The Schengen 90/180 rule, explained with examples

Updated 30 September 2026. This guide explains general rules. It is not legal or tax advice.

The rule in one sentence

If you visit the Schengen area without a long-stay visa or residence permit, you may stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period. This comes from Article 6 of the Schengen Borders Code (Regulation (EU) 2016/399).

"Any 180 days" means a moving window

There is no fixed start date and no reset on 1 January. On any day you are in the area, look back over the 180 days that end on that day. The number of days you were in the Schengen area inside that window must be 90 or fewer.

This has to be true on every single day of your stay, not just on the day you arrive. A trip can be fine when you enter and become an overstay halfway through.

Example. You spent 60 days in Spain from 1 March to 29 April. On 1 July you fly to France. Looking back 180 days from 1 July, all 60 Spain days are still inside the window, so you have 30 days left. You can stay until 30 July. The Spain days only start to drop out of the window from late August.

Which days count

Arrival and departure days both count as full days, even if you land at 23:50.
Days in all Schengen countries are added together. Moving from Italy to Germany does not start a new count.
Days spent on a national long-stay (type D) visa or a residence permit of a Schengen country do not count toward the 90.
Leaving the area does not reset anything. Days simply age out once they are more than 180 days old.

Which countries are in the Schengen area

29 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not in the Schengen area. Days there do not count toward Schengen, and they have their own entry rules.

Why it matters more now

Since October 2025, the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) records your entries and exits electronically at the external border, in place of passport stamps. That makes the count automatic on the border side. Keeping your own record is the easiest way to know your number before an officer does.

Exceptions worth checking

Some countries have older bilateral agreements with certain nationalities that allow extra time in that one country. These are exceptions, they differ by passport, and they are not always applied at the border in the same way. Check with the embassy of the country concerned before you rely on one.

How to check your own dates

List every trip into the Schengen area in the last 180 days, with entry and exit dates.
Use our free Schengen calculator or the European Commission's official short-stay calculator.
Before you book, check the last day of your planned trip, not only the first.

Countr does this for you every day. It builds the trip list from your photos and location, counts the moving window, and reminds you before you reach 90.

Official sources

Countr can count this for you.

It finds your past trips in your photos and counts the days for every rule you follow, on your phone.

Download on the App Store