Zürich Travel Forum

I'm sure people have answered this before but here it is..

If I fly into Switzerland and then take a train to Germany, will they stamp my passport in Germany? I would have to think so since im ENTERING the EU..? But then when I enter Austria (by train) would it get stamped (probably not, right?)

I'm trying to see how I can get my passport stamped in each western european country after I land in Switzerland.

Thanks!

Almost certainly not, no: it's not a matter of entering the EU since it is not a passport union (it is a customs union but customs is about goods not people) but of entering Schengen: not all EU Members are in Schengen, and some non-EU countries are - Switzerland has signed the Schengen and will be fully in by the end of this year. If you had flown from Switzerland to Germany you might have got your passport stamped because at airports they generally do systematic controls but on trains they may do spot checks only, so you may not see a passport official at all. If you do, they ought to stamp your passport to note date of entry into Schengen-land (which starts your 90 day tourist visa waiver running), but these days they often rely on comparing international air passenger records.
If you want more passport stamps you can pay for these in certain places (Liechtenstein, San Marino), otherwise you would have to go a definitely non-Schengen country like the UK or else travel by air.

Almost certainly not, no: it's not a matter of entering the EU since it is not a passport union (it is a customs union but customs is about goods not people) but of entering Schengen: not all EU Members are in Schengen, and some non-EU countries are - Switzerland has signed the Schengen Agreement and will be fully in by the end of this year. If you had flown from Switzerland to Germany you might have got your passport stamped because at airports they generally do systematic controls but on trains they may do spot checks only, so you may not see a passport official at all. If you do, they ought to stamp your passport to note date of entry into Schengen-land (which starts your 90 day tourist visa waiver running), but these days they often rely on comparing international air passenger records.
If you want more passport stamps you can pay for these in certain places (Liechtenstein, San Marino), otherwise you would have to go a definitely non-Schengen country like the UK or else travel by air.

I was just in 4 European countries and the only stamps I got were in the airports in Amsterdam and Czech Republic, nothing when I went via train from CR to Austria, nothing when I went from Austria to Slovakia by boat and returned by train.

When I went to Switzerland last year I had a brand new passport, the 1st stamp I got in it was in the US when I returned, they didn't even stamp my passport when I went through the airport in Zurich and not when we crossed into Liechtenstein or France by car, a couple of times we crossed the border without even stopping. If you are traveling within the EU you will most likely not get any stamps.

You can stop at the border and ask if they would stamp it. My husband also loves to have stamps in his passport and has done this successfully several times.

Sorry, I was too fast. Did not notice that you would travel by train. How will you leave Austria?

We would travel by train from Vienna to Bratislava

The EU is annoying for small reasons like this.

The trip might be something like..

Zurich to, Liech, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, back to Zurich and then visit Bern.. something like that.

yeah, they didn't stamp my passport when i flew either. = (

i have a brand new, and my first passport and i was hoping they would have stamped it.