From 1 June 2027, a car rolling off the ferry at Maó or Ciutadella may need a permit to stay on Menorca. The island council approved the plan on 2 September 2026, and the Balearic Parliament gave it a first green light three weeks later. It is the clearest of the beach rules changing in 2027, and not yet law.
Menorca is not alone. Mallorca wants its own cap on visitor and hire cars by summer 2027, Ibiza has already fixed its limit, and Venice will charge day-trippers on 72 days instead of 60. Below is every change we could confirm for 2027 beach holidays, with its status, and what a UK, Irish or US traveller should book now.
What is confirmed for summer 2027, and what is still a proposal
Only a handful are settled. Councils and parliaments take most decisions before spring, so the status column matters as much as the rule. Checked November 2026.
| Place | What changes | When | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menorca | Permit needed for non-exempt vehicles, within a summer ceiling; hire-car quota | Target 1 June 2027 | Island council approved; first Parliament vote passed; final vote pending |
| Mallorca | Annual cap on vehicles not taxed on Mallorca, separate hire-car cap, fee paid with the ferry ticket | Summer 2027, if passed in time | In Parliament; final vote expected by the end of 2026 |
| Ibiza | 17,668 vehicles a day, of which up to 14,000 hire cars | Summer 2027 (dates may be adjusted) | Approved March 2026, covers 2026 and 2027 |
| Formentera | Vehicle permit | 2027 season | 2027 rules not yet approved |
| Balearic Islands | Tourist tax rise | None planned | Not changing |
| Venice | Day-tripper fee, up to €10, on 72 days | 26 March to 15 August 2027 | Calendar approved; fees and booking details pending |
| Italy | Beach concessions (lidos) put out to tender | Tenders launched by 30 June 2027; current licences end 30 September 2027 | Law since 2024; no further extensions, Council of State ruled in August 2026 |
| Greece | No rented sunbeds, parasols or snack bars on 251 protected beaches | In force since April 2026 | Continues; no further changes announced |
| West Crete | Timed online booking for Balos, Elafonissi and Falassarna | Plan due in 2027 | Proposal |
| Malta | Eco-contribution rises to €8 per adult per night in hotels; €5 for non-residents visiting Comino | 1 January 2027; Comino start date not announced | Announced in the Budget; needs implementing law |
| La Oliva, Fuerteventura | €0.56 per person per night | No start date | Initial approval only |
The 2026 rules that carry on, from Santorini's cruise cap to the booked beaches of Sardinia and Galicia, are in our guide to Europe's 2026 beach caps and fees.
Menorca plans to limit visitor cars from 1 June 2027
The bill amends the law protecting Menorca as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve so the island council, the Consell de Menorca, can set a vehicle ceiling every year or two and decide when cars may arrive. Every non-exempt vehicle will need authorisation before it travels. An entry fee is also planned, with no amount set. Hire firms get their own fleet quota, not yet set by November 2026.
According to elDiario.es and ARA Balears, the bill exempts:
- Registered Menorca residents.
- Non-resident homeowners, for one vehicle per home.
- People travelling for work who can prove it, and people with reduced mobility.
- Taxis, buses, emergency and official vehicles, and goods vehicles.
Everyone else counts against the summer quota, including holidaymakers bringing their own car by ferry. Residents of Mallorca and Ibiza lost their automatic pass in a Socialist amendment agreed on 2 September. The council has said they will be exempt only if those islands treat Menorcans the same way.
The number is the council's to set. A capacity study delivered to the council in 2025 counted 122,170 vehicles on the island in the peak week of August 2024 and recommended a ceiling of 120,000, with 86,023 for residents and 33,977 for visitors and businesses, according to ARA Balears and Euro Weekly News.
On 22 September 2026, 46 of the 56 deputies present voted to take the bill forward and Vox abstained, Euro Weekly News reported. That opens the normal parliamentary process, amendments included.
The machinery is behind. Es Diari reported on 16 October that the island's mobility councillor, Juan Manuel Delgado, had admitted the entry fee would be very hard to apply in 2027, and that the cameras meant to count vehicles at Maó port were still not installed at the end of the season. The council wants a transitional regime approved before the end of 2026, so the limit can start while the detailed regulation is finished.
Treat 1 June 2027 as a target. Mallorca's bill has reached the same stage, and it would affect far more holidaymakers.
Mallorca's hire-car cap is waiting for a final vote
The Consell de Mallorca approved its bill on 5 June 2026. On 9 September the Balearic Parliament agreed to consider it, with only Vox abstaining, Última Hora reported.
In October the governing PP filed amendments, one of them exempting residents travelling between the islands. The aim is to pass the law by the end of 2026 so the limits apply in summer 2027, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported on 13 October. No final vote had been held by mid-November. Checked November 2026.
The bill sets an annual quota for visiting vehicles not taxed on Mallorca and a separate cap on tourist hire cars, both fixed each year by a carrying-capacity study. Ferry companies would collect an administrative fee when you book a car on board; the Bulletin expects it to be under €20, but no amount is confirmed. Fines would run from €300 to €30,000, and non-resident foreign homeowners would be limited to one car per property.
For visitors who fly in, the hire-car cap matters more than the ferry fee, and its size is unknown. Baleval, one of the island's car-hire associations, has asked for a delay to 2028 and questioned the limits' legality, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported in September. On Mallorca's neighbour to the south-west, the cap is already in place.
Ibiza and Formentera already limit cars
Ibiza's council voted on 20 March 2026 to set a ceiling of 17,668 vehicles a day for both the 2026 and 2027 summers, Fibwi Diario reported. Once a quota for Formentera residents is set aside, that leaves up to 14,000 hire cars and 3,548 other visiting vehicles a day.
In 2026 the limit ran from 1 June to 30 September. For 2027 the council plans to adjust the period to demand, Periódico de Ibiza reported, so the dates are not fixed yet. The cap also faces court challenges: Baleval and the ride-hire group Unauto VTC had appealed the 20 March agreement in Palma's courts by May 2026.
The official portal, ibizacircular.es, says a vehicle on a return ferry ticket booked with one shipping line needs no separate authorisation, and cars with a tax address on Ibiza, Mallorca or Menorca are exempt. Other drivers apply online and pay €1 a day in season, under a fee ordinance approved in May 2025. Cameras read number plates, so there is nothing to display.
Every hire car counts against that 14,000. The council shares out the quota between firms, giving priority to those with parking concessions at Ibiza airport and to newer, low-emission cars. From 31 May 2027 United plans a Newark to Ibiza nonstop, subject to government approval, so US visitors will be after the same cars; our summer 2027 beach preview has the details.
Formentera runs its own permit system, and its 2026 season ended on 30 September. Its official portal, formentera.eco, says the 2027 rules will be published once approved and that the portal reopens on 20 April 2027. One Balearic charge, at least, is staying put.
The Balearic tourist tax is not going up in 2027
Balearic president Marga Prohens floated a higher peak-season rate in 2024, but it never became law, and no rise has been approved for 2027. On 6 February 2026 the government's spokesman, Antoni Costa, said the increase was no longer necessary because peak-season arrivals had grown by only 0.7%, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported.
The sustainable tourism tax stays at its current per-night rates, collected by your hotel or holiday let.
Venice, Malta and La Oliva are adding or raising fees
Venice will charge day-trippers on 72 days in 2027, up from 60, from Good Friday, 26 March, to 15 August. The city government approved the calendar on 15 October 2026. According to the council's announcement, fees apply from 8.30am to 4.30pm, half an hour longer than in 2026, and top out at €10. Fee bands, exemptions, booking and payment rules and the portal's opening date come in later decisions.
Malta's Budget, read on 26 October 2026, raises the eco-contribution from 1 January 2027 from €1.50 to €8 per adult per night in hotels and €10 in short-let apartments, TVM reported. It also adds a €5 charge for non-residents visiting Comino, payable through the existing Blue Lagoon booking system, with no start date announced. Both apply only once the implementing law is in place. Our Malta tourist tax guide works out what a week costs.
In Fuerteventura, La Oliva council gave initial approval on 29 October 2026 to a tax of €0.56 per person per night on tourist stays across the municipality, which takes in Corralejo and El Cotillo, according to Diario de Fuerteventura. There is no start date yet; our Fuerteventura tourist tax guide follows the remaining steps. Italy's change is bigger, and slower to reach the beach.
Italy's lidos go to tender by June 2027
Italy's rows of numbered sunbeds and parasols are mostly run by private operators on state concessions. Law 166 of 2024 keeps the existing concessions valid until 30 September 2027 and gives councils until 30 June 2027 to launch public tenders.
The Council of State ruled out further delay in judgment 6539 of 18 August 2026, reported by Stato Quotidiano: 30 September 2027 is a deadline for finishing tenders, not a new extension. The law allows one exception. If a court case or another objective difficulty stops a tender finishing in time, the council can extend the current concession, by a reasoned decision, to 31 March 2028 at the latest.
For a beach day in summer 2027, little should change: most lidos will open under their current operators, whose licences run to the end of September. New operators are more likely from 2028, and nobody has published what the tenders will do to sunbed prices. Greece, by contrast, has been taking sunbeds away.
Greece keeps 251 beaches free of sunbeds, and Crete weighs bookings
A joint decision signed on 24 April 2026 by Greece's finance and environment ministers raised the list of protected "untrodden" beaches from 238 to 251, according to the finance ministry. No beach concessions may be granted on those stretches, so there are no rented sunbeds, umbrellas or snack bars: visitors bring a towel. No further changes to the list had been announced by November 2026.
The islet at Elafonissi, in Crete's south-west, is named in the decision's annex, so there is nothing to rent once you wade across. Kissamos municipality is also drawing up a plan for timed online booking, with daily caps, at Balos, Elafonissi and Falassarna, Greek City Times reported in August 2026. Its environmental adviser expected it to be finished in 2027, but nothing had been adopted by November 2026, so it remains a proposal.
Sunbeds are already scarcer, the same report found: about 150 at Balos, down from roughly 400, and about 200 at Elafonissi, down from roughly 800. Our Crete beach guide has the boat times and roads, and best beaches in Greece covers the rest of the country.
What to book now for summer 2027
Book what is certain; keep the rest flexible until the votes and portals land.
- Driving your own car to Menorca or Mallorca: book a ferry fare you can change, and check the island council's rules before June. Mallorca plans to take the fee with your ferry ticket.
- Hiring a car in the Balearics: on Ibiza, where the cap is set, firms with parking concessions at the airport get priority in the quota.
- Taking a car to Ibiza: book the return crossing with one shipping line (no separate authorisation needed) and keep your dates inside the ticket.
- Formentera: wait for formentera.eco to reopen on 20 April 2027 before committing to a car.
- Crete's west coast: fix your hotel, but check Kissamos's booking plan before you choose a Balos or Elafonissi day.
Neither the Menorca nor the Mallorca quota had been set by mid-November 2026, so if you need a hire car on Mallorca, Menorca or Ibiza, book it now with free cancellation in case the rules change.
