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Bottled Water

Posted by (Southlake) on

In most of our travels we've either purchased bottled water at one of the many stops, or purchased bottles of water on the Rick Steves bus (bus driver). Saves having to carry a heavy water bottle, not knowing where we can fill it and if the water is good/safe to drink. We are going on the 14 day RS tour of Scandinavia in September 2024. I've read that in Sweden (not necessarily in Norway or Denmark) the following:

"It’s not only that many Swedes don’t really like buying bottled water but there are also not many options in the supermarkets. The bottled water is often at least sparkling if not artificially sweetened. And it is also quite expensive, especially since the quality of tap water at home tends to be higher than bottled water."

I would like some feedback if the above is true, and maybe we should consider bringing our refillable water bottles. Thanks!

Posted by
23268 posts

Just buy one plastic bottle and reuse it.

Posted by
839 posts

I was on the RS Scandinavia tour in 2018. I can confirm that I could not find any bottled still water in supermarkets - only sparkling. So i bought a small bottle of sparkling water, drank it and kept refiling it from the tap the rest of my trip. I don't remember the cost of the sparkling water but it was comparable to what I would pay at a cafe in the US.

Posted by
2376 posts

I was on the Scandinavian tour last August. Nearly every place that served food or drinks has a water dispenser and glasses for customers to help themselves. Easy to fill your water bottle, too.

Posted by
6393 posts

Just bring your refillable water bottles.

You can buy still bottled water in Sweden, it's not hard to find. But demand for it is low since the tap water is of excellent quality. Hence most of the bottled water you'll see is sparkling, and often flavoured. But artificially sweetened? I don't think I've ever seen that.

Posted by
4862 posts

Your refillable water bottles are only heavy if they're huge and you aren't drinking from them. Bring them. Use them. Refill from the tap or dispenser as necessary.

Posted by
4 posts

Perfect! Thanks for the suggestions and confirmation. We are looking forward to our trip!

Posted by
123 posts

There's plain bottled water in 50cl bottles and cost from $1-1.50 depending on where you buy them. Larger sizes of 1.5 liters can be purchased in grocery stores for about the same prices. Look for "naturell" and "utan kolsyra." LOKA is a brand in found in kiosks and supermarkets. Otherwise, tap water in Sweden is very good and you can fill up your bottles just about anywhere.

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