Post
by John » Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:04 pm
The rule is that you apply for your Schengen visa to the embassy/consulate of the country which is going to be your main destination, or if there is no main destination, of the Schengen area country you will first enter.
Whereabouts in Spain are you intending to travel to? If the north of Spain you could easily justify flying there, given that you could then travel to France. Or in any case, wherever in Spain you are going to, you could easily be intending to visit France later.
Or indeed, before going to Spain, maybe a short trip to France? Weekend in Paris? Or even just a day trip to a channel port?
My wife has been British since 2004 but before that needed Schengen visas. We always avoided apply to Spain, because of their reputation for being little better than "pigs" in the visa application department, and because they would not accept postal applications. So we applied to France, and used the French-issued first to have a short holiday in France, followed by a 2-week package holiday to Lanzarote, in the Spanish-controlled Canary Islands. No problem at all using that French-issued Schengen visa to enter Lanzarote ..... once the immigration person, looking tired from just waving through UK and other EU passport holders, had actually found the stamp to apply to the visa!
But French package holidays? Very difficult to find, but all too easy to put together your own package, for not too great cost. One year, again armed from a French-issued Schengen visa, we first flew to Nice in the south of France, and then picked up a hire car and drove to Avignon, and stayed in accommodation there for a week. While staying there we had a day trip to Spain ... yes a bit of a drive .... but fast motorways most of the way. At the end of that first week we drove back to the Nice area and stayed in a lovely villa in the hills just north of Nice. While staying there we included a day trip to Italy and to Monaco! And at the end of the week, car returned to Nice airport, and we flew home. A lovely 2 weeks!
Quite reasonable all in all, if that is the sort of holiday you want. Flights to and from Nice with no-frills airline.
John
