when I take a private car or train, will there be passport control. My passport is being processed for a visa to China.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19237 posts
The entire western end of continental Europe is now in the Schengen treaty zone so you shouldn't need a passport to travel in that area. However, the Schengen treaty does hold out the right of countries to control their borders under special circumstances. Just hope one does't occur while you are in Italy. I just traveled from Austria to Italy and back, and no one looked at my passport.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Which country's citizen are you? If you're an EU citizen your ID card is sufficient for traveling within the Schengen zone. If you're from outside the Schengen zone and you happen to get in any kind of police control they might ask for a document that states that you haven't exceeded your "free" 90 days or that you're holding a valid visa...
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
I've crossed without any passport control but that doesn't mean they won't have either random controls set up or a specific reason to increase security on the day you're there.
Posted by
Des Moines, IA
2193 posts
Good point. I did the reverse and traveled from Innsbruck to Verona in July of 2006…the Mumbai train bombings had just occurred while we were in Europe. At any rate, the authorities came onto the train to check passports at out first stop in Italy…believe it was Bolzano. Same thing happened at our first stop in Switzerland on our leg from Milan to Lausanne. Our documents were not checked in Germany or Austria.