Danish borders open as of 26 June

Easing of travel restrictions; for many travellers, a quarantine will no longer be required. EU coronavirus passport a door opener. For Danish residents the colour code of the country determines rules for re-entry concerning testing and quarantines.

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By Bente D. Knudsen

The phase four reasing of coronvirus restrictions as of 26 means is now implemented in the all the guides to travelling of the Danish Foreign Office and on the site coronasmitte.dk. It means that travel to and from Denmark is now possible also for travellers from other countries under certain conditions.

The reopening of the Danish borders will still depend on the country of origin as the regulations are different if the traveller in question is a resident of and travelling from an EU/Schengen country or a third country on the EU list of open countries outside of the EU, or if the traveller is travelling from a country outside of the EU/Schengen and the EU list of open countries.

For travellers outside of the EU/Schengen/ EU list of third-party countries, restrictions also depend on whether they have been fully vaccinated or have had a past infection or not.

Confused? For certain the regulations have been eased but they are still complicated.

The reopening means that the colour code for EU/Schengen countries changes again.

The colour green (which had been in use previously last year) is reinstated and all countries that are currently yellow become green (incidence rate below 50/60 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants). Most of Europe is green as of 26 June 2021.

Yellow countries are EU/Schengen countries with an incidence rate above 50/60 per 100,000 inhabitants as well as so-called third countries on the EU list of open countries outside the EU/Schengen area.

All other third countries become either orange or red (red is the colour code if there are specific coronavirus variants present in the country of origin on the list of the Danish Institute of Infectious Diseases (SSI)).

A colour code of a stripped orange area means that the country in question has imposed a range of restrictions on Danish travellers, such as for instance a quarantine and for this reason the Danish Foreign Office advises against travel to the country.

Residents from the EU/Schengen area will only be subject to demands to quarantine upon arrival to Denmark if they travel from a red country. You can find information about the entry requirements from a red country here. Take note that the covid-19 test requirement when travelling from a red country is a PCR test not older than 72 hours.

With this new set of travel rules, Denmark follows the EU agreement which means that as of 26 June, all EU and Schengen residents may again travel freely within the EU/Schengen countries if they can present a valid coronavirus passport.

The passport must show either a full vaccine, a past infection or a negative covid-19 test.

For travel to Denmark, the negative covid-19 test on the passport must be either a PCR test not older than 72 hours or a negative antigen test not older than 48 hours.

For Danish residents, the need to present a negative test before boarding a plane will only be a requirement if they travel from a red zone. 

Danish media DR1 has made quite a good overview of the travel requirements from the different colour coded countries when travelling back to Denmark for Danish residents. Find a link to it here.

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This means that Danish residents can again travel freely to the EU/Schengen countries and the countries on the EU third country list without having to get a test before boarding the plane.

However, if they are travelling from a yellow, orange or red country, they will still need to get a test upon arrival to Denmark.

The Danish restrictions concerning testing before and after arrival to Denmark for foreigners who are not residents in Denmark country depend on whether the person has been fully vaccinated or not and on the colour code of the country.

For those foreigners travelling to Denmark from an orange or red country, who are neither fully vaccinated nor have had a past infection, there are still restrictions, and they still need to have a worthy cause to enter the country and they are still subject to the demand to quarantine.

The good news is that since all EU/Schengen countries are now either green or yellow.

All EU/Schengen residents can travel to Denmark as tourists without the need to self-isolate, nor the need to have a worthy cause to enter, instead they can enter with their coronavirus passport.

This also means that Danish residents can travel to an EU/Schengen country for their summer holiday without the need to selfisolate upon return to Denmark after their holiday.

As the regulations are now again quite complicated, a website with information about the regulations is available in English at www.covidtravelrules.dk in order to help foreign travellers understand which demands they are expected to meet.

A Danish site is open where Danish speaking citizens can click their way through a guide to rules which apply for their travel outside of Denmark.

The travel page of the Danish Foreign Office will also be updated with a map of the EU/Schengen displaying which countries are what colour and the restrictions in place.

You can find information here.

If you are confused about the many new regulations in place you can contact a Danish hotline – find a link to all the phone numbers of Danish hotlines here.

Find the link to the English language page on the site coronasmitte.dk here

The Danish page on coronasmitte.dk gives quite good information and has a small guide to help Danish residents evaluate what they need to travel back to Denmark from a foreign country. If you are a Danish resident even if you are not a Danish citizen the same rules apply. Find a link to the site here.