SCHENGEN SHENANIGANS

We are planning on touring Spain by car, with no fixed agenda and no booked accommodation. We have been advised that we will be unable to get a Schengen visa without a fully booked itinerary and that we should get around this by making hotel bookings just to get the visa, and then cancel the bookings. Surely this cannot be true? — Eileen Lund

I’m afraid it is true that you need to supply proof of accommodation with your visa application, so you will have to make some plans. The “itinerary” requested isn’t a blow-by-blow but a flight itinerary — in other words, the dates you intend to arrive and leave — but you should not actually pay for your flights until you have your visa.

As for accommodation, choose places you may at least want to stay in advance. Of course, the nature of independent travel means that sometimes even the best-laid plans change. You may like a place so much that you decide to stay on, for example, and that’s fine. By using booking sites such as Agoda and Booking.com, which have “pay when you stay” options, or lodging-world.com, which says 95% of its accommodation options don’t require payment upfront, you will be able to change your plans later without being penalised. When booking check the fine print and make sure there are no cancellation fees or time limits involved.