Cardiff visitor levy: £1.30 a night

Cardiff will charge a visitor levy from 1 April 2027. Most overnight stays are £1.30 per person per night. A campsite pitch for a tent, or a shared room such as a hostel dormitory, is 75p. The rest of Wales does not charge this automatically.

Who charges, and when

The levy is a Welsh law. Each principal council decides whether to use it, after a consultation. On the GOV.WALES list checked 8 September 2026, Cardiff starts on 1 April 2027. Anglesey, Conwy and Gwynedd had consulted. Their decisions were due after 24 September 2026. Until a start date is published, they are not charging.

Do not add £1.30 to a cottage in Tenby, or a hotel in Llandudno, unless that council has started its own levy and published a start date.

What you pay in Cardiff

The charge is per person, per night, on a stay of 31 nights or fewer in visitor accommodation. The provider collects it. The Welsh Revenue Authority receives it, then pays the council.

• Most rooms — £1.30 per person per night. That includes hotels, guest houses, self-catering cottages, and pitches for caravans, motorhomes or campervans. This rate applies at every age, including children.
• Campsite pitch for a tent — 75p per person per night. A child under 18 is not charged at this lower rate.
• Shared room — 75p per person per night, for a hostel, bunkhouse, bothy or dormitory. Again, a child under 18 is not charged. A holiday cottage with a kitchen is not a shared room.

A stay of 32 nights or more from one booking is outside the levy. So is emergency or temporary housing arranged by the council. A night in a Cardiff hotel on or after 1 April 2027 can still include the £1.30 line for each person, including a child. The hotel bill and a city taxi are still different products. See how much is a taxi in Cardiff if the meter is the other question.

When a booking starts to count

Accommodation providers in Cardiff must start accounting from 28 September 2026. That applies to new bookings, and to extra nights or extra visitors added to a booking, when the stay itself is on or after 1 April 2027.

A stay already booked, with no extra nights and no extra visitors added, is outside that accounting start. If you change the booking after 28 September 2026, ask the place what the levy does to the new nights.

What this is not

It is not a tourist tax on a day ticket to a castle. It is not a toll on the Severn Crossing. It is not a Wales-wide price you can assume from a blog.

The figures here are the ones on GOV.WALES — visitor levy, checked 8 September 2026. A council can change its start date. Confirm the line on the bill before you treat a quote as final.