Schengen's 90/180 rule, with a simple counting example
A border crossing does not give you a fresh allowance. Here is how to count a short stay and leave room for changes to your plans.
If your European trip is getting close to three months, count the days before you book the last flight. For many non-EU visitors, the short-stay limit is 90 days in any rolling 180-day period across the Schengen area, not 90 days in each country.
This guide covers ordinary short visits. Residence permits, long-stay visas and some family-member rights need separate advice. A short-stay visa can also authorise fewer days than the general maximum.
How the rolling window works
For every day you plan to be in Schengen, look back over the preceding 180 days, including that day. Your total presence within that window must stay within your allowance. Both the day you enter and the day you leave count.
Imagine you spent 30 days in France earlier in the same 180-day window. If all those days still fall within the window during your next visit, you have at most 60 days available under the general rule. Moving on to Italy or Switzerland uses that same allowance. A weekend outside Schengen does not replace it with a new 90 days.
The European Commission's short-stay calculator is useful for testing actual arrival and departure dates. Its answer is a planning aid, not an entry permit.
Put every visit in the calculation
Include short city breaks, work trips covered by short-stay permission and any arrival or departure day you might otherwise overlook. Save the dates in one place rather than trying to reconstruct them from photographs later.
For a trip through several countries, make a continuous timeline. A Paris-to-Rome train journey does not create a new immigration allowance. Nor does a different calendar year reset the calculation.
If you need a visa, check its permitted duration, validity dates and number of entries as well. Having unused days under the general rule does not override an expired visa or a single-entry restriction. The EU visa overview explains those different permissions.
Leave a little room before your last permitted day if you can. A cancelled flight is much easier to handle when your itinerary has some flexibility. If illness or disruption threatens an overstay, contact the relevant immigration authority promptly and keep evidence; do not assume an extension is automatic.
For a longer itinerary, read planning time outside Schengen before choosing your next base.