Tipping in Bulgaria: How Much to Leave

Bulgarians tip, but lightly: about 10% when someone serves you at a table, the coins when nobody does, and nothing at a bakery window. I live in Sofia and pay in euros every day, so this is how I tip here in 2026, from restaurants, cafes and taxis to hotels, hairdressers and the Black Sea resorts, plus how to add a tip when you pay by card.

Do you tip in Bulgaria?

Yes. Bulgarians tip for table service, and visitors are expected to do the same. The usual figure is about 10% in a sit-down restaurant, and anyone who brings your order to the table gets something, even if it's only the coins from a coffee.

Most restaurant bills in Bulgaria carry no service charge, so the tip goes on top of the total. Waiting staff often earn close to the national minimum wage, which is about €620 a month before tax in 2026, and tips are a big part of what they take home.

The same habits hold outside the capital. In a village cafe on a day trip, I round a €3.40 coffee bill up to €4, as I would in town.

How much to tip in Bulgaria

Sofia prices are low enough that most of my tips are coins: a coffee costs €2 to €3 and a metro ride €0.80. These are the amounts I leave in 2026.

Tipping in restaurants in Bulgaria

In a sit-down restaurant I leave about 10% when the service is good, and a little more after a long dinner where the waiter got everything right. When the food was slow or an order went missing, I drop to about 5%, and I never go lower than that for a meal with table service.

I round the total to a figure that's easy to hand over or say out loud. These are four bills I see all the time at the restaurants I send friends to, from a weekday lunch to a big night out:

In a mehana (a folk-style tavern) with a live band, I tip the waiter on the bill as normal. The band only gets cash from me when I've asked them for a song.

When a Bulgarian friend says черпя (cherpya, my treat), the bill and the tip are theirs. Whoever does the inviting pays, and it's the first of the table manners in Bulgaria I'd teach a visitor.

How to tip by card or in cash in Bulgaria

Bulgarian card machines rarely show a tip screen, so you can't add a tip on the terminal the way you might in a London restaurant. I do one of two things. Either I tell the waiter the total I want charged before they key it in ("make it €30, please"), or I pay the bill by card and leave the tip in coins on the table.

Every waiter I've tried the first one with in Sofia has understood it in English, as long as I say the figure the moment the machine reaches the table.

When I pay in cash, I hand over the notes and say задръжте рестото (zadrazhte restoto, keep the change) if the change is about the tip I'd leave anyway. If the change is too much, I wait for it and put back the coins I want to leave. The €2 coin, with Paisius of Hilendar on the Bulgarian ones, is the coin I tip with most: it's the 10% on a €20 bill.

Tip in euros. Bulgaria switched to the euro on 1 January 2026, old leva stopped being legal tender on 1 February, and a waiter in Sofia can't spend a pound coin. If a card machine offers to charge you in pounds, say no, pay in euros and work out the tip from the euro figure.

Tipping in cafes and bars in Bulgaria

Cafe and bar tips in Bulgaria are small, because the drinks are cheap. At the counter I leave the coins from my change. When someone brings the drinks to my table, I round up, and on a big round I leave 5 to 10%.

At the cafes I go back to in Sofia, a €2.80 cappuccino at a table becomes €3, and two coffees and two slices of cake at €11.40 become €12 or €12.50. The bill usually arrives on a small tray or in a folder, and I leave the cash and the tip in it together.

Bars work the same way. In most of the bars I like in Sofia, a waiter takes your order at the table and you pay at the end, so I tip on the total as I would at dinner, and a €23 bill for a night of beers turns into €25. A half-litre of draught beer costs about €2 in a plain local bar and €3.50 on average across the city. At the craft beer bars in Sofia, where you often order at the taps, I leave the coins on the bar with each round.

Tipping taxi drivers in Sofia

I round taxi fares up to the next euro, so a €6.40 fare on the meter costs me €7. When a driver lifts heavy cases in and out of the boot, I add a euro or two on top. Taxis in Sofia run on the meter, and the tip is the only part of the fare you decide.

From Sofia Airport to the city centre a cab costs about €13 to €14 on the meter. I hand over €15 and say задръжте рестото.

A driver hired for a day trip gets a note. When friends want a day at Rila Monastery and nobody fancies the drive, I agree the fare with the driver before we leave Sofia and add the tip when we're dropped back home. A handful of small coins after hours behind the wheel reads as an insult.

Tipping in hotels and hostels in Bulgaria

Hotel bills in Bulgaria rarely carry a service charge, and tipping hotel staff is up to you. I leave about €1 a day for the room cleaner, on the pillow each morning, since a different person may clean the room tomorrow.

In the bigger hotels in central Sofia, a porter often carries the cases up, and I give a euro or two for that. Reception gets a thank you, and a tip only when someone has gone out of their way, such as finding me a table at a restaurant that was fully booked.

Nobody expects a tip at a hostel reception. The hostels I'd book in Sofia often have their own bar, and there I round up as I would in any other bar in town.

Tipping hairdressers, delivery riders, mountain huts and counter service

Hairdressers, barbers and delivery riders

At the hairdresser and the barber I round up the bill, and after a long appointment such as a colour I leave about 10%, the same as for table service. When I order food in and pay the rider in cash, I round up by a euro or so, as I would in a taxi.

Mountain huts

The mountain huts (хижа, hizha) on Vitosha and in Rila serve bean soup, mountain tea and beer from a counter, so there's no table service to tip. I pay in cash, because I wouldn't count on a card machine at Aleko, 1,810 metres up, and I leave the small change on the counter.

Bakeries, kiosks and market stalls

Nobody tips at a bakery window, a kiosk or a market stall. A banitsa from a Sofia bakery costs coins, and the seller hands back every cent of your change. The same goes for supermarkets, petrol stations, fast food counters and the fruit sellers at the Women's Market (Женски пазар).

Tipping on the Black Sea coast and in ski resorts

The rules on the Black Sea coast are the same as in Sofia: about 10% in restaurants, the coins at the bar and the next euro in a taxi. Waiters in Sunny Beach and the other resorts expect a tip more often, though, and so do those in Burgas and Varna, the two big cities on the coast.

Resort menus cost more. A shopska salad runs €6 to €9 on Sunny Beach menus, and the seafront restaurants charge more than the ones a few streets back, so the same 10% buys the waiter a bigger tip.

In the ski resorts of Bansko and Borovets, I tip the same way: about 10% in the mehanas and the coins at the bar after a day on the slopes.

Bulgarian phrases for paying and tipping

In Bulgaria the bill doesn't come until you ask for it, so these are the Bulgarian phrases I'd learn before a first dinner out.

Мерси is the thanks I hear most at Sofia's tills, and благодаря is the warmer one I use with older waiters.