Krakow tourist tax 2026: zero per night, against a Polish ceiling of 3.46 zloty

Krakow charges nothing per night in tourist tax in 2026. The city convention bureau, on the municipal site, states that Krakow collected a local fee between 2004 and 2015 and that it was abolished following changes in environmental protection regulations, because the city and its metropolitan area no longer met the required criteria.

What Polish law allows

The fee Krakow lost is the oplata miejscowa, which only municipalities meeting climate related criteria may levy. The Ministry of Finance notice of 1 August 2025, published in Monitor Polski, sets the ceilings for 2026 at 3.46 zloty per day for the local fee, 4.89 zloty per day in spa protection areas and 6.67 zloty for the spa fee itself.

What a stay costs

Four nights in Krakow for two people in 2026 adds zero zloty of accommodation tax to the bill. Had the city been allowed to charge the national maximum, those 8 person nights would have cost 27.68 zloty, which is roughly one museum ticket. That is the size of the sum being argued about.

What is still unclear

The city is lobbying the government to let any municipality introduce a tourist fee. No date for such a law is published, so the zero holds for now but is not guaranteed for the whole of 2026.

Sources: Krakow Convention Bureau on the tourist tax and Monitor Polski, maximum local tax rates for 2026.

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