I have worked in hotels for fourteen years, and there is one conversation at reception I have watched play out more times than any other. A guest checks out, sees a charge they were not expecting, and says some version of: but I already paid everything online.
They are right. They did. And they still owe this.
Tourist tax is not part of your room rate, it is not the hotel’s money, and it is not included in any board basis — not room only, not all-inclusive, not ultra all-inclusive. It is collected at the property, in addition to everything you have already paid, and in 2026 it is a great deal more than most travellers assume.
Barcelona’s roughly doubled in April. Amsterdam now charges a percentage of your room rate rather than a couple of euros. Edinburgh introduced a levy that did not exist two years ago.
Rates below are current as of August 2026. Check the official municipal source before you travel — these change constantly, and that is precisely why most pages you will find on this are wrong.
what hotel meal plans include — and why tourist tax never is
What is a tourist tax?
The short answer
A tourist tax — also called city tax, occupancy tax or stay tax — is a fee charged by a local council on overnight visitors. It is calculated per person per night, or occasionally as a percentage of the room rate. It is almost never included in the price you see on Booking.com or Expedia, and it is collected by the hotel at check-in or check-out on the council’s behalf. Children are usually exempt below an age threshold that varies by city, and many places stop charging after a set number of nights.
You will see it written as tasa turística in Spain, taxe de séjour in France, Kurtaxe in Germany, imposta di soggiorno in Italy and toeristenbelasting in the Netherlands.
Tourist tax rates in Europe, 2026
Last checked: August 2026. Rates change several times a year and are set locally, so always confirm with the city council or your hotel before you travel.
Spain
| Place | Rate per person, per night | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | €9.50–€12.00 | Doubled on 1 April 2026. Catalonia regional rate (€4.50 apartments to €7.00 luxury) plus a Barcelona municipal surcharge. The law permits the surcharge to rise further, so expect increases. |
| Catalonia (rest) | €1.20–€7.00 | By accommodation category |
| Balearics (Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca) | €1–€4 | 1 May–31 Oct only. €1 hostals, €2 rural/rentals/1–3 star, €3 3-star superior to 4-star, €4 five-star plus 10% VAT |
| Santiago de Compostela | ~€1 |
Children under 17 are exempt in Catalonia and under 16 in the Balearics.
Italy
| City | Rate per person, per night | Night cap |
|---|---|---|
| Rome | €3–€10 | 10 consecutive nights |
| Venice (overnight) | €1–€5 | 5–10 nights depending on area |
| Florence | €3.50–€8 | 7 consecutive nights |
| Milan | €3–€10 (€9.50 short-term rentals) | Raised near Olympic venues |
| Naples | €3–€6 |
Rome also added a €2 access charge for the Trevi Fountain from 1 February 2026 — separate from the accommodation tax.
Venice’s day-tripper access fee — a different thing entirely
This catches people out because it is not a tourist tax at all.
If you are staying overnight in Venice, you pay the accommodation tax above and nothing else. If you are visiting for the day and entering the historic centre between 08:30 and 16:00 on one of roughly 60 designated peak days between April and late July, you pay a separate access fee: €5 if you register at least four days ahead, €10 if you leave it later.
Exempt: overnight guests, children under 14, residents, students and people travelling for work.
France
| City | Rate per adult, per night | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Paris | €0.65–€15.93 | Wide range by category. Includes an Île-de-France regional surcharge that adds a large multiple on top of the base rate |
| Nice and other cities | Varies by commune | Set locally; check the mairie |
Under-18s are exempt in France.
Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czechia
| City | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | 12.5% of the room price | Percentage, not flat — so it scales with what you paid. VAT applies on top. Among the highest in Europe |
| Berlin | 7.5% of the net room price | Up to 21 nights |
| Vienna | 3.2%, rising to 5% from 1 July 2026 | Percentage of the accommodation charge |
| Prague | ~CZK 50 (about €2) | Up to 60 nights; under-18s exempt |
Portugal, Greece, Croatia, Scotland
| Place | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | €4 per person, per night | First 7 nights only; under-13s exempt |
| Greece / Athens | €0.50–€15 per room, per night | Per room, not per person. Seasonal — much higher in summer |
| Croatia (Dubrovnik, Split) | €1.86–€2.65 per adult, per night | Seasonal. Under-12s exempt, 12–18 reduced |
| Edinburgh | 5% of the accommodation cost | New levy. Capped at the first 5 consecutive nights |
Why isn’t it included in the price you booked?
This is the part that annoys people, and there is an actual reason for it.
The hotel is not keeping this money. Tourist tax is a pass-through. The property collects it, holds it, and remits it to the council on a fixed schedule. Legally the hotel is an unpaid collection agent, which is why front desk staff are so consistently unsympathetic when you argue about it — they genuinely cannot waive it, and they have to account for every cent.
It sits outside the room rate in the hotel’s own systems. Rates loaded to Booking.com or Expedia are the accommodation product. The tax is posted separately, which is why it shows up as a line item at checkout rather than in the total you agreed to.
Booking platforms do disclose it — badly. It is almost always there, under “taxes and charges not included” or in the small print below the total. Technically disclosed, practically invisible, which is how people end up surprised.
It is never in any board basis. Not room only, not bed and breakfast, not half board, not full board, not all-inclusive, and not ultra all-inclusive. I have had the “but it’s all-inclusive” conversation more times than I can count. The word “all” refers to food and drink. It has never referred to municipal taxation
what each hotel meal plan actually includes
Do children pay tourist tax?
Usually not, but the threshold varies a lot and it is worth checking, because for a family it is the difference between a nuisance and a real cost.
- Catalonia (including Barcelona): under 17 exempt
- Balearic Islands: under 16 exempt
- France: under 18 exempt
- Czechia: under 18 exempt
- Portugal (Lisbon): under 13 exempt
- Croatia: under 12 exempt, 12–18 reduced rate
- Italy: varies by city, commonly under 10 or under 12
- Venice access fee: under 14 exempt
A family of two adults and two teenagers in Barcelona pays for two people if the children are 16 or under, and for four if they are 17 and 18. That is a meaningful difference over a week.
How much will it actually cost you?
Work it out before you book, not at checkout.
rate per person per night × paying guests × nights (up to the cap)
Three worked examples at August 2026 rates:
- Two adults, 4 nights, Rome 4-star (€6 each): €48
- Two adults + two children under 17, 5 nights, Barcelona 4-star: children exempt, so 2 × 5 × the applicable rate — comfortably into three figures at current rates
- Two adults, 3 nights, Amsterdam, €200/night room: 12.5% of €600 = €75, plus VAT
The Amsterdam example is the one to notice. Percentage-based taxes scale with your room rate, so an expensive city-centre hotel carries a much larger charge than the flat-fee cities. If you are comparing two destinations on budget, this belongs in the comparison.
What about Airbnb and short-term rentals?
Short-term rentals are taxed too — and in several countries the platform now collects it at booking rather than the host collecting on arrival.
Airbnb collects automatically in much of France and Italy, among others. If it was collected at booking, it will be on your reservation receipt.
Check your invoice. The failure mode is paying twice: the platform collected it, the host asks for it again on arrival, and you have no idea which is right. Screenshot the receipt line before you travel and the conversation takes ten seconds.
Rates for rentals are often set differently from hotels — Barcelona charges tourist apartments on a separate band, and Milan charges short-term rentals more than three-star hotels.
How to avoid being caught out
- Look for “taxes and charges not included” on the booking page before you pay. It is there.
- Search the city and the year — “Barcelona tourist tax 2026” — rather than trusting a page that does not say when it was last checked. Including this one: check the date at the top of the table.
- Budget it as a line item. For a family on a two-week European trip it is a real number, not a rounding error.
- Carry some cash. Most properties take card, but smaller guesthouses and B&Bs sometimes only take cash for the tax specifically, because of how they have to account for it.
- Check the night cap. Rome stops at 10 nights, Florence at 7, Lisbon at 7, Edinburgh at 5. On a longer stay this matters.
- Check the season. The Balearic ecotax only runs 1 May–31 October. Greek and Croatian rates drop substantially outside summer.
- Ask the hotel directly if the booking page is unclear. They will know precisely — it is their job to collect it.
Is it worth it?
Mild defence of a thing nobody enjoys paying.
The money is ring-fenced for tourism infrastructure, heritage maintenance and managing the effects of mass tourism — and in Catalonia, a quarter of it now goes to housing policy, which is a direct response to what short-term letting has done to rents in Barcelona. Venice’s access fee exists to make day-tripping less attractive, which is the entire point.
You can reasonably argue about whether it is set at the right level or spent well. What is not in dispute is that it is mandatory, enforced, and not going away — rates across Europe have gone in one direction for a decade.
Budget for it, and it stops being an unpleasant surprise and becomes just another line in the cost of the trip.
Have you been caught out by one of these at checkout? Tell me which city in the comments — I am keeping this table current and real reports from readers are the fastest way I hear about a change.
Frequently asked questions about tourist tax in Europe
Is tourist tax included in the hotel price?
No. Tourist tax is almost never included in the price shown on booking platforms. It is listed separately under taxes and charges not included, and it is collected by the hotel at check-in or check-out. It is also excluded from every board basis, including all-inclusive and ultra all-inclusive.
How much is tourist tax in Barcelona in 2026?
Barcelona’s tourist tax roughly doubled on 1 April 2026 and now runs from about 9.50 euros to 12 euros per person per night, combining the Catalonia regional rate with a Barcelona municipal surcharge. The exact amount depends on your accommodation category, and the surcharge is legally permitted to rise further. Children under 17 are exempt.
How much is tourist tax in Italy?
It varies by city. Rome charges 3 to 10 euros per person per night, capped at 10 consecutive nights. Florence charges 3.50 to 8 euros, capped at 7 nights. Milan charges up to 10 euros. Venice charges 1 to 5 euros for overnight guests, separately from its day-tripper access fee.
Do children pay tourist tax?
Usually not, but the age threshold varies. Children under 17 are exempt in Catalonia, under 16 in the Balearic Islands, under 18 in France and Czechia, under 13 in Lisbon and under 12 in Croatia. Italian cities set their own limits, commonly around age 10 or 12.
What is the Venice access fee and do I have to pay it?
The Venice access fee applies only to day visitors entering the historic centre between 08:30 and 16:00 on around 60 designated peak days between April and late July. It costs 5 euros if you register at least four days in advance and 10 euros if you register later. Overnight guests, children under 14, residents, students and people travelling for work are exempt.
Can you refuse to pay tourist tax?
No. It is a mandatory local charge and hotels are legally required to collect it and remit it to the council. Staff cannot waive it, because the money is not the hotel’s to waive. It is a pass-through charge the property collects on the local authority’s behalf.
