How to get a Schengen visa
“Is the window to Europe open? Yes, but only for the most motivated,” says the traveler and blogger. “Gleb and circuses” Gleb Stepansky. According to him, the most difficult thing is to get a particularly long-term Schengen visa.
“The best Schengen multiple visas are France, Italy and Spain. Greece also gives as far as I know, but mostly only for travel dates. Therefore, in order to get a longer visa from the Greeks, make a reservation for a longer period. Theoretically up to 90 days is possible, but in practice I’ve heard it’s only two months. The French give the best – even five-year-olds have been out lately, but rarely. And so, if you have a good visa history, you can count on a 3 to 12 month visa,” says the blogger.
He explains that the main difficulty in obtaining a Schengen visa lies in the possibility of registering for its submission: due to the reduction in the number of consular departments of European countries, the number of slots has fallen sharply and is quite difficult. get an entry.
“I know that agencies enlist the help of bots to catch slots, and individual visa advisors update the pages of visa centers at night to catch the coveted entry,” he explains.
Dilya Demidenko, TravelBelka’s head of online tours, confirms that it is difficult to obtain a Schengen visa or even a long-term Schengen visa today. According to him, Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus put visas under travel dates in most cases.
“Wait an average of two weeks from the time you submit the documents. Visas are usually issued based on travel dates. In rare cases, they can issue a six-month visa if the passport is filled with Schengen,” he explains.
If you buy a “package” tour to Europe, a representative of the travel agency will take care of the visa application. However, you should not count on the fact that you will be issued a longer-term visa through the operator – most likely it will also be limited to travel dates. Travel expert Lyudmila Chernavskaya, founder of travel agency Trinity Mom’s Travel, warns that the waiting time for visas to Schengen countries is greatly increased – documents can be in the visa or office center for up to 45 days.
“Today, many consulates do not issue visas. Italy, Spain and Greece – more or less good, Croatia – with a scratch, and with Cyprus everything has become more complicated: no electronic visas, Cyprus visa is issued. You can also enter the country with an open Schengen visa. Still, there are loyal countries, which means there are opportunities for a European vacation,” he explains.
How to get there
Flying from Russia to Europe without transfers today will not work. Dilya Demidenko considers the most suitable routes through Armenia, Turkey and Georgia.
“There are also many low-cost flights to Europe from the airport in Kutaisi. Trust that a round-trip ticket from Russia to a European city will cost you on average 37 thousand rubles, ”she explains.
Gleb Stepansky advises you to look for tickets via Armenia – there are many flights from all over Russia to Yerevan, and from there you can fly to Italy or Cyprus with a low-cost Wizz Air ticket, which you can buy accordingly. 2-3 thousand rubles one way.
“The only thing when looking for tickets in aggregators (only Aviasales indexes flights from Russia, and Skyscanner can also look further), it is better to look for tickets individually. So first Russia-Armenia/Georgia, then Armenia/Georgia-Europe. Note that flights from Russia to Georgia are mostly to Tbilisi, and low-cost airlines fly to Europe mostly from Kutaisi, ”says the blogger.
According to him, the easiest way is to buy tickets to Europe via Turkey, especially from the Turkish low-cost airline fly Pegasus. Another option is transit via Finland, but this only works to a third country outside the Schengen area.
“To do this, you need to have a ticket from a Finnish airport to a country outside the EU within one day. For example, Serbia or Montenegro. Then they will let you in. In Schengen countries like Italy, Spain and France, such a trick will not work, you will only be deployed at the border and even cancel the existing Schengen. There have been such cases,” he warns.
Lyudmila Chernavskaya adds that although there are no direct flights to Europe, tour operators try to find the best flight options.
“Links are offered in Istanbul, Abu Dhabi and Belgrade for those wishing to visit mainland Greece. There are also many daily flights from Istanbul to Spain and Italy. To get to Cyprus, you need to take a reasonable route through El Kuwait, but the nearest cities will not help reduce the cost of the finished tourist product, ”explains.
how to book accommodation
The main question that worries independent travelers is what to do and where to book hotels, provided that popular rental services stop accepting Russian cards. According to Gleb Stepansky, this problem can be easily solved by issuing a card from a foreign bank.
“Now this service has been launched – a remote Cossack card in the amount of 10 thousand rubles will be issued to you and delivered by courier to your place of residence in the Russian Federation. And transfers to these cards do not involve Western financial infrastructure, so disconnecting most Russian banks from Swift will not prevent you from transferring funds from your account to this card and using it safely in Europe,” he explains.
For those who do not want to map another country, the blogger offers to bring cash with them, and in the process of booking accommodation on conditional Booking.com choose the “pay on the spot” filter.
“Most of the time, apartments and guesthouses accept this form of payment. But there are few such accommodations, and this narrows the search space considerably. That’s why I personally recommend you make a map,” he explains.
According to Dili Demidenko, there are no problems with booking hotels abroad using ruble cards from Russia.
He gives an example, “We can book a hotel for two people directly from the tour operator at 9500 rubles for a week without a flight to Greece”.
How much budget is expected
This summer, you should not count on an economic holiday in Europe – this is the opinion of all industry experts. According to Lyudmila Chernavskaya, the trip will cost less if you buy a package tour. As an example, he gives the prices of a 10-day tour: Greece (3-star hotel, breakfast) – 126-130 thousand rubles; Croatia (3-star hotel, breakfast) – about 230 thousand rubles; Italy (3-star hotel, breakfast) – 300 thousand rubles; Cyprus (3-star hotel, breakfast) – 134 thousand rubles.
“Three or four years ago there were a lot more people planning their vacations independently. Today, there is much less courage of this type – tourists prefer a ready-made tourist product. And tour operators are also looking for various options to organize a tour, to reduce the cost as there are no optimal flights. Of course, you can choose more convenient connections, regular flights, but at the same time understand that the price of the rest will increase,” he says.
Dilya Demidenko advises to expect that a week in Europe will cost an average of 400-500 euros per person.
“There are people who can live for 150 euros a week, and this, along with accommodation, is very actively moving around the area and in addition manages to try all the local dishes. It all depends on the level of comfort a person is used to,” he says.
Gleb Stepansky states that there is indeed an increase in holiday prices in Europe compared to previous years, but this does not exceed inflation in the Eurozone by much.
“The indicator for me is a cup of espresso in any Italian coffee shop: if earlier, almost everywhere, espresso cost about 1 euro, now the price fluctuates between 1.3 – 1.5 euros, and in coffee shops in Milan, Venice and central Florence , the cost may be 2 times higher. Well, we have to take into account the exchange rate of the ruble against the euro, which is currently in the range of 85-90 rubles per euro and is also not cheering. This is not 55 rubles per euro in May last year,” he argues.
Summarizing the above, the blogger states that today in Europe you can find accommodation for all tastes and budgets, from cheap hostels from 20 euros per bed to luxury hotels for several thousand euros per night.