Do people who live in European countries travel to other European countries without a tourist visa?

In the past it wasn't the case and it was extremely irritating.  Especially in Benelux, which is Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.  These three small countries decided to remove the borders between them, and it worked so well that as the European community developed they brought down the borders between EU member states and by treaty with some non - EU members. I have expirenced borders between Croatia and Bosnia, and found it a huge waste of time, taking on average an hour to get through the land border.

26 European countries (including 4 which are not members of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union) have abolished passport or any other type of border control in-between their common borders ("internal borders"). They also have a common "external border" policy (common visa requirements). As of today: Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland This is called the "Schengen Area" because it is the result of the "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement". NOTE THAT as said above not all "Schengen" countries are members of the EU (for example, Switzerland, Norway). - AND not all EU members are in the Schengen area (for example, the UK) - but see answer for more details about this particular cases. Also, there isn't a 1-to-1 relation between being in the "Eurozone" (= having the Euro as a currency) and being in the Schengen area: Not the same thing! So... yes, one of the consequences of that if you are legally in one of these countries you can travel to all others without a visa (or without an "extra" visa, if you already needed one to enter). If you are an EU citizen you don't even need a passport: carrying an ID is (a) recommended if travelling within Schengen countries (and will be necessary if taking a plane, for example, for security reasons), and (b) necessary if travelling to other EU countries that are not in Schengen (UK. Ireland...). In practical terms the Schengen Area functions as a single country for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy. Therefore, if you travel legally from (say) India to (say) Spain, including a valid visa (IF necessary - that I don't know), once admitted to Spain you will be able to travel freely to any other "Schengen" country. In other words, the permission to enter Spain (... or France, or Germany, or xxxxx) is, in practise, a permission to enter "Schengen". So, another practical consequence of this is that people from outside this area can avoid 25 repetitions of the common "... Do I need a visa to enter xxxx?" question: If you need a visa for one of the Schengen countries you need a visa for any of the other 25 - and if you don't, you don't. Think of it as a "Schengen visa". Also, a valid residence permit for any Schengen country is equivalent to a visa. Blue: Schengen Area. Countries in green: Legally bound to join. Within the Schengen area "borders" are little more than this: This marks the limit between Spain and Portugal, in a bridge over the Miño river. This is what European airport controls look like.

For citizens those countries part of the EU, but not signatories of the Schengen agreement such as the UK you can travel about the EU without a visa, but its borders require a passport or other form of ID. So, for example Spaniards only need their ID card to enter and leave. Passport control has no stamps and Customs control is almost non-existent. The greatest thing of all that one only has to buy a ticket to travel and not having to be in contact with bureaucracies in an attempt to obtain a tourist visa

Within member states of the EU, of course. They normally don't even have to show a passport. Britain, as always, one of the exceptions.

Quite simple, in the airport, You take the "schengen" line. I use my ID card. By train, i can't really remember any kind of  customs-police-control-things.  By cars, you could start in spain and end up at the russian border. (But i don't think i need a visa for russia)