Stomach issues

Spent a week in Istanbul nary a problem. Just didn’t drink the water.

I was in Turkey for almost 3 weeks quite a few years ago (Istanbul, Antalya, Goreme, Fethiye, Selcuk and Izmir), and had absolutely no problems at all. I ate in lots of local restaurants, ate street food galore and drank tea in many of the shops (you will find that many merchants will offer you tea), and was never sick once.

I am the same with not a sensitive stomach. We just returned from 2-1/2 weeks traveling all over Turkey and had no issues. We ate in lots of different places, but we avoided all uncooked produce (fruit, veggies and especially lettuce) unless it was a melon type fruit that had not been washed in the water. We only drank bottled water/cola/beer/wine or hot drinks and also used bottled water to brush teeth. We took two Pepto Bismol tablets before each meal. No stomach issues at all. Others on our tour did have issues with eating raw veggies, especially salads.

I second the advice to take bismuth subsalicylate tablets prior to eating street food or raw fruits/veggies in Turkey. I ate from food stalls all over Istanbul without issue, but did use the tablets prior to eating.

I didn't drink tap water and used bottled water to brush my teeth. I did eat raw fruits and vegetables at our hotels. I occasionally took over the counter stomach meds but never needed the prescription meds that I brought.

My roommate followed the same regimen and we ate in the same places. She became quite unwell and took her prescription meds when the over the counter meds weren't sufficient. She couldn't eat much for a couple of days before she was back to normal.

Of course we don't know for sure whether she ate/drank something different than I did or whether something just affected her differently.

People definitely react differently to questionable food and water. I've been in Istanbul and now Bursa for almost two weeks and have had a brief problem just once, but I have gastro issues off and on even at home, so it's difficult to say being in Turkey had anything to do with it.

The Pepto Bismol advice has been out there in guide books for ages, and I understand there's some science behind it. Check on the suggested dosage and pack plenty. (I didn't know I'd be including Turkey on this trip, so I didn't come prepared with very much.) Over-the-counter Immodium will help with some upsets. << I am not a doctor!!

I don't know that it's a particular problem in Turkey, but I've had the Hepatitis A/B vaccinations, and I think the CDC recommends those in general now.

The key thing is to consume only bottled water, hot beverages, or drinks from sealed containers; don't use ice unless you made it yourself from bottled water. I realize now that I unthinkingly ordered homemade lemonade once, and I don't know the source of the water it was based on; it may not have been boiled. I shouldn't have done that, and the resulting beverage was too sweet by American standards anyway.

Brush your teeth with bottled water.

The going price in Istanbul's Old Town for bottled water in shops seems to be TL 5 for 0.5-liter bottles and TL 15 for 1.5-liter bottles; sometimes you can find chilled water at that price, though it may not be ice cold. Bottled water will be somewhat more expensive in a restaurant but the cost will be pretty insignificant. If you happen to find yourself in a non-touristy neighborhood and go to a small supermarket, you may see prices as low as TL 2 and TL 4 for the small and large bottles, respectively, for room-temperature water. All the prices I've cited are for still water; I haven't looked for or seen fizzy water.

I've bought a lot of bread products from street vendors or small bakeries. Those should be fine; the problem is the water. In terms of food, it's raw fruits and vegetables washed in tap water that you didn't peel yourself that are supposed to be avoided. The problem with that rule is that the resulting diet is likely to be deficient in fruits and vegetables. Most of my dinners have come with what is, in effect, a small salad, and Turkish breakfast buffets always include tomatoes and cucumbers. I know I'm not supposed to be eating that stuff (except at really high-end restaurants, if they wash their produce in bottled water), but I am. Bottled water is cheap enough that more restaurants may be using it to wash produce now; it's just that you can't know for sure.

Our doctor recommended we take the Pepto Bismal tablets before each meal and had no problems at all.

I got a brief case of food poisoning once at a 5-star hotel in Izmir. Honestly, I think it was a freak occurrence that could just as easily have happened in the US. I was very miserable for a couple of hours, threw up, and then I was fine.

Other than that, I have never had any issues with any kind of street food or salads, and I have never had any issues brushing my teeth with tap water. (In rural areas, I might be somewhat more cautious.)

I have spent a total of seven weeks in Antalya and Istanbul over the past couple of years. When I was staying at a small boutique hotel in Antalya, the hotel's advice was that the water was safe to drink but that it didn't taste especially good. Even in more remote places such as Aglasun/Sagalassos, I didn't take any special precautions.

A general rule of thumb I heard once is that if you can flush toilet paper down the toilet, the water system is probably modern enough to be reasonably safe. If they ask you to put toilet paper in a can next to the toilet, then take every possible precaution to avoid drinking (or brushing teeth with) the water.

I've traveled in Istanbul and Anatolia over the years, eating prepared fruit, but I always drink bottled water and brush teeth with it. The locals drink bottled water, too. I slightly remember it being the age of the systems.

We are traveling to Turkey this November with the RS tour. Our doctor perscribed meds just in case either my husband or I encounter the problem of "travelers diarrhea". It is called ciprofloxacn. Ask your family doctor, and see if that is something he/she recommends. We each have one dose/pill and the bottle is from our pharmacy describing what it is, in case there are questions. We don't plan on using the meds, and understand that we should only use bottled water, but just in case we need something, we feel like we are prepared.

We were planning a trip to Turkey in 2022 that unfortunately was cancelled due to health reasons. However our plans included taking Dukoral before departure. Dukoral is an oral vaccine for travellers' diarrhea that is heavily marketed to Canadians during the winter (for Caribbean all-inclusive type of vacations).

We took it before our tour of China back in 2012. We were the only people on the tour who didn't get sick, and we were the only people who did the Dukoral. We'd definitely do it if and when we reschedule that Turkey trip.

I believe Dukoral is still not available in the US, and since it's a liquid and needs refrigeration, it's not something we can easily get in Canada to prepare for a trip abroad. Also only works against one form of food/water borne illness (cholera?). But it would be great if we could get it here.

We've been to Turkey twice: two-weeks all around western Turkey back in early 2020 (trip cut short when COVID blew up), and 5 days in Istanbul last week (just got back, still jet-lagged).

Neither of us ever had any gastro issues on either trip.

I'm generally quite sensitive to any potential disturbances, my spouse is not. In Turkey, we freely ate fruits, veggies, salads, pretty much anything, in all sorts of restaurants (in "developing countries" I generally stick to the "boil it, peel it, of forget it" rule, but dialed down to "tapwater protocols" only for Turkey and it worked out for us. I'm always very picky about street food especially (I look carefully at visible evidence of sanitation, hygienic practices, etc. and rarely indulge in "street food"), while my spouse just dives in.

For Turkey, the one precaution we do take (and follow obsessively) is zero-tapwater: drink only bottled water, brush teeth with it, no tapwater allowed on the toothbrush, in the mouth, nose, etc while showering. Not a single drop (harder to do than one might think).

Hauling large bottles of bottled water home to our room/hotel is a bit of a chore sometimes after a long day, but it's worth the trouble. YMMV.

Just back from a month in Turkey. My husband who used to have an iron stomach (we have traveled extensively for 30 years) got gastro upset this trip, while I was fine. He didn't bother taking anything and just rested on his really bad day. (Neither of us have prescribed meds so we generally just don't look for any pills -- that's just us.) We mostly ate the same things, involving food from a variety of stalls and restaurants, as well as lots of fruits and veggies, from stores and roadside stands. Regarding drinking water, we never drank from the tap. We'd buy the big 5 liter bottles for the trunk of our rental car and refill our smaller bottles for carrying around (we each brought a refillable hydroflask bottle from home.) I was not religious about toothbrushes and we even rinsed our mouths with tap water! Similar habit used in Mongolia a year ago. One local mentioned that they think tourists don't like the tap water because it is treated with chlorine and we don't like the taste!

If you have a go to OTC med, go ahead and bring it. The pharmacies are marked with a huge E, so are easy to spot. Don't hesitate to go in. Our traveling partner caught a cold and went in to ask for some cold meds. They took out their cell phone, called an English speaking pharmacist, handed the cell phone to our friend to discuss symptoms which they then conveyed to the store pharmacist! Turkey is pretty amazing!

Same as Claudia. Our hotel provided bottled water and we used it to brush our teeth.