Everything you need to know about travelling to and from Hungary

There have been many uncertainties since the coronavirus struck the world last year. Since then, many countries and pharmaceutical corporations have developed several types of vaccines to combat the coronavirus epidemic. Unfortunately, there are still some things that are uncertain, and so there can be a great deal of confusion between different countries’ restrictions. In this article, we would like to shed some light on what you might need to keep in mind when travelling to Hungary or other European countries from Hungary.

Let us start with the current restrictions concerning Hungary. After the vaccination programme reached 4 million inoculated people, the country had its largest reopening for a long time.

• The curfew was pushed back to midnight.
• Stores can be open until 11 pm.
• Services and the outside areas of catering units are available for everyone.
• With an immunity certificate, you can go to the inside areas of catering units as well as visit recreational facilities (zoos, wildlife parks, theatres, cinemas, baths, etc.)
• Gyms can only be used by people with an immunity certificate or by an athlete certificate

You can read about the immunity certificate in more detail HERE, and you can find out the latest information concerning foreigners’ vaccination and certificates HERE.

There have been talks about a universal European Green Card that would confirm people’s inoculation, prior virus infection or test results so that those people can be exempt from certain restrictions when travelling between EU or Schengen countries.

According to Hvg, as it currently stands, the earliest this card can be expected to launch is the 21^st of June, but due to diplomatic issues and disagreements about vaccines, this might be heavily delayed.

The current way to go, it seems, are bilateral agreements. This means that two countries agree with the other, independent of the EU, that they will accept each other’s certificates for vaccination, prior infection and negative results. Hungary has currently six such agreements:

• Serbia
• Slovenia
• Montenegro
• Bahrein
• Turkey
• Greece (2 weeks after the second jab)

Now, how can you travel to other countries from Hungary? This is the tricky part. There is no established basic system in the EU, and every country can decide on their own restrictions. According to Hvg, most countries, however, use the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s system. It has four levels: green, orange, red, and dark red.