Tipping In Latvia - A Complete Guide
Quick Guide
🍽️ Restaurant - 10% If Satisfied + No Service Fee
🍹 Bar - 10% or €1-2 If Satisfied + Table Service
☕️ Café - 10% or €1-2 If Satisfied + Table Service
🚕 Taxi - Optional Round Up
🛎️ Porter/Bellhop - €0.50/Bag Expected
🛏️ Housekeeping - Optional (Any Amount)
📸 Tour Guide - Optional 10%
Tipping is Latvia is common and customary in a lot of scenarios but only for good service. Always tip in cash.
Calculate a culturally appropriate tip for Latvia using the calculator below and read on for more detail on tipping in Restaurants, Cafés, Bars, Taxis, Hotels etc.
Latvia Tip Calculator
Good Tip For Latvia
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Tipping in Restaurants
In Latvia, it’s customary to tip around 10% of the bill in cash. Don’t tip for poor service and tip closer to 5% for adequate service. Tips approaching 20% are highly appreciated but incredibly rare.
A service charge, usually around 10%, may already be built in to your bill especially if it’s a group booking. There’s no need to tip on top of the service charge.
Depending on the restaurant, your server might keep the whole tip or it might be split between all staff (front and back of house).
Whilst cards are widely accepted, tip in cash. If you tip via card, your waiter won’t really consider this a tip since it’ll likely just go to the owner.
If you're paying the whole bill with cash, you also have the option of just rounding up (e.g. €27.70 bill, leave €30).
Tipping in Bars, Pubs & Cafés
Locals will only really tip for table service in bars, pubs and cafés. Tipping the barista or bartender for counter/bar service is uncommon.
Tipping around 10% in cash or leaving a €1-2 coin would be considered the polite and customary thing to do. You’re also likely get better service on your return if you do.
Card-based tips rarely make their way back to the employee so they’re not greatly appreciated.
If you’re paying the whole bill in cash, you can round up to make things easy but make sure the tip is at least €1 or the waiter might find it insulting.
Tipping Taxi & Bolt Drivers
Locals will only tend to tip traditional metered taxi drivers if they’re paying in cash and want to round up the fare to make things easy.
Tipping your Bolt driver here isn’t common.
If you do opt for a metered taxi, try to agree on a fare before you get in and make sure the meter is switched on so you’re not taken advantage of. Another reason why Bolt is the more popular option.
Tipping The Porter/Bellhop
If a porter carries your luggage to your room, they’ll expect a tip of around €0.50 per bag.
Tipping Housekeeping
Tipping the housekeeper isn’t essential or customary but it’s still very much appreciated.
Instead of tipping daily, those that do tip tend to leave one larger tip at the end of the stay.
They won’t take money that’s just left lying around the room (for fear of being accused of theft) so if you do want to tip, leave it on the pillow, ideally with a note.
Tipping Tour Guides
Tour guides in Latvia won’t expect a tip but they’ll always appreciate one.
If you’re satisfied with the tour and you’d like to reward the guide, feel free to leave them a tip that’s around 10% of the total tour cost (it’s not essential).
Which Currency To Use
Always pay and tip in the official currency of Latvia, the Euro (Symbol: €, Code: EUR). Don’t use any other currencies. The Euro replaced Latvian Lats on January 1st 2014.
Most establishments will accept card but it’s always better to tip in cash to ensure the service provider gets it directly. This shouldn’t be an issue as ATMs are commonplace.
“Priecīgas ceļojuma!” - Happy Travels! 🇱🇻🌲🎻
