Guide

The Schengen 90/180 rule explained, and how to check your own days

If you visit Europe without a long-stay visa or residence permit, you can spend at most 90 days in the Schengen Area in any 180-day period. The rule sounds simple, but the rolling window catches people out. Here's how it works, and how to check your past stays using your Google Maps Timeline.

Not legal advice. Always confirm borderline trips with the official EU short-stay calculator or the relevant embassy.

The rule in plain words

• 90 days in any 180. On any given day, look back over the previous 180 days, including today. The number of days you were in the Schengen Area in that window must not exceed 90.
• It's a rolling window, with no reset date. Leaving for a while doesn't reset your count; old days simply drop out of the window as it moves forward.
• Entry and exit days both count as full days. Arriving late on Friday and leaving early on Sunday uses three days.
• All 29 Schengen countries count as one. Days in France, Italy and Spain come out of the same 90; there's no separate allowance per country.

The rule applies to non-EU visitors on short stays, whether or not they need a visa. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens aren't subject to it.

Which countries count

The Schengen Area has 29 members: 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 Schengen, so days there don't count towards the 90. Croatia joined in 2023, and Romania and Bulgaria in 2024 and 2025, so earlier days in those countries didn't count. Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City aren't members, but they have open borders with France or Italy and can only be reached through the Schengen Area, so in practice days there count too; There I Went counts them.

What's changed: the Entry/Exit System

Since 10 April 2026, the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully operational at Schengen external borders. It records non-EU travellers' entries and exits electronically, with a photo and fingerprints, replacing passport stamps, and it calculates your 90/180 balance automatically. The rule itself hasn't changed, but overstays are now easy for border officers to see. A separate travel authorisation, ETIAS, is planned but not yet running; the EU says it will announce a start date several months before launch.

Checking your past days with There I Went

1. Export your Timeline and open it at thereiwent.com.
2. Choose the period you're interested in, using the date buttons above the timeline bar.
3. In the Days per country section, look for the Schengen line. It shows how many days you were in the Schengen Area in that period, and the highest number of days in any 180-day window, counting back into earlier months where needed, along with the date that window ended. If it's over 90, it's highlighted.

There I Went counts a day as Schengen if you were in a Schengen country at any point that day, matching the rule that entry and exit days count in full. It only shows the Schengen line when your home is outside the Schengen Area, since the rule doesn't apply otherwise.

Things to watch

• Gaps in your history. If your phone wasn't recording during a trip, those days are missing from any count. Check the missing-data notice, and see why days go missing.
• Planning ahead. Your Timeline shows the past. For a future trip, add its dates to your recent history in the official EU short-stay calculator to check you'll stay within 90.
• Visas and permits. A national long-stay visa or residence permit changes the picture; days on those generally don't count towards the short-stay allowance in the same way. Check your specific situation.