Do Bulgaria and Romania count toward the Schengen 90 days?
For years, a week in Sofia or Bucharest was a way to spend time in Europe without touching the Schengen allowance. That stopped in 2024. Here is when, what changed in two steps, and what it means for a count today.
Short answer
Yes. Days in Bulgaria and Romania count toward the Schengen 90 days in any 180, from 31 March 2024. They share one allowance with every other Schengen country, however you arrive. A trip there no longer resets anything or adds days. Days spent in either country before 31 March 2024 were not Schengen days.
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When did Bulgaria and Romania join Schengen?
They joined in two steps, each set by a Council decision:
| Date | What changed | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| 31/03/2024 | The Schengen rules apply in full in both countries. Checks on people at internal air and sea borders end. | Council Decision (EU) 2024/210 of 30 December 2023 |
| 01/01/2025 | Checks on people at internal land borders with and between the two countries end. | Council Decision (EU) 2024/3212 of 12 December 2024 |
The first date is the one that matters for counting. From 31 March 2024 both countries apply the whole Schengen rulebook, including the short-stay rule in Article 6(1) of the Schengen Borders Code, Regulation (EU) 2016/399. Romania’s foreign ministry says that stays in Romania are treated as stays in the Schengen area and included in the 90-day calculation. Denmark’s immigration service published the same reading for both countries in April 2024.
Does it matter if you cross by land or by air?
Not for the count. The second step, on 1 January 2025, removed passport checks on the roads and rail lines between Bulgaria, Romania and their Schengen neighbours. It did not change which days count, because a day in either country was already a day in the Schengen area from 31 March 2024. Driving in from Greece in 2024 meant a passport check at the border; in 2026 it usually means none. In both years, the day is one of your 90.
The rule counts calendar days, not nights, and arrival and departure days both count, whichever country they fall in. How that works on every other border is in the Schengen 90/180 rule explained.
Can you still use Bulgaria or Romania to reset the 90 days?
No. Older travel advice, much of it still online, suggested spending part of a long European trip in Bulgaria, Romania or Croatia to give the Schengen count a rest. Croatia joined in 2023 and the other two in 2024, so that advice no longer works. Here is what it does now. You spend 1 March to 29 April 2026 in Spain, then cross to Bulgaria on 30 April.
| Trip | Dates | Days | Used after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 01/03/2026 – 29/04/2026 | 60 | 60 |
| Bulgaria | 30/04/2026 – 29/05/2026 | 30 | 90 |
Bulgaria gives no new allowance. The 30 days left after Spain run out there, and 29 May 2026 is the last day the traveller can be anywhere in the area. Staying on to 30 May would be day 91. The Spanish days only start to drop out on 28 August 2026, 180 days after 1 March, one a day, so leaving for a non-Schengen country is the only way to stay within the rule. Working out the first day back is covered in when can I return to Schengen.
What about days there before 31 March 2024?
Before that date, Bulgaria and Romania were in the EU but not yet applying the Schengen short-stay rule, and the governments’ notices describe the count as starting on 31 March 2024. So a trip that straddles the date counts only from the 31st. Take a traveller in France from 1 January to 28 February 2024, then in Romania from 1 March to 30 April 2024:
| Trip | Dates | Calendar days | Counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 01/01/2024 – 28/02/2024 | 59 | 59 |
| Romania | 01/03/2024 – 30/04/2024 | 61 | 31 |
| On 30/04/2024 | window from 03/11/2023 | 120 | 90 |
On 30 March 2024 the count was 59, the French days only. On 31 March it became 60, and by 30 April it reached exactly 90. A calculator that counted all 61 Romanian days would have shown 120 and an overstay that never happened.
For a count made today this hardly matters: a day on 30 March 2024 left every 180-day window on 26 September 2024. It still matters for a record of past years, such as a report of where you were in 2024, and for reading an old count in a forum post or an email. If you keep a ledger that goes back that far, check that it doesn’t charge you for those weeks.
Which EU countries still don’t count?
Two EU members stay outside the Schengen area: Ireland and Cyprus. Days there do not count toward the 90, and the same is true of French overseas departments such as Réunion. On the other side, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City are not members but can only be reached through the area. The full list of countries that count is in the 90/180 guide.
How Rollbook counts Bulgaria and Romania
Rollbook keeps one dated table of Schengen members, so each country counts from the day it joined: Croatia from 1 January 2023, Bulgaria and Romania from 31 March 2024. A trip written in for Romania in March 2024 counts from the 31st on its own, with no editing, and a trip to Ireland or Cyprus is kept in the ledger but marked “doesn’t count”. The “How this was counted” screen lists every trip in the current window with the days it adds, the date the rules were last reviewed, and the article of the regulation they come from.
This guide explains how days are counted. It is not legal advice. People with a long-stay visa, a residence permit or an EU-citizen family member can have different rules; check with the consulate of the country concerned. Dates of membership are as of October 2026.
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