Your trips
Enter each stay in the Schengen Area. Entry and exit days both count. Add past and planned trips.
Plan your next trip
Result
Check the price, legal status and red flags before you book the trip, so your limited days go to properties worth seeing.
Get a Property ReportHow the Schengen 90/180 rule works
If you do not need a visa for short stays (for example as a citizen of the US, UK, Canada, Australia or New Zealand), or you hold a short-stay Schengen visa, you may stay in the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
The 180 days are not a calendar half-year. For every day you are in the Schengen Area, you look back 180 days, counting that day too, and add up all the days you were inside. That total must never go above 90. Because the window moves forward one day at a time, old days slowly "fall off" and become available again exactly 180 days later.
Example
You arrive on 1 January and stay until 31 March. That is 90 days, so you must leave by 31 March. Your 1 January day stops counting on 30 June, so 30 June is the earliest date you can come back. If you then stay continuously, one old day drops off for every new day you add, so you could stay up to 90 days again.
Which countries count
The Schengen Area has 29 countries, and Croatia has been one of them since 1 January 2023: 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. All of them share one 90-day counter. Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not in Schengen, so days there do not count.
Buying property in Croatia? How the 90/180 rule affects you
Many people who look at apartments on the Adriatic coast or in Zagreb are surprised that owning property does not change how long they may stay. Whether the rule applies depends on your passport:
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens
The 90/180 rule does not apply to you. You can live in Croatia under EU free movement rules, though longer stays may need to be registered locally.
US, UK, Canadian, Australian buyers
You can buy and use your property, but your stays are limited to 90 days in any 180. Days in your own apartment count like any others.
Remote workers
To stay longer than 90 days you need a residence permit, for example Croatia's digital nomad permit. Living and buying in Croatia as a digital nomad.
Planning your viewing and purchase trips
A typical purchase takes more than one visit: a viewing trip, sometimes a second visit to decide, and the signing at the notary. If you are not an EU citizen, plan these trips with the calculator above and keep a buffer of days in case the signing date moves. Doing your checks remotely before you travel saves days for the properties that are really worth seeing:
EES: your days are now counted automatically
Since October 2025 the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) has been registering non-EU travellers at the external Schengen borders with their passport details, a facial image and fingerprints. Every entry and exit is stored electronically. The 90/180 rule itself has not changed, but border guards can now see your exact count, and an overstay is recorded automatically instead of depending on passport stamps.
ETIAS: what changes and when
ETIAS is a separate online travel authorisation that visa-exempt visitors will need to get before travelling to most Schengen countries. It has been postponed several times and has no confirmed start date. The EU has said it will announce the date several months in advance, and there will be a transition period after launch. ETIAS will not give you more days: the 90/180 rule stays the same.
Last checked: November 2026.
Common mistakes
- "90 days = 3 months." It is 90 actual days. Three calendar months are often 91 or 92 days.
- "Leaving resets the counter." It does not. Only days older than 180 days stop counting.
- "Each country has its own 90 days." No, it is one counter for all Schengen countries.
- Forgetting short trips. A weekend in Paris or a one-day stopover still counts as days of stay.
- Mixing EU and Schengen. Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not in Schengen. Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are in Schengen but not the EU.
What happens if you overstay
Consequences depend on the country and the situation. They can include a fine, an order to leave, a record in the EES database and, in serious cases, an entry ban. An overstay can also make future visa or ETIAS applications harder. If you think you may be close to the limit, check your dates before you travel.
Frequently asked questions
How does the Schengen 90/180 rule work?
On any day you are in the Schengen Area, look back 180 days including that day. The number of days you spent inside the Schengen Area in that window must not be more than 90. The window moves forward every day, so it is a rolling count, not a fixed half-year.
Do the entry and exit days count?
Yes. The day you arrive and the day you leave both count as full days of stay, even if you only spent a few hours in the Schengen Area.
Does the 90-day counter reset when I leave?
No. Leaving does not reset anything. Each past day only stops counting once it is more than 180 days in the past. That is why the calculator shows the date your next day becomes available again.
Is the count per country or for the whole Schengen Area?
For the whole Schengen Area together. Days in France, Italy, Croatia or any other Schengen country are all added to one counter.
Does EES change the 90/180 rule?
No, the rule is the same. The Entry/Exit System (EES) records your entries and exits electronically, so border guards can see your exact number of days and overstays are detected automatically instead of being calculated from passport stamps.
When does ETIAS start?
ETIAS, the travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors, has no confirmed start date yet. The EU says it will announce the date several months before launch. ETIAS does not change the 90/180 rule either.
Does owning property in Croatia let me stay longer than 90 days?
No. Buying an apartment or house does not by itself extend the 90/180 limit for non-EU citizens. Days spent in your own property count like any other days in the Schengen Area. For longer stays you need a Croatian residence permit for a specific purpose, such as work, family reunification or the digital nomad permit. Check the current requirements with the Croatian Ministry of the Interior.
Do days with a residence permit or long-stay visa count?
Days spent in a Schengen country on that country's residence permit or national long-stay (D) visa generally do not count towards the 90 days for that country. Short stays in other Schengen countries can still count, and rules differ by country, so check with the relevant authority.
This calculator is a planning tool and not legal advice. Border guards decide on entry. Some nationalities have bilateral agreements with individual Schengen countries, and the validity of a Schengen visa can be shorter than 90 days. Your dates are stored only in your own browser.