For tourists & expats

COVID or flu test in France: what it costs, which test is reliable, and who pays

You wake up in a Paris hotel with a fever and a cough. Should you test? Where? And will anyone pay for it? Since March 2025, testing in France is no longer free — with one exception: laboratory PCR, reimbursed on prescription. The prescription is the whole game, and you can have one within the hour.

Written for visitors and expats · Reviewed by a French-licensed GP · Updated October 2026

Where the season stands right now

No alarm, but the season is waking up. In France, the Sentinelles network bulletin of 7 October 2026 put acute respiratory infections at 142 cases per 100,000 — a normal level for the period — with COVID-19 at 14 per 100,000 and rising for three consecutive weeks, and influenza still low at 6 per 100,000. Across Europe, the ECDC reported influenza at baseline levels in week 41, with respiratory consultations climbing in most countries.

Practically: there are no COVID entry requirements for France — none since August 2022. No test, no certificate, no form.

The rule that surprises everyone: tests are no longer reimbursed

Since 1 March 2025, self-tests and rapid antigen tests are not reimbursed at all, for residents and visitors alike. What remains covered is laboratory PCR, at 60% of the official rate, and only on prescription — 100% for priority groups such as people aged 65 and over, minors, patients with a long-term condition and healthcare workers.

Why PCR is the one that counts

PCR is the reference test. It is more sensitive than a rapid antigen test, which means it detects infection earlier and at lower viral loads — exactly the window where an antigen test can come back negative while you are in fact infected and contagious. A rapid test that is negative on day one of symptoms does not rule much out; a PCR does.

That reliability matters in three situations, and they are the ones where a prescription is worth obtaining:

• You are in a risk group, or travelling with someone who is — an elderly relative, a pregnant partner, someone immunosuppressed.
• An antiviral is on the table. Both the flu antiviral and the COVID antiviral must be started quickly — within 48 hours of symptom onset for influenza — and they are prescription-only. A reliable result drives the decision.
• A negative result would change your plans: a long flight home, a wedding, a work commitment, a visit to a care home.

No prescription? That is a one-hour problem, not a lost day

This is where most visitors get stuck. The laboratory will not run a reimbursed PCR without a prescription, and walking into a French GP's surgery as a foreigner — without a médecin traitant, often without an appointment slot for days — is exactly the wall people hit at 8 a.m. with a fever.

It no longer has to be. A French-licensed doctor can assess you remotely and issue the prescription as a signed PDF, in English, seven days a week. You walk into any laboratory with it — no appointment needed in most labs — and the PCR is billed under the reimbursed route rather than to you in full.

• Describe your symptoms in English, from your hotel room.
• A doctor decides whether a test is justified — and says so if it is not. Nothing is automatic.
• The prescription arrives as a PDF, accepted by French laboratories and pharmacies, with an invoice for your insurer.

Get a test prescription now

Who actually pays, when you are a visitor

• EU visitors with an EHIC, and UK visitors with a GHIC, are treated like a French resident for medically necessary care: roughly 70% of a doctor's fee, 35% to 65% of prescribed medicines, and PCR reimbursed on prescription. You normally pay upfront and claim afterwards, and private non-conventionné providers fall outside the card.
• Visitors from the US, Canada, Australia and elsewhere have no public cover. Travel insurance is the route — which makes the invoice the document that matters. Keep every receipt: pharmacy, laboratory, consultation.

Our guide to medical reimbursement in France explains what insurers typically ask for.

Flu or COVID? The symptoms overlap more than people think

Influenza classically starts abruptly, with high fever, aching muscles and headache; COVID-19 is more variable. In practice the overlap is wide enough that symptoms alone rarely settle it — which is precisely why testing is reserved for cases where the answer changes what happens next, rather than for curiosity.

Vaccination while you are in France

The joint flu and COVID-19 campaign opened on 13 October 2026. Two things changed this year and they work in a traveller's favour:

• The flu vaccine now requires a prescription in France, since 10 July 2026 — but a pharmacist, nurse or midwife can write it and inject on the spot, for anyone aged 11 and over. One stop, no appointment.
• The COVID vaccine used this season is Comirnaty XFG, and in France it is covered at 100%, including for people outside the priority groups.

One caveat worth stating plainly: those coverage rules are built around people insured in France. As a visitor, ask the pharmacy what you will be charged before proceeding. For comparison, the NHS autumn programme in the UK runs from 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027 and is restricted to adults aged 75 and over, care-home residents and immunosuppressed people — a much narrower door than the French one.

How a consultation in English helps here

You describe your symptoms in English. A French-licensed GP assesses your case personally — no chatbot, no automated triage. If a test is justified, you receive a prescription as a signed PDF, accepted by French laboratories; if treatment is appropriate, the prescription is valid at any French pharmacy. If your situation needs a physical examination or emergency care, you are told so plainly.

An invoice is issued automatically for your insurer. The consultation itself is private and not reimbursed by French Social Security.

Private consultation with a French-licensed GP. Invoice provided for private insurance reimbursement. General information, not a substitute for emergency care — call 15 or go to urgences for serious symptoms.