How long can I stay in the Schengen area? Worked examples

You can stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. How long you can stay on a particular date depends on the trips you took in the 180 days before it, and on any trips you have already booked after it. The examples below work through the common situations with real dates. In all of them the day you arrive and the day you leave both count.

Every figure on this page has been checked against the rule in the Schengen Borders Code, using a method that reproduces the European Commission's own published examples.

I spent July and August in Spain. When can I go back?

You were in Spain from 1 July to 31 August 2027. That is 62 days, so you have 28 left.

• Go back in the autumn and you can stay 28 days. Arrive on 1 October and you must leave by 28 October.
• Wait until 30 November 2027 and you can stay a full 90 days, until 27 February 2028.

Why 30 November? From 28 December the July days start dropping out of the 180-day window, one a day. If your 28 days run out before then, you have to leave. Arrive on 30 November and your 28th day is 27 December; from the next day, an old day drops out for every new one you add.

One day makes the difference. Arrive on 29 November and you get 28 days. Arrive on 30 November and you get 90.

Can I spend two months in winter and two months in summer?

Yes. Say you are in Portugal from 5 January to 5 March 2027 (60 days) and again from 1 July to 29 August 2027 (60 days). No 180-day window ever holds more than 63 of those days.

How much can you add in between?

• In spring: from 1 May you can stay 27 days, until 27 May. Not 30. The last three days of the winter trip (3 to 5 March) are still in the window on 29 August, the final day of the summer trip, so spring can take 27.
• In autumn: from 1 October you can stay 30 days.

I have a trip booked in March. How long can I go for in January?

You spent 20 September to 3 November 2026 in Greece (45 days). You have booked 6 March to 4 April 2027 in Austria (30 days). You would like to get away from 4 January 2027.

• A calculator that only looks backwards says 45 days, until 17 February. You have used 45, so 45 are left.
• The answer that keeps your March trip is 32 days, until 4 February.

If you take the full 45 days, you arrive at 6 March with the window completely full: 45 days from the autumn and 45 from January and February. You could not enter at all that day. The earliest you could start the March trip would be 19 March.

I have the summer booked. How long can I go for in spring?

You have no recent trips, and you have booked 10 July to 7 September 2027 in France (60 days). You are thinking about a spring trip from 1 April.

• Looking only backwards, you have a full 90 days from 1 April.
• To keep the summer booking, you can stay 30 days, until 30 April.

On 7 September the window reaches back to 12 March. Any spring day after 12 March shares the window with all 60 summer days, so only 30 of them fit.

That also shows the way round it: go earlier. Arrive on 1 February and you can stay 69 days, until 10 April, because the days before 12 March have dropped out by the time the summer trip ends.

Does arriving a few days later make a difference?

It can make a large one. You toured France and Italy by motorhome from 12 April to 6 June 2027 (56 days). You want to go back in early September.

• Arrive on 1 September and you can stay 34 days, until 4 October.
• Arrive on 5 September and you can stay 90 days.

The April days start dropping out of the window on 9 October. Arrive on 1 September and your 34 days run out on 4 October, five days too early to benefit. Arrive on 5 September and day 34 falls on 8 October; from 9 October each new day is matched by an old one dropping out.

I travel every week for work. Will I go over?

You fly out every Monday and home every Thursday, starting on 4 January 2027. That is four days a week, and it does not look like much.

It adds up to more than 90. By Thursday 3 June you have used 88 days of the previous 180. The following week, Monday 7 June is day 89, Tuesday 8 June is day 90 and Wednesday 9 June is day 91. You have overstayed in week 23.

Three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday, stays inside the limit all year.

How Schengen Simple helps

Each of these answers took a separate count for every day of every trip. Schengen Simple does that for you: add the trips you have taken and the ones you have booked, and the calendar shows how long you could stay from any date, with later trips already allowed for. Examples three and four are the ones a backward-looking calculator gets wrong, and they are the reason the app exists.