Barcelona tourist tax and city tax rates for 2026

The Barcelona tourist tax is two charges collected together. The first is the Catalan tax on stays in tourist establishments, known by its Catalan initials IEET, which the Generalitat sets for all of Catalonia with higher rates for Barcelona city. The second is a surcharge added by Barcelona City Council. Both are charged per person and per night, and the Catalan tax agency guide to the tax (in Spanish) sets out who pays and how.

The tax is never paid at a tourist office or straight to the authorities: the accommodation collects it and declares it every six months. Questions about a bill go to the hotel or host, and the Barcelona tourist office information points help with the rest of the trip on arrival.

The rate depends on the type of accommodation. Each line adds the Catalan part for Barcelona city to the city surcharge of €5.00, which is the same for every type of stay. The Catalan Tax Agency rate sheet for stays in Catalonia (PDF) gives the same totals in English.

Hostales and guesthouses count as hotel establishments, so they pay the same €7.00 as a 3-star hotel. The tax agency also states that the tax is part of the base on which VAT is worked out, so a hotel bill may show VAT on top of it.

With the nightly charge worked out, the guide to things to do in Barcelona helps plan the days themselves, from the Sagrada Família to Montjuïc.

The total is the number of guests aged 17 or over, times the nights of the stay up to a maximum of 7, times the rate of the accommodation. Children aged 16 or under do not count, and the eighth night and any after it are free of tax.

The 7 night limit applies to each continuous stay in the same establishment, so a guest who moves to a second hotel starts counting again. A teenager pays from the age of 17, which is why the 16 year old in the holiday apartment adds nothing and the 17 year old in the hotel pays the full rate.

The Catalan part for Barcelona city has no further rises scheduled, but the city surcharge goes up by €1 on 1 April every year until it reaches €8 in 2029. The Barcelona surcharge by-law (in Catalan, PDF), published on 2 February 2026, already sets each step.

The 2029 column explains the €10 to €15 per night that many news sites reported in 2026: those are the rates for stays from April 2029, not the ones charged today.

A stay booked in advance pays the rate in force on the day of the booking, as long as the booking and the tax are both paid at that moment, under Law 2/2026 (in Spanish, PDF). A summer 2027 trip prepaid with the tax before 1 April 2027 therefore keeps the €5 surcharge. When the tax is paid at the hotel, the rate on the day of the stay applies.

The Catalan law lists four exemptions and no others. The tax agency page on exemptions (in Catalan) explains each one, and the accommodation keeps the proof for four years.

The exemption declaration forms (in Catalan) are the ones hotels ask guests to sign. Private medical treatment outside the public system does not count. The tax agency FAQs (in Catalan) confirm that anyone staying in tourist accommodation pays, even when travelling for work, and the guest information poster (PDF) sums up the rules in English.

The hotel, hostel or host collects the tax as a substitute for the guest and declares it to the Catalan Tax Agency every six months. By law the bill must show the tax on a separate line, with the number of nights and the rate applied. The tax falls due at the start of the stay, as the tax agency page on when the tax is due (in Catalan) explains. The law does not say whether it is collected at check-in or check-out, or in cash or by card.

A holiday rental host who asks for the tax in cash or by bank transfer is following common practice, since the platforms do not collect it. For a licensed holiday apartment the amount is €9.50 per guest aged 17 or over per night, for no more than 7 nights, and it should appear on the invoice. Hosts usually ask for passport details at the same time, because Catalan tourism rules require every guest to prove their identity on arrival.

The Barcelona surcharge only applies inside the city. Elsewhere in Catalonia guests pay the lower general Catalan rate, which rises on 1 April 2027, and since 1 October 2026 seven nearby towns add a surcharge of their own. Among them are L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, home to the Fira Gran Via trade fair grounds, and El Prat de Llobregat, where the airport stands. The tax agency page on rates and municipal surcharges (in Catalan) lists them all.

The address on the booking decides which rate applies, so a hotel sold as an airport or trade fair hotel may sit in Barcelona, L'Hospitalet or El Prat. The 7 night limit and the exemption for children aged 16 or under apply across Catalonia.

Catalonia has taxed stays in tourist accommodation since November 2012, under rules now set out in Law 5/2017, consolidated text (in Spanish). Barcelona added its own surcharge in June 2021 at €0.75 and raised it each April, to €3.25 in 2024. The September 2024 surcharge by-law amendment (in Catalan, PDF) took it to €4.00 from 1 October 2024.

In March 2025 a decree law planned to double the Catalan part from 1 May 2025. Later decrees postponed it, and Law 2/2026 of 6 March finally applied it from 1 April 2026, together with the city surcharge of €5.00. Many pages still quote the earlier totals, such as €5.70 in a 4-star hotel.

From 1 April 2026, 25% of the Catalan tax goes to housing and 75% to the Tourism Promotion Fund, as the tax agency note on the 2026 rates (in Catalan) explains. The fund returns to each town half of what its accommodation raises, while the surcharge stays with Barcelona City Council.

In a 4-star hotel, Barcelona's €8.40 per person per night is below Milan's €10 and well above Venice, at €4.50 in the historic centre in high season. The Balearic Islands charge €3 in a 4-star hotel in high season under the Balearic sustainable tourism tax law (in Spanish). Barcelona charges only the first 7 nights, Venice the first 5 and Milan every night.

Berlin and Amsterdam work differently, with a share of the room price rather than a fixed amount per person: 7.5% in Berlin and 12.5% under the Amsterdam tourist tax (in Dutch), both before VAT. For a couple in a room costing €200 a night before VAT, the tax comes to €16.80 in a Barcelona 4-star hotel, €15.00 in Berlin and €25.00 in Amsterdam.

Cruise passengers pay only when the ship calls at Barcelona in the middle of a cruise. Passengers who board or leave the ship in Barcelona at the start or end of the trip pay no cruise tax, although a hotel night before or after the cruise is taxed as usual. The cruise line collects the tax and declares it, and a short call pays more than a long one.

Catalan Law 11/2026 of 9 July allows the surcharge on calls of 12 hours or less to reach €24, three times the €8 limit for hotels. Barcelona City Council gave initial approval in September 2026 to a rise in steps to €24 by 2030, which would make €30 in total. The plan still needs final approval, and no new rate is in force as of 30 October 2026. About 2.3 million cruise passengers visited the city in 2025, according to the Port of Barcelona 2025 results (in Catalan).