diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 67c5ebc8..5d46a5e8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ The results get stored in `build/manpages/`.
 * libpng
 * cmake (>= 2.8.8)
 * asciidoc (>= 8.6.9) (optional, needed for manpage generation)
+* DejaVu font (this is the default font if no other font is specified).
+  * If your characters are not supported by DejaVu, try to use the Noto font.
+    See [data/mapcss/default.mapcss](data/mapcss/default.mapcss) for usage examples.
 
 alacarte's dependency policy is to depend on nothing that's not included or newer than Debian stable.
 So currently, we target and test on Debian Jessie, but we're open to support any other OS.
diff --git a/data/mapcss/default.mapcss b/data/mapcss/default.mapcss
index 509a619e..1e424b0c 100644
--- a/data/mapcss/default.mapcss
+++ b/data/mapcss/default.mapcss
@@ -1,3 +1,16 @@
+* {
+	font-family: "DejaVu";
+	/* Supports Latin and Cyrillic characters, no arabic */
+	/* Hint: don't forget to install the font on your server */
+	//font-family: "Noto Sans";
+	/* Supports Asian characters.
+	JP says that japanese characters are preferred to other languages,
+	can be changed to KR, SC, TC. */
+	//font-family: "Noto Sans CJK JP";
+	/* For Hindi use this: */
+	//font-family: "Noto Sans Devanagari";
+	/* Other examples can be found on https://www.google.com/get/noto/help/guidelines/ */
+}
 canvas {
 	fill-color: #fefefe;
 	fill-image: ../img/bg_light.png;
diff --git a/data/mapcss/wire.mapcss b/data/mapcss/wire.mapcss
index c035dafc..3bcfa6fd 100644
--- a/data/mapcss/wire.mapcss
+++ b/data/mapcss/wire.mapcss
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+* {
+	font-family: "DejaVu";
+}
 canvas {
 	fill-color: #000000;
 	fill-image: ../img/bg.png;