The overnight rate and what it is charged on
The rule is in Amsterdam's Verordening Toeristenbelasting 2024, which the official register shows as in force from 21 November 2023 to the present (checked 12 October 2026). Article 5 sets one rate: 12.5% of the overnight price, per night.
There is no separate category rate. The tax covers paid overnight stays "in hotels, campings, appartementen, vakantieonderkomens, mobiele kampeeronderkomens" and other rented rooms, water spaces and fixed pitches. The regulation's definition of a hotel includes pensions, hostels and serviced apartments. A tent pitch, a camper van spot, a houseboat and a canal-house apartment are all taxed at the same 12.5%.
What the percentage applies to matters more than the rate:
- The base is the price charged for the stay, not including the tourist tax itself.
- Extra services that count as part of the overnight price are included, even if they are billed as separate lines.
- Article 4 defines the price as the lodging amount that is subject to VAT. In practice that means the tax is worked out on the room price before VAT is added, not on the VAT-inclusive total.
Worked example: a couple, 3 nights
The Belastingdienst VAT page on accommodation says overnight stays in hotels, pensions, holiday homes and similar short-stay lodging carry 21% VAT from 1 January 2026, including stays booked and paid in 2025 for dates in 2026 or later (checked 12 October 2026). Using that rate:
| Per night | Amount |
|---|---|
| Room price before VAT | €200.00 |
| VAT at 21% | €42.00 |
| Room price including VAT | €242.00 |
| Tourist tax, 12.5% of €200 | €25.00 |
| Total per night | €267.00 |
For three nights the couple pays €726 for the room and €75 in tourist tax, so €801 in all. If you know only the VAT-inclusive price, divide it by 1.21 and take 12.5% of the result: for €242 that is €25 a night.
The same couple in a €100-a-night room before VAT pays €12.50 a night in tourist tax, so €37.50 for three nights. Moving to a cheaper room lowers the tax in proportion; adding a person to the same room at the same price does not change it.
Who collects it and whether it is in your booking price
Under Article 3, the person or company offering the stay is the taxpayer. That provider "is bevoegd" (entitled) to recover the tax from the guest. If no provider can be identified, the guest who stays is liable. The provider files with the municipality and pays on an assessment, so you never pay the city directly.
The regulation does not say how the tax must be shown in the advertised price. Before you book, check whether the price breakdown lists it as included in the total, as a separate "city tax" or "tourist tax" line, or as payable at the property, so it does not surprise you at check-in.
Cruise and river cruise passengers: the day tourist tax
Cruise passengers who do not sleep ashore pay a different tax under the Verordening Dagtoeristenbelasting 2019. The version in force from 22 November 2025 sets €15 per person per day, with levying from 1 January 2026 (checked 12 October 2026).
- It applies to passengers on a cruise ship, defined as a sea-going or inland vessel used to carry passengers commercially, so river cruises are included.
- A "day" is any 24-hour period, or part of one, counted from when the ship moors.
- It is not charged when the cruise starts or ends in Amsterdam.
- Children who are under 3 when the ship moors are exempt.
- The ship's operator is the taxpayer and may pass the tax on to passengers.
Example: a river cruise moors at 08:00 on Monday and leaves at 18:00 on Tuesday. That is 34 hours, which counts as two days, so a couple pays €15 × 2 days × 2 people = €60. If the same couple's cruise ends in Amsterdam and they then spend a night in a hotel, the day tax does not apply but the 12.5% overnight tax does.
Exemptions for overnight stays
Article 7 lists only three: people staying as patients or residents in a recognised care institution, government-arranged shelter for refugees, asylum seekers, displaced people and homeless people, and cases where the amount is already claimed under national tax law. There is no exemption for children, students, business travellers or long stays, and Article 10 rules out remission (kwijtschelding).
If a booking site shows a different amount
If you are arriving by air, our guide to getting from Schiphol to the city centre covers the first leg. To keep day-to-day costs down once you are in town, compare GVB fares and paying by bank card with OVpay, and if you are deciding which boat trip to add, see Amsterdam canal cruises compared.