N107UA

Hi folks - I'm planning a trip to the Netherlands next month, but I'm wondering if it makes sense during Covid. The media seems to be going nuts about how horrible the situation is there, but I usually take that with a grain of salt. Would it make sense to visit now? I'm triple-vaxxed, for what it's worth...

Breda_travelgirl

The situation today in the Netherlands is that restaurants, bars, cafes, museums, theaters etc etc are closed until at least January 25. So basically everything a tourist would like to see and do is closed. We don’t know what the situation will be in February.
Restaurants and bars are allowed to offer takeout or delivery.
Those traveling from countries that are classified as Very High Risk must quarantaine for 10 days upon arrival, regardless of their vaccination status. This mandatory quarantine can be shortened by getting a test on Day 5. If that test comes back negative you can leave your quarantine location. Your profile doesn’t state where you live, but currently both the UK and the US are classified as Very High Risk, which means visitors arriving from these countries must quarantine, even those that are triple vaccinated.
The complete list of Very High Risk countries and all other entry requirements can be found here; https://www.government.nl/topics/cor...outside-the-eu

N107UA

Thank you for the info, Breda_travelgirl. I'll be looking forward to hearing what your government says on the 25th. I'll be arriving from Vienna, so I assume that a quarantine wouldn't be necessary, given that it's Schengen?

Breda_travelgirl

Whether or not you need to quarantine depends where you’ve spend the 10 days immediately before you arrive in the Netherlands. If you’ve spend all those 10 days in a non-Very High Risk area you don’t need to quarantine. However if you for instance depart from the US, spend 4 days in Vienna and then depart to the Netherlands, you still need to quarantine for at least 5 days.

ICN1K

I would wait. I just arrived in Amsterdam yesterday. Many places are closed plus it's a little cold. Unless you got a good deal on a flight or are visiting friends and family I would come back in the spring or summer.

UKtravelbear

Dutch government announced on the 14th changes applying from today Saturday 15th of January.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/0...ow-january-15/

best just to keep up with the news and check cancellation policies for your transport and accommodation in case you need to do that.

Breda_travelgirl

When I wrote my replies, the changes announced on January 14 were already known and I incorporated them in my answers. These changes have very little impact on tourists. The restrictions that were lifted mainly concerned locals; schools and universities were allowed to reopen, shops selling non-essential items were allowed to reopen and we can go to the gym again, that’s it basically. Everything a tourist might enjoy, from restaurants, bars and cafes, to museums, theaters, zoos, theme parks, castles etc etc etc must remain closed until at least January 25.

N107UA

Thanks everyone! I agree it's best to wait, probably gonna try to go in April instead

yuel

I am trying to decide to go to amsterdam for 2 days in April from USA to Rome 6 days then to AMS with 5 and 3 yr old, is it advisable? Rome seams to be ok for our travel, just seeing if we could add a couple days to our trip to visit AMS.

UKtravelbear

Amsterdam is a great city and I would have no hesitation in going there.

if you are really asking what Covid restrictions there will be in April then the answer to that is no one knows this far in advance but Dutch News in English is reporting there there will be a further lifting of restrictions to be announced tonight. ( 15th Feb )to apply from the end of next week.

Breda_travelgirl

It was just announced that from February 25 onwards most COVID restrictions in the Netherlands are dropped. The only restrictions that remain in place are the mandatory use of facemasks in public transport and at airports and the use of testing for entry for large non-seated events. Visitors arriving from countries outside the EU will still need to provide a negative test result. Other than that all other measures will be dropped starting February 25. So no social distancing, no restrictions in capacity of museums, restaurants etc, no COVID certificates to enter restaurants, bars, museums etc etc.
From February 18 onwards, restaurants, bars, theaters etc are allowed to remain open until 1 am (currently 8 pm), but until February 25 still require a COVID certificate.

UKtravelbear

heres a fuller list of what’s happening over the next couple of weeks.

https://nltimes.nl/2022/02/15/full-l...-february-2022

I’ll have 2 days of the old and the rest of my trip next week will be on the new

I think that the Dutch will accept my NHS Covid vaccination record via the German corona warn app.

Breda_travelgirl

UKtravelbear; since November 1, 2021 the QRcode in the UK NHS digital app is compatible with the EU digital COVID certificate. This means that the scanners that are used in the EU to check digital COVID certificates can now also read the UK NHS QRcode (and the QRcodes of many other countries).
You don’t need to first upload this certificate in the German or any other app.
If you want to verify this, you can download the Dutch Coronacheck scanner app that museums, cafes and restaurants use to scan QR codes. This scanner app is available for free for anyone. If you download this app and use it to scan your NHS digital QRcode, you will see a green check mark. The app is called CoronaCheck scanner and can be found in the Apple and Google app stores. More info here; https://coronacheck.nl/en/scanner

UKtravelbear

Thanks. I already have the German app from a trip there last weekend so it wasn't something I was going to do especially.

Still good news on the lifting of restrictions. It's been 2 years since I was last able to visit and I've missed Amsterdam.

JaysonW

Couple questions, we're headed to Amsterdam at the end of May and I'm confused as to the COVID requirement for my kids 10/10/7. They're not vaccinated, are they required to be? My wife received Moderna and I received Pfizer 1st and 2nd shots, but neither of us have our booster as of today. Is a booster required to be considered fully vaccinated by the Netherlands Government?

Thanks,
Jayson