A France tipping calculator and guide built around one fact that surprises many visitors: in France, service is included by law. Menus and bills show service compris, meaning staff wages are already in the listed price. A tip — a pourboire — is therefore optional and modest, not the 15–20% obligation common in the United States.
How it works
The tool starts from your bill total and applies a customary percentage band based on the venue type and service quality you choose. Because service is already included, those bands are deliberately small:
- Sit-down restaurant, good service: about 5–10%, or round up
- Café / bar: round up the bill, leave small change
- Hotel porter / housekeeping: a flat couple of euros, not a percentage
- Taxi: round up the fare or add a euro or two
For percentage-based venues the suggestion is bill * rate, then divided by the number of people if you are splitting. For flat-amount situations the guide explains the customary euro figure instead.
Tips and etiquette
Round numbers are the norm — leaving a few coins or rounding a 38 EUR bill up to 40 EUR is a perfectly normal pourboire. Tipping more is welcome for exceptional service but never expected. Never feel pressured: the printed price already covers service, so anything you add is a genuine thank-you.
Worked example: a 60 EUR dinner with good service, split between 2 people, suggests roughly 3–6 EUR total (5–10%), or about 1.50–3 EUR per person on top of the bill. Everything is calculated locally in your browser.