Heidelberg’s Übernachtungsteuer (City Tax) is a flat EUR 3.50 per guest per night, effective 1 October 2025. It applies to paid private and business stays in short-term accommodation, including hotels, guesthouses, hostels, private rooms, holiday apartments, camping and motorhome sites. The tax is charged for a maximum of five nights during one uninterrupted stay at the same establishment; from the sixth night onward no tax is due. The enacted 2025 statute sets the same EUR 3.50 rate for youth hostels, camping and motorhome sites.
Children and young people up to (but not including) their 16th birthday are exempt. Accommodation in hospitals, rehabilitation clinics, residential and nursing homes, hospices, and comparable facilities for people in special social situations is outside the statutory definition of taxable accommodation. Stays that establish a residence under registration law are not taxed. There is no exemption for business travel: both private and business stays are taxable. Only the first five nights of an uninterrupted stay at the same establishment are taxed.
Short-term paid accommodation includes holiday apartments, private rooms and accommodation offered through platforms such as Airbnb, regardless of the platform used. A host must notify the City before the first notifiable event (including when the accommodation is advertised), collect the City Tax from guests, submit and pay a tax return for each calendar quarter by the 15th day after the quarter, report opening, changes and closure of the establishment, provide requested booking evidence, and retain relevant records for four calendar years. For residential premises used for tourist accommodation, Heidelberg’s housing-protection rules require a registration number for short-term visitor accommodation; the number must be displayed clearly in every listing. Using housing for visitor accommodation for more than ten weeks per calendar year is identified as a case of unlawful change of use unless an exception applies.