I know JY travellers are very savvy, but I thought this link might be interesting. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3683193/From-Spain-France-Russia-Croatia-Countries-Europe-drink-tap-water-places-really-shouldn-t.html 

Interesting for me anyway, because I was always told it was safe to drink the tap water in Croatia!  :huh:

If in doubt, don't.  I guess.

Thank you for sharing this - it's actually rather interesting.... that said, I never drink water from the tap when I am abroad, I only drink bottled water. The only exception would be cleaning my teeth - I often use the water from the tap then when I am in Europe, but not outside of Europe.

Thanks

Kezzer

A while back I was following your Dubrovnik review thread and I saw one of the improvements to be made to the hotel was that tap water would be available at dinner.  I was horrified by this and meant to comment but other things got in the way!

I would NEVER drink tap water abroad - the only exception for me was Iceland as it is all pure spring water there - as all tap water contains bacteria, minerals etc that we would not be used to and can have a serious effect on your digestive systems.  On our Balkan tour last year our TM said not to drink the water but it was fine for washing your teeth, which I did (as did many of the others) and many of us came down with bad stomach upsets.  I always used bottled water abroad, and after that experience I will also always use it to wash my teeth, even if I have been told it's safe to do so.  Everyone's system is different and whilst mine might be more delicate than some others I am definitely not going to take that risk.

So my advice is, always drink bottled water when abroad.  Better safe than sorry!

All the best,

Bob

I must admit that I have usually drunk bottled water in Europe, and still normally do.  Little things like brushing your teeth though I have never thought about!

Sylvia

Dave

Personally I have seen cases which I think were really attributable to the English person's desire to hit too much sun rather than what went in their mouths!

When I used to holiday a lot in Europe in 80s and 90s, I always drank tap water and was fine. I also drank some tap water when I did the Italian Dolomites trip - only in the hotel though and the water was fine. In countries where I drink bottled water, I use tap water to brush my teeth, even in India. As Grecos say, how do we know that bottled water is 100% safe? They may be filling the bottles with tap water and passing it off as mineral water! I know it is better to be safe than sorry and all we can do is trust that the water we are buying is clean water. Bottled water is a big business.

Jaya

All the best,

Bob

Hi bottled water is definitely the safer option.  All bottles have safety tags attached to the cap, so if you don't feel resistance when you open the bottle, don't drink it!  Having bought bottled water all over the world, I have never found a bottle that had been tampered with.  Some people may be fine in drinking tap water in various parts of Europe, some may not.  It depends on how our bodies react to the bacteria/minerals etc in the water.  It would be extremely foolhardy to drink tap water anywhere outside Europe - and I would be very reluctant to use it to wash my teeth either.  As I said earlier, better safe than sorry!

All the best,

Bob

Interesting! I would agree with both Jaya and Bob to varying degrees . . .

I have been travelling round Europe since the 1960s (including Romania, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia under the old Communist régimes), often, in my hard-up teenager&twentysomething  backpacking days, staying in some very dubious "hotels", and never had any problems with drinking the tap water - and nor did any of my travel companions, so it wasn't just me being lucky. The only places I was ever warned about by more experienced travellers were Russia - I was warned never even to brush my teeth using tap water - and Turkey (Istanbul in the 1970s contained the most insect-infested hotel I have ever seen) . . .

So, in most of Europe, I don't think there is a problem for anyone - certainly not in Germany and the Netherlands, which I visit four to six times a year and where I regularly drink the hotel tap water. I would also be confident in Switzerland, Austria, Norway and Sweden - but I am not sure about any of the Latin countries . . .

Outside Europe and the US - no way would I use tap water, even for brushing my teeth. Back in the 1970s, bottled water wasn't a big thing, and we took water purifying tablets when we went to Asian Turkey,  dissolved those in the local water, and all survived unscathed. Nowadays, it's always bottled water (with water purifiers as a backup).

As Bob says, it is usually easy to tell whether a bottle has been unsealed and refilled with tap water - and one should always check. In Asia, this has so far never been a problem - but I did attend a high-level international meeting in a western (Latin) European country during a hot summer about ten years ago, where bottled water was provided on the tables for the delegates - and at least one of those bottles had a screw cap which opened without resistance . . . . .

Jim

I always drink bottled water when abroad and do so at home too as prefer the taste.  However, the exception was my trip to Alaska where the tap water was pure, fresh and very tasty - if you can describe water as that!

Happy holidays

Sylvia