cboris

Hi all,

I'm wondering what are normal gratuity amounts in Costa Rica. People I think we might want to tip:

- We will have 3 different drivers for longish drives. Airport to Arenal area, Arenal to Manuel Antonio, and MA to airport. What would be a good tip?

- Tour guides on lots of different tours. There are 4 of us in our group, 2 adults and 2 children. Near Arenal, we are doing Hanging Bridges, SkyTrek, Proyecto Asis sanctuary, and Safari Float tour. We will also be doing activities at Club Rio at The Springs. Should I tip for all of these? I think yes... But maybe not sure about Club Rio somehow since that is part of the resort. At MA, we are just doing white water rafting and surf lessons. The surf lessons we are already paying in cash, so I don't know if the instructor works for himself in which case a tip would be sort of redundant.

- We will be getting transportation to most or all of the tours we are doing. I think some include transportation, and for the others transportation has been arranged by our concierges. Should I tip these drivers?

- Finally, our concierges have been very helpful. Should we tip them (I think so) and if so, about how much?

I know tipping is always optional and the amounts should vary by person and how well the experience goes, but I'm sort of looking for a general guideline.

Thanks!!
C

Cattail

I hate tipping. Not the actual parting with money, but the confusion. In four trips to CR and various travel to other spots, I've yet to feel that I have it down. I tend to over-tip if it keeps me from dwelling on it. For example, I had heard that taxi drivers typically aren't tipped in CR unless they handle bags, etc, but one out of three drivers gave a sort of mini-tour as we drove, and another had to fill in last minute and go miles out of his way, so we tipped. I think that an actual "driver' is different than a short taxi hire. Roughly, I tip a few bucks - $20 for tours, depending on length and how good the guide was, a dollar a head for housekeeping, 5 - 10% in addition to any included service charge for restaurants. We also sometimes leave money for other staff, and always appreciate a tip box or other manner to distribute money fairly. Not sure about concierge service.

volcanogirl

I would consider a private driver different from a taxi driver. We give private drivers about 20 bucks. Taxi drivers that take you around town get a couple of bucks although it's not that common to tip taxi drivers. We had one try to give the tip back and told us that we overpaid! Like Cat we usually give about $20 for a tour, especially if they've spotted wildlife for us. Restaurants usually add an automatic 10% tip to your bill. If the service is good, we usually throw in a couple of extra bucks. I read on another board that a concierge gets about $5 per day per person, but we haven't used one yet so not sure about that one. You would tip at The Springs the same way you tip any other guide; the resort gets the tour fee not the tour guide so that's what we ended up doing.