In Iceland, tips are not expected; Almost all bills you receive already include tips, and it is quite unnecessary, and rare, to add a tip. You’ll still get a smile and Icelanders won’t think worse of you if you tip. Of course Icelanders will not turn down a tip for good service. If you think you’ve received excellent service, the best way to show your appreciation is to tip 10 percent or round the bill amount.
Why not tip?
The main reason you don’t need to tip in Iceland is that many bills already include the tip or service charge included in the total. According to WhoToTip.net, an online resource that has tips for more than 80 countries, “Another reason is that most workers earn living wages.”
Tor D. Jensen of Jensen World Travel in Wilmette, Illinois agrees: “There is no tip in Iceland.” For example, a 15 percent tip is already built into most restaurant tabs, so even if you get great service, you would never leave more than a 10 percent tip. Doing so would amount to giving the server a 25 percent tip, which would be outrageous, even in the most expensive restaurants in other countries.
That said, the rules for tipping are nuanced in Iceland. It helps to know the unwritten rules for tipping in this Nordic country, industry by industry.
Service industry in Iceland
From hotel maids, bellboys or concierges, to salon workers in spas and the hair salon, all of these service professionals don’t expect a tip. The total rate includes your tips.
Taxi drivers do not expect a tip either. There is a service charge included in the cost of your trip, so don’t feel obligated.
If you must tip
If you really want to leave a tip, although it is not entirely necessary, a common option is to round your bill up to the next even amount. However, you will likely do this only in expensive restaurants. In less expensive restaurants, no rounding is required. This no-tip rule also applies to bar staff. However, if your service was truly exceptional, feel free to tip your waiter, waitress, or bartender 10 percent.
Likewise, you don’t need to tip your tour guide. However, if your guide provides you with an exceptionally interesting excursion, you might consider giving the guide 10 percent, or an additional $ 20 for guides and $ 10 for drivers (US dollars are accepted in Iceland). Or “you can buy them lunch,” says travel agent Jensen.
Rounding
If you feel like you got really great service and you don’t like math and you calculate 10 percent, you can round to the next even amount. For example, if your meal cost 16,800 Icelandic kronor (ISK), roughly around $ 145, round the total to 18,000, which would be a tip of roughly $ 10. It’s a lot less than 10 percent of your total bill, but still this is appreciated. At a less expensive restaurant, if your meal costs 2,380 ISK (roughly $ 20), rounding up to 2,600 ISK would equate to a tip of roughly $ 2, and in Iceland, such a small tip is perfectly acceptable.
