Traveling to Europe will get a little more difficult for Americans

Schengen Area.
(Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The visa-free European journeys that U.S. citizens get to enjoy won't last much longer. But those suffering from wanderlust shouldn't stress too much.

The European Union announced on Friday that beginning in 2021, American travelers will need to apply for a visa to to visit the Schengen Area — a 26-country zone on the continent that does have internal borders. Popular tourist destinations like France, Italy, and Spain are all in the Schengen Area.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.