We waited a couple of weeks to make this article, both to clarify the rules and see them in action with clients and so have a more clear idea of the possible issues and best practices. Since 10th of July 2021 to enter your holiday home in Portugal and of course Praia da Luz you need to provide one of the following certificates or tests:

• Provide the EU Covid Vaccination Certificate, or NHS Covid Certificate or any Official Vaccination Certificate from any country as long as it is for one of the EU approved vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, Astrazeneca or Johnson).
• A valid PCR test done at most 72 hours before.
• A valid Antigen test done at most 48 hours before.
• A Quick Covid test done at a clinic or participated pharmacy done at most 24 hours before and signed by a heath professional.
• A Quick Covid test done before entering the property.

Note: If you are less than 12 you don’t need to supply any certificate or test.

If you are traveling to Portugal especially by plane, this is not a big issue, since you will have to have a valid EU Covid Certificate and or Covid Tests done, you just need to forward these to us and you don’t need anything else.

If you live in Portugal or inside the EU and are traveling by car, you might need to provide one of these certificates, if you are fully vaccinated, just download your EU Covid Vaccination Certificate and send it to us, if you are not vaccinated, then you need todo one of the Covid Tests, our recommendation is to try and book a Antigen Test or a Quick Test on a Pharmacy or Clinic 1 or 2 days before (depending on the test) you travel to Luz and send it to our email.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What happens if we don’t have any EU Covid Vaccination Certificate or Tests done by the time we arrive to our holiday home?

A: If its Monday to Friday and Saturday morning you can visit our office and do a quick test, if its Saturday afternoon, Sunday or a Holiday, then one of our staff will need to join you at the holiday home and see you do a quick test at the front door before letting you in on the property, please note that this is time consuming and depending on the time of the day you might have to wait for a while.

Q: Does everyone on the party need to have Certificates or Tests?

A: Yes, unless they are less than 12 years old.

Q: Some of the clients already have EU Covid Vaccination Certificates but some don’t and need todo a Test, can the clients with the Certificates enter their holiday home?

A: No, everyone has to have a valid Certificate or Test before anyone can enter.

Q: What are Quick Covid Tests and do you provide them?

A: A Quick Covid Tests can be bough at pretty much any pharmacy or para-pharmacy (like Wells) in Portugal, its reasonable priced and there is a ample supply, we don’t provide them so you need to buy them yourselves.

Q: How much time does it take todo a Quick Covid Test?

A: About 20 minutes, 5 minutes of setup and 15 minutes of wait to see the results.

Q: Can I do Quick Covid Tests inside our Holiday Home?

A: No, the rules state that everyone has to provide a clean test or valid certificate before entering the holiday home.

Q: Can I do a Quick Covid Test at home and then bring the result to you?

A: No, the rules state that we need to be present when the test is being done, if you want todo one beforehand, you can do so at a Pharmacy or a Clinic, it is our recommendation, also please note that after the 15 minutes and the result, the Covid test might change and show no results or a positive result as such cant be trusted after the 15 minutes.

Q: I didn’t supply any Certificate or Tests and I’m arriving on a Sunday at 2am, can I do the Covid Quick Test the next day at your office?

A: Unfortunately not, everyone in your party you will need todo the quick tests before entering the property, therefore its very important to try and take care of this before you travel to Praia da Luz, so you can arrive and start your holiday without any issues.

Q: Can i have guests in the holiday home or do they need to have a Certificate or Test done?

A: For guests you just need to follow the current health and safety rules in Portugal, note that these change a lot, but i believe its 10 people besides the people that live together.

Q: What happens if we don’t want to supply any Certificate or Test?

A: Then unfortunately you cant enter your holiday home.

Extra Notes

• If you are buying a Quick Covid Test we recommend that you buy a extra one, since its quite common for a test to go wrong or not work.
• The fines for not complying to this rule are between 1000€ to 10000€.
• If you are moving to another holiday accommodation in Portugal or between a hotel and one of our holiday homes if you have a EU Covid Vaccination Certificate, then you are ok, just send it to our e-mail, if you did tests before unfortunately you will probably need todo them again before entering the new holiday home, since those are only valid for a couple of days.
• We try and contact all clients regarding this rule, so they can have ample time to decide on what todo, however if we have no contact from the client, we will leave a notice at the door of your holiday home and we will remove the key, so you will have to contact our emergency number or come to our office todo the Covid Tests before entering your holiday home.
• We cant stress enough how its best to take care of this before you travel to the Algarve, however we also do understand that sometimes problems happen and you shouldn’t be concerned with this rule, worst it can happen is having to spend 30 minutes doing Covid Tests before entering your holiday home.

I hope this was helpful, any other questions please contact us or make a comment on this article, have a great Summer.