Schengen 90/180 FAQ
Common questions, answered
Stay180's Schengen calculator applies the rolling 90/180 rule, so here are the traps that catch people out most often — does the window reset, do border days count, does crossing a border restart the clock.
- Does the 90-day Schengen limit reset on 1 January?
- No. The 90/180 rule is not counted per calendar year. It is a rolling window: on every day of your stay you look back 180 days, and your total time inside Schengen must not exceed 90 days. There is no January reset — days only return as older days roll out of the window.
- Do weekends count? Is a Friday-to-Sunday trip two days or three?
- Three. The day you enter and the day you leave each count as a full day inside Schengen, so a Friday-to-Sunday trip uses three of your 90 days, not two. Counting nights instead of border days understates every trip.
- Does moving between Schengen countries reset the count — for example entering Italy?
- No. The 90 days are one area-wide pool shared by all 29 Schengen countries. Crossing from France into Italy, or from Spain into Portugal, does not reset or restart anything, and there is no separate per-country allowance to use up.
- I have 40 days left today. Can I book a 40-day trip?
- Not necessarily. “Days left today” describes only today’s look-back. Every day of the trip is checked against its own 180-day window, and the trip adds a day each morning, so a stay can reach 90 part-way through. Plan against the leave-by date for your entry date instead.
- Can I leave for a day and come back for another 90 days?
- No. Leaving Schengen only stops new days being added; the days you already spent stay in the window for 180 days from each day you were present. A short “visa run” does not reset your allowance — you have to wait for old days to age out.
- Which countries count toward the 90 days?
- All 29 Schengen countries count, including Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The United Kingdom and Ireland do not. Time in a non-Schengen country does not use your allowance, but it does not reset it either.
- What is a leave-by date?
- A leave-by date is the last day you can still be inside Schengen for a given entry date without exceeding 90 days in any 180-day period. Stay180 checks every day of the planned trip and returns that date, so you can book against it.
- Is Stay180 an official calculator?
- No. Stay180 is a free planning tool, not immigration advice or a government service. Confirm the same dates on the European Commission’s official short-stay calculator before you travel.