Forgive my dumb question

I realize non EU citizens can only stay in Spain for 90 days on their tourist visas, so if I plan on staying in Spain for longer than that, can I hop a flight to a nearby country for the weekend to get it renewed (England, France, Portugal) or do I need to leave the EU (Morocco, Egypt, Israel, etc.) in order to have my tourist visa renewed for another 90 days?

Thanks!

Hi,

Renewing your tourist visa isn't as simple as just leaving the country for a few days and then coming back to Spain. The law says you are allowed to be in Spain for 90 days but within a 6 month period. Which means that technically if you are in Spain for 90 days you would then have to leave Spain for another 3 months (to total the 6 month period--3 in Spain and 3 somewhere else) until you could come back legally and get a new tourist visa. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about overstaying the tourist visa--I don't think the Spanish police are really too interested in finding Americans who stay in Spain longer than they should