Short-Term Rental (Airbnb) in Kraków 2026: Returns, Rules, Taxes

Kraków is Poland’s biggest tourist market — a record 16.25 million people visited the city in 2025 (Kraków City Hall annual summary, February 2026). No surprise that “buy a flat in the centre and put it on Airbnb” is one of the investment ideas we hear most often from foreign buyers. Below is an honest breakdown: what the law says (and what the legislator is preparing), what taxes you will pay, which districts genuinely work for short-term rental — and when plain long-term letting turns out to be the smarter choice.

Disclaimer: this guide is informational and is not legal or tax advice. It describes the state of play as of August 2026 — short-term rental regulation in Poland is changing right now, so verify the current rules with a lawyer and an accountant before buying.

Is short-term rental legal in Kraków?

Yes. As of August 2026, letting an apartment to tourists by the night is legal in Kraków and requires no licence or permit. The city has not introduced (and currently cannot introduce) ban zones. But this is exactly the moment the market is moving from a free-for-all to regulation — and anyone buying for STR needs to factor that in.

Three processes are running in parallel:

• EU Regulation 2024/1028 — applicable since 20 May 2026, it introduces uniform EU-wide rules for collecting and sharing short-term rental data: platforms (Airbnb, Booking) will exchange data with authorities and listings are to carry registration numbers (Ministry of Sport and Tourism, gov.pl).
• The government short-term rental bill (UC135) — adopted by the Council of Ministers on 14 July 2026 and heading to the Sejm in autumn (rp.pl, July 2026). Key elements: a legal definition of short-term rental as accommodation for up to 30 days, a central CWTON registry, and a registration number as a condition of legally listing a property on platforms. A government amendment softened earlier ideas: extra fire-safety requirements for small properties were dropped, and — at this stage — so was the power for municipalities to create ban zones (rp.pl, July 2026).
• A parliamentary bill (print no. 2353) — in the Sejm since March 2026, referred to committees after its first reading on 17 April 2026 (prawo.pl, April 2026). It proposed wider municipal powers; the final shape of the regulation will emerge from parliamentary work.

What this means for an investor: the activity itself stays legal, but if you buy today, assume a mandatory listing registration and number — and that in coming years municipalities may yet receive tools to restrict STR in selected zones (the debate returns at every reading). More in the risk section below.

There is also a private-law layer: the homeowners’ association (wspólnota). An association resolution cannot outright ban rentals, but a conflict with neighbours and the building manager can make daily operations genuinely difficult and sometimes ends in court. Before buying, check whether the building already hosts nightly-let apartments and how the community feels about it.

What taxes apply to short-term rental?

The rules below reflect August 2026 — and again, this is not tax advice; model your specific case with an accountant.

• Revenue lump sum (ryczałt): 8.5% / 12.5%. The 8.5% rate applies up to 100,000 zł of annual revenue; the excess is taxed at 12.5% (spouses share a combined 200,000 zł threshold). This is how private rental is taxed; the same lump-sum rates apply to accommodation services within a business.
• When does STR become a business activity? The line is judgement-based, but organised and continuous nightly letting — several units, guest servicing, cleaning, seasonal pricing — is usually classified by the tax office as accommodation services (PKD 55.20.Z), i.e. a business activity, with consequences: ZUS social contributions, bookkeeping, and a choice of taxation (lump sum, 12/32% scale, or 19% flat). A single apartment handed to an operator is sometimes defended as private rental — but only an individual tax ruling gives certainty.
• VAT: 8% on accommodation, but an exemption up to 240,000 zł first. Accommodation services carry a reduced 8% VAT rate. Most individual hosts, however, use the subjective VAT exemption: from 1 January 2026 the limit rose from 200,000 to 240,000 zł of annual turnover (amendment passed by the Sejm on 24 June 2025). Once you exceed it, VAT applies from the day of exceeding.
• Do not forget purchase taxes — PCC or VAT, notary fees, court fees. We break these down in the guide to taxes and the notary in Poland, and you can price your own deal in the purchase costs calculator.
• If you are weighing long-term letting instead: the flat-rate settlement, with a tax calculator, is in rental income tax, and a contract with a working eviction route is in the occasional lease agreement template.

Which Kraków districts work for short-term rental?

Short-term rental is a location game — the tourist pays to step out of the apartment straight onto the Main Square or Szeroka Street. In Kraków, the districts that genuinely “work” for STR are the strict centre — which is also the market’s premium segment:

• Stare Miasto (Old Town) — the epicentre of tourist traffic; new-build entry prices from ~19,200 zł/m² (2026). The highest nightly rates and the longest season, but also the most competition and tenement buildings with associations wary of nightly lets.
• Kazimierz — the city’s most expensive location (from ~20,700 zł/m²), the heart of Kraków’s food and nightlife scene; the classic short-stay district.
• Grzegórzki — from ~18,500 zł/m²; new construction a 15-minute walk from the Main Square. A real STR plus: modern buildings mean fewer of the conflicts typical of old tenements.
• Also worth a look: Zabłocie (from ~18,700 zł/m², museums, loft character) and the riverside part of Podgórze.

Beyond this ring, STR potential fades fast: in residential districts a nightly-let flat competes on price with chain hotels and off-season occupancy drops. There, long-term rental is the natural model — see the full district price breakdown in our apartment price guide.

How much can you earn? Seasonality and occupancy

Demand first. 2025 was a record year for Kraków tourism: 16.25 million visitors, including over 7 million domestic overnight tourists and 1.68 million foreign tourists, who left about 15.4 billion zł in the city (Kraków City Hall, February 2026). Kraków captures 48.3% of all overnight tourists in the Małopolska region — and 72.7% of foreign ones (Statistics Poland/Kraków statistical office, 2025 data). Regional bed occupancy reached 50.9% — the second-highest in Poland.

Seasonality is pronounced but milder than in resort towns: the peak runs late spring through summer plus the December markets and New Year; the weakest months are November and January–February outside holidays. Platform data show nightly rates peaking in July and bottoming in November (AirDNA/AirROI, retrieved August 2026).

And hard numbers? Honesty requires caution here — public analytics services differ significantly in methodology. According to platform data as of August 2026: Kraków has roughly 7,000–7,300 active entire-home listings, average daily rates fall — depending on the service and period — in a range of about €79–120, and reported occupancy spans from ~44% (AirROI, calendar methodology) to ~72–77% (Airbtics, median of active listings). The spread is wide enough that no single figure should be taken as fact: these are estimates, not guarantees. Your actual result depends on the exact address, the finish standard and the quality of management.

So instead of promising yields, model your own scenario: our rental yield calculator has a short-term rental mode — enter the purchase price, nightly rate, occupancy and operating costs, and compare the result with the long-term variant.

Short-term or long-term rental?

An honest comparison — without pretending STR is “always more”:

Criterion	Short-term (STR)	Long-term (LTR)
Gross revenue	Higher potential in the centre, strongly season- and address-dependent	Lower, but steady year-round
Stability	Variable occupancy; November ≠ July	12+ month lease, predictable transfer
Running costs	Cleaning, utilities, platform fees, replacing furnishings; operators typically take 20–30% of revenue	Minimal; utilities usually on the tenant
Workload	Daily operations or an operator	Occasional tenant contact
Taxes	Lump sum 8.5/12.5%; business-classification risk, 8% VAT past the threshold	Lump sum 8.5/12.5% as private rental
Regulatory risk	High — bill in the Sejm, CWTON registry, possible future restrictions	Low
Wear and tear	Faster (guest turnover)	Slower
Best fit	Premium units in the strict centre, owner accepting risk and workload	Any good district, passive investor

A practical rule: STR makes sense where you buy the apartment “for the location” — Stare Miasto, Kazimierz, Grzegórzki, Zabłocie. The further from the centre, the faster STR’s revenue edge melts away while the costs and risk remain. Compare both variants for a specific apartment in the calculator.

Risks and what to watch

• Regulatory risk — number one. The short-term rental act is mid-process (government bill adopted 14 July 2026, Sejm in autumn). CWTON registration is close to certain; the debate about municipal powers to restrict STR in city centres will return. Buy so that the apartment also works as a long-term rental — that is the best hedge.
• The homeowners’ association and neighbours. Centre tenements are small communities where a conflict over noise and guest turnover can block the business more effectively than any law. New buildings (Grzegórzki, Zabłocie) are more predictable in this respect.
• Costs that spreadsheets underestimate. Platform commissions, cleaning after every stay, laundry, utilities, supplies, small repairs, mattress and appliance replacement, photography, liability insurance — plus 20–30% for an operator if you do not self-manage. Real STR margin is far below the gross revenue in the listing.
• Seasonality and vacancy. You need cash to ride out the November trough; a mortgage does not care about seasons.
• Tax classification risk. The tax office can reclassify your rental as a business retroactively — with social-contribution consequences. An individual tax ruling is cheap insurance.

Our take: short-term rental in Kraków is a strategy for the premium segment in the strict centre — that is where demand is record-high and most resilient. Outside the centre, long-term rental is simpler and often the wiser choice. If you are considering a buy-to-let purchase, get in touch — we will suggest specific projects and run both scenarios for your budget.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the homeowners’ association’s consent for nightly lets? Formally no — an association cannot ban rentals by resolution. In practice, a conflict with the association is one of the main operational risks of STR in old tenements.

Will the new law ban Airbnb in Kraków? No — the bill regulates the market (a 30-day definition, the CWTON registry, a registration number), and the government’s amendment removed ban zones at this stage. Local restrictions may still return in later iterations — follow the Sejm’s work.

When do the new obligations start? EU Regulation 2024/1028 has applied since 20 May 2026; the Polish act passed the government on 14 July 2026 and awaits the Sejm — the entry dates of specific obligations will follow from its final text.