Tipping is woven into the fabric of Mexican social and trading culture. The tipping ritual is so commonplace that it is also plays a significant role in Mexico’s informal, cash-driven economy.
Mexico’s tipping culture is impromptu and often spontaneous. Tipping is always optional although the people serving you will appreciate the small token of your appreciation in exchange for good service.
Frequent tipping is a routine that takes getting used to, especially if you come from a place where tipping is not commonplace, or where tipping is practiced but only in certain, specific circumstances.
Why you need to tip in Mexican pesos, and not in foreign currency
The rules and regulations for exchanging foreign currency have been tightened up. For example, currency exchange houses now routinely demand to see a passport to change even small amounts of money, and not everyone here has a passport.
Foreign coins are non-exchangeable and should never be left as tips. Always tip in cash, using Mexican pesos.
Common situations where tipping is practiced
In Mexico, la propina is employed in all kinds of everyday situations. Here are some examples, followed by a link to our guide that gives a more comprehensive list of situations where you should consider tipping:
Eating and drinking out
Waiters working at restaurants and bars should always be tipped for good service; a sum equivalent to 10-15% of the total bill is appropriate.
Taxi drivers
Local cabbies and App Cab drivers (e.g. Uber, Cabify, Didi) appreciate a tip. Consider rounding-up the fare on the meter from a street cab to the nearest $5 or $10 pesos; app-cab apps now allow you to add a tip at the end of your journey, or you can pay the driver a tip in cash.
Hotel stays
When you stay at a hotel in Mexico it’s customary in Mexico to leave a tip for your hotel room chambermaid, a sum between US$1 and US$5 (equivalent in Mexican pesos), for each night’s stay spent at the hotel. If you’re staying more than one night, it’s a good idea to leave the tip daily as chamber maids work on a rota.
Car parking and valets
Car parks in Mexico’s bigger towns and cities are oftentimes kept under vigil by men (and occasionally women) who ‘patrol’ the car park, helping drivers to find a free space, keeping an eye on the cars, and helping drivers to reverse out when they leave. It’s optional, but customary, to pay $2-$5 pesos as you depart. If your car is attended by a valet service, a small tip of $10-20 pesos to the valet attendant, commensurate with the class of the establishment, is expected.
Home deliveries
When you have goods or services delivered to your home, it’s customary to tip the service providers. Examples include: gas deliveries, water bottle deliveries, supermarket deliveries, postal and courier services (e.g. Amazon, Mercado Libre). $10-$20 pesos is sufficient.
Other situations
Other ‘informal’ situations where a tip is customary include the porter at the hotel who carried your bags; the concierge for booking a table at a local restaurant or who arranged a taxi for you; the person who washed your windscreen at the stop-light; the attendant at a gasoline station; the person (usually a student or retiree) packing your groceries at the local supermarket; and attendants keeping washrooms/restrooms clean (provided you did not pay to enter the facility.)
Learn more by reading our guide to Tipping and Bargaining in Mexico for guidance about who, where, when, and how much to tip in Mexico.
A footnote about small change
Ironically, despite the constant need to pay tips small change can sometimes be difficult to get hold of in Mexico when you need it most, and appears in abundance when you don’t need any. It’s good practice to build-up a cache of small change as you shop. If you’re staying at a hotel or resort, the front desk can break larger notes into small bills and coins for you: the $20 peso bill is popular for tipping at hotel resorts.
Mexico in your inbox
Our free newsletter about Mexico brings you a monthly round-up of recently published stories and opportunities, as well as gems from our archives.
Maybe a weird question regarding tipping, but I’m planning to return to Mexico shortly for Surgery. I am fairly nervous about it and I am wondering if it would be appropriate to tip my surgeon and maybe the Anesthesiologist prior to my surgery in a good faith bid for extra attention to detail and care? Many thanks for any insight on this!!
Hi Emily,
It’s not usual nor appropriate to tip medical professionals. The price they charge for their services (paid by the patient and/or the insurance company) is their fee and no tip is expected or required.
I’ve just moved to PV and we’re living in a house in a gated community near the marina. We were told by the realtor that everything is included but the workers would appreciate a tip. There is a pool guy that comes every day, gardeners everyday, a security guard and a general maintenance man, to be honest it’s fairly rare to not share my yard with the ppl working during the day, I’ve been tipping everyone all of the time and I feel it’s getting out of hand. Even at the gym, it’s a very nice gym and the service is fantastic, but I pay a lot already (1900 pesos) but surely the kid that brings me water and a towel doesn’t get much. I honestly can’t afford to be handing out money all day long, but I feel like leaving 50 pesos to them is not enough, I would rather just pay them for the month. What do you think an appropriate amount for the month would be? Pool guy, gardener, security, gym, massage girl (I pay 400 pesos / massage). I love Mexico but have been living in Spain for the past 3 years and outside of the touristy areas tipping is virtually non existent. Thanks in advance.
Hello Riley,
If the people helping you locally are the same people all the time, you could tip them monthly. You don’t have to tip on every visit, or every occasion that you see them.
The amount to tip is discretionary. A 10%-15% tip for a massage is common; so if you tip $50 for a $400 peso massage, that would be reasonable.
It’s not common to pay tips to the service people doing jobs as part of their arrangement with the condo association (e.g. pool, garden, etc.) but you could tip them occasionally if you feel you would like to.
A good way to express your appreciation is to give the people who help you regularly a ‘Christmas bonus’ tip — see the link below about the ‘Aguinaldo’ for details. Buy a small pack of Christmas cards and put your tip into the card (something between $200 and $500 pesos is probably fine) and give sometime between December 10 and December 20 to each of the people you see/help you regularly throughout the year. They will sincerely appreciate that gesture.
Details are here about the ‘Aguinaldo’
https://www.mexperience.com/the-christmas-aguinaldo-in-mexico/
When I moved to Mexico 23 years ago, I followed the instructions people gave me and tipped 10%. These days, when I realize how much Mexicans (among many others) are struggling, I tip with my heart instead of my head, according to how much I like the person, how many kids he or she has told me they have, how much and how kindly they have helped me, and what my own financial situation is. Because of so many loose dogs in the streets of my colonia in SMA, I can no longer leave the grounds of my house, and can shop only with a taxi picking me up and waiting for me, so out of extreme gratitude, I’ve been tipping rather lavishly.
Tips are a scam tax on foreigners. This is mostly US citizens who do not understand the real rate someone needs to get paid. Most Mexicans do not tip because they understand what the wage. For the job should be. At fancy restaurants I tip 10% (but watch out a lot of restaurants are adding it to your bill). Most Mexicans do round up the bill on almost everything to save change. There is a difference however for services rendered, which people call a tip but it really is more pay what you feel. For example baggers at grocery stores do not get a salary, so you must decide what their service is worth to you. Other examples of this was given in the article with the guy “guarding the car” or another is cleaning the toilets. I gladly pay between 5-10 pesos in these situations.
Tips are part of the trading culture in Mexico–one that Mexicans and foreign visitors and residents actively participate in. Most Mexicans *do* tip, and not to “round up the bill to save change.” Tips are prevelant in the US, too, where some places imply that nothing less than 20% will suffice. To say that tips are a “scam tax on (American) foreigners” demonstrates a deep misunderstanding of the situation.
I couldn’t agree with you more James. Thank you for clarifying my thoughts exactly On the previous comment
I am living in the Lake Chapala area, having lived in Texas for 40 years before that, and Africa for 25 years before that. I see what is being stated as “appropriate” tipping amounts and I am stunned by how low they are. These should be minimum amounts. People!!! We are not starving if we have the money to retire to Mexico. A lot of service oriented jobs are very hard work and low paid. Will it bankrupt us to be a little more generous? Americans ususally tip well in the USA, 20% for a meal. And that’s on food that is very much more expensive than in Mexico and often not as good. Be generous whenever you can. And PUT THE TIP IN YOUR WAITER’S HAND, not with the payment going back to the cash register. I will continue to do so.
Absolutely! Put it right in the server’s hand and you are in the grace game. Plus you get the smile in return. It feels good to help others; social reciprocity is a built-in appliance for the human psyche. ~ Jan Gregory
Could not agree more! I do appreciate your comments. My husband and I feel the very same way. We find more appreciation and gratitude for tips in Mexico than you will ever find in the US. If you can afford to vacation or live in Mexico from the US you can afford to tip as you are contributing to their ability to feed their families and their livelihood while we live like royalty compared to living in the US. Thank you for speaking up:)
So if you tip at a busy restaurant, do they share tips amongst staff…i.e. cleaning, waiters, table clearing staff chefs etc.? Reading this, I am sure I have been over-tipping (even though for a Canadian it seems minimal).
Hi Trim, it depends on the policy of the establishment but in most cases the tips are shared so that the front of house and back of house staff also benefit from the tips, not just the person waiting the table.
Hi, Trim, friendly tip from English teacher: i.e. is for a definition (Everyone needs sustenance, i.e., food.) E.g,, is for an “egg-sample” (I enjoy fruit, e.g., pears, apples, bananas, etc.) Even at my age (i.e., old), I still go to Google several times a day to check on a proper spelling, a point of grammar, a punctuation question, or the like. We’re so fortunate to be able to do this!
Very helpful article. In a recent trip to Mexico, I tipped the bathroom attendant at a nightclub $100 MXN, which is a little over $5 USD. She gave me an “are you serious” look, and the next time I walked into the bathroom I noticed she had removed it from the tip jar. I didn’t think much of it– back at home I’d probably do the same, especially if I’m somewhere that I know I’d be visiting the restroom often. Not to mention it’s not exactly the best job in the world to have– they deserve to be tipped well! Apparently I had tipped her waaaay too well and had probably made her night. Oops? This is definitely going to take some getting used to. LOL.
Definitely. 5-10 pesos would have been more than enough. You could have also gotten away with a smile and some basic politeness (i.e., flush the toilet and leave it as you found it).
I’m always unsure of how to tip at the gas stations. The attendant does (must) pump the gas, and a propina is in order. But I don’t know what’s appropriate. Then it gets more complicated because some wash the windshield and others don’t. Some offer to check oil and tires; others don’t.
This is always awkward for me because I don’t know of any custom or basis for how much to tip.
What do others do?
Hi Steve, check the guide to tipping (link above in the article) which has a section about how much to tip at gasoline stations.
Mexican here. I tip 10 pesos if they do something more than just pumping the gas. If they don’t, maybe 5 pesos or nothing. I live in Monterrey (one of the most expensive cities in Mexico).
Do the wait staff always get the “propina”? We had almost MXN$ 200 added as propina in a restaurant but the waiter said he does not get the money and that it goes to the restaurant. We added another MXN$ 200 for him. Is that correct?
Hi Mary,
It’s unusual for restaurants in Mexico to add the tip automatically to a bill except for large groups and the automatic group service charge is usually stated somewhere on the menu; however, sometimes this does happen and if you received poor service or the tip added to the bill is more than you intended to pay, you should ask to talk with the manager and have the amount altered or removed.
Further, you should not add more (unless you intended to pay more than what was automatically added). Anything that is labelled as a tip, in Spanish, “propina” or “servicio”, is just that and you should not be coaxed into paying double.
When we vacationed in Puerto Vallarta recently we were told not to tip the taxi drivers. I sometimes did anyway. I probably over tipped in general but I always tip 20% in restaurants here and figured they make less in Mexico.
Hi First Last and B. Buckman — thank you for comments. The 10 pesos per bag should have read ‘up to 10 pesos’ — we have updated that. As with all tipping situations, the precise amount you tip may also depend on other factors such as whether you were exceptionally well served at a restaurant or the porter went beyond the call of duty to help in some way, etc. Over time living in Mexico you can begin to gauge these elastic situations and get a natural feel for the right level of tip to offer — as demonstrated by the comments left here by people with experience in this area. Thank you again for sharing your insights.
I agree with John’s wife. A ten percent tip in a restaurant is normal. However, my wife, also a Mexican national, gives me ‘the look’ if I don’t up it closer to fifteen percent. As far as the “pase, pases” in the parking lots go a peso is acceptable. Windshield cleaners are paid by some and not by others. I usually give a couple of pesos.
Also, First Last Word is correct, ten pesos per bag would be excessive although I cannot speak for D.F. it being the NYC of Mexico.
“Arriving at one of the four intercity bus stations in Mexico’s capital and proceeding – as many passengers do – to the taxi kiosk for an authorized taxi fare, a line of waiting ‘porters’ will offer to carry your luggage, walk you to the rank, and hail the next cab for you. They will open the taxi’s door and place your luggage in the car’s trunk. It’s customary to tip the porter about 10 pesos per bag.”
I certainly would not tip 10 pesos per bag!! Ten pesos total. But I always tip cab drivers 5 pesos if they have not tried to overcharge me.
Very very helpful. Love your newsletter
My Mexican wife says a tip in a restaurant should not be more than 10%. Many do not tip at all even with a group.
For just about any other type of tip, from the baggers in a grocery store to the guy in a parking lot that ‘helps’ you back out to the guys that wash your windshield at traffic lights. A 5 peso tip is generous.
Of course we gringos usually over tip.
5 pesos is less than $1 US dollar people.
If there is no service charge already added to the bill, standard gratuity is at the very least 15%.
Unless your total meal equals less than $6 US dollars, you should not be tipping that low.
Keep in mind the work & time required to serve you and the minimum daily wage they make.
Also please educate yourself with currency exchange rates before you travel. It will make your stay much more enjoyable when you tip accordingly!
very helpful, thank you! I hired a shuttle service to drive us from the airport to our room, do I tip the driver and if so how much?