Schengen visa for 2 years of travel - Booking a year in advance?

Question

I'd like to explore Europe with the plan below.

2022 Jan Feb Mar - Spain
Jul Aug - Germany
Sep - France

2023 Jan Feb Mar - Italy
Jul Aug - Poland
Sep - Austria

1. That's the plan but I never visited any of those countries so I might decide to stay in 1 week in Spain instead of 3 months if my experiences and emotions there tell me to do that. Or the opposite, extending a 1 month visit to a 3 months visit.

2. When I visit a new country that doesn't require visa from me, I normally book 1 week of airbnb. If I like the stay and if its not booked, I extend it as much as it makes sense based on my interest in the area after I discover what's interesting to me in person.

3. Despite reading all the reviews and asking hosts specific questions, sometimes the place I book turns out to be shit (construction noise, bad location, shitty bed, etc). In this case, I repeat the process I mentioned earlier. If I find a great place, I extend my stay up to 2 or 3 months. Booking for a month in advance means losing 1 month of rent if it turns out there's a problem.

Considering all that, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to satisfy Schengen visa application documents. They ask me to show proof of flights and stays for my plans. Am I supposed to book 3 months of stay in Spain, 2 months of stay in Germany and a 1 month of stay in France, before I visited these countries and see the areas/apartments I might be interested in, almost a year in advance? This doesn't even include 2023 and flights. How am I supposed to prepare the documents embassy requires?

Potential solution I can think of:

• cutting down my days by, say, 10. So 9 days of Spain in Jan. 6 days of Germany in Jul. 3 days of France in Sep

• booking fully refundable stays and cancelling most of them. I don't want to be a bad guest/client in booking websites though.

Any advice? Thank you

Answer 1

I think you will fail when applying for visa for many travels spread over two years. Not because who you are but because everybody would.

The usual method is to apply for the first travel and when back home apply for the second.

When you have travelled to the Schengen area several times on short term visa it is much more likely to get a multiple entry visa for later travel.

By working this way you will not have to book more than a year in advance, you will not need multiple flights booked. And as you build up a history of travel, the embassies can build up trust in you.

In the first travels you should keep to your plans, maybe a change of hotel after a first night, but certainly not a change of country. When you get that multiple entry visa your first travel on it still has to be planned in detail but after that you can travel with much fewer restrictions.

And while you seem to expect to hop all over Europe when things are not to your liking in one country, adjust your expectations and look at alternatives much nearer to your initial destination.
If you do not like that beach resort in Spain, go inland for daytrips. Maybe relocate 10 km inland. Not even to an other city. You will find a completely different vibe.