One is drowning in visitors, the other is arguing about car parks: the Highlands and Kyoto in autumn 2026

Kyoto raised its lodging tax tenfold at the top end in March. The Highlands are still consulting on 5 pounds a night. Two overtourism stories at completely different scales.

Both of these places describe themselves as having a tourism problem, and both are wrong about the other. Kyoto absorbs a share of the 42.7 million visitors Japan received in 2025 and has responded by rebuilding its lodging tax around who can afford to pay. The Scottish Highlands are dealing with camper vans in council car parks and a levy that has not been approved yet. A traveller planning autumn 2026 should understand that these are not the same phenomenon at different sizes, and that the practical consequences for a booking are almost entirely different.

Where the two levies actually stand

• Kyoto lodging tax has applied since 1 March 2026, from 200 up to 10,000 yen per person per night by room rate
• The previous Kyoto ceiling was 1,000 yen at any price point
• Highland Council is consulting on 5 pounds per room or area per night, 2 pounds for hostels and campsites
• The Highland scheme would run nine months a year, excluding December, January and February
• Edinburgh’s 5 per cent levy has been live since 24 July 2026, capped at five consecutive nights

One place has too many visitors, the other has an argument about parking

Japan took 42.7 million international arrivals in 2025, up from 36.9 million, helped by a yen sitting near 150 to the dollar against roughly 110 in 2019, and it is aiming for 60 million by 2030. Kyoto carries far more of that than its street plan can comfortably hold.

The Highland equivalent is a good deal smaller and much more local in character. The North Coast 500 is estimated to be worth more than 22 million pounds a year to the regional economy, and the disputes it generates are about specific car parks in specific villages. Councillors have pushed for overnight bans on camper vans in council car parks at Durness and Golspie, citing waste and antisocial behaviour. A voluntary campervan pass scheme launched in August 2024 had sold fewer than 40 passes, and around 27 per cent of mobile home users on the route do not use campsites at all.

Kyoto’s new tax arrived in March and bites hardest at the top

The revised scale took effect on 1 March 2026. Nothing changed for the cheapest tier, which stays at 200 yen for anything below 6,000. Above that the charge is 400, then 1,000 from 20,000, 4,000 from 50,000, and 10,000 once a room passes 100,000. The old ceiling was 1,000 yen whatever the room cost, so the change is a tenfold increase at the luxury end and nothing at all at the bottom. School groups stay exempt.

Whether this reduces crowding is doubtful, since the visitors paying 100,000 yen a night are not the ones filling the buses to Fushimi Inari. What it does is transfer the cost of managing the crowd to the part of the market least likely to notice, which is a defensible piece of tax design and a poor piece of crowd control.

The Highland levy is still a consultation, and winter is excluded

Highland Council has agreed to consult on a tiered fixed-amount scheme: 5 pounds per room or area per night for hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts and short-term lets, and 2 pounds for hostels and campsites, with providers retaining 5 per cent to cover administration. It is projected to raise around 9 million pounds a year.

The timetable matters more than the rate for anyone booking now. A statutory 12-week consultation opens in early September 2026, a final decision is expected that December, and an 18-month implementation period would follow approval. The scheme would also operate for only nine months of the year, excluding December, January and February. Nobody visiting the Highlands in 2026 will pay it. Edinburgh, by contrast, has been charging 5 per cent of the accommodation cost since 24 July 2026, capped at five consecutive nights and applying to advance bookings made from 1 October 2025 onwards, which catches a good many people who booked long before the levy existed.

Autumn 2026 is a different problem in each

Kyoto in November is the single worst combination in the destination: peak autumn colour, peak Japanese domestic travel and peak international arrivals, all converging on a small number of temple gardens. The lodging tax does nothing to thin it. A visitor determined to go should build the day around early starts and outer districts, and should accept that the famous views will be shared with a great many people.

The Highlands in autumn are the opposite proposition. The camper van season is winding down, the light is still workable into the evening, the midges have gone and accommodation opens up. For a reader with flexible dates and an interest in either place, autumn is the wrong time for one and close to the best time for the other.

What each asks you to book ahead

Kyoto now requires forward planning in a way it did not five years ago: accommodation months out for the colour season, timed entry where it exists, and a realistic assessment of which sites are worth the queue. Anyone hoping to improvise will spend the trip on crowded buses.

The Highlands require the reverse discipline: booking the few beds that exist in small settlements, particularly along the North Coast 500, while keeping the route loose enough to absorb weather. Parking penalties on the route run to 100 pounds, reduced to 50 if paid within a fortnight, which is a small but avoidable cost for anyone assuming a lay-by is fair game. Between the two, the Highlands are the easier and cheaper trip in 2026, and Kyoto is the more rewarding one for a visitor willing to work at it.

Sources: Japan Travel, Kyoto lodging taxes to increase from March 2026 · Nippon.com, Japan welcomes record 42.7 million visitors in 2025 · Highland Council, tiered fixed-amount visitor levy consultation · City of Edinburgh Council, visitor levy comes into effect · Scottish Daily Express, NC500 camper van parking dispute