Greece - covid entry requirements

[Rubeywednesday]

Hiya, we've not travelled abroad at all during covid and i'm rightly nervous about all the various rules on testing before arrival. I'm about to book a holiday to Crete for end of May. The travel agent says they only need a negative PCR taken 72 hours before you travel (and I have found insurance that would pay out if any of us tested positive and had to cancel) BUT the foreign office guidance says the Greek authorities can also insist on a test on arrival. I keep going back to this story i heard about friends of friends who travelled as a family last summer to Greece, they all tested negative in the UK but a 17yr old kid tested positive on arrival and had to spend a week in a Greek quarantine hotel on his own. The family cancelled their villa and booked into an airport hotel to be near the son in quarantine - I think some of the fam flew home again after a few days and the dad stayed behind.....To basically wave at the son through the window for a week..... There does not seem to be any insurance that covers this situation!! Has anyone else travelled to Greece during the pandemic and been tested on arrival? I'm wondering how rare this is

Whatever the rules are now could be completely different by the time you go. You need to keep checking right up to departure.
I have heard of this happening. You need good insurance that covers every eventuality.

We went twice & weren't tested but I know it was a possibility. There was also the issue that if people near you on the plane tested positive you could all end up in quarantine.and yes, things could change drastically before you travel.i think it's vaccination or a negative test, so it's risky in itself as many won't actually have had a test before traveling.

I went to Greece last summer & also summer 2020. 2020 in Corfu there wasn’t any on arrival testing but you could see where they were set up to do it. July 2021 in Rhodes one person from every friend/family group got tested on arrival. In-laws went to Mykonos in September & they said the same, one person per group. Also know other ppl who travelled last summer & said the same. Might be different this year but last year was very common.

It's currently PCR within 72 hours or LFT within 24 hours. I think it's always going to be a bit risky but I'm hoping that doing a LFT the evening before we travel minimises the chance of testing positive the following day if we were to be tested on arrival.