What is the recommendation for this? I understand that the food servers salaries in Europe, Italy specifically, is not what it is in the states.

You mean the restaurant actually pays the servers salary, and doesn't expect the customer to? That's crazy.

Anyways, I can only speak for Spain and Portugal, as I recently returned, Tipping in those countries is appreciated, but not expected. There is certainly no 20% rule.

Food servers: not expected but appreciated. Most often I would hear the suggestion to just round the bill up to the nearest Euro.

Tour guides: This depends on the company you use. The ones I've used all encourage a gratuity. However, I've also had wonderful experiences with tour guides who have gone above and beyond to earn their tip, so I have no issues doing it.

Thanks, we are not using a company. We are using the ones there on the sight. The only private tour that we have signed up for is The Vatican early in the morning. We will get tickets to the coliseum before hand. We have only three nights in Rome. Thanks for the advice so far

We did the early morning Vatican tour in February and it was great. I tipped the guy 10. Bring a snack with you.Americans tip more mostly it is letting the waiter keep the small change or if really good not more than 10%.

The expectation of tipping is almost exclusively an American thing. In Europe it really is a reward for good service--if you decide to do it, it's usually a very small amount like 1 euro/pound.

But... I've heard that in some places if they know you're American they'll give you extra-good service because they think you'll tip a bunch.

I tip 10% on good service and a bit more if it was great.
Its really nothing in the long run and lets them know it was appreciated.

Once you are used to a certain way of tipping in the US whether it is large or small, you will feel odd not doing it so just round it down a bit..

Everyone likes a little bonus and everyone can use it as well.

I would not say they are paid a good wage .. they are paid a wage..

If you enjoy the service and food and they haven't charged you a service charge or some other charge they made up because you have on a polo shirt with cargo shorts

.. then leave a tip..

PC_Principal said:

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But... I've heard that in some places if they know you're American they'll give you extra-good service because they think you'll tip a bunch.

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And I'm ok with that. When we went to Prague and around the Czech Republic, we got excellent service almost everywhere we went. And not just fake service like you see in the busy areas here. These people bust arse for customers that will likely never step through the door again. I tipped well and you could tell it was much appreciated by people that could probably use the money. If that means they will treat the next group of Americans in a welcoming manner then good. From interacting with the people for a little while it was very obvious they did not like dealing with the Chinese tourist. They came off as cheap, entitled, haggled bills, did not tip, etc. These types of things get noticed. Hopefully they see Americans as the opposite. The few places with blah service didn't get tipped and they probably didn't even notice. It was nice to have the option though. Not like vacationing in North America where everyone you look at has their hand out.

I live in the Netherlands and nobody tips here. In some places like Prague and Budapest, tipping is common, but no more than 10%.