Travel Days Calculator
Count the length of a trip the way border authorities do: both the arrival day and the departure day count as full days.
Optional. Enter the number of days your visa or entry permits, if you know it.
How a trip is counted
Immigration authorities count presence in calendar days, not in nights, and a day you were present for any part of is a day you were present. That is why this calculator counts both ends of a trip.
The arrival day counts in full
It makes no difference whether you land at 06:00 or 23:50. The date is recorded and the whole day counts.
The departure day counts in full
A flight out at 07:00 still uses a day. The date of exit is the last day of the stay, not the day before it.
So the total is one more than the gap
Subtracting one date from the other gives the number of nights. The number of days is that figure plus one.
A worked example
You arrive on 1 June and leave on 20 June. Subtracting the dates gives 19, and 19 is the number of nights you slept there. The number of days you were present is 20 — 1 June and 20 June included. If a rule allows you 20 days, this trip uses all of them, and a great many people plan it as though one day were still spare.
Where people get this wrong
Counting nights instead of days
Hotels charge by the night and borders count by the day. The two figures differ by one on every trip, and the difference always runs against you.
Assuming a same-day trip costs nothing
Entering and leaving on the same date is one day of presence, not zero. A day trip across a border still uses a day of any allowance.
Discounting a late arrival or an early departure
There is no partial day and no proportional credit. A stay of two hours on a date uses that date.
Common questions
Does the day I arrive count?
Yes, in full. Under Article 6(2) of the Schengen Borders Code the date of entry counts as the first day of stay, and most other countries count the same way.
Does the day I leave count?
Yes. The date of exit counts as the last day of stay. Leaving early in the morning does not return the day to you.
What is the difference between days and nights?
Nights are the gaps between dates; days are the dates themselves. A trip of 19 nights is a trip of 20 days, and immigration rules are written in days.
Does a stopover or airside transit count?
It depends on whether you cross the border. Staying airside in an international transit area is usually not an entry, but the moment you pass through immigration control the date is recorded. If you are unsure, assume it counts.
Further reading
Longer explanations of the rules this page applies.
- Your flight left on Tuesday. The border says Wednesday.Long-haul travel routinely lands you on a different calendar day from the one you departed, and the day your count uses is the one recorded where you crossed. For anyone close to the limit, that single detail decides whether a trip fits.
- Does your arrival day count? Almost always, yesThe most common day-counting mistake, and the one that gets people refused at the border. Worked examples for Schengen, the UK and fixed-day permissions.
Next steps
The questions travellers usually ask after this one.
- Visa Stay CalculatorWork out the exact date your permission to stay runs out, from the allowance your visa or entry actually grants.
- Schengen 90/180 CalculatorWork out how many of your 90 days you have used in the rolling 180-day window, and whether a planned trip stays within it.
- Date Difference CalculatorFind the days, weeks, months and years between any two dates — in either direction.