Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

TRAVELLING TO FRANCE

What are the rules in French ski resorts for the February holidays?

During the February school holidays many will be considering a ski holiday in France.

Published: 8 November 2021 11:52 CET
Updated: 17 February 2022 10:21 CET
Skiers in France no longer need to wear masks to use lifts.
Skiers in France no longer need to wear masks. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

Travel

If you’re coming from outside France, you first need to know if the border is open to you.

France operates a traffic light system of travel.

If you are coming from a green country you can travel for any reason. Fully vaccinated people need only proof of vaccination at the border, while unvaccinated people also need a negative Covid test. Green countries include all EU and Schengen zone countries and New Zealand.

If you’re coming from an orange or red country, you can only travel for a ski holiday (which is classed as non-essential for travel purposes, no matter how much you have missed whizzing down the slopes) if you are vaccinated. This covers the UK, Canada, Australia and the USA. Negative Covid tests are no longer required for fully-vaccinated travellers.

Find the full explanation on travel rules here.

Resort rules

Masks – the government has decreed that masks are no longer compulsory in the queues for ski lifts, on the lifts themselves or during your descent down the slopes.

Some local authorities may have their own rules in place, so it is worth enquiring with your resort. 

Queuing 

Resorts will likely make more space available for queuing to try to maintain social distancing measures between those waiting in line.

Vaccine pass – the vaccine pass is required to access ski lifts, as well as many other venues.

Ski resort chiefs say that in general, people will be asked to show the pass at the moment they buy the ski pass for the resort. Random checks will also be carried out at lifts and cable cars.

Children

If your children are aged between 12 years and two months and 15 years, then they will need a health pass to access venues like bars, cafés and ski lifts.

Slightly different to the vaccine pass, the health pass requires one of three things; proof of full Covid vaccination, proof of recent recovery from Covid or a negative Covid test taken within the previous 24 hours.

‘Full vaccination’ here means two doses of either Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson. A single dose of Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca is not accepted as full vaccination and kids who have only had one dose will have to follow the rules for unvaccinated people. The child must be at least seven days after their second dose.

If the child is not fully vaccinated by French standards, they face taking a Covid test every 24 hours in order to maintain the pass – at a cost of up to €22 a time for antigen tests – or avoiding using ski lifts while on holiday.

Children aged 16 to 18 require a vaccine pass, with no option for testing for those who are not fully vaccinated.

Under 12s do not require any type of pass.

Full details HERE for children.

National rules

Ski resorts are of course also covered by the nationwide French health rules, as well as those specific to skiing.

Masks – masks are required in all indoor public spaces and on all public transport until February 28th, after which they will no longer be required in vaccine pass venues (bars, cafés etc) but will still be compulsory on public transport and in shops. There are no exemptions to the mask rules in France and failure to wear one correctly can net you a €135 fine.

Bars and restaurants – Unlike last winter bars and restaurants are open in France and there are no capacity limits placed on them. Nightclubs reopened on February 16th and bars are also now permitted to offer standing space, as opposed to table service only. Dancing in bars is again allowed.

Vaccine pass – the vaccine pass is required to enter a wide range of venues including cafés, bars, restaurants, leisure centres and long-distance train travel – full details here. 

Visitors from the UK and EU can use the QR code on their vaccination certificate to access the health pass via the TousAntiCovid app, but other non-EU visitors need to acquire a European code – find out how here.

Booster shots

Depending on when you had your vaccine, you may also need a booster in order to be considered ‘fully vaccinated’ – full details here.

Other restrictions – ski businesses have been very hard hit by first the early end of the 2019/20 season and then the cancellation of most of the 2020/21 season, so are desperate to remain open throughout this season.

Some have therefore imposed their own extra restrictions in the hope of keeping case numbers down, from limitations on group size to extra cleaning protocols, so make sure you check in advance the conditions of stay in accommodation. 

Member comments

  1. I am in a French ski resort at the moment and the use and enforcement of use of masks and the checking of health passes has been very erratic. We are based a Orelle in the Maurienne Valley and whilst we mainly ski the Trois Vallees we have away days at other resorts. The staff at the gondola have checked our passes each day (a good mixture of various forms, including the NHS travel one) and about half the restaurants have done so. Mask usage is spasmodic. However, nobody checked anything in Valmorel and Val Cenis only spot checked at some of the base stations, catching out a number of people who had got into the system without showing a pass (the gendames were being threatened when two ladies were saying they must be allowed on because their car was at the other end of the resort).

  2. Just back from 12 days in the Alps (resort name withheld on purpose). One check on lift in 10 days of skiing and probably only 40% of restaurants! 13 year old grandson from the UK ever refused entry anywhere and we didn’t do 24 hour tests! It’s all very laid back to say the least. The resorts need the revenue, not the hassle!

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What do Europe’s EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU's Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport checks will usher in big changes for travellers - here we answer readers' questions on the position for dual nationals.

Published: 22 April 2024 17:10 CEST
Reader question: What do Europe's EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU is preparing, after many delays, to introduce the EES system for travel in and out of Europe.

You can find a full explanation of how it works HERE, but in essence it is an enhanced passport check – registering biometric details such as fingerprints and facial scans and introducing an automatic calculation of how long you have stayed within the EU/Schengen zone in order to detect ‘over-stayers’.

And it’s already causing stress for travellers. We asked readers of The Local to share their questions here – and one of the biggest worries was how the system will work for dual nationals ie people who have a passport for both an EU country and a non-EU country.

EES: Your questions answered

EU passports 

One of the main purposes of EES is to detect ‘over-stayers’ – people who have either stayed in the EU longer than their visa allows or non-EU nationals who have over-stayed their allowance of 90 days in every 180.

As this does not apply to EU nationals, people travelling on an EU passport are not required to do EES pre-registration and will continue to travel in the same way once EES is introduced – going to the ‘EU passports queue’ at airports, ports and stations and having their passports scanned as normal.

Non-EU 

Non-EU travellers will, once EES is up and running, be required to complete EES pre-registration.

This means that the first time they cross an EU/Schengen zone external border they will have to go to a special zone of the airport/port/terminal and supply extra passport information including fingerprints and a facial scan.

This only needs to be done once and then lasts for three years.

Non-EU residents of the EU/Schengen zone

This does not apply to non-EU citizens who are permanent residents of an EU country or who have a long-stay visa for an EU/Schengen zone country – click HERE for full details.

Schengen zone passports/Irish passports 

EES applies within the Schengen zone, so people with Swiss, Norwegian and Icelandic passports are treated in the same way as citizens of EU countries.

Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not the Schengen zone – these countries will not be using the EES system at their borders, but their citizens are still EU citizens so can continue to use EU passport gates at airports and will be treated the same as all other EU citizens (ie they don’t have to do EES pre-registration).

OK, so what if you have both an EU and a non-EU passport?

They key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any of the rules on immigration – it’s just a way of better enforcing the rules that are already in place. 

Therefore the rules for dual nationals remain as they are – for most people which passport to travel on is a matter of personal choice, although Americans should be aware that if you have a US passport and you are entering the USA, you must use your American passport. 

But it’s also important to remember that the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’ – therefore if you present an American passport at the Italian border, you will be treated exactly the same as every other American, there is no way for the border guard to know that you are also Italian.

Likewise if you are a UK-Germany dual national and you travel back to the UK on your German passport, you can expect to be treated the same as every other German at the border, and might be asked for proof of where you are staying in UK, how long you intend to stay etc – the system has no way of knowing that you are also British. 

Therefore whether you have to complete EES pre-registration or not is entirely a matter of which passport you are travelling on – if you use your EU passport you won’t have to do it, if you use your non-EU passport you will.

It’s also possible to use two passports for the same trip – so let’s say you’re travelling from Spain to Canada – you enter Canada on your Canadian passport, and show your Canadian passport again when you leave. However, once you re-enter Spain you show your Spanish passport in order to benefit from the unlimited length of stay.

If you’re travelling between France and the UK via the Eurostar, Channel Tunnel or cross-Channel ferry, you need to remember that the Le Touquet agreement means that French passport checks take place in the UK and vice versa. You can still use both passports, but you just need to keep your wits about you and remember to hand the French one to the French border guards and the British one to British guards.

In terms of avoiding immigration formalities using two passports is the most efficient way for dual nationals to travel, but some people prefer to stick to one passport for simplicity, or don’t want to keep both passports together in case of theft.

Basically it’s a personal choice, but you just need to remember that you will be treated according to the passport that you show – which includes completing EES pre-registration if you’re showing a non-EU passport.

It’s also worth remembering that if the changes do cause border delays (and there are fears that they might especially at the UK-France border), then these will affect all travellers – regardless of their passport. 

SHOW COMMENTS