Do you tip in Europe?

It varies by country and often by the kind of place. Service is frequently included on the bill — printed as service compris, servizio or a service charge — and where it is, rounding up to a convenient amount is a common gesture rather than adding a percentage. Check the bill first.

What does service compris mean?

That service is already included in the price on the bill. Anything you leave on top of it is additional, so read the line before adding a percentage.

No. Coperto is a per-person cover charge common in Italy for the table setting and bread. It is not gratuity and it is not paid to your server as one.

Generally not. Tipping is not customary in Japanese restaurants and leaving money is more likely to confuse than to please.

Can I use a tip calculator in another currency?

Yes. The travel tip calculator works in forty currencies: choose one and every figure — the tip, the total, the per-person share — comes back in it, to the smallest unit that currency actually has. It will also show those amounts in your own currency underneath, as an estimate with the rate and its date shown; the figure you hand over stays in the currency of the bill.

Tipping abroad

Whether service is already on the bill, why rounding beats percentages in much of Europe, and the places where a tip is not expected at all.

4 min read · Updated September 2026

Away from home the percentage is the easy part. The two questions that actually decide what you hand over are whether service is already on the bill, and whether a tip is expected at all. Get those right and the arithmetic is the same as it is anywhere.

Read the bill before you add anything

Plenty of places bill service as a line rather than leaving it to you. In France it is commonly printed as service compris, in Italy as servizio, and in the UK an optional service charge is often added for larger tables. If a service line is already there, anything you add on top is on top of it — which is how a 15% intention quietly becomes 28%.

Italy has a second line worth knowing about. Coperto is a per-person cover charge for the table, the bread and the setting. It is not a tip and it does not go to your server as one, so it does not settle the question of whether to leave anything.

A €48.00 bill with service already on it

Food and drink€44.00

Coperto, 2 × €2.00€4.00

Servizio 10%, already included—

Bill€48.00

Rounded to€50.00

The €2 is the gesture, not a calculation. Adding a further 15% on a bill that already carries 10% service is the mistake to avoid.

Rounding is the common gesture, not a percentage

In much of Europe the normal move is to round up to a convenient note or coin rather than to compute a percentage: a €46.20 bill becomes €48 or €50 and nobody is doing sums. Round the total rather than the tip when you do this — the amount you hand over is the number that matters, and the tip is whatever falls out of it.

Some places do not expect a tip at all

Japan is the example most travellers have heard about, and it is broadly accurate: tipping is not customary in restaurants, and leaving money on the table is more likely to cause confusion than pleasure. Several other countries in East Asia are similar. Where a tip is genuinely not part of the transaction, the calculator to use is the one that tells you the bill.

Cash, cards and the missing tip line

Card terminals outside North America frequently have no tip prompt, and where one exists it may be there for tourists rather than because locals use it. If you want to leave something, cash in the local currency is the reliable route. Tipping in dollars or euros somewhere that uses neither is a small favour to the recipient at best — someone has to change it.

Doing it on the phone

The travel tip calculator is built for exactly this: pick the currency, enter the bill as it is printed, and either round up to the next coin or note or take a percentage. It reads 48,50 the way a comma-decimal country writes it, and it knows the currencies that have no cents. Underneath the answer it converts the lot into your own currency so you know what the evening cost — as an estimate, with the rate and its date on screen, because the rate you are really charged is your card issuer's. What is customary is still the part you have to judge; that is what the rest of this page is for.

Tipping customs vary by country, by city, by the kind of place you are in, and they change. Everything here is a starting point for what to look at, not a rule about what to leave — and a calculator is not the right thing to be taking etiquette instruction from. When it matters, ask someone local.

Rather just have the answer?

Open the travel tip calculator

Common questions

Do you tip in Europe?: It varies by country and often by the kind of place. Service is frequently included on the bill — printed as service compris, servizio or a service charge — and where it is, rounding up to a convenient amount is a common gesture rather than adding a percentage. Check the bill first.
What does service compris mean?: That service is already included in the price on the bill. Anything you leave on top of it is additional, so read the line before adding a percentage.
Is coperto a tip?: No. Coperto is a per-person cover charge common in Italy for the table setting and bread. It is not gratuity and it is not paid to your server as one.
Do you tip in Japan?: Generally not. Tipping is not customary in Japanese restaurants and leaving money is more likely to confuse than to please.
Can I use a tip calculator in another currency?: Yes. The travel tip calculator works in forty currencies: choose one and every figure — the tip, the total, the per-person share — comes back in it, to the smallest unit that currency actually has. It will also show those amounts in your own currency underneath, as an estimate with the rate and its date shown; the figure you hand over stays in the currency of the bill.