Tourist taxes in Europe: what you pay city by city in 2026

Almost every popular city in Europe adds a tax to each night you spend in a hotel, hostel or holiday rental. It goes by different names, tourist tax, city tax, visitor levy, taxe de séjour, toeristenbelasting, but it works the same way: the accommodation collects it from you and passes it to the city or region. It is rarely large on its own, but on a two-week trip across several cities it adds up to real money.

It affects anyone who pays for a bed, regardless of nationality. Residents of the same country usually pay too. What changes from place to place is the method (a fixed amount per person, or a percentage of the room price), who is exempt, and how many nights are taxed.

There is no European tourist tax. Each city, region or country sets its own, so two cities an hour apart by train can charge very different amounts. Most charge per person per night, often scaled by hotel category, and cap the number of taxed nights. A growing number charge a percentage of the room price instead, which makes the tax rise with the rate.

You rarely pay it to anyone but your host. Hotels add it to the bill; rental platforms often show it as a separate line, sometimes payable in cash on arrival. The main exceptions are day-visitor fees, such as the one Venice charged on set days in 2026, and levies on cruise passengers, which the cruise operator pays to the city.

Amsterdam charges a percentage of the room price rather than a flat sum. It applies to hotels, hostels, guesthouses, apartments, bed and breakfasts, short-stay rentals and campsites across the municipality. The host charges it and pays it to the city.

The rates are on the City of Amsterdam's tourist tax page. On a room at €200 a night before VAT, the tax is €25 a night. If you are flexible, staying in a nearby town outside the municipality changes both the room price and the tax, so it is worth comparing the total, not only the nightly rate. For the city itself, see our Amsterdam guides.

Catalonia charges a regional tax on stays in tourist accommodation, and Barcelona adds a municipal surcharge on top. The amount depends on the type and category of lodging. It is charged per person and per day of stay, up to seven days in the same place, and the agency publishes a rate table for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.

The official source is the Catalan Tax Agency's page on the tax, which links the rate sheet. Cruise passengers pay too, at a higher rate for stopovers of 12 hours or less. Barcelona's municipal surcharge is scheduled to rise from €5 to €6 on 1 April 2027 and to €7 on 1 April 2028, according to the same table. Seven other municipalities, among them Castelldefels, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Sabadell and Sant Cugat del Vallès, approved their own surcharges from 1 October 2026, so a town near Barcelona may now charge more than the regional rate shown here.

For a couple in a 4-star hotel in Barcelona for five nights, the tax is 2 × 5 × €8.40, or €84. The same couple in a tourist apartment pays €95. Our Barcelona guides cover where to stay.

Edinburgh's visitor levy applies to stays from 24 July 2026. It is a percentage of the room cost, charged at the same rate all year, and it applies to everyone in paid overnight accommodation, including people from elsewhere in Scotland and the UK.

The levy covers hotels, B&Bs, guest houses, hostels, self-catering and short-term lets, campsites and even moored boats. Some groups are exempt, and some people on disability benefits can be reimbursed the levy afterward; the council lists both on its information for visitors page, and the scheme itself is described on the Edinburgh Visitor Levy page. Other Scottish councils can introduce their own levies under the same national law, so check the council of the town you are staying in. See our Edinburgh guides for the city.

Paris and the rest of France use the taxe de séjour, which is set locally and shown on your bill. No rates are listed here because they differ by accommodation type and location. Check the website of the city or commune where you are staying for the current amounts.

Norway and Iceland also have overnight charges, but no figures are given here. In Norway, check the municipality where you are staying before you rely on any amount. In Iceland, check the booking breakdown or the tax authority's English pages, since the charge usually appears as its own line.

On its own, a tourist tax rarely changes where you stay. Across a longer trip it becomes a line in the budget. Take a couple spending three nights in Amsterdam at €200 a night before VAT, four nights in a 4-star hotel in Barcelona and three nights in Edinburgh at £150 a night before VAT. The taxes come to €75 in Amsterdam, €67.20 in Barcelona and £22.50 in Edinburgh, or €142.20 plus £22.50 for ten nights.

The same trip in a hostel or budget hotel costs much less in tax, because both the percentage taxes and the category rates fall with the price of the room. Families benefit in Catalonia, where under-17s are exempt, but not everywhere: check each city's own exemptions rather than assuming children are free.

Venice is the exception to the overnight model. Guests in the municipality pay the tourist tax through their host, but day visitors paid an access fee on set days in 2026, between 3 April and 26 July: €5 if paid by the fourth day before the visit and €10 in the three days before it. Overnight guests in the municipality were exempt, though they had to get an exemption voucher or fill in a declaration.

The official site says the 2026 trial period has ended, that the fee has not applied since 27 July, and that any measures for later years are up to the City's governing bodies. Our full guide to the Venice access fee has the details, the exemptions and the official links.

The tax bites hardest on long stays in one expensive city and on travelers who choose by headline price. A percentage tax such as Amsterdam's rises with every euro on the room rate, so a splurge costs more twice. A flat tax set by category, as in Barcelona, depends on the type of lodging instead. If you are choosing between two similar hotels, compare the final total with the tax added, not the nightly rate.

Two common mistakes are worth avoiding. The first is assuming a prepaid booking covers everything, when many listings leave the tax to be paid at the property. Keep some cash or a card ready at check-in. The second is assuming children are free everywhere. In Catalonia anyone aged 16 or younger is exempt, but the rule differs from city to city.

Tourist taxes are small next to the room rate, but they matter when you compare options. A percentage tax, as in Amsterdam or Edinburgh, grows with the price of the room. A flat tax by category, as in Barcelona, can make a 5-star hotel noticeably more expensive per person than a 4-star. Caps on the number of nights, seven in Catalonia and five in Edinburgh, reward longer stays in one place.

Budget for the tax on top of the room price unless the booking says it is included, and keep the receipt if you are claiming the trip as a business expense. For the other costs of moving around Europe, see whether a Eurail pass is worth it, and for entry rules, our guide to ETIAS, which is a separate fee and not running yet.