Hi

Im going to Europe this weekend, is it required that I carry my passport at all times? Or can I make a copy and leave it at the hostel?

Europe is a big place - you might want to be a bit more specific! However, most of the time a copy of your passport pages is fine. There are exceptions out there, for example Russia. I'm not sure I'd want to leave my travel documents lying around a hostel though, depends on the hostel of course!

In most European countries, you have to be able to identify yourself if challenged. If you carry some other basic ID with you (i.e. a driver's licence), then a passport copy should be sufficient.

However, the question is whether your passport will be more secure at the hostel than on your person. At some places I've stayed at, leaving the passport at the hostel (even if individual "lockers" were provided), would have been an invitation for it to be stolen.

In Germany and Austria for example the law clearly requires you to carry their local ID card if you are a resident, or your passport with your visa if you are a foreigner, or you can be arrested and fined.

However, in reality these Western European countries are not likely to haul you in and actually fine your or charge you with anything, but they do want to be able to establish your identity on the street so whilst technically unacceptable, in reality the suggestions others made are correct. Your local country's drivers licence and a photocopy of your passport should suffice.

In Germany I have often observed that the "Bundespolizei" do random checks in particularly around transport hubs such as central railway stations.

This has been justified as having to do with Schengen. The borders within Schengen are open, so in order to detect the odd illegal immigrant, checks within the country are necessary.

Going to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Paris.
Yes and I was wondering if leaving it at a hostel would be safer than carrying it with me.

In the UK, there is no legal requirement to carry identification. The police have no right to challenge you here for that type of info.

The UK government is considering introducing such a requirement in future years, and it is being seriously resisted by the sane members of our population here and by most of our parliamentarians.

I don't really find it unreasonable to have to prove who I am and that I have a vias or residence permit to be here, but the issues in the UK are much deeper.

The problem is that the UK.gov dreams of further enhancing it's position as Europe's #1 surveillance society and has all these crazy plans about storing people's DNA at birth, having biometric ID cards and networking all kinds of agencies.

England is not a good place to live anymore.

England? Surely you mean Airstrip One...

Yes, and I nope the government doesn't succeed. But it is not proposing that the ID card would have to be carried at all times... (or, at least, it isn't now: I think that might have been their original idea).

As a German you must possess either a passport or an ID card but you are not obliged to carry it with you while traveling in Germany. (Different rules apply to foreigners.)

In the Netherlands you must have an ID with you. I agree, chances that the police ask for an ID are low but if they do and you can't produce a valid ID, you'll most probably get fined (50 EUR).

In France it is a legal requirement that you can prove your identity if asked to do so by the police or similar authority. Useful documents are a passport, resident's card or passport, that contain your photograph and preferably your home address.

In Denmark, foreigners from countries outside the EU/EEA/Nordic countries have to carry their passport at all times to prove that their stay is legal. Their is no such requirement for people from EU/EEA/Nordic countries. People from these countries should be able to identify themselves, though. For Danish citizens in Denmark, there are no requirements of carrying ID whatsoever.

The police has the right to ask anybody to identify himself (to state his name and date of birth), even if no offence has been commited. The police can ask foreigners for passport/ID.

US Passports don't have a home address as an "official" part of the document. There is a space (which the passport agency suggests you pencil in) where you can list your address.

Having travelled in practically all European countries very extensively, I must say that the only places anyone asked for my passport/ID were the hotel receptions and airport gate agents. So while it's technically compulsory to carry your passport with you in parctice you won't face any problems if you don't. Of course it's always a good idea to carry some identification, in case of accidents, emergencies, etc.

(Once I was med-evac'd from MOW and the passport was at the hotel, myself in intensive care and the hotel wouldn't let anyone into my room to pick up my stuff. No passport - no med-evac. Quite an impasse until the hotel mngr could finally be persuaded that it's OK for Sergey to come and pick up all my stuff)