Tourist tax, Barcelona doubles it. Here is the ranking of the most expensive EU cities
In the Catalan capital the measure to contain the flow of travellers and vare funds for housing policies
It is a trend that has been going on for a long time: controlling, limiting, managing the great influx of travellers who, after the big break imposed by the Covid, have started to swell the numbers of tourist arrivals in the world again. The instruments are not many: access fee to the city (as in Venice) or to the monument (as in Trevi Fountain) or recourse to the lever of the tourist tax. A choice made most recently by Catalonia that will entail in particular for Barcelona a doubling of the amount with a progressive system linked to territory and seasonality. The novelty will take effect on 1 April.
Tourist tax doubled
In the Spanish city, 16 million tourists in 2025 and in the past the scene of protests against the trolley invasion, the tax in hotels will rise from 3.5 to 7 euros per night, plus the municipal tax of 4 euros (increasable up to 8), for a total of up to 15 euros. In tourist flats it will go up to 4.5 euros. In the rest of Catalonia, the increase will be 50% in 2026 and may double in 2027. The other Catalan municipalities will also be able to introduce a local surcharge of up to 4 per euro, varying according to area and season. The new resources will be allocated 25 per cent to housing policies (affordable housing) and 75 per cent to a fund for the deseasonalisation of tourism.
Amsterdam the most expensive
As of April, Barcelona will leap forward in the ranking of cities with the highest fees charged to guests of accommodation establishments. According to the ranking made by the Holidu platform, among European destinations the supremacy remains with Amsterdam: in the Dutch capital the tax for each single day of stay can touch 17.55 euros per person (12.5 per cent of the reservation calculated on a rental price for a property based on Kayak's average weekend rate per night). Applying the methodology used to draw up the ranking (in cases where the tax is based on the star classification of the accommodation, it takes into account 3-star accommodation) in second place would be Barcelona, which would rise from 5.5 to 11.07 euros. On the podium, but far behind, is a quartet of Greek destinations (Athens, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Heraklion) with the value of 7.7 euros.
The Italians: Milan at the top
Milan is the first of the Italian cities to appear in the list, which was compiled in April 2025: in the meantime, the Lombard capital has decided to raise just for 2026, for the recently concluded Milan-Cortina Olympic Games, its 'city tax' up to 10 euros for luxury hotels. Updating the Holidu list, the Milan rate (three-star hotel) is now 7.40 euro.
Then there is Berlin: here the tourist tax, which has been static for six years, is 7.02 euro. Next in sequence come three Italian cities: Rome and Florence (EUR 5.83) and Bologna (EUR 5.64). Further down Venice (15th place) and Verona (18th place).
