Have you worked out the visa hassles for a trip of over 90 days? Your itinerary looks like you’re spending over the allowed time in the Schengen zone.

You’ll find warmer weather in Southern Europe, but it will still probably be quite cool and often damp and rainy anywhere. I’d probably start out in Spain and work my way to Italy and maybe then to Southern France. I would save Greece and Croatia until late April or May for better weather and because many ferries and tourist destinations pretty much shut down for winter.

You pretty much have to check the weather history of everywhere you want to go.

We went to Switzerland in February. It was wintry up in the skiing areas (yet strangely warm if you were dressed right) but very moderate down in the valleys. I am in Barcelona now (trying to dodge the winter) and it is actually pretty cool. Today it got up to 61F, but in the last week is has been nearer 50F.

ahh no i haven’t… i figure this trip won’t be able to all be one whole trip and i’ll have to split it up but it’s just my ultimate goal. i have a few 3 month trips that i would consider if i can’t get the visa. any tips on getting that visa?

You have to have your Schengen visa first.

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I think you better have a long talk with someone who knows about visas.

Citizens of certain countries, including the US, cannot apply for a Schengen visa, because by treaty they have an unwritten visa that allows them to spend 90 days in a 180 day period in Schengen countries. The Schengen visa is for citizens of countries that do not have entitlement to the unwritten visa. So if they did it right, your application for a Schengen visa would be rejected.

Note that once you use your ninety days, you cannot go back on the unwritten visa until the balance of your 180 day period has expired.

I’ve not had occasion to exceed 90 days in a six-month period since the Schengen treaty was implemented, but I’ve heard that if you want to stay in the Schengen zone for more than 90 days, you can get a visa from one of the Schengen zone countries that would exceed 90 days; that would get you into the Schengen zone and you could travel within the zone for as long as the visa allowed. I don’t know what would happen if you left the Schengen zone and then tried to return on that visa; you might need a multiple entry visa, or not.

I think getting a tourist visa can have costs associated with it, and they will want proof that you have sufficient resources, probably including medical insurance, that you will not end up staying in their country as a worker, or as a beneficiary of their social network.

In any event, I would check this out with someone who actually knows, then decide whether you want to get a tourist visa, or play the 90 days in, 90 days out, 90 days in, 90 days out game and enrich the airlines.

Kenzie1040 has cut the trip to 89 days which fixes the visa issue… A couple of spam posts moved this back to the top of the queue.

Feel free to comment on the current itinerary since he/she has started another thread about that.

I have been reading more about the Schengen agreement. Could I visit a Schengen countries for 20 days, then leave and visit some countries that are not in the agreement, then come back and finish out my 90 days?

@kenzie, the short answer is Yes. Time out of Schengen does not count against your 90 days in 180 tourist allowance. Just be sure to get stamped as leaving, or at least on entry to the non-Schengen country (or both). This is probably going to happen anyway; I doubt you’ll have to seek out a stamp nowadays.

southern areas are OK in winter.

I go to southern Spain every winter. Most days are T shirt weather but needing a sweater at night.
Looking at your itinerary I would do it the other way round starting in Paris and ending in warm S. Spain. It is really cold in northern Europe in the winter.