Airbnb rules in Bruges 2026: the holiday-home stop, guest rooms and the city tax

The Airbnb rules in Bruges start with where the home is. In the historic centre (binnenstad) the city applies an absolute holiday-home stop, so a house or apartment cannot be turned into a holiday home there; only guest rooms in a home where the operator lives remain possible, with a planning permit.¹ Outside the centre a holiday home needs at least 200 m² of floor area and at most 8 sleeping places.² Flemish registration, a fire safety certificate and two city taxes come on top.⁸⁹⁵⁶

In this guide

1. Airbnb rules in Bruges: the holiday-home stop in the centre
2. Holiday homes outside the centre: the 200 m² rule
3. Guest rooms: the gastenkamers rules
4. Toerisme Vlaanderen registration
5. The Flemish fire safety rules
6. The Bruges city tax and how you declare it
7. Enforcement and fines
8. What this means for a co-host
9. A pre-signing checklist for a Bruges unit
10. Worked example
11. Questions people ask
12. Sources

This page goes deeper on Bruges than the Flanders section of the Belgium and Netherlands guide, which sets out the regional rules that apply in every Flemish city.

Airbnb rules in Bruges: the holiday-home stop in the centre

In a council decision minuted in June 2002, Bruges decided to apply a holiday-home stop (vakantiewoningenstop) only in the historic centre, citing social displacement and inflated property prices.³ The city’s 2019 regulation for the rest of Bruges confirms that a complete stop applies in the centre and includes a map of the area.²

The city’s current page for new accommodation sets out the restrictions in the centre:¹

• Holiday homes. An absolute holiday-home stop applies in the historic centre.
• Hotels. A selective hotel stop applies there too.
• Guest rooms. The guest-room criteria apply across the whole city, including the centre.

A holiday home (vakantiewoning) means letting a whole home or an apartment as a holiday stay, so a centre flat let whole on Airbnb falls under the stop.¹

Is the stop still current? Yes, as far as we can tell. The city’s page still described it as absolute on 2 November 2026, and on 30 September 2026 VRT NWS reported that Bruges plans to keep it in the coming years.¹¹³

Holiday homes outside the centre: the 200 m² rule

Outside the centre, holiday homes can be permitted, but under the Reglement vakantiewoningen in de randgemeenten (regulation for holiday homes in the outer districts), adopted on 17 December 2019 and in force since 1 January 2020. All its conditions apply together:²

Source: Stad Brugge.²

Three further points:¹²

• Excluded areas. The regulation does not apply in the centre, in Zeebrugge’s Strandwijk, or in zones 3 and 4 of the Vissershaven plan in Zeebrugge.
• Local plans still apply. Binding rules in local plans (BPA or RUP) come first, so ask the city’s permit service about the exact address.
• A permit is almost always needed. All tourist accommodation counts as verblijfsrecreatie (recreational stays) in planning terms, and the city says you almost always need an omgevingsvergunning (planning permit).

An apartment outside the centre is still a holiday home under the Flemish definition, so the same 200 m² and 8-place limits apply to it.¹²

Guest rooms: the gastenkamers rules

Guest rooms (gastenkamers, the Flemish B&B) are the one form open across the whole city, including the centre. The city’s guide sets these conditions:⁴

• Still a family home. The main use of the building must remain a single-family home.
• The operator lives there. The permit holder lives in the home, has their domicile there and runs the guest rooms.
• At most 30% of the home. The guest part may take no more than 30% of the net floor area, counting the guest rooms, bathrooms only guests use, and any space the residents do not use, such as a whole top floor set aside for guests.
• At most 3 rooms and 8 sleeping places. A single room needs at least 8 m², and a room for more people 5 m² per person, so a double needs 10 m².
• No kitchen for guests, and rooms at least 2.40 m high; a private bathroom per room is not required.
• Two escape routes to the street or to open space more than 15 m from the building; if the garden is shallower, the second route needs a registered agreement with a neighbour.

Changing rooms into guest rooms always needs a planning permit, and the fire service may be asked for advice, billed to the applicant.⁴

Toerisme Vlaanderen registration

On top of the city’s planning rules, every paid tourist stay in Flanders falls under the Logiesdecreet, occasional or professional; letting only to family and friends without public promotion is exempt.¹⁰

• How. Register online through Toerisme Vlaanderen’s operator portal with your eID. You receive your registration number by email at once and may receive guests; with the paper form you wait a few days for the number before receiving guests.⁸
• Platforms ask for it. Airbnb, Booking.com and other platforms must ask for the number.¹⁰
• A sale. The registration does not pass to a buyer; the new operator registers again, while planning permits stay valid.¹

Registration does not settle planning: Toerisme Vlaanderen does not check it; in Bruges the city does.¹⁰ An amendment on the registration number and proof of planning conformity is announced for later in 2026; where it stands is in Airbnb rules in Antwerp.¹⁰

The Flemish fire safety rules

Every tourist accommodation in Flanders must be able to show a positive fire safety certificate (brandveiligheidsattest).⁹ Which standards apply depends on the type and capacity:⁹

• A holiday home always counts as one rental unit, whatever the number of bedrooms, and needs its own certificate; its capacity is the number of people who can sleep there.
• Annex 2 covers 1 to 3 units with at most 9 sleeping places in total, such as most guest rooms and holiday homes, and also a single unit with 10 to 12 places in a building with no other accommodation, housing or shops.
• Annex 2/1 covers, among others, 2 to 3 units with 10 to 12 places, or a single unit with 10 to 12 places in a larger building with other uses.
• Annex 3 covers more than 5 units or more than 12 places.

For annex 2, ACEG vzw inspects and issues the certificate, for a base fee of €82.44 excluding VAT on a weekday between 7:00 and 18:00. For larger accommodation you apply to the mayor and the local fire service inspects.⁹

Type A and Abis certificates allow you to operate, type B only while you carry out a plan to fix shortcomings, and type C not at all.⁹ Annex 2 also sets yearly maintenance duties; see fire safety for registered accommodation.

The Bruges city tax and how you declare it

Bruges has two accommodation taxes, both adopted on 26 November 2025 for 2026 to 2031; which one applies depends on whether the home holds a planning permit as a holiday home.⁵⁶

Sources: Stad Brugge tax regulations.⁵⁶

How you declare

1. Tell the city first. A new operator informs the tax department before starting; a stop or a transfer is reported within 14 days.⁵⁶
2. Get access. For a holiday home, email belastingen@brugge.be with the subject “vakantiewoningen - registratie”, the address, and the name and national register number of the person who will keep the register.⁷
3. Fill in the register weekly. After each calendar week, enter the occupied rooms and the number of guests per night. A paper version is available on request.⁵⁶
4. File quarterly. Submit the register by 15 April, 15 July, 15 October and 15 January; a deadline on a weekend moves to the next working day.⁵⁶
5. Pay the assessment. The city calculates the tax per quarter and sends an assessment, payable within two months.⁵⁶

Airbnb does not collect tourist tax in Belgium: it is not on Airbnb’s list of countries where it collects and remits.¹⁴ How Bruges compares with Ghent, Antwerp and other cities is in tourist tax in Bruges.

Enforcement and fines

Bruges enforces on three fronts.

• Planning. In February 2025 the city announced a stricter approach to unpermitted holiday homes: neighbourhood screenings with local police officers, platform data, and legal proceedings straight away without a chance to regularise first, agreed with the public prosecutor.¹²
• Flemish fines. The decree allows a fine of €250 to €25,000 for an operator who does not meet its conditions, such as registration, fire safety or insurance, doubled for a new offence within five years.¹¹ A missing fire certificate can lead to an immediate closure order.¹⁰
• Tax. Without a return, or with a wrong one, the city can assess the tax itself, with an increase of 10% for a first offence, then 25%, 50% and 100%, never more than double the tax. If you provide no figures, the city uses the full capacity times the days in the quarter.⁵⁶

According to VRT NWS, the city opened a record 208 files on illegal holiday homes and guest rooms in 2025 and 60 more by the end of August 2026. Many owners comply after a letter, but some fight up to the Court of Cassation, at a cost to the city of up to €14,000 in legal fees that it tries to recover.¹³

What this means for a co-host

For a co-host, Bruges splits into three markets:

• The centre. Guest rooms in an owner-occupied home are the only short-stay product for a private owner, and the permit holder must live there.⁴
• Outside the centre. Houses of at least 200 m² with a holiday-home permit work as whole-home units for up to 8 people.²
• Everything else. A centre flat, or a small house without a permit, cannot become a legal holiday home.¹²

Both tax regulations count as operator (exploitant) anyone authorised to run the accommodation under a valid operating agreement.⁵⁶ Our reading is that a co-host with such an agreement could owe the per-night tax, so agree in writing who is the operator and who files, because a missed quarter is assessed at full capacity.⁵

A pre-signing checklist for a Bruges unit

1. Location. Is the address inside the historic centre on the city’s map, or in Zeebrugge’s Strandwijk?²
2. Type. Is it a holiday home (whole house or apartment) or guest rooms in an owner-occupied home?¹
3. Permit. Ask for the planning permit that allows the holiday home or the guest rooms, and check local plans with the city’s permit service.¹
4. Size. For a holiday home: at least 200 m² and at most 8 sleeping places. For guest rooms: at most 3 rooms, 8 places and 30% of the floor area.²⁴
5. Registration. Is the unit in the Flemish register, in whose name, and is the number on every listing?⁸¹⁰
6. Fire safety and insurance. See the certificate, its type and date, and the fire and liability policies; see insurance in Flanders.⁹¹⁰
7. Tax. Who keeps the weekly register, who files each quarter, and who pays the €1,220 lump sum?⁵⁶
8. Building. Read the building’s statutes for a letting ban; see the VME in Antwerp.
9. In writing. Record who registers, who declares and who pays a fine in the compliance clause.

Worked example

Questions people ask

Sources

All sources checked 2 November 2026.

1. Stad Brugge, “Starten met een toeristisch logies in Brugge”, In Dutch
2. Stad Brugge, “Reglement vakantiewoningen in de randgemeenten”, Adopted 17 December 2019, in force 1 January 2020, in Dutch
3. Stad Brugge, “Beleidsoptie m.b.t. vakantiewoningen (gemeenteraad)”, Council decision minuted 25 June 2002, in Dutch
4. Stad Brugge, “Gids aanvraag gastenkamer(s) in een eengezinswoning”, In Dutch
5. Stad Brugge, “Belastingreglement op het verstrekken van logies”, Adopted 26 November 2025, tax years 2026 to 2031, in Dutch
6. Stad Brugge, “Belastingreglement op vakantiewoningen”, Adopted 26 November 2025, tax years 2026 to 2031, in Dutch
7. Stad Brugge, “Aangifteplicht”, In Dutch
8. Toerisme Vlaanderen, “Je logies aanmelden”, In Dutch
9. Toerisme Vlaanderen, “Brandveiligheid in logies”, In Dutch
10. Vlaanderen Vakantieland (Toerisme Vlaanderen), “Het Vlaamse Logiesdecreet”, Last updated 19 August 2026, in Dutch
11. Codex Vlaanderen, “Decreet houdende het toeristische logies (5 februari 2016)”, Consolidated text, articles 4, 5 and 12 (article 12 as in force from 1 April 2026), in Dutch
12. Stad Brugge, “Stad Brugge verstrengt aanpak van niet-vergunde vakantiewoningen om wildgroei tegen te gaan”, News, 12 February 2025, in Dutch
13. VRT NWS, “Bruges cracks down on illegal holiday accommodation”, 30 September 2026
14. Airbnb Help Centre, “Areas where tax collection and remittance by Airbnb is available”

We check every figure against the sources above. Spotted something out of date? Email systemen@hostproacademy.com with the guide title.