Where can you have a real Airbnb in 2026 and where is it almost better not to try? We compare the most restrictive cities in the world by night limits, primary residence, licenses, fines, and real difficulty for the owner.
Buying a home in a tourist-filled city, opening an Airbnb, and starting to collect bookings.
On paper, it seems like a great plan.
And then the city council arrives.
In some cities, you can rent a tourist home by complying with a registration and relatively manageable rules. In others, you need it to be your primary residence. Some allow 180 nights. Others 90. Amsterdam can drop you down to 15 nights depending on the neighborhood.
And New York has taken the concept a bit further: if the stay is less than 30 days, you cannot legally rent the entire apartment and leave.
So we did what any owner should do before buying a home thinking about Airbnb:
check the rules first and then the profitability.
Welcome to the Gatavia 2026 Ranking of Cities Where Managing a Tourist Rental Can Become an Administrative Risk Sport.
Quick Summary: The Cities That Most Restrict Airbnb in 2026
| City | Full Home? | Key Limit | Primary Residence | Restriction Level | Gatavia Headache |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Practically not for stays <30 days without a host | Host present + max 2 guests | Yes, in practice legal STR | 🔴 Extreme | 10/10 |
| Paris | Yes, with strong conditions | 90 days primary residence | Yes for simple regime | 🔴 Very high | 9.5/10 |
| Barcelona | Only with valid authorization | Current HUT model with 2028 horizon | Depends on the regime | 🔴 Very high | 9.5/10 |
| Amsterdam | Yes | 30 nights; 15 in certain areas | Yes | 🔴 Very high | 9/10 |
| Madrid | Very urbanistically conditioned | RESIDE Plan | Not the only condition | 🔴 Very high | 9/10 |
| Montreal | Yes, primary residence | June 10–September 10 | Yes | 🔴 High | 8.5/10 |
| Los Angeles | Yes | 120 ordinary days | Yes | 🟠 High | 8.5/10 |
| Vancouver | Yes | License + provincial registration | Yes | 🟠 High | 8/10 |
| London | Yes | 90 nights | Residential/tax linkage | 🟠 High | 7.5/10 |
| Toronto | Yes | 180 nights for full home | Yes | 🟠 Medium-high | 7/10 |
| Tokyo · Shinjuku | Yes | 180 days + local restrictions | Specific residential regime | 🟠 Medium-high | 7/10 |
| Sydney | Yes | 180 days for non-hosted STR | Not always | 🟠 Medium | 6.5/10 |
Important: The Gatavia Headache Index is an editorial assessment based on restrictions, night limits, primary residence requirements, licenses, registrations, and administrative complexity. It is not an official index nor does it replace the legal analysis of the specific property.
Before You Start: Just Because Airbnb Exists in a City Doesn’t Mean You Can Have One
This is probably one of the most expensive confusions in tourist rentals.
You open Airbnb.
You search New York.
Accommodations appear.
Quick conclusion:
“So Airbnb is legal in New York.”
Not exactly.
A platform can show:
- private rooms;
- hotel establishments;
- accommodations subject to different regimes;
- longer stays;
- homes properly covered by an exception;
- and, of course, some listings that do not necessarily prove that the property can operate as you want.
That’s why the right question is never:
“Is there Airbnb in this city?”
The right question is:
“Can this property, at this address, with this owner and under this specific modality, be legally rented as I intend?”
Much less sexy.
Quite a bit cheaper.
1. New York: Airbnb is Not Banned, But Your Idea Probably Is
New York deserves the top spot because it has achieved something admirable:
making the expression “Airbnb banned in New York” technically inaccurate and commercially quite understandable.
For stays shorter than 30 days, a host cannot simply rent an apartment or entire home to tourists and leave.
According to New York's official rules:
- the host must remain in the same dwelling during the stay;
- there cannot be more than two paying guests;
- guests must have access to various parts and exits of the dwelling;
- the host must have the corresponding short-term rental registration.
This completely changes the model.
If your strategy was to buy an apartment in Manhattan, put in an electronic lock, hire cleaning, and manage everything from another continent, we have bad news.
And it’s not the price per square meter.
New York has not eliminated Airbnb. It has eliminated much of the Airbnb that many investors imagined they could buy.
What Does This Mean for an Owner?
That you must radically differentiate between:
- hosting guests while residing in the dwelling;
- rentals of 30 days or more;
- authorized hotel activity;
- and traditional full apartment tourist rentals.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🔴
Gatavia Headache: 10/10.
Official source consulted: NYC311 and Office of Special Enforcement of the City of New York.
2. Paris: 90 Days for Your Home; For the Second Home, Prepare Documentation and Possibly More
Paris has tourists.
Many.
It also has owners who discover that “I have an apartment in Paris” and “I can exploit it freely as tourist accommodation” are two completely different phrases.
Since 2025, the primary residence can be rented as tourist accommodation for a maximum of 90 days a year.
Additionally, it must be registered, and the corresponding number must appear in the listings.
So far, manageable.
Now let’s talk about a home that is not your primary residence.
In that case, Paris requires, among other applicable requirements:
- change of use authorization;
- compensation mechanism in required cases;
- corresponding change of destination;
- registration;
- compliance with building and co-ownership rules.
And the penalties are not decorative.
The City of Paris indicates that renting a second tourist home without change of use authorization can lead to fines of up to €100,000, in addition to possible periodic penalties until the situation is regularized.
In Paris, you can calculate the ADR, occupancy, and RevPAR. We would start by calculating if you can open.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🔴
Gatavia Headache: 9.5/10.
Official source consulted: Ville de Paris, updated regulations for tourist rentals in 2026.
3. Barcelona: One of the Cities That Has Most Clearly Shown the Market What Regulatory Risk Means
Barcelona should be studied in any serious course on investment in tourist housing.
Not because tourism is doing poorly.
Precisely the opposite.
The tourist and residential pressure has led the city to apply an extremely restrictive policy on new tourist-use homes for years.
Barcelona has approximately 10,101 tourist housing licenses, and the City Council has expressed its intention to not renew them in 2028 within the new regulatory framework.
This does not mean that the current ones have disappeared today.
It means something perhaps more important for an investor:
that a license that makes money today can coexist with a radically different regulatory horizon in a few years.
Barcelona has also been using the PEUAT for years to regulate tourist accommodation territorially.
An extraordinary profitability loses some charm when the expiration date starts to become part of the Excel.
The Barcelona Lesson
It is not enough to ask how much a tourist home produces.
You need to ask:
- what authorization it has;
- when it expires;
- whether it can be transferred;
- what planning affects it;
- what would happen in the event of a regulatory change;
- and how much you are paying precisely for that future expectation.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🔴
Gatavia Headache: 9.5/10.
Official source consulted: Ajuntament de Barcelona, tourist strategy and municipal regulation of tourist accommodation.
4. Amsterdam: 30 Nights. And in Certain Neighborhoods, 15. Yes, You Read That Right
Amsterdam allows vacation rentals of homes.
But it has managed to turn “I have 365 days on the calendar” into fairly secondary information.
The general rule for a vacation rental home is:
- it must be your primary residence;
- you need a registration number;
- you need permission;
- you must notify the City Council of each rental period before guests arrive;
- maximum 4 guests;
- maximum 30 nights annually.
But since April 1, 2026, certain particularly pressured neighborhoods in Centrum and De Pijp have a limit of 15 nights a year.
Among the affected areas are Jordaan, parts of the canal belt, and Oude Pijp.
Fifteen nights.
Some owners will take longer to choose the photos for the listing.
Amsterdam does not only ask if you are an owner. It also wants to know if you really live there, when you rent, and how many nights you have left.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🔴
Gatavia Headache: 9/10.
Official source consulted: Gemeente Amsterdam, holiday rental rules in effect in 2026.
5. Madrid: You Can Have Plenty of Demand and No License for the Apartment You Wanted to Buy
Madrid has deeply tightened its policy on tourist-use homes through the RESIDE Plan, in effect since August 2025.
One of its objectives is to separate tourist accommodation from residential buildings.
In the historic center, licenses for new tourist homes scattered within residential buildings are not granted.
Outside the center, new tourist accommodations in residential buildings are subject to conditions such as having independent access and being located on certain floors and admitted situations.
There are also scenarios for buildings entirely intended for tourist use, with specific conditions.
The inspection data helps to understand where the market is heading.
Between May 2024 and December 2025, the City Council conducted over 2,000 inspections and detected nearly 1,900 tourist homes, the vast majority without a qualifying title according to municipal information.
Madrid has millions of tourists. Urban planning, curiously, does not accept that as a license.
What a Buyer Should Look For
- exact address;
- urban area;
- permitted use;
- type of building;
- floor;
- independent access;
- actual existence of a qualifying title;
- status of the homeowners' association.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🔴
Gatavia Headache: 9/10.
Official source consulted: Ayuntamiento de Madrid, RESIDE Plan, and municipal inspection information for VUT.
6. Montreal: Your Airbnb May Have a High Season Established by Ordinance
Montreal deserves a special place in this ranking because it offers a clear example of how far municipal regulation can go.
In 2026, to rent your primary residence to tourists for periods of 31 days or less, you need a host permit.
And, in general, renting the primary residence is only allowed between:
June 10 and September 10.
This is not a revenue management recommendation.
This is the rule.
Additionally:
- it must be your primary residence;
- the permit must be renewed;
- not all districts allow this modality;
- a tenant needs their contract to allow it or written authorization from the owner.
There are owners who close dates because the ADR drops. In Montreal, you can close them because the legal calendar has ended.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🔴
Gatavia Headache: 8.5/10.
Official source consulted: Ville de Montréal, updated regulations for primary residence tourist rentals as of April 2026.
7. Los Angeles: 120 Days and Only in Your Primary Residence
Los Angeles demonstrates that the United States does not have a single answer to the question “Can you have Airbnb?”.
The city regulates home-sharing as the use of the primary residence for accommodations of 30 consecutive days or less.
The ordinary regime establishes a limit of 120 days a year.
Additionally, there is a registration and eligibility system.
This destroys a very specific strategy:
buying a second home solely to convert it into a traditional Airbnb under the ordinary home-sharing regime.
In Los Angeles, the infinity pool may be optional. That it be your primary residence is not.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🟠
Gatavia Headache: 8.5/10.
Official source consulted: City of Los Angeles, Home-Sharing Program, and urban planning regulations.
8. Vancouver: Primary Residence, Municipal License, and Provincial Registration
Vancouver is a good example of layered regulation.
It is not enough to look at the city.
You also have to look at British Columbia.
In Vancouver:
- the tourist home must be your primary residence;
- you need a municipal business license for STR;
- you must include the license number in the listings;
- the provincial registration system also operates;
- tenants need the corresponding authorization;
- the strata or condominium rules may also matter.
British Columbia also applies a provincial primary residence requirement in numerous communities, including Vancouver.
That is:
municipality + province + building.
A little Canadian regulatory party.
If your analysis of Vancouver ends with “Airbnb works there,” you still haven’t started the analysis.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🟠
Gatavia Headache: 8/10.
Official sources consulted: City of Vancouver and Province of British Columbia.
9. London: 90 Nights and Then It’s Time to Talk About Planning Permission
London has one of the most well-known rules in the sector.
90 nights a year.
Without specific planning permission, a residential property in London cannot be used for short-term accommodation for more than 90 accumulated nights within the calendar year.
Additionally, at least one of the people providing the accommodation must be liable for the corresponding Council Tax for that property.
Want to go beyond 90 nights?
Then the planning permission of the corresponding borough comes into play.
London lets you optimize 90 nights. The 91st belongs to the planning department.
What Changes the Investment
A property that can generate 300 nights of demand does not necessarily have 300 nights of legal inventory available under this regime.
And that means that comparing only:
- ADR;
- market occupancy;
- demand;
- events;
without introducing the regulatory limit can generate an extraordinarily beautiful financial projection.
And extraordinarily useless.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🟠
Gatavia Headache: 7.5/10.
Official source consulted: London City Hall, Guidance on short-term and holiday lets in London.
10. Toronto: 180 Nights for the Full Home, But It Has to Be Your House
Toronto seems almost generous after going through New York and Amsterdam.
This demonstrates how much this ranking affects human perception.
Toronto allows short-term rentals only in the primary residence.
The full home can be rented for a maximum of 180 nights per calendar year.
There is also the possibility of renting up to three rooms of the primary residence under the corresponding modality, with different rules.
The key is again exactly the same:
primary residence.
Therefore, an owner who lives there may have an opportunity.
An investor wanting to buy fifteen apartments and exploit them as STR should review the plan before asking for a quote for fifteen smart locks.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🟠
Gatavia Headache: 7/10.
Official source consulted: City of Toronto, Short-Term Rental Operators/Hosts.
11. Tokyo: Japan Allows 180 Days, But the Zip Code Still Has Things to Say
Japan has a specific national regime for private accommodation or minpaku.
The Private Lodging Business Act establishes, under this regime, a national maximum of 180 days a year.
But that does not mean that Tokyo is simply:
“180 days and done.”
Local authorities can impose additional restrictions.
An excellent example is Shinjuku.
In certain exclusively residential areas of the district, minpaku cannot operate between:
Monday at 12:00 and Friday at 12:00.
Additionally, Shinjuku requires prior notification of the activity and includes information obligations to neighbors.
Japan grants you 180 days. Shinjuku reminds you that it also matters what day of the week you want to use them.
This is precisely why a country comparison never replaces a municipal review.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🟠
Gatavia Headache: 7/10.
Official sources consulted: Japan Tourism Agency / MLIT and Shinjuku City.
12. Sydney: 180 Days if the Host Does Not Live There; Much More Flexible if They Do
In New South Wales, there is a specific framework for Short-Term Rental Accommodation (STRA).
In Greater Sydney, non-hosted short-term accommodation is generally limited to 180 days within a 365-day annual period.
Hosted STR, where the host continues to reside in the dwelling during the stay, is not subject to the same annual limit.
Additionally, there are:
- government registration;
- fire safety standards;
- mandatory code of conduct;
- specific rules depending on location.
Compared to New York, it almost seems like absolute freedom.
Compared to having no regulation, evidently not.
Gatavia Traffic Light: 🟠
Gatavia Headache: 6.5/10.
Official source consulted: NSW Government, Short-Term Rental Accommodation framework.
The Rule That Is Conquering the World: “Only If It Is Your Primary Residence”
If there were to be identified an especially important international trend for owners, it would be this.
Many large cities are not completely eliminating tourist rentals.
They are trying to transform it into what, according to their original vision, it should be:
a person temporarily renting the home where they actually live.
Not an investor buying twenty residential homes to permanently allocate them to tourists.
The primary residence appears in one form or another in markets such as:
- New York;
- Amsterdam;
- Los Angeles;
- Toronto;
- Vancouver;
- Montreal;
- Paris, within the simplest occasional rental regime.
And this has a huge consequence for the investor.
There may be extraordinary demand for tourist rentals in a city and, at the same time, no simple legal model for an investor to buy a second home and exploit it 365 days as Airbnb.
Demand and legality are not synonyms.
Comparison of Airbnb Night Limits by City
| City | Highlighted Limit | Main Condition |
|---|---|---|
| New York | No full rental <30 days under ordinary STR | Host present + max 2 guests |
| Amsterdam | 30 nights; 15 in certain areas | Primary residence + permission |
| Paris | 90 days | Primary residence |
| London | 90 nights | More nights require planning permission |
| Los Angeles | 120 days under ordinary regime | Primary residence |
| Toronto | 180 nights full home | Primary residence |
| Sydney | 180 days non-hosted STR | Greater Sydney |
| Japan / minpaku | 180 days | Municipalities can tighten it |
| Montreal | Season June 10–September 10 | Primary residence + permission |
The limits are not directly comparable: each jurisdiction uses different definitions, exceptions, authorizations, and calculation periods. They should be interpreted within the complete local regulations.
So Which City is the Most Difficult in the World to Have an Airbnb?
If we are talking specifically about the usual model of:
“I buy a home, do not live there, and rent it out completely by the night”,
New York is our winner.
Or loser.
It depends on whether you are a tourist, owner, or lawyer.
For a stay shorter than 30 days, the legal regime requires the host to remain in the dwelling and limits accommodation to two paying guests.
Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Madrid immediately follow as a group of cities where legally operating a tourist home may depend on extremely specific factors.
And there is one detail worth repeating:
this ranking does not measure which city has the most tourists.
It measures how difficult it can be to turn that demand into a legal short-term operation.
The €300,000 Question You Should Ask Before Buying
Imagine two identical apartments.
Same street.
Same square meters.
Same terrace.
Same ADR forecast.
One can be legally exploited as tourist accommodation.
The other cannot.
Do they still hold the same value for you?
Clearly not.
That’s why analyzing a tourist investment starting with:
- occupancy;
- ADR;
- RevPAR;
- purchase price;
- profitability;
before checking the legal viability is doing it backward.
Excel can perfectly calculate an illegal tourist home. So can the city council.
Gatavia Checklist Before Buying a Home for Airbnb
Before signing a reservation thinking about tourist rental, check at least:
1. The Exact Address
Not the country.
Not the city.
The address.
Two properties separated by 300 meters may be subject to different zoning.
2. The Urban Use
Check that the activity you want to develop is compatible with the property and its planning.
3. The Actual License
Do not accept:
“It has always been rented.”
“There are many Airbnbs in the building.”
“The agent says nothing will happen.”
Ask what authorization exists, in whose name, since when, and under what conditions.
4. If the Authorization Can Be Transferred
A license useful for the current owner does not always mean a license useful for the buyer.
5. Primary Residence
In many cities, this question directly decides whether your business model exists or not.
6. Annual Limit
A market with 80% potential occupancy loses some of its appeal if you can only legally sell a fraction of the nights.
7. Community or Condominium
Check statutes, agreements, and internal rules.
8. Traveler Registration and Operational Obligations
The license is usually not the end of the obligations.
9. Taxes
Tourism and Taxation usually know the same address.
10. Regulatory Risk
Also ask:
What is the government of this city currently trying to do?
A stable legislation and an administration actively preparing restrictions do not represent the same risk.
Where is Airbnb Prohibited? Frequently Asked Questions
Is Airbnb banned in New York?
There is no absolute ban on all activities related to Airbnb. However, for stays shorter than 30 days, you cannot legally rent an entire home under the ordinary model if the host does not remain in it. The host must be present, and a maximum of two paying guests can be accommodated.
How many days can I rent on Airbnb in Paris?
The primary residence can be rented as tourist accommodation for up to 90 days a year. Homes that are not primary residences are subject to much stricter requirements, including changes of use and other authorizations when applicable.
How many days does Airbnb allow in London?
The use of a residential property for short-term accommodation is generally limited to 90 nights per calendar year without obtaining the corresponding planning permission.
How many days does Airbnb allow in Amsterdam?
The general rule is a maximum of 30 nights per calendar year for holiday rental of the primary residence. Since April 2026, certain areas of Centrum and De Pijp have a limit of 15 nights.
Can new tourist apartments be opened in Barcelona?
Barcelona maintains a very restrictive policy on tourist-use homes and does not operate as a free market for new licenses. Additionally, the City Council has announced its intention not to renew the approximately 10,101 existing licenses when their 2028 horizon arrives.
Can I buy an apartment for Airbnb in Los Angeles?
The ordinary home-sharing regime in Los Angeles is linked to the primary residence of the host and has a general limit of 120 annual days, so buying a second home solely to exploit it in that way does not fit simply into the ordinary model.
Does Airbnb require a primary residence in Toronto?
The regulations in Toronto require that short-term rentals be conducted in the operator's primary residence. The full home can be rented for up to 180 nights a year.
Is Airbnb legal in Japan?
Yes. Japan has a specific minpaku regime under the Private Lodging Business Act, with a general maximum of 180 days per year. Local authorities can impose additional restrictions.
Which city has the strongest restrictions against Airbnb?
There is no official ranking because legal systems are not directly comparable. For the investment model consisting of buying a complete home and renting it by the night without residing in it, New York is among the most restrictive markets analyzed by Gatavia.
Conclusion: The Best Airbnb Market Is Not Necessarily Where There Are More Tourists
There are cities capable of filling a home 300 nights a year.
And cities where legally you may not be able to offer it even 30.
That small detail is often missing in many profitability sheets.
That’s why an attractive market for tourist rentals needs much more than tourists.
It needs:
- demand;
- reasonable entry price;
- margin;
- bearable taxation;
- viable operation;
- and, above all, a legal model that allows you to do what your Excel assumes you will do.
The most profitable home in a city can be a terrible investment if you cannot exploit it.
And a home with lower gross profitability can be a much better business if it has a legal, stable, and defensible operation.
Before asking how much you can earn with an Airbnb, ask if you can really have one.
It may be the most profitable question of the entire investment.
Gatavia Methodology: this comparison uses regulations, information, and official municipal, regional, and state documentation consulted until August 29, 2026. The rules for tourist rentals depend on the specific address, type of property, urban use, owner situation, community or condominium, and possible exceptions. The Gatavia Headache Index is a comparative editorial assessment and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice.