What you will actually pay in Germany: Cologne 5% of the room rate, Berlin 7.5% of the room rate, Munich No tourist tax. Add applicable entry fees below for the full total.
54 cities with nightly tourist taxes20 country entry & visa fees13 major park passes
All fees are approximate and change frequently. Check official government/park websites before travel. Currency conversions shown in USD (approximate). Visa fees depend on your passport nationality — verify with the embassy or official visa portal.
What Germany charges
Cologne
5% of the room rate
5% of what you pay for the room INCLUDING VAT. That is unusual and it matters: Berlin, Hamburg and most German cities tax the net price, Cologne taxes the gross, so the quoted price is closer to the right base here than almost anywhere else in this list. The city's own worked example is a EUR 100 net room plus 7% VAT, giving a EUR 107 base and EUR 5.35 of tax. Anything carrying the reduced 7% VAT rate that directly serves the stay counts too — a cleaning fee included, even when it is billed as a separate line. Business trips are NO LONGER exempt: they have been taxed since 1 July 2024, which reverses the rule most guides still describe. A no-show is taxed anyway, and a stay counts as short-term up to six months. The exemptions are narrow and mostly social — homeless people and asylum seekers, Ukrainian refugees, people whose own home is temporarily uninhabitable, school trips, a companion travelling with a disabled guest, and medically necessary treatment.
Read at source: Stadt Köln — Übernachtungssteuer (Kulturförderabgabe), FAQ für Beherbergungen ab dem 1. Juli 2024, Frage 12 (stadt-koeln.de/artikel/73632); Satzung zur Erhebung einer Kulturförderabgabe im Gebiet der Stadt Köln · checked 2026-10-09
Berlin
7.5% of the room rate
7.5% of the net accommodation price, excluding breakfast and other services. There is NO night cap — the old exemption for stays beyond 21 nights was abolished with effect from 1 January 2025 — and business stays have been taxable since 1 April 2024. Rate raised from 5% on 1 January 2025.
Read at source: Senatsverwaltung für Finanzen Berlin — FAQ Übernachtungsteuer (berlin.de) · checked 2026-09-25
Munich
No tourist tax
No tourist tax in Munich. The city council voted for a 5% overnight tax in March 2023, but the Bavarian state legislature banned municipal accommodation taxes by amending the Kommunalabgabengesetz, so it never took effect; Munich is challenging that ban at the federal constitutional court. Berlin charges 7.5% and Munich charges nothing — the difference is state law, not city policy. Bavaria’s Kurtaxe applies only in designated spa towns, which Munich is not.
Read at source: Munich levies no tourist tax: the 2023 council decision was prohibited by Bavarian state law. Landeshauptstadt München, Rathaus Umschau 39/2026, 26 February 2026 (ru.muenchen.de) · checked 2026-10-04
City Nightly Tourist Taxes
Select cities you're visiting and input nights + travelers to calculate nightly tourist levies.
Country Entry & Visa Fees
Select countries you're entering. Fees vary by passport — check your country's requirements.
National Park & Attraction Passes
Major park and attraction entry fees — the ones that cost more than you expect.
Select cities, countries, and parks above to calculate your total government fees.
Why Tourist Taxes Have Exploded
The Overtourism Response
Venice, Amsterdam, and Barcelona are using tourist taxes to manage visitor numbers and fund infrastructure repair. Amsterdam charges 12.5% of the room price — the steepest rate in Europe, and a share rather than a flat fee, so it climbs with the price of your hotel. Barcelona hit 40 million visitors/year with a population of 1.6 million.
Conservation Funding
Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee ($100–200/day) funds forest conservation and free healthcare/education for citizens. Rwanda's $1,500 gorilla permit directly funds mountain gorilla protection — the population has grown from 620 to 1,000+ since 2004. Higher prices = better conservation outcomes.
New Entry Authorizations
The UK's ETA (2024) and New Zealand's NZeTA join the US ESTA in creating pre-arrival fee systems for visa-waiver nationalities. The EU's ETIAS launches in 2025 — €7 for 3 years, covering 30 Schengen countries. These are not visas, but they cost money and must be arranged in advance.
Budget Planning Rule
Add 10–15% to your accommodation budget for tourist taxes in European cities. For adventure travel (gorilla trekking, Galápagos, Machu Picchu), the permit/entry fees can equal or exceed your flights. Always research before booking — some permits (Inca Trail, gorilla trekking) sell out months in advance.
Highest-Fee Destinations to Budget For
Bhutan: $100–200/person/day government fee — mandatory for all visits
Rwanda gorilla trekking: $1,500/person per trek (non-negotiable, all goes to conservation)