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Single entry or Multiple entry visa for Schengen

This page explains the difference between single-entry Shengen visa and multiple-entry Schengen visa for visits to Schengen zone countries and non-Schengen countries like Andorra.

At DayTripsBarcelona.com we have a popular tour which visits 3 countries in one day from Barcelona – Andorra day tour. On this day tour our guests travel from Barcelona in Spain to France and then to Andorra and then back to Spain in one day.

Andorra does not have an visa requirements. You only need a passport to enter Andorra. However because Andorra does not have a railway station or airport, the only way to enter Andorra is by crosseing at the French or Spanish border.

Both Spain and France are members of the Schengen zone like all other EU member states. But Andorra is not a member of the EU or Schengen zone.

If you are not an EU or a US citizen you will in all likelihood need a Schengen visa to enter the EU and Spain. Most visitors get a single-entry Schengen visa. The Schengen visa for Spain is issued by Spanish consulates and embassies in your country

On a single-entry Schengen visa without territorial limitations you can travel back and forth within all Schengen countries for 90 days as long as you stay within the Schengen zone. So for 90 days you are welcome to visit all Schengen countries like for rexample France on your single entry Schengen visa.

However, the single entry visa becomes invalid if its holder leaves from the Schengen zone to a country outside of Schengen – like Andorra.  In other words the single entry visa does not officially allow you to leave the Schengen zone and return on the same day – like for example on a day tour to Andorra from Barcelona.

As mentioned, Andorra is not a Schengen country, so any non EU or non-US passport holder will need a multiple entry Schengen visa.

This is because our 3 countries Day tour to Andorra leaves the Schengen zone when we enter Andorra – and re-enters Schengen zone when the tour leave Andorra later the same day.

On our Day Tours to Andorra from Barcelona, if you only have a single entry Schengen visa, we recommend that you bring your passport, flights tickets and your Barcelona hotel booking reservation, so that the border police can see that  you are just visiting Andorra for the day and also visiting Barcelona.

Officially, the Spanish border police could deny a tourist re-entry to Spain from Andorra with just a single-entry Schengen visa, but border checks are only sporadic, and we have never heard of that happening to any day tour company, and we have never had any problems ourselves on any of our Andorra day tours despite having been stopped sometimes for passport checks.

You can read more about this on the Schengen visa official site here

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/visa-policy/schengen_visa_en