The modern, globalized world require from many persons to be in constant movement between not only geographical areas but also cultural circles. Representatives of various cultural, religious, national or ethnic groups meet on a daily basis as part of the education process, professional tasks or free time. Efficient functioning in such an environment is not possible without extended intercultural competences and creating open and tolerant society goes along with the need of breaking, rooted in tradition, stereotypes and prejudices. For a long time, a significant percentage of activities aimed at establishing relationships and cooperation between people from different cultures was based on the assumptions of the contact hypothesis, the essence of which is personal contact, exchange of experiences and verification of beliefs. This approach is reflected, inter alia, in in the European Erasmus + programs to support youth and academic mobility. Currently in the era of limitation of the possibility of movement caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic, most activities within education systems throughout Europe are carried out remotely. Contact mediated by new technologies very often lacks or significantly reduces the possibility of receiving non-verbal elements of communication, such as facial expressions, body language, proxemics or paralinguistic factors. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the effectiveness of actions based on the contact hypothesis in the case of distance contact and the need to search for new, alternative solutions in this regard. The starting point will consist of analysis of the benefits from implementing activities based on direct contact, on the example of the involvement of Erasmus+ program students in activities in the field of intercultural education in primary school. On the other hand, the difficulties observed in international projects, in which contact between participants due to the introduced restrictions must be mediated by the media will be described.