France bans travel from the UK - what to do now

Well this is awful news for skiers and other travellers.

France will ban non-essential travel to and from Britain from 00:01 on Saturday 18th December, to slow the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, the French government has announced.

To enter France, there will be a "requirement to have an essential reason to travel to, or come from, the UK, both for the unvaccinated and vaccinated... People cannot travel for touristic or professional reasons," the French government said. "Faced with the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the UK, the government has chosen to reinstate the need for an essential reason for travel from and to the UK," the statement said.
French citizens and EU nationals could still return to France from the UK (and therefore if you are a French citizen or EU national, you can still travel to France and the French Alps).

But for everyone else, that means ski holidays cancelled for the moment.  I don't know what date these restrictions will carry on until. I guess it's 'until further notice' for the moment.

Consumer-advice organisation, Which, says: "Don’t rush to cancel your holiday and / or flights, or you could lose your money. If your holiday is a package holiday, contact your provider to discuss your options. Any decent operator should offer you the opportunity to postpone your holiday or move it to a new destination fee-free, and some may offer you a refund. Your flights may or may not be cancelled by the airline. If they are, you’ll be entitled to your money back. If not, contact the airline to discuss your options." (https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/12/green-list-countries-where-can-i-go-on-holiday-without-quarantine/)

Although when it says 'discuss your options' it isn't really taking into account the fact that phone lines are jammed and it's going to be difficult to get through.

The Eurostar website doesn't seem to have any updated information about this, as far as I can see.

I've contacted Eurostar, Trainline, Rail Europe and Travelski to ask for information.

As soon as I have any useful information, I'll add it here.

In the meantime, the Planet Ski website has a useful update on the new French travel restrictions for travellers from the UK

Best wishes,
Daniel Elkan
Snowcarbon Founder