products only for “UK vaccinated”.

Some we found appear to have minimum spends so even if you find a cheap test you can’t buy it.

What’s a real pain is that you also have to book individually for each passenger that requires a test – so if you’re travelling as a family of four you will have to go through the booking process four times.

UPDATED: Who can travel to Switzerland right now?

Confusing official list

The Westminster government lists test providers in England and Northern Ireland here.

But it is long and bewildering, and many firms listed are new and relatively unknown reflecting the rapidly shifting Covid-19 market. Unhelpfully, there’s little indication of where clinics are located, even after a search is regionalised: Yorkshire and the Humber, for example, covers quite a large area.

The government is quick to insist it does not endorse one test provider over another – but it does say that it ‘closely monitors’ performance. All private providers of Covid tests are required to meet certain standards. If they fall short they can be removed from official lists.

Better to look elsewhere

Travel firms and airlines, eager for your business, are increasingly offering discounted tests to customers who use their services, and may include links to certain suppliers on their website. They are worth a look as this may help you find a cheaper test.

It may also be worth checking the Covid Testing Network’s price comparison site, which shows provider prices for at-home and in-clinic tests within a radius of your location in England. Helpfully, it also includes a customer satisfaction score, as well as price, allowing users to make a reasonably informed decision.

Member comments

  1. If you’re only going to the UK for two days, I would assume you do not need to book the tests for Day Two. Or is that assuming too much?

    1. Asking for too much I am afraid! To get into the country you need to show your day 2 test number. I have booked mine and am travelling to the U.K. on Sat and returning Mon. The test company say they will only dispatch the test on Sat so there is every likelihood that I shall have left the country before the test even arrives. And the U.K. government website threatens a £2k fine for those who don’t do the test! With my test company you cannot cancel or ask for a refund.

      As every month goes by I feel grateful to be in Macron’s France rather than Boris’s Rip Off Britain!

      1. Yes, this is what I condlued too. Will need to throw away 70 euros on a useless test I will never take.

        Call it a COVID tax!

  2. I think you do just like when you are going to UK from a Amber country if you are not fully vaccinated and you need to take the day 2 and day 8 test, if you leave on day 3 you still have to pay for day 8 test.

    Also, you need to pay for the test in order to get the number to enter into your UK passenger locator form…total sham all of it !!

  3. I used randox health they charge £48 per test, but if you enter a voucher code (I used EasyJet2021) you get a 10% discount. Find the codes on Martin Lewis website. My test results were received within 48 hours.

  4. It’s just racketeering. There’s only one reason why Johnson’s government doesn’t fix a price for these tests and that’s because someone is making a huge amount of money out of them – and it’s not hard to guess who these people are. It’s an absolute scandal.

  5. So I’m snookered when I jet in for a day to visit my dentist, yet we let the plague carriers in with just proof they have been fully vaccinated. Strange old world.

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For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Swiss train timetable set for ‘biggest change in 20 years’

The new timetable will not go into effect until December 15th, but Switzerland’s national rail company, SBB, already revealed major changes in various regions.

Published: 21 May 2024 15:55 CEST
Updated: 24 May 2024 15:30 CEST
Swiss train timetable set for 'biggest change in 20 years'

The region that will benefit the most by what the SBB calls “the biggest timetable change” in over two decades, is the French-speaking part of the country in the west, which the company previously said will experience fewer direct connections and longer travel times between certain cities due to ongoing construction work. 

But faced with criticism from commuters, the SBB changed its strategy.

“The new timetable was created with the input of all the cantons of western Switzerland,” the company said in a press release on Tuesday.

“Even if the service occasionally deteriorates, it provides new direct connections with the west of Lausanne, improvements in regional traffic, as well as reinforced services to the [Vaud] Riviera and Lower Valais in particular.”

And “between Bienne and Geneva, customers benefit from a half-hour rate, subject to a train change in Renens. Direct connections are maintained during peak hours.”

One of the “great new features of the new timetable” is the service to the Lausanne suburb of Renens by certain mainline trains coming from, or going to, other regions of Switzerland.

This will allow some 4,000 commuters bound for western Lausanne each day to get off directly at Renens rather than changing trains at Lausanne station, while it is under construction.

These mainline trains will stop there:

  • InterCity IC5 (Rorschach/Zürich–Biel/Bienne–Neuchâtel–Yverdon-les-Bains–Renens–Lausanne, every half hour)
  • InterCity IC1 (St-Gallen/Zürich–Berne–Fribourg/Freiburg–Lausanne–Renens–Geneva/Geneva-Airport, every hour)
  • InterRegio IR90 (Brig–Sion–Martigny–St-Maurice–Montreux–Lausanne–Renens–Geneva/Geneva-Airport, every hour)
  • RegioExpress RE33 (Annemasse–Geneva–Coppet–Nyon–Gland–Rolle–Allaman–Morges–Renens–Lausanne–Vevey–Montreux–Villeneuve–Aigle–Bex–St-Maurice, every half hour and to Martigny, every hour) 

“Thanks to the stop at Renens of the IC1 and IR90 trains, passengers will benefit from a new non-stop connection every 30 minutes between Renens and Geneva, with a travel time saving of nine minutes compared to today,” according to the SBB.

“The stop of the IR90 trains also makes it possible to offer a direct link between Valais and Renens every hour; the stop of IC1 trains, a direct connection between Bern, Fribourg/Freiburg and Renens every hour.”

 On the other hand, however, following this additional stop in Renens, the shortest journey time between Geneva and Lausanne for mainline trains increases from 35 to 39 minutes.

You can view all the other changes, including on regional lines, here and here.

What about the timetable for the rest of Switzerland?

You can expect these connections in 2025:

  • The half-hourly schedule for mainline traffic in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley makes it possible to double the offer for commuters and people traveling for leisure
  • As soon as the Gotthard base tunnel is fully recommissioned in September 2024, SBB will be able to introduce the full half-hourly schedule into mainline traffic on the Gotthard axis
  • Additional IC5 connections between Eastern Switzerland and Zurich will guarantee a denser pace and more seats
  • To relieve congestion at Berne station, an IC connection stops at Berne Wankdorf in the morning and another in the evening during peak hours. Several mainline trains will also stop in Renens in the future. Thanks to the new stops in urban stations, commuters arrive more quickly at their destinations and central stations are relieved of congestion, as is already the case in Zurich with Altstetten and Oerlikon.
  • Night connections allow passengers to return home late and travellers to arrive early at Zurich Airport on the Bern–Olten–Zurich main station–Zurich airport section.

And this is what’s in store for international trains:
 
An additional pair of Zurich–Munich trains will transport passengers (from Monday to Saturday two hours earlier to the Bavarian capital and bring them back in the evening (Monday to Friday and on Sunday) two hours later.

As soon as the Gotthard Base Tunnel is fully in use again in September 2024, direct trains to Bologna and Genoa, as well as the EC Basel–Lucerne–Milan and the tri-national Frankfurt–Zurich–Milan train will operate again .

The direct Zurich–Brig train will now run all year round and will be extended to Domodossola.

Next step

On May 23rd, the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) will initiate the consultation procedure for the proposed timetable. 

Any inconsistencies can be reported until June 9th, 2024.

The new timetable will come into force on December 15th, 2024.

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