Tipping in Georgia
Tipping expectedService Breakdown
Notes by Service
10% is the emerging standard at tourist-facing restaurants.
GEL 5–10 per night for housekeeping.
Round up the app fare; cash tips optional.
10% is appreciated.
10% of tab.
10% is polite.
GEL 20–50 per person for wine and cultural tours.
GEL 2–5 is appreciated.
About Tipping in Georgia
Tipping culture in Georgia is evolving rapidly alongside the country's tourism boom — Tbilisi, Batumi, and the wine regions have become major destinations and tip expectations in tourist-facing venues have risen accordingly. At local Georgian restaurants outside the tourist circuit, tipping is less expected but always appreciated.
Tip at sit-down restaurants in tourist areas (10% is becoming standard), with taxi drivers (rounding up), hotel housekeeping, and tour guides for Kazbegi, Kakheti wine tours, and cave city visits such as Vardzia and Uplistsikhe. For private guide-drivers on multi-day Caucasus road trips, a daily tip is expected.
Georgian lari in small denominations are the practical tipping currency. At restaurants, leave cash on the table or ask for the total including a 10% addition when paying by card. For wine tour guides in Kakheti, GEL 20–50 per person for a full day is the appropriate range.
Georgia's post-Soviet transition and rapid emergence as a tourist destination has created a service culture in transition — older establishments have Soviet-era attitudes where tipping was unknown, while newer wine bars, boutique guesthouses, and adventure tourism operators actively expect and appreciate tips. The country's famous supra (feast) culture means hospitality is genuinely central to Georgian identity, and tipping here feels like participating in that tradition rather than imposing a foreign norm.