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I have, over a dozen years of solo travel, tipped too much, tipped too little, tipped in countries where the custom does not exist and caused mild embarrassment, and failed to tip in countries where the expectation is so embedded that the absence of a tip is a specific kind of social discourtesy. I have also had the experience of tipping in Japan and receiving the money back, gently but firmly, by a server who found the gesture slightly confusing.
The tipping question is a genuinely variable one; more variable than people raised in a culture with strong tipping norms (the United States, Canada) or no tipping norms (Japan, South Korea) typically appreciate. What follows is the practical guide I wish I had had earlier, organised by region, with the emphasis on the destinations that matter most to the solo traveller of my demographic.
Southeast Asia
Thailand
The tipping situation in Thailand is warm but not obligatory; the country has not adopted the American system of supplementing wages through customer tipping, and the social pressure to tip that characterises American restaurants is absent. That said, leaving something is appreciated and is what visiting travellers do.
Restaurants: Round up the bill or leave 50 to 100 baht (around £1 to £2) on a meal for one. In tourist restaurants catering to international visitors, this is the expected range. In local restaurants where you are the only foreigner, a smaller tip is still appreciated; doing nothing is not penalised.
Massage therapists: 50 to 100 baht (around £1 to £2) on a traditional Thai massage at a standard price point (200 to 400 baht (around £4 to £9) per hour). At hotel spas at higher prices, ten percent of the bill. The massage therapist has typically paid the studio for the right to work there, so a tip is not supplementing a hotel wage but contributing directly to their income.
Taxis and Grab: Round up to the nearest twenty or fifty baht. Not obligatory; Grab drivers see the rounded-up total and the rating more as meaningful feedback.
Guided tours and trekking guides: 200 to 500 baht (around £4 to £11) per day depending on the quality of the guide and the length of the tour.
Hotel staff: Housekeeping typically receives 20 to 50 baht (around 50p to £1) per night left on the pillow. Bellhops, 20 baht per bag is standard.
Vietnam
A transitional tipping culture. Historically, tipping was not customary in Vietnam; increasingly, in the restaurants and establishments that serve international visitors, a service charge is added to the bill or a tip is expected. Read the situation.
In tourist restaurants in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hoi An: ten percent is appropriate. At local pho joints where you are eating beside Vietnamese families: nothing expected, a small gesture appreciated.
Motorbike taxi drivers (Grab Bike or similar): round up. Guided tours: 100,000 to 200,000 VND (£3 to £7) per day for a good guide.
Malaysia
Tipping is not customary in Malaysia. A ten percent service charge is typically added to restaurant bills in the cities, and this covers the expectation. Tipping on top of a service charge that is already there is unnecessary and slightly confusing. At informal hawker stalls and kopitiam (traditional coffee shops), nothing is expected.
Exceptions: international hotel staff (bellhops, porters) have adopted the expected norms for that context; RM2 to RM5 per bag is appropriate.
Japan
Japan is the place where the absolute rule is the most important to know: do not tip. The Japanese service culture is built on a philosophy that good service is intrinsic to the job and does not require supplementary reward from the customer. Offering a tip can be experienced as slightly insulting to the concept of service as a professional standard. If you offer a tip and the person tries to return it, let them. The interaction is not a negotiation.
This applies to restaurants, taxis, hotels, tour guides, and all other contexts. The single exception is ryokan (traditional inn) staff who carry luggage and prepare the room; in this very specific context, a small tip in a sealed envelope (the presentation matters) of ¥1,000 to ¥2,000 is accepted.
Indonesia and Bali
Tipping is appreciated in the tourist economy of Bali and not strongly expected in the rest of Indonesia. Ten percent at Bali restaurants that serve international visitors, less or nothing at warungs (local food stalls). Guided tour drivers in Bali typically expect Rp 50,000 to Rp 100,000 (£2.50 to £5) per day as a tip, in addition to their fee.
One thing that helps, practically speaking: if you book tours through GetYourGuide rather than the hotel desk or a street-level tuk-tuk conversation, the listing tells you what is and is not included before you hand anything over. Guide tip, entry fees, transfers. It is all there. Takes the awkward calculation off your plate.
Europe
United Kingdom
The UK has a “round up and move on” relationship with tipping that has become more formalised in restaurants over the past two decades. In a sit-down restaurant: ten to twelve-and-a-half percent is appropriate, and many restaurants now add a service charge automatically. Check your bill; if a service charge is already included (sometimes called “optional service,” which is not really optional in practice), you have no obligation to add more.
Do not tip in pubs for drinks; this is not the custom. You may offer the bar staff “one for yourself” (buy them a drink), which is different and entirely acceptable.
Taxis: round up to the nearest pound or add ten percent. Hotels: porters get £1 to £2 per bag.
France
Service charges are included by law in French restaurant bills (the “service compris” note at the bottom of the menu). In practice, leaving a few euros on the table, rounding up the bill or adding £3 to £5 for a good meal, is appreciated without being mandatory. The old rule about French restaurants not expecting tips is largely still true but softening.
In cafes: leave the small change. Taxi drivers: round up.
Spain
Spain has a similar structure to France: service is not technically expected but is appreciated. In restaurants, rounding up or leaving five to ten percent for a good experience is appropriate. In tapas bars, leaving the small change is standard.
Italy
Italy expects rounding up or a small additional amount at sit-down restaurants, particularly in tourist areas. Many Italian restaurant bills include “coperto”, a cover charge per person for bread and the table, which is distinct from service. A tip of five to ten percent on top is appropriate at better restaurants. At local trattorias, round up and say thank you.
Do not tip at coffee bars; the standing espresso culture does not include a tipping expectation. Drop the change in the dish on the counter if you are moved to do so.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Round up to the nearest five or ten euros. Tell the server the amount you want to pay when you hand over the money; in Germany, you do not leave the tip on the table, you state the total you are paying: “Macht fünfzig Euro” (that makes fifty euros) means your bill was forty-three euros and you are tipping seven. Taxis: five to ten percent rounding up.
Netherlands, Scandinavia
Similar to Germany; rounding up is standard and anything beyond ten percent would be unusual. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland have high base wages that reduce the significance of tipping in their service economies.
Portugal
Similar to Spain. Ten percent is appreciated in sit-down restaurants, change in cafes, nothing obligatory at street food stalls.
Greece
Round up and add a small amount; five to ten percent in restaurants. Leave something for hotel housekeeping (€1 to €2 per night). Tip guides on day tours (€3 to €5 per person for a good guide is appropriate).
North America
United States
Tipping in the United States is not optional in any meaningful sense of the word. The restaurant industry operates on a base wage that is legally below minimum wage in many states, with tips legally considered part of the compensation. Twenty percent has become the standard expected tip for sit-down restaurant service; fifteen percent is the lower edge. Anything below fifteen percent registers as a criticism of the service rather than simply the absence of a tip.
Taxi drivers: fifteen to twenty percent. Hotel housekeeping: $2 to $5 per night. Bellhops: $2 to $3 per bag. Bartenders: $1 to $2 per drink.
The United States has also introduced tipping prompts at point-of-sale terminals for purchases that previously did not carry a tipping expectation; coffee shops, takeaway counters, food trucks. The social pressure from the screen being turned towards you and requiring you to actively press “no tip” is real. Navigate it according to your own principles.
Canada
Similar to the United States, with fifteen to twenty percent expected at restaurants and fifteen percent as the baseline for other service categories.
Middle East and North Africa
Morocco, Egypt, Jordan
Tipping is woven into the economics of the tourism industry in ways that are different from Europe. In Morocco, the “baksheesh” expectation, small tips for small services, from a man who shows you where something is to a guard who opens a door in a medina, is genuine and the amounts are small (5 to 20 Moroccan dirhams, £0.35 to £1.50). Larger tips for guides: 10 to 20 dirhams per hour of guiding.
In Egypt, baksheesh expectations are slightly more persistent and occasionally more pressured; budget small notes in your pocket for the numerous situations where a small tip resolves a navigational or access question quickly.
The Practical Kit
Carry small local currency notes for tipping in any country where cash is still the medium for tips. The experience of wanting to tip and having only a £50 note or a 1,000 baht note is frustrating. ATMs typically dispense large denomination notes; ask the bank for smaller ones when you withdraw, or break them at a shop.
When a service charge is already included in your bill, you are not obligated to add more. When you add more anyway, it is because you want to, not because the social architecture requires it. This distinction is worth maintaining.
Tipping via card is increasingly possible at many establishments worldwide. It is slightly less impactful than cash tipping in countries where the electronic tip may be pooled by management rather than reaching the individual server directly; though practices vary and are changing.
If you would rather hand the entire tipping question to someone else for the duration, G Adventures lays out recommended tip amounts per destination in the trip notes before you leave. You arrive with the right local currency in the right denominations, and nobody has to have an awkward conversation at the end of a long day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it rude not to tip in Southeast Asia? It is not rude in the way that not tipping in the United States is rude. Thai, Vietnamese, and Malaysian service culture does not build compensation models around customer tips. Not tipping is unremarkable. Tipping is generous and appreciated.
What do I do when a service charge is already on the bill? Nothing more is required. If the service was exceptional, a small additional cash tip for the specific person who served you is a nice gesture that is separate from the service charge (which often goes to management or is pooled). But it is not an expectation.
How much should I tip a tour guide? Thailand and Southeast Asia: 200 to 500 baht (£4 to £11) per day for a full-day guided tour. Europe: €5 to €10 per day for a guided walking tour or private guide. The variation reflects both local economics and the nature of the service.
Tipping norms evolve over time and vary between establishments within the same country. The guidance above reflects current general practice; always use local observation and context.
A note on how I write: Every trip starts with a journal, filled in wherever I happen to be; on a bus, plane, train, or in a backstreet cafe that has clearly seen better days. It’s not tidy, and it’s not always legible even to me. When I get the time, I use AI to help turn those notes into something readable, organising drafts and occasionally rescuing a sentence that has wandered off without me. The experiences, the perspective, the humour and every editorial decision remain entirely mine. As for the photos, I’m not remotely fond of having my picture taken, family portraits included, so I also use AI to help visualise the places and moments I write about.
