A year in Europe

9 months? So I assume you're an EU citizen (if not then the maximum you can stay is 90-days in any 6-month period). Maybe you could get back to us with a clarification on that?Another thing you could clarify, so we can give more useful advice, is: you say both "traveling thru Europe" and "long term accommodations"--the two seem mutually inconsistent--can you clarify whether you're asking for accommodations in one place for a year, or shorter-term accommodations in several places around Europe?

You would probably looking at some type of apartment, but most web resources are for travellers and probably more expensive that the typical apartment. You might try a short term apartment (week) using the time to nail down a place to stay, probably away from the tourist center. To Kent's comment, you do not sound like a student, so you need to either play the "Schengen Shuffle" (harder now than ever) or try to get a longer term visa. A six month visa can help, but you need to go through the process and be able to show financial support. Otherwise, you are probably talking spending significant time in Ireland, England, (both expensive) or Croatia. At least 3 of your nine months, then the balance of anything over nine months would need to be spent outside the Schengen zone.

Only 90 days can be spent in the Schengen area in any six month period. So Paul is right when he says that three of your nine months would have to be spent outside (UK or Ireland), but those three months would have to be IN BETWEEN two three-month periods in the Schengen zone.

First question: do you have a European passport? If yes, ignore the answers above me. If no, make sure you apply for the relevant visa in time.

Are you planning to rent appartments for several weeks at a time and then move to the next place? Or are you looking for something for several months and take shorter trips from there?

Which countries are you looking for? If you actually wanted to see ALL of Europe you couldn't really rent for long-term.

Generally speaking, www.vrbo.com is great to search for appartments. And I also like www.interchalet.com - their website has a really good search function. Some places would probably give you a better rate if you negotiate directly with them for more than 2 weeks, especially if it's outside the high season.

If you have your own home that will be sitting empty for the 9 months you could consider doing a house swap. I've never done it, but there are websites that set them up. Miami seems like a place that someone would love to visit. I think I read an article about it in either Frommers, national geograpic travel or budjet travel in the past year.
oh here is an article about it: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2006-09-21-house-swap_x.htm

We moved to Mexico for 10 months back in 1999 and I rented out my home. We put everything in storage. It was a hassle on many levels, but I came away with no regrets. That's an option. It's better than leaving a home sitting there empty.

thank you all for your comments. I am actually a dual citizen and so the 90 day in 6 months does not apply. Thank you Beatrix, I am actually planning on spending somewhere between 3to 4 weeks in each country. I will look into those resources you provided me with.
Thanks !

Kent, Paul, Nancy, or other: Please explain the 90 day rule. This won't apply to me, as I am a dual citizen, but I'd like to know it for my kids' sake, who are not dual citizens and sometimes travel without me.

When I first went to Europe in 1979 I knew nothing about visa requirements etc (except for the fact that you received a visa stamp on the passport each time you entered a new country) and had only US citizenship. I left the US telling friends and family "see ya when I see ya" and was gone for 7 glorious months, travelling all over the place, not spending more than a week or two at a time in any one country. That was the year that the EU expanded from 6 countries to 9, but I hadn't heard of the EU at the time so that was completely off my radar.

Was it easier then to travel throughout Europe without visas/checkins than it is now (for a US-only citizen)?

Yes, it was easier then. The Schengen countries (which is now most of Western Europe except the UK and Ireland) allow a U.S. citizen to stay 90 days during a 6 month period without applying for a visa.

Mike: Here's the details on the Schengen entry/exit regulation you asked about:Excerpt from the text of Article 20, Section 1 of the Schengen regulation (my comments in brackets]: "Aliens not subject to a visa requirement [US and Canadian citizens, among others] may move freely within the territories of the Contracting Parties for a maximum period of 3 months during the 6 months following the date of first entry."

The 25 countries in the "Schengen zone" are: Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and (since Dec 2008) Switzerland.

According to the US embassy website (in Poland): A tourist may enter and leave the Schengen area multiple times, except that the total number of days spent within any of these countries cannot exceed 90 days during the 6 months following the date of first entry.

It's not 90 days in each country; and the 90-day "clock" is not reset by making a quick trip to the UK/Ireland, if doing so would cause the total number of days spent in any country of the Schengen zone to exceed 90 days in the 6 months following the date of first entry.

ETBD: Could you include Kent's quotes--after verification of course, even though we know Kent does his research--in all of the guidebooks?

I don't know your money situation, but travellin in Europe for so long will get very expensive.
I don't know how renting an apartment for 3 months or so works in Europe, but I know weekly rent doesn't come cheap, a few hundreds of Euros.
A cheaper alternative would be staying in hostels or couchsurfing.com. I know a girl here in Cleveland who couchsurfed for 1 year.
Tripadvisor.com is a very good site with more information about local laws etc.

Good luck!

Though those on this site who state your time in one place can be limited is technically true, there is more to it than they proclaim. The simple walk in and get your passport type travel is limited, however, there are other options for longer stays. I don't know the details as I have not done it personally. However, a California couple named Scott and Sheryl did "A Year in Europe" last year. Their website is www.ayearineurope.com. You may look them up and see if they have some advice.

Thanks Kent, that's helpful. As others have suggested, this would be good info for Rick to include in his books.

Cary...."Though those on this site who state your time in one place can be limited is technically true, there is more to it than they proclaim." No Cary, there is not. As Kent noted, the 90 day rule is non-flexible for foreign travellers who come as tourists. Unfortunately, the website you suggest contains absolutely no information about visas or other such arrangements. Perhaps they were dual citizens, perhaps they had a proper visa, or maybe they just go luck. But the unlucky ones, the ones who do get caught, likely don't publish their experiences on a blog or in podcasts.

Norm, my post simply said check out their site and ask them questions. They did it and they did it legally. I don't remember their exact situation, but having listened to their podcast, I know they had visas which they had to stop and renew mid-trip at some point. My larger point is that there is a way to go to Europe for longer than 90 days legally. It may be to get further documentation such as visas. Having not done it myself, I don't know the answer, but they are there. My advice was to try and get in touch with people who have done it and know more than many of us.

As for Rick's guidebooks, if you are going somewhere for a year, I would hope you would do more research than just picking up a travel guidebook. His guidebooks have the necessary information for the intended audience or at least 99.9% of us. If you are special case, do some research rather than suggesting that everyone else should have to pay for the paper and time for Rick to write a chapter on visas to put in his book.

Yes, Cary, we know there are legal ways to stay in Europe longer than 90 days (getting a long term visa of some sort -- student, work, etc.) That was never in dispute. But as a tourist, in absence of a longer visa, you must abide by the Schengen agreement rules.

I don't think that this is a good forum to give/get visa information. You need exact information about the person's personal situation, exact information about their plans etc. For example, even terms like "dual citizen" aren't precice enough. I'm not a dual citizen and can stay in Europe as long as I want and I know a lot of dual citizens (US-CA) for whom the the 90 day restriction would apply.

I wouldn't expect precise visa information in a RS Guide Book either. Though a qualified statement such as "Longer term visits to Europe may require additional visa" could prevent tourists to run into unexpected obstacles.

Nancy, et. al., I don't mean to be rude, but I would have to disagree with your statement that "Yes, we all know that there are legal ways to stay". Since there were several posts where people implied that Michelle would have to spend her time scheduling around the 90 day deadline. My point is that there are other ways which no one else in this thread seemed to be telling her. The people who did the "A Year in Europe" podcasts were simply tourists, they weren't there to work. I pointed her to their website as a resource and was given a rather snippy response telling me I was wrong in my assertions.

Their website could also be useful to her in her original request for accommodations, since they just did their trip last year.

If you read my original post is simply said, "you could look them up and see if they have advice" which I think is still a rather good post considering that past Paul and Beatrix, no one seemed to be giving her any suggestions regarding her actual question which was about accommodations, but instead were reiterating the same thing over and over about the 90-day period.

Cary, if you read the posts again you'll find that after Melissa told us of her dual citizenship, the only discussion about the 90 day rule was in response to someone else's question about it. She was given several suggestions for accomodations (house swap, short term rental while she looks for something more longterm, couchsurfing, etc.). The people you reference obviously must have had some sort of longer term visa, but since Melissa doesn't need that it really wouldn't benefit her to ask them about it.

Cary...the discussion concerned the Schengen tourism visa stays and its 90 day in 180 day rule. You baldly asserted that those who had posted about this regulation weren't telling all, that "there is more to it than they proclaim." I was simply telling you that you were incorrect in this assertion.....seeking an extension of a tourist-only visa in a Schengen country is extremely difficult, if not impossible, and would certainly not be granted for an additional six months. As for the website you suggested, in their podcasts the couple admit that, six weeks before they left, when they had already booked tickets and had their house up for sale, they found out about the Schengen requirements! They adjusted by spending three months in Schengen countries, three months outside, and then three months back in the Schengen zone....just as had been suggested by others earlier on this particular topic. They, too, admitted that they thought they were free and clear to tour Europe for as long as they liked. It's this kind of naive thinking we try to warn about on this site, since we don't want our fellow travellers to get into trouble. And with the Schengen zone expanding, the idea of spending a year in Europe as tourists...three months in, three months out, etc....is getting more and more difficult.