Venice will charge its €5 day-tripper access fee on about 54 dates in 2026 — Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from April 3 through July 26, plus Easter Monday, April 6, and the whole week of April 27 to May 3, per the city's access-fee calendar published in late 2025. If you book less than four days out, the fee doubles to €10. Overnight guests still pay nothing, but they must register for a QR exemption code.
Daily News Voyage publishes information, not legal or financial advice; entry rules are the city's, and the city can change them. Everything below is as of mid-January 2026, based on the official calendar and prior reporting.
How is 2026 different from 2025?
The 2025 trial ran on 29 dates. The 2026 calendar stretches the trial over nearly four months of peak weekends and adds a late-booking penalty: €10 instead of €5 for reservations made within four days of the visit. The fee applies from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on fee days, per the city's portal.
Who actually has to pay?
Only visitors entering the historic center between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a fee day who are not staying overnight in the Municipality of Venice. Hotel, B&B and apartment guests are exempt because they already pay the lodging tax — but they still need the free QR code, generated from their accommodation confirmation. Children under 14 are exempt too.
Related stories: Venice's 2026 access fee is over — and the mayor wants a bigger one next time · ETIAS is still not a thing you can apply for, and that is the whole update.
What happens if you just show up without booking?
The city has said checks are at rail stations and main access points, with fines that can reach roughly €300 for visitors who refuse to pay. Book at least four days ahead and the cost stays at €5; inside the four-day window it is €10.
Does this mean Venice is capping visitors?
No. The fee is a revenue and data experiment, not a headcount limit — there is no daily cap and no turn-away. City officials, including tourism councillor Simone Venturini, have framed it as a way to shift day-trip traffic to less crowded dates, per prior reporting by Reuters and the city's own statements. Whether a 2027 version returns, and at what price, has not been announced.
The practical takeaway
If your 2026 Venice trip falls on a spring or early-summer weekend, check the calendar before you book trains. Staying overnight saves you the fee entirely; visiting on a Monday-through-Thursday outside holiday weeks avoids both the fee and the QR paperwork.