By 
Tipping in Vietnam was never part of daily life, and at a street stall selling a bowl of phở it still isn’t. Tourism changed the rest. Tour guides, cruise crews, spa therapists and hotel porters now count on tips from foreign visitors, and a 20,000-dong note in the right hand goes a long way. The tricky part is often less whether to tip than which note you’re actually handing over.
The short answer
- Street food and local cafés
- no tip.
- Restaurants
- check the bill for a service charge. If there’s none, round up or leave 5–10% at tourist-facing places.
- Taxis and Grab
- round up, or tip in the app if the driver helped with bags.
- Massage and spa
- 50,000–100,000 dong per treatment.
- Tour guides
- 100,000–200,000 dong per person per day on a group tour.
- Ha Long Bay and other cruises
- 100,000–200,000 dong per guest per night, in the crew box.
- Watch the notes
- the 20,000 and the 500,000 are both blue.
Do you tip in Vietnam?
Vietnamese customers don’t tip at local restaurants, cafés or hairdressers, and staff there don’t expect it from you either. Try leaving 10,000 dong at a bánh mì cart and you may get a confused look.
Tourism is different. Guides, drivers and cruise crews working with foreign groups have come to treat tips as part of their pay, and most tour operators say so plainly in their pre-departure notes. Spas in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, Hoi An and Da Nang are used to it too. So the answer to “do you tip in Vietnam?” depends on who’s serving you: no for everyday Vietnam, yes for the visitor circuit.
How much to tip in Vietnam, situation by situation
| Situation | Tip? | How much |
|---|---|---|
| Street food, bánh mì cart, local phở shop | No | Nothing. |
| Local café, bia hơi corner | No | Nothing. |
| Mid-range restaurant in a tourist area | Optional | Round up, or 20,000–50,000 dong. |
| Upscale restaurant, no service charge | Yes | 5–10%. |
| Bill with a service charge already on it | No | Nothing more. |
| Metered taxi | Optional | Round up to the next 10,000. |
| Grab, Be or Xanh SM ride | Optional | In-app tip, or keep it for bags and long waits. |
| Motorbike taxi (xe ôm), agreed fare | No | The agreed fare is the fare. |
| Massage, spa | Yes | 50,000–100,000 dong; more in a hotel spa without a service charge. |
| Hotel porter | Yes | 20,000–50,000 dong. |
| Housekeeping | Optional | 20,000–50,000 dong per night, left daily. |
| Group tour guide | Yes | 100,000–200,000 dong per person per day. |
| Private guide | Yes | 200,000–500,000 dong per day for the group. |
| Private driver | Yes | 100,000–200,000 dong per day. |
| Ha Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay cruise | Yes | 100,000–200,000 dong per guest per night, in the crew tip box. |
| Hairdresser, barber | No | Nothing, unless it’s a salon aimed at tourists. |
Guides and drivers on a multi-day tour are usually tipped once, at the end, in an envelope. Cruise tips go into a single box for the whole crew, including the kitchen and deck staff you never met.
Service charges, “++” prices and the 8% VAT
Hotels and upscale restaurants often quote prices with “++” after them. The first plus is a service charge, usually 5% and sometimes more. The second is VAT. For most restaurant and hotel bills VAT is 8% until 31 December 2026, a temporary cut from the normal 10% under Resolution 204/2025/QH15. Together they add roughly 13% to the menu price.
If you see “phí phục vụ” or “service charge” on the bill, you’ve already tipped in a sense, and anything extra is a personal thank-you. If the bill shows only the dishes, rounding up is enough in most mid-range places.
Dong or dollars?
Tip in dong. Some guides and cruise crews accept US dollars, but small, creased or slightly torn US notes are hard for them to change, so a crumpled $5 bill is worth less to its receiver than it looks. Dong notes are what they’ll spend. Our Vietnam currency guide covers ATMs, cards and where to change money.
Every note from 10,000 dong upwards is polymer, and two of them cause most mistakes: the 20,000 and the 500,000, both blue. In a dim bar or a hurry at the end of a massage, it’s easy to hand over 25 times the tip you meant. Count the zeros twice.
The 20,000 and the 500,000 look alike
Both are blue polymer notes of similar size. Keep large notes in a separate pocket from the small ones you use for tips and street food, and check the number before the note leaves your hand.
When a tip turns into a demand
A few spas hand you an envelope or a card with suggested amounts at the end of the treatment, and now and then a therapist asks outright. That’s a request, not a bill. Give what you think the service was worth, calmly, and leave.
With motorbike taxis and cyclos, a request for an extra “tip” after a fare you agreed on is a negotiation tactic. You can say no. Ride-hailing apps avoid the problem entirely because the price is fixed before you get on.
How to hand it over
Give money with both hands, or with your right hand while your left touches your right wrist, and say cảm ơn (thank you). With guides, an envelope handed over at the end with a short thank-you is the standard form. Leaving cash on the table in a restaurant is fine, as long as it’s clear it isn’t forgotten change.
Planning the trip itself? The best time to visit Vietnam varies a lot between Hanoi, Da Nang and Saigon. For the neighbours, see tipping in Thailand, which works much the same way, and South Korea or Japan, where you don’t tip at all.
Still planning the trip? Our Vietnam e-visa guide covers who needs one and how to avoid paying an agency.
Every Vietnam guide we’ve published, from the e-visa to the dong, is sorted by topic in our Vietnam travel guide.
For ride-hailing, our guide to Grab in Vietnam covers fares, airport pickups and how the in-app tip works.
Booking a cruise? Our Hanoi to Ha Long Bay guide covers cruise prices, what’s included and how to get there.
Visiting pagodas or royal sites on the same trip? Our what to wear in Vietnam guide covers the dress code and the etiquette for hands, heads and chopsticks.
Sources
- National Assembly Resolution 204/2025/QH15 and Decree 174/2025/ND-CP — reduced 8% VAT rate until 31 December 2026.
- State Bank of Vietnam — current banknote series.
- Vietnam National Authority of Tourism — official visitor information.
Data checked: 2026-10-05
