Practical
Tipping in Vietnam: What Guides, Drivers and Waiters Expect
Nothing is added to your bill and nobody will chase you, but a small tip is appreciated for personal service. Published guides disagree on amounts, so here are the ranges, with sources.
Short answer: tipping is optional in Vietnam, nothing is added to your bill the way it is in the United States, and nobody will chase you for it. It is appreciated for personal service, above all from a tour guide or private driver at the end of a day. Published guides disagree on amounts, so the safest approach is a small tip in cash, handed over directly, scaled to the service you actually had.
We will give you the ranges that credible sources publish, show you where they conflict, and be clear which part is custom and which part is our own judgement. We will not invent a precise rule and pretend it is law, because there isn’t one.
How tipping works here
Three ideas explain almost everything.
- It is not a wage supplement. Intrepid Travel puts it plainly: tipping is not mandatory in Vietnam, though leaving 5-10% of the bill at restaurants is becoming more customary. Local eateries still do not expect it.
- A service charge may already be on your bill. A Hoi An guide, Good Morning Hoi An, says some high-end restaurants and hotels add a 5-10% service charge, in which case extra tipping is not needed. Read the bill before you add anything.
- The tipping is personal. It goes to the person who looked after you: the guide who carried your day, the driver who waited at the end of a long road, the porter who took your bag up the stairs.
We read three published tipping guides on 28 October 2026 and they do not agree. The table shows what each says. We have no official government figure to cite, because none exists. Treat every number here as a custom, not a rule.
The published ranges
What published guides suggest, checked 28 October 2026
| Restaurant with no service charge (Intrepid) | 5-10% |
| Tourist-area restaurant (Good Morning Hoi An) | 10,000-50,000₫ |
| Guide, per day (Good Morning Hoi An) | 100,000-300,000₫ |
| Guide, per day (Experience Travel Group) | About 200,000₫ |
| Taxi or Grab, if helpful (Good Morning Hoi An) | 10,000-20,000₫ |
| Hotel porter (Good Morning Hoi An) | 20,000-50,000₫ |
| Spa or massage in tourist areas (Good Morning Hoi An) | About 10% |
Sources: Intrepid Travel; Good Morning Hoi An, “What Tips Should You Give in Vietnam?” (published 10 May 2024, updated 7 May 2025); Experience Travel Group, “Tipping in Vietnam” (undated). All read 28 October 2026. These are tour-industry guides, not government figures, and they disagree on amounts.
To translate: at the Vietcombank rate of roughly 26,170₫ to the dollar in early October 2026 (the figure in our money guide), 100,000₫ is a little under four dollars and 200,000₫ is a little under eight. Experience Travel Group gives $7-10, which agrees.
Guides and drivers
This is where tipping is most common, and where visitors most often wonder what is right. Both the Hoi An guide and the Experience Travel Group guide put a good day with a guide at roughly 100,000 to 300,000₫, with about 200,000₫ the figure that appears in both. A driver typically gets a bit less. Experience Travel Group says that if the driver only did an airport transfer, a tip is optional.
Our judgement, which is not an official rule:
- Tip at the end of the day or the end of the service, not at the beginning, and tip for the quality of the day, not out of obligation.
- If you travel on a private tour, ask the operator beforehand whether tips are pooled, suggested or expected, and whether any gratuity is already in your price. A good operator will tell you plainly. Vietking Travel has a gratuity policy for its private tours and explains it in writing in the quote before you book; ask us on WhatsApp.
- A tip is a thank-you, not a charge. If anyone asks you outright for one, you are free to decline politely.
- For a boatman or a porter, a small note is natural. We could not find a published figure for the basket boats at Bay Mau, so we will not invent one. The price you pay is in our basket boat guide.
Restaurants, cafes and spas
Small, local places: no tip is expected. If you enjoyed it, leave the change.
Tourist restaurants: look at the bill first. If a 5-10% service charge is already on it, you are done. If not, leaving 5-10% for good service is increasingly common according to Intrepid, and a Hoi An guide suggests rounding up the bill or leaving 10,000-50,000₫ in tourist-area places. Both are modest sums by US standards. Our what to eat in Hoi An guide covers the food itself.
Hotels: tips are not expected in standard hotels. A small note for the person who carries your bags to the room is the usual gesture; the Hoi An guide gives 20,000-50,000₫.
Spas and massage: the same Hoi An guide says a 10% tip is expected in tourist areas, for high-quality service. Check whether the spa already adds a service charge.
Taxis and ride-hailing: not required. Rounding up, or a small note when the driver helps with luggage, is a kindness. See how to get from Da Nang to Hoi An for the options.
How to hand it over
- Cash, in Vietnamese dong. Take small notes from the cash machine or the hotel and keep them in a pocket you can reach. If you are not sure which note is which, read the section on the 20,000 and 500,000 notes in money in Vietnam before you hand anything over in the dark.
- Use plastic (polymer) notes. Intrepid advises leaving polymer notes only, saying that leaving the low-value paper ones can be considered rude.
- Hand it over directly, with a smile, rather than leaving it on a table when you can. A thank-you matters as much as the note.
- Do not add a tip to a card payment unless the restaurant tells you it reaches the staff. Cash is the dependable way.
Nobody is offended. The custom is a courtesy, not a test, and a sincere thank-you after a good day is remembered too.
For the day-by-day shape of the trip your tips will go towards, see three days in Da Nang and Hoi An, and the full set of Vietnam travel guides. If you would like to see how gratuities work on our private tours, start here and ask us on WhatsApp.
Common questions
Is tipping expected in Vietnam?
No. Intrepid Travel says tipping is not mandatory in Vietnam, and local eateries do not expect it. It is appreciated for personal service such as a tour guide, a private driver or a porter. Amounts vary between published guides, so treat any figure as a custom rather than a rule.
How much should I tip a tour guide in Vietnam?
Published guides differ. A Hoi An operator’s guide suggests 100,000 to 300,000 dong per day for a guide who does a great job, and Experience Travel Group suggests about 200,000 dong a day for good service. At early October 2026 exchange rates that is roughly 4 to 11 US dollars.
Do I tip at restaurants in Hoi An and Da Nang?
Check your bill first, because some higher-end places add a 5-10% service charge. If there is none, Intrepid says leaving 5-10% is increasingly customary, and a Hoi An guide suggests rounding up or leaving 10,000-50,000 dong at tourist restaurants. Small local places do not expect a tip.
Should I tip my driver?
For a private driver on a full day, a tip a little smaller than the guide’s is customary. For airport transfers it is optional, and for taxis or ride-hailing it is not required, though rounding up or a small note is a kindness.
Can I tip in US dollars?
Dong is the practical choice, because dollars are accepted only patchily and usually at a rate that favours the seller (see our money guide). Intrepid also advises leaving polymer notes rather than the low-value paper ones.
Is a tip included on a private tour?
It depends on the operator, so ask in writing before you book. Vietking Travel has a gratuity policy for its private tours and explains it in writing in the quote before you book. Ask us on WhatsApp, or see our Start Here page.
Planning this trip yourself?
Ask us anything about the route, the pace or the timing. It goes straight to the office in Da Nang, not to a call centre — and if we are not the right company for your trip, we will tell you that too.
Mai Tiến Tần
Founder, Vietking Travel · Licensed international tour operator No. 01-1082/2018 · Company registered in Vietnam, 2011
Everything here is written from Da Nang, after walking the route. Prices carry the date they were checked. Where we do not have a figure we can stand behind, we say so rather than guess.