Barcelona · checked 30 October 2026
Barcelona tourist tax 2026: what you pay per night.
Visitors to Barcelona pay two charges per person per night on top of the room price: the Catalan tourist tax and a municipal surcharge the city adds. Both rose on 1 April 2026.
Hotels collect them and show them as a separate line. Every price on Fostay is the all-in total, so the figure you see already includes any part the hotel collects when you arrive.
The amounts below are the published rates. The figure a hotel actually collects is usually a little higher, about 10% in the checkout data we have seen, so read the checkout for your exact amount.
| Where you stay | Catalan tax | City surcharge | Published total per person per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-star hotel | €7.00 | €5.00 | €12.00 |
| 4-star hotel | €3.40 | €5.00 | €8.40 |
| Other hotels (3-star and below) | €2.00 | €5.00 | €7.00 |
| Tourist apartment | €4.50 | €5.00 | €9.50 |
| Hostel | €1.00 | €5.00 | €6.00 |
A worked example.
At the published rates, two adults staying three nights in a 4-star hotel pay 2 × 3 × €8.40 = €50.40 in tourist tax. In a 5-star hotel the same stay is 2 × 3 × €12.00 = €72.00.
This is on top of the room rate. On Fostay it is already inside the total shown for each hotel.
What checkout shows, and why it can be higher.
When we hold rooms at 4-star hotels in Barcelona, the tourist tax the hotel will collect comes to €37.29 for two adults over two nights. That is €9.32 per person per night, about 11% above the published €8.40, and it was the same at the three 4-star hotels we checked. It matches what you would expect if VAT were added to the tax.
Official sources we could read neither confirm nor rule out VAT on the tourist tax, and the amount can differ by hotel and category: for 3-star hotels and hostels the amounts we checked ranged from about €4.70 to €7.70 per person per night. So treat the published table as the base and the checkout as the exact figure.
The room price on Fostay and this amount are both counted in the total you see; the tourist tax is paid at the hotel when you arrive.
Who pays, and for how many nights.
The tax is charged per person per night, for the first seven consecutive nights of a stay in the same establishment.
Children under 16 are exempt according to published guides to the rules; confirm the exact age cut-off with your hotel.
What changes in 2027.
The Catalan law that raised the tax allows the city surcharge to climb by about one euro a year, to a cap of €8 by 2029. A draft Barcelona ordinance reported in the press would make it €6 from April 2027, but we found no confirmation that it has been finally approved, so treat €6 as planned, not fixed.
The Catalan tax amounts for Barcelona after 31 March 2027 were not in the sources we could read. Do not budget for 2027 totals from this page; check the figure shown at booking.
Is VAT included in the room price?.
Hotel room prices on Fostay include VAT. Tax advisers' guides describe accommodation in Spain as taxed at a reduced 10% rate. The tourist tax is a separate charge, and whether VAT applies to it is the point above.
Questions.
How much is the tourist tax in Barcelona in 2026?
The published rates from 1 April 2026 are €8.40 per person per night in a 4-star hotel (€3.40 Catalan tax plus €5.00 city surcharge), €12.00 in a 5-star hotel and €7.00 in other hotels. At checkout the hotel's amount is usually about 10% higher, around €9.32 per person per night for 4-star hotels, so check the figure shown for your booking.
Is the Barcelona tourist tax included in the hotel price?
Hotels list it as a separate line, and it is paid at the hotel. On Fostay the total shown for each hotel already includes the amount the hotel will collect at check-in, so the figure you see is the whole cost.
Are children charged the Barcelona tourist tax?
Guides to the rules say children under 16 are exempt. Confirm the exact age cut-off with the hotel, because we could not verify the boundary in the law's text.
Will the Barcelona tourist tax go up in 2027?
The law allows the city surcharge to rise by about a euro a year to a cap of €8, and a draft ordinance would make it €6 from April 2027. We could not confirm final approval, so the 2027 amount is planned, not confirmed.
Sources
- Llei 2/2026, de 6 de març, de modificació de l'impost sobre les estades en establiments turístics (text, in Catalan)
- Chekin: complete guide to the tourist tax in Catalonia
- Catalan News: the new tourist tax comes into force in Barcelona
- Derecho Local: reform of the tourist stay tax and new municipal surcharges in Catalonia