What counts as visiting a country?

The only rule that matters is the one you apply everywhere. Most travellers use a version of this: you have visited a country when you have left the airport transit area and spent time on its soil under your own steam.

Airport layovers are usually excluded unless you clear immigration and leave the terminal. Cruise stops normally count, since you step ashore and pass a border check. Driving through without stopping is the most argued case, and the common compromise is that it counts only if you stopped, ate, slept or spent money.

A country total hides how much of a place you actually saw. AvioStory lets you mark individual cities and regions, so two weeks across northern Italy looks different from a single night near the airport. Add each stop as its own visit and your map tells the honest version.

More on this in how to track the countries you have visited.