Drinking water

We always drink ordinary tap water when we are in Europe and have never had a problem. It's another way, incidentally, to keep your expenses down.

Drinking water from a tap is nothing wrong in that, and it saves the enviroment for all those plastic bottles- thats a thought in these global warming times

No problems. If you are in Ireland and traveling by car like I was I did get water in bottles and learned very quickly to buy "still" water. Otherwise it's carbonated. Yuck.

Only in certain areas behind the former Iron Curtain do you need to worry about the cleanliness of the tap water. Otherwise, its as safe as at your home.

The water is safe in those areas but if the taste is an issue, I suggest that you take with you some fitness water refills, to add to the water like Propel. That way you will not notice the bad taste and the caloric intake is minimal, with no fake sugar, with the addition of vitamins.

If you visit Rome, be aware that you can actually drink the water from any of the fountains that flow in the squares. Sit back and watch the locals fill water bottles, and you can do the same!

We've traveled all over and never had a problem in Europe with tap water. You almost have to be more afraid of the Nalgene bottles now a days!

I drank tap water in France (Paris) and it was not bad. Loved it in Belgium! They have the best water ever.

Thanks for all your replies! Drinking tap water will save me lots of money because I am sure it isn't any cheaper over there! Plus I love the Propel packets :)

I with Ellen, the public water fountains in Rome are fine. The only place we were carefully with water was in Russia.

As I said before, the other travel writers did not recommend drinking from the fountains in Italy so I am going with that. Water surely will cost less at the grocery stores.

Tap water in Rome is great.

Tap water elsewhere is healthy if not perfect. I tend to drink what the locals drink.

In Germany, I drink beer, wine and low fizz mineral water. I would never hesitate to get a drink at a drinking fountain to keep myself hydrated.

I don't usually order tap water at a restaurant. It's just not a normal order and usually takes some explaining to get what you want. They charge too much for bottled water so I order the house wine or local beer and buy drinking water at the grocery store.

Honestly it is impossible to know how your body will react to tap water until you try it. As doctors (which I am not) will tell you, the difference between water in Europe and that in the US is NOT largely that one is cleaner than the other, it is that different types of bacteria/minerals are in them. Some people do fine with all types of water, some with only some and some with none other than their home water. Heck, there are Europeans (my cousin included) who get sick from tap water in Portland, which is among the cleanest of any major city in the country. I was fine in most of Italy, except oddly Venice and have never had a problem in France.

If you want to be completely safe, drink bottled water, but if you want to know if it's drinkable for you, you need to try it first.

AS far as I remember bottled water in Germany was very cheap. $.25 /litter bought from supermarkets.

I have always drunk the water from taps in France ,tasted normal to me,, but I rarely drink bottled water at home since I think its kind of " yuppie" to do so when our water is perfectly fine.
I have also never had a problem getting tap water in Paris, just ask politely for " une carafe d'eau svp" .
I have also seen Parisienes refill their water bottles from fountains,, but I am not brave enough to do so,, weird hang up , guess we are all taught " outside " water is not clean or something.

I see that many people had good experiences drinking tap water abroad. I drank tap water with no problem in England, but only drank bottled water in Spain. Only once did I drink tap water at a hotel in Venice, when my friend who was studying abroad in Italy told me it was fine to drink tap water. The following day I had horrible stomach problems. For the remainder of my trip (about a week) I continued to feel sick although I improved every day. I don't know if the water made me sick for sure, but I can't rule it out. Go with your best judgment. If I went back to anywhere in Europe, I would just drink bottled water to be safe.

Drinking "clean" water is no guarantee that you won't get sick. Water from different areas, contains microorganisms what you body has never been exposed to; thus the stomach upset. In the long run drinking bottled water will only exacerbate the problem since your immune/digestive system can't "learn" from previous exposure.

Just got back from visiting my daughter who is studying in France. We traveled parts of Switzerland and Germany as well. Prior to this trip I ALWAYS ordered bottle water as it wasn't very expensive. Now that my daughter is a "local" she told me that she would never pay for water at a restaurant so we went along with her and ordered tap water the entire trip. I also refilled the water bottles I had received on the plane with the tap water from wherever we were. No problems and a more economical way to travel. I did miss my fizzy water though!

The water is safe but will not taste the same. I noticed a big difference in France and Italy but there were no health issues.