For US travelers Checked July 2026

What do I tip here?

Every country below, measured against what you already leave at home. Almost everywhere expects less, and in 8 places the answer is nothing at all.

What you tip at home, 15 to 20%. Nowhere expects more.

Most figures are firmly sourced and carry no mark. A faint dot means the sourcing is less firm, and a dashed bar means sources genuinely disagreed, so read it as an estimate.

  1. Chinanothing
  2. Icelandnothing•
  3. Japannothing
  4. Singaporenothing
  5. South Koreanothing
  6. Taiwannothing•
  7. France0 to 5%
  8. Hong Kong0 to 5%•
  9. Switzerland0 to 5%•
  10. Australia0 to 10%
  11. Denmark0 to 10%•
  12. Italy0 to 10%
  13. Laos0 to 10%•
  14. New Zealand0 to 10%
  15. Norway0 to 10%•
  16. Spain0 to 10%
  17. Sweden0 to 10%•
  18. Austria5 to 10%•
  19. Cambodia5 to 10%•
  20. Czechia5 to 10%•
  21. Georgia5 to 10%•
  22. Germany5 to 10%
  23. Greece5 to 10%
  24. India5 to 10%
  25. Indonesia5 to 10%•
  26. Morocco5 to 10%•
  27. Netherlands5 to 10%•
  28. Portugal5 to 10%•
  29. Sri Lanka5 to 10%•
  30. Thailand5 to 10%•
  31. Turkey5 to 10%
  32. Vietnam5 to 10%•
  33. Argentina10%•
  34. Brazil10%•
  35. Colombia10%
  36. Croatia10%•
  37. Ecuador10%
  38. Philippines10%
  39. Poland10%•
  40. Aruba10 to 15%•
  41. Egypt10 to 15%
  42. Hungary10 to 15%•
  43. Ireland10 to 15%
  44. Jamaica10 to 15%•
  45. Mexico10 to 15%
  46. Namibia10 to 15%
  47. South Africa10 to 15%
  48. United Arab Emirates10 to 15%•
  49. United Kingdom10 to 15%
  50. Costa Rica10 to 20%
  51. Dominican Republic10 to 20%•
  52. Bahamas15%•
  53. Canada15 to 20%

One thing that costs Americans money: in 36 of these countries a service charge is usually already printed on the bill, and tipping again on top is the most common expensive mistake. Check the bill before you add anything.

This is custom, not law

Tipping norms are social habits, not published rules. They vary by region, venue and season, and a busy tourist strip behaves differently from a neighborhood place an hour away. That makes this a different kind of claim from our visa-fee and tourist-tax pages, where the figures come from government sources. Treat these as well-researched guidance to travel with, not as rules.

What the chart cannot show you

Where a tip is genuinely unwelcome

In Australia, China, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, leaving money is not the norm. That is not stinginess on your part, it is the local standard, and paying the exact amount is the correct thing to do. In Japan a tip can actively land wrong: cash may be politely refused, and a sincere thank-you is the gesture that carries weight instead.

A service charge is not always a tip

This one inverts the American assumption. Taiwan treats the printed service charge as general restaurant revenue by law rather than a gratuity. In Egypt, Argentina, Georgia and Vietnam it commonly does not reach the worker either. So a charge on the bill does not reliably mean staff have been taken care of, and in those places a small amount handed directly to the server lands where the printed charge does not.

Where you need actual cash

In Argentina, Morocco, Turkey, Egypt a tip realistically has to be cash. Argentina is the sharpest case: card terminals there have no tip line at all, so anything you mean for the server has to come out of your pocket. Carry small notes in these countries or you will end up leaving nothing by default.

What this does to your budget

The practical version, which is what we actually care about here. Across Europe and Japan, budget almost nothing extra for tips: the price you see is close to the price you pay. Across North America and the Caribbean, add a real line item to every meal, because that is where tipping genuinely moves your daily spend. Everywhere else sits between the two, closer to nothing than to home.

Norms are moving, and mostly upward

Tipping shifts faster than most travel facts. Card terminals keep nudging suggested percentages up, which is quietly raising expectations in places that had none a decade ago. Turkey banned mandatory service charges in 2026. A 2025 Indian court ruling confirmed that service charges there are voluntary, not obligatory. We re-check this page as those norms move, and where sources disagreed we lowered our confidence rather than picking a number that looked tidy.

Compiled by the True Trip Costs desk and checked July 2026. Percentages are the usual restaurant tip for a US traveler, drawn from local guidance and industry sources rather than a single official register. Sourcing is not equally firm everywhere: most rows are well supported and carry no mark, a faint dot flags a figure we are less certain of, and a dashed bar flags the one country where sources genuinely conflicted. Country names link to our full money guide for that country.