6

So I have three different types of passport stamps from my EU travels. One for flying into Frankfurt, one for taking the Eurostar from London to Paris and one for taking a ferry from Dover to Calais.

This kinda makes me wonder... what if I were to walk across the border? Would I get a walking passport stamp? Do they even have them?

Seems like a good place to do that would be Geneva. It'd be a bit of a walk but from the way it looks on Google Maps it looks like it's something that could be done in a day, there and back.

What if I walked to France and then took a taxi back? Could I do that and get a car passport stamp as well? Seems like taxi drivers doing that might not have passports large enough for all the stamps they could get..

Improve this question
5
  • 2
    I rollerbladed across the border from Liechtenstein to Austria a dozen years ago. I had to ask the surprised border guard for a "Stempel". I'm pretty sure that even though there wasn't a road but just a river and a very neglected and broken walking path that the passport stamp had a car logo on it. I'm not on the same passport now and that passport is at home while I'm travelling the world. So I can't check it right now...
    – hippietrail
    Dec 30 '13 at 6:53
  • 1
    Basel would have been a better place, actually — I think you could get a stamp by walking into the German station (Basel Bad). But now Switzerland is out: since it joined Schengen, there are no more border checks. Gibraltar should be an option.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Dec 30 '13 at 10:15
  • 1
    I've also walked across Albania-Greece and Hungary Romania. Possibly some other ... time to check the map and the Wikipedia ...
    – hippietrail
    Dec 30 '13 at 15:11
  • 1
    @Gilles: You are no longer stopping at the border normally, but you can always stop and go talk to the border guard in case you have goods to declare, for example.
    – Jonas
    Jan 15 '14 at 14:00
  • @Gilles There used to be a similar arrangement at Cornavin.
    – Relaxed
    Feb 14 '14 at 9:57
14

There are only four types of passport stamps in the EU.

  1. Road travel
  2. Rail travel
  3. Air travel
  4. Ferry travel

It doesn't matter if you walk, take a bike, or travel by bus; if you cross from a road border, you will get a road travel stamp.

And also please note, since Switzerland is a member of Schengen zone, there are no border controls between Switzerland and France, therefore there isn't any stamp.

Improve this answer
3
  • 3
    I crossed from Liechtenstein to Austria years before Switzerland and Liechtenstein joined Schengen. I forgot to mention that in my comment on the question.
    – hippietrail
    Dec 30 '13 at 10:08
  • It was odd biking across the Czech-Polish border and thinking how twenty years earlier, it would have been fortified. There wasn't any official, just a sign.
    – Andrew Lazarus
    Dec 17 '14 at 7:31
  • There often are border checks entering Switzerland by bus. That said, stamps aren't issued during those
    – Crazydre
    Dec 26 '17 at 22:29
2

If each corresponding country has a travel agreement with one another, then stamps are unnecessary. With that said, however, it does not mean you cannot get them.

I travel to Ireland at least once a year on an Irish passport from the UK, and for the past two/three years, each time I ask for a stamp. I'm always met with either surprise or confusion from the assistant, which I believe is largely because they don't often use the stamps.

However I've never had my passport checked when coming into the UK from Ireland, which is pretty odd seeming that you get it very little the other way round. When I do, I'll be able to add a stamp to my growing collection :)

Neither the UK or Ireland falls under the Schengen Area, however they are a part of the Common Travel Area, which is basically the same as the former, apart from the fact that it is limited to the Republic Of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands of Jersey & Guernsey.

I would love to have ones for the latter two. I've still not met anyone that has even set foot on them, lol.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.