Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Mar 24, 2008 - 11:52 AM Money

"You aren't going to leave all that!" my fellow lunchers exclaimed. "All that" was a 5-euro note I was leaving as the tip, the bill for the Italian meal for four having come to just over a hundred euros, paid for (by someone else) with luncheon vouchers. "Less than 5 per cent. Sure, that's what I'm going to leave." The waitress came back a couple of minutes later, as if to prove me wrong. "What should we do with this?" she asked uncertainly, indicating the solitary note. And it was not because it was too small a tip, but the contrary - it was too big. Read on, or see this article for a more detailed guide to Tipping in Spain.

My mistake had been not to realize that an Italian meal is a casual affair, which Spaniards treat in much the same way as they do a meal in a bar or tavern. In this situation, tipping is not an act of generosity for a Spaniard, but a gesture of disdain for material things. So they usually tip from the coins brought in the change, leaving what they consider not worth picking up. In this way, a bill for, e.g., 112 euros might lead to a tip of three euros, or less.

The more formal the meal, the more you are expected to tip in Spain, but it is rare for anyone to tip more than five per cent even then. And if the kind of ten-per-cent-and-up tip Britons are used to leaving is virtually unheard of, an American's twenty-per-cent is an act of madness.