Tipping in France: what the French actually leave
Service is always in the menu price by law. What the French add on top, from the coffee on the terrace to lunch at a plage privée, moment by moment.
In this article
One coin, not a percentage
Tipping in France is never required: the price on the menu always includes service, and a place that charges a service percentage prints it on the bill, usually 15 percent. The French round up or leave a coin or two. After good service, 5 to 10 percent on a restaurant bill is a generous thank you.
Under the bill of a French café that pays its staff through a service percentage, it usually says 15 percent, and you have already paid that part. Such a place writes prix service compris with the percentage behind it on the menu and the bill, a rule dating from 1987. The place chooses the percentage itself, sometimes 12 or 10; if nothing is said about service, the staff earn a fixed wage, reports the trade magazine L'Hôtellerie Restauration in May 2026. Either way the price on the menu is all you pay: service is never added on top, as service-public.gouv.fr confirmed in February 2025. Anything you add is a thank you, and usually it is a coin.
Is tipping in France mandatory?
No. The price on the menu always includes service, and when the bill says service compris you can see it in black and white. A tip is always voluntary. If tipping at home means adding a percentage on top, France works the other way round: the service is already inside the price. Still, 83 percent of the French sometimes leave something, according to a survey of 1,001 people by CSA in October 2025. Those who rarely do say mostly that service is already in the price, so leaving a coin is a gesture and holding back is no insult.
Planning a beach day on the coast? Our guide to the beach clubs of Ibiza shows how a day at a beach club is planned one country over.
What do the French leave, and where?
Mostly at the table, and not much. Of the French who tip, 59 percent usually leave a coin or two and 29 percent give a little more, found the CSA survey. Follow one day on the Côte d'Azur and count the coins: at each stop there is one coin for every quarter of the French tippers who sometimes leave something there.
- Café on the terrace
72 out of 100
A café crème in the morning sun. In a café or bar, 72 percent of French tippers sometimes leave something: the change stays on the saucer.
- At the barber
48 out of 100
Hair and beard tidied up for the evening. At the hairdresser nearly half sometimes leave something: 48 percent.
- Déjeuner by the sea
90 out of 100
A plat du jour at the beach restaurant, with a carafe of tap water that is free. Service is in the price, and yet nowhere do the French tip as often as here: 90 percent.
- Delivery at the door
40 out of 100
Groceries or a pizza brought to the apartment. 40 percent of French tippers sometimes give something to the courier.
- Concert or show
28 out of 100
An evening at the theatre or a concert hall: here only 28 percent sometimes leave something.
- Taxi or ride-hailing home
30 out of 100
The ride back to your room. A minority tips here too, 30 percent, and rounding up is enough.
Source: CSA, Les Français et les pourboires, October 2025, 1,001 French people; the coins are rounded to whole quarters. Hotels and the beach do not appear in that survey.
Should you tip in cash or by card in France?
Cash, preferably. Of the tips French hospitality staff receive, 82 percent is cash and 10 percent comes by card (Ipsos bva for the trade body UMIH, July 2025). Card is gaining ground: 26 percent of the French sometimes tip by card, phone or QR code (CSA), and in 2025 9.5 percent of card payments in French restaurants included a tip, against 4.2 percent in 2023 (Lightspeed).
So take small coins with you from home and leave them on the saucer with the bill. If the terminal asks for a tip, skipping that step is perfectly normal: of the French who never tip digitally, 41 percent say it feels as if they are being forced (CSA). To round up by card, say so before the waiter keys in the amount.
Do you tip on the beach or at a plage privée?
Only if you want to. CSA did not ask about the beach, but the 1987 rule applies there too: what you order at a beach restaurant includes service. To thank the plagiste who turns your parasol with the sun all afternoon, leave a coin when you settle up, just as in a restaurant.
Those coins have to come along onto the sand. In the French product data of Sanwin Beachwear the pocket inside the Venice and the Miami is called a petite poche intérieure pour la monnaie: a small change pocket next to the two side pockets. Olivier Esnault in the main photo wears the Venice Ice, Ian Kateris in the photo below the Miami Rifle Green.
More prints are in the Venice swim shorts, plain colours in the Miami swim shorts, and the whole range is in our men's swim shorts. Heading to the Côte d'Azur soon? Order on a working day before 2 p.m. and your parcel leaves the same day. Within Europe delivery takes 3 to 7 working days, to the United States and Canada 6 to 14. From two items, shipping within Europe is free. Bon voyage.
Restaurant, hotel, taxi: who gets a coin?
How much do you tip in a restaurant in France?
Nothing is required, because service is already in the price. Those who give something round up or leave a coin or two; for exceptional service, 5 to 10 percent is generous.
Do you tip in a hotel in France?
You do not have to. There is no French figure or fixed norm for hotels, because CSA did not ask about them. To thank a porter or the housekeeper, the amount the French themselves choose most often fits: a coin or two.
Do you tip a taxi driver in France?
You do not have to, and most French people do not. If you want to give something, rounding up is enough.
Do you owe anything if the bill says service compris?
No. Service is then already in the price, and it is without that line too; an extra coin is a thank you.
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