People often take their drinking water for granted. In most western countries we don’t think twice before grabbing a glass and sticking it underneath a tap. But when you’re traveling the tap water may not be safe to drink.
You need drinking water no matter where you go, but with travellers diarrhea, giardia, hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera among the illnesses that can be transmitted with bad water, it pays to know which parts of the world guarantee clean, safe tap water, and where you should be sourcing bottled water instead.
The water you need to be most concerned about is water that might contain microorganisms that will make you sick, and in less developed countries, you are more apt to run into water that contains a variety of microorganisms you want to avoid.
If you’re worried about the drinking water, or have done your research and found that it’s not potable, here are our best tips and guidelines for navigating countries where the tap water is unsafe.
A Travelers Guide to Tap Water
The Best & Worst Tap Water
Countries with the best tap water include New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland.
Ask the Locals
Learn to ask the locals about the quality of the tap water, after-all, these are the people who are living there, and generally their primary interest is in ensuring tourists leave with a positive opinion of their country.
Your hotel will let you know if the water isn’t safe to drink, and the hotel concierge has the most experience with tourists visiting their destination.
If water is unsafe, there will usually be a notice posted by the faucet in your room, and the hotel will provide complimentary bottles for you to drink from. Make sure you use these bottles to take your pills and brush your teeth too.
As a general rule, if you’re at all in doubt, take water filters with you.
It’s Not Just What You Drink
If the water is unsafe to drink, don’t brush your teeth with water from the tap. Check that natural bodies of water are safe before you swim, keep your mouth closed in the shower and always use soap, and don’t accept ice in your drinks.
Beers and sodas should be drunk from the can or bottle if glasses don’t look clean enough for you. Remember too that if your beer has been chilled in ice, the outside of the can may have been contaminated too.
Also, and this gets many travelers, if you can’t drink the water, don’t eat the salad either.
Only eat food which has been cooked or that has a peel which you can remove. Salads are generally washed with local water during food prep, so always ask if it has been purified if you’re unsure.
Be Certain That the Bottle You Bought is Sealed
Sometimes impoverished nations refill their bottles from the tap…that defeats the purpose.
Boil and Filter
If it’s inconvenient to take bottled water with you, for instance when heading into the wilderness on a trek, boil your water or take water filters with you.
While you can leave a clear bottle of water on a reflective surface in bright sunlight as an emergency measure, do note that glass bottles don’t let in the UV light which is necessary to disinfect the water, so stick to plastic for the success of this method.
A fantastic purification device for travel is the SteriPEN Freedom, as reviewed on the Legendary Adventures of Anna – these kind of steripens use ultraviolet light to sterilize the water so that the bacteria are unable to multiply thus making the tap water safe to drink. You can use the SteriPEN Freedom for 45 seconds to sterilize up to half a liter of water.
LifeStraw is another fantastic option for making contaminated water safe to drink. It purifiers the water and is perfect for hiking as they are durable, lightweight, and require no electricity or batteries to operate.
Insurance, Insurance, Insurance!
Travellers diarrhea, giardia, hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera. Don’t leave the country without taking out adequate travel insurance which covers health and medical while you’re overseas.
If you have no idea where to start, head on over to our post which details what to look for when purchasing international health insurance. I can’t stress the importance of traveling with international health insurance enough.
We go through Tim Jennings at Individual Health for insurance with #GeoBlue – they have a network of elite doctors in over 180 countries, a hugely helpful mobile app for when you’re sick abroad, and make their best attempt to arrange direct payment no matter which medical provider you see.
No-one wants to get sick on vacation, though when it comes to consuming water, some people will run into problems no matter where they go.
For more information on insurance with #GeoBlue contact Timothy Jennings at sales@individualhealth.com or click for a free quote.
Travel Responsibly with Bottled Water
Bottled water is readily available almost everywhere. Hotels provide it, tour companies supply you with it, and you can always buy it in stores or roadside stands.
So don’t worry overly much about the water… just grab a bottle and get on the road.
Please do however dispose of your bottles responsibly. Non-biodegradable items are starting to cause a huge problem throughout the world, so please don’t add to the litter.
This is another perk of traveling with a steripen – purifying water is a great way to be kind to the environment by wasting far less plastic from all the water bottles you would otherwise consume. You will save money on water and lessen your environmental footprint too.
Article updates: In the past there was an infographic in this post which showed a visual representation of which countries in the world the tap water was safe to drink. As this guide was conservative to begin with, and has since become outdated, we instead invite travelers to conduct their own research to the current situation of tap water in their country. You may also consult the comments section of this post for real local / traveler updates across many countries.
Past photo credits: Arlene Bax
127 Comments
Excellent, visual guide! As a Chicagoan, I grew up with some of the best tap water in North America, and it spoiled me! Will be using this guide on my travels, without a doubt.
The Steripen is great- if the only problem is microbes. but, all too often the water is laden with heavy metals, with things like arsenic or lead- and then you have truly accomplished little. it’s why the Katadyn devices may be more useful. Or- to carry a hot water immersion heater and some charcoal– which of course means you won’t even get COLD water…. But, you will have safer water.
Great article Megan. Water is indeed something many of us from North America take for granted. I had no idea that so much of the world was unsafe. That infographic really breaks it down.
Living in Africa at the moment I know all too well that water here is not safe to drink. I spend a fortune on bottled water and it is so bad for the environment. I’d love to try out the Steripen.
I’ve learnt to drink tap water when I started traveling. Before I did not drink tap water even if in my country it is safe. I think this is so important to remember the rules and preserve yourself from being sick. Illness can ruin any holiday or a journey. Stay safe people!
Thanks for the clear and comprehensive resource about safe drinking water around the world. The only place I’ve had a problem — so far — was on my first trip to Mexico. I didn’t drink the water, but I wasn’t diligent about salads and ice! I paid for it.
At most restaurants in Tulum, MX, they use filtered water to even wash the produce they serve without cooking, such as salad and tomatoes. I am worried about shower/bath, though. I can easily brush my teeth with drinking water, but how do I bathe my baby in Mexico? (He loves splashing the water and I’m sure he swallows some of it…) :/ Thanks!
Excellent tips! it is SO not worth getting sick over, when there are easy ways to protect yourself. Thanks!
Now, THIS is the kind of travel post that I really love the most — with useful information that we can use! Thanks for putting the time and energy into putting this together.
What a useful column — both the text and the graphic. I’m planning a trip to St. Petersburg and I know what I won’t be drinking.
I think this is a gross oversimplification. Russian water in Moscow is fine, despite that my grandparents still boil it but that’s fine. In the Russian countryside there isn’t really any “tap” water to speak of, so e groundwater/springs are fine.
If you generalize about Russia what other countries are yu generalizing about? Honestly.
Great post Megan! Not sure if your readers have heard of the LifeStraw from Vestergaard but this is a very cool and affordable filter device that one can take in their backpack. We use them in the Yellowstone Basin in the local streams to keep from getting sick. For those interested here is the link to their website… http://www.buylifestraw.com/en/ – definitely worth a look for all you global travelers.
Excellent post Megan. Having had both cholera and typhoid I have become extra cautious about what water I drink when traveling overseas. Loved the map.
Thanks for sharing the handy infographic. The Steripen seems like a great way to make drinking water safe while eliminating the need for plastic water bottles.
Ah yes, drinking water is always an issue! We always brush our teeth with tap water no matter where in the world we are, as we think it’s a good idea to get a little bit used to it. Here in Grenada in the Caribbean, the tap water is safe to drink, but it’s not on the infographic – we all drink it straight from the tap, which is awesome!
Having a steri pen of some sort is key as well, otherwise way too much plastic is being disposed of, or littered everywhere.
Thanks for sharing!
A great guide with lots of things to think about. I’m going to be traveling next year to an area without safe drinking water, and already started to get some vaccines for it (Hepatitis A already) and we will be treating all of the water that we drink… but there’s always those little things that you forget, like keeping your mouth closed in the shower! Thanks for the tips for safe travel :)
Great guide! I once got very big problems when I ordered a fresh orange juice in Marakesh. Unfortunately they mixed it up with dirty water… not a nice experience. Asking locals is indeed the best and safest way.
Tap water is really not recommended for drinking where I live. I Think the only country I drank from the tap is Australia. All else, I go for bottled water mainly because I have sensitive stomach and I wouldn’t want to get sick on the road. This is a really helpful article by the way
It’s also amazing how many countries refill and reseal water bottles and try to sell them as mineral water. Another way to travel responsibly is to crush your bottle so that it cannot be collected an reused. This will help save many others from some nasty water surprises!
I am recently on a trip in Asia (China)and i did not know before coming here about stripens and Lifestraw. Also did not know that plastic water bottles were taken and reused. Not good. So i would leave mine behind uncrushed everywhere i went. In China you are not allowed to drink liquid or food on subways so i rarely saw anyone with bottled water anywhere. Though the garbage and plastic bottles strewn around the ground of tourist destinations astounded me! Most ‘toilets’ in China do not have sanitary soap to wash hands after and only have tap water or even none at all to wash hands. Surprised me!
That’s a whole lot of the world with unsafe drinking water. I tend to drink bottled water most of the time when I travel but I have to constantly remind myself with things like cleaning my teeth and not eating the salad.
Megan this is AWESOME!! So helpful.
Thanks for doing this.
I watched a man in Vietnam filling bottles with water from a tap. He had a bottle sealing thing, which even put the plastic around it. So sometimes I am a little sceptical about the bottled water too. However, I do look for what seems to be legit. It is brushing my teeth where I sometimes slip up. I have resorted to putting a sock over the top to remind me, Great infographic.
Interesting. I always ask the hotel (unless it is already stated by the sink, which is the case in most international chains) if the water is safe but to be honest, I almost always buy bottled water. Even in places where drinking water is safe, not being used to the type of water can cause an upset stomach, the last thing you want on the road, so i never take chances. The exception? I always brush my teeth with tap water unless it is really unsafe (ie brow, clearly marked as unsafe, etc.) and I feel it helps get used to the water of a place in a mild manner in case you then have a salad or fruit, which I always (I know, I know I shouldn’t ) eat on the road. Because i lived and traveled in Africa for long, my stomach has become quite immune, it must be a very inhospitable place for bugs! Good guide to refer to Megan!
Great tips as always, Meg! During our recent trip across Central Asia we found that the Sawyer life straw we had with us was a lifesaver, not only while hiking, but also when we travelled across deserts or less populated areas.
SUPER useful article and graphic! Bookmarking this for later use.
Those purification devices look incredibly clever – great way to ensure the water is safe too.
Great infographic! Living in the US, I always took my clean water for granted. Once we started traveling, I had to keep reminding myself of the little things like keeping my mouth closed in the shower and not eating salad. Depending how long we’re in a area or what we will be doing for the first couple of days, I might still drink bottled water even if the tap water is safe. Sometimes the differences in the mineral content can cause an upset tummy.
What a great infographic and tip to remember it’s not only the water you drink. Brushing your teeth with contaminated water is something many people don’t think of. I was surprised about South America not having any safe water. When I was in Patagonia, I was told that natural water sources were safe, except in the Tierra del Fuego, where beavers have infected the water with giardia.
Excellent post, Megan!! I love this, because you explain through and through! Asking the locals, using water bottles, insurance, etc. Very informative! CDC is a very reliable source, so it’s great that you looked up through that.
When I was traveling in Southeast Asia, I used filtered water bottle; sometimes I do buy bottled water. What do you think about filtered water bottle? I used that and it seems to work good, but perhaps maybe comparing to bottled water, it’s a lot better. Also, I actually have to admit that it didn’t crossed my mind to close my mouth while showering! Yikes. I did took HEP A immunization, but I know it’s not necessarily would mean that it would prevent 100%. Ah! Speaking of this, I recommend you to mention about this immunization though! :) It’s helpful!
LIfestraw and other electronics – I didn’t know they existed! I mean, of course in this days and age, but I wasn’t aware about this! Thanks for sharing :) love this post! I’m going to share it :)
To be honest, when I am traveling I never drink tap water. I always purchase bottled water. But I do know about using bleach and boiling the water. Great info and infographic.
Great infographic and techniques! I’m usually very cautious with non-bottled water, even in countries where it’s supposed to be super safe. Rather safe than sorry! Sometimes I do give up and go for it after a few days of “testing”.
What an excellent comprehensive and visual guide. The maps certainly help even with just a glance. And your tips on what to do in unsafe places are a gem. Thanks!
I’ve been travelling with a Katadyn MyBottle Water Purification system water bottle and it’s been amazing. It has a filter that collects all the bad stuff and you can drink it right away through the straw. I hate having to buy numerous plastic water bottles abroad and this lovely product reduces all that plastic and saves money on bottles. Stomach problems are the worst when travelling and can be prevented with all the points you’ve highlighted
Wow – I didn’t realize that so many countries had “unsafe” water. I figured that number would be lower. It’s also interesting because I’m living in Germany, and it is one of the countries with the best tap water. However, the majority of the people here don’t drink tap water at all. Even as I was in Korea, a “safe” country for water, there were times where colored water came out of the fosset. yikes!
I love the infographic by the way!
Korea has been one of the countries with clean water for thousands of years.
However, it was polluted with excessive industrialization.
But due to constant government’s effort, the water has become clear enough to drink directly since the 1970s.
A recent UN report said that South Korea’s water quality is the 8th cleanest water in the world.
your experience was a temporary occurrence when you replaced the local water pipes, or because it’s a old water pipes that you had lived a house.It was not the matter of the water.
Most people in Korea use water without special water purification facilities when they shower and wash the dishes and cook
But it is also true that people who remember last day when water quality was poor still have doubts. Once again, Korean tap water is perfectly okay to drink.
We are totally spoiled with perfect water in Europe, there for I generally always buy bottled anywhere “outside” – not because I don’t think it’s safe elsewhere but just because I love our own water and am used to that. Best water however comes from streams in the mountains and glaciers, but unfortunately they are not available everywhere ;-)
Very cool post! I especially love the informative graphics and will definitely share it and pin it! On another hand, “safe” and “tasty” are two different things, so while a water might be “safe” to drink, it still might be quite untasty.
I try to be careful since stomach problems are the worst while traveling. There are some great tips here like avoiding ice. Thanks for sharing them!
Wow a few of the places said not to have clean water surprised me here. Namely Russia, a place I have been and drank the tap water. I will definitely think twice next time I am there now. Also totally agree that insurance is so so important. I had an experience travelling in Cambodia where I was very cautious about everything I ate or drank and my husband was eating and drinking everything in sight without getting sick. On the last day I let me guard down and ate a salad despite refusing to eat it in the days before. By the time we got to Singapore the next day I was so ill I needed to be rushed to hospital. Luckily I had insurance which covered the whole thing. Thanks for highlighting a very important issue Meg.
What an incredible guide! We do take drinking water for granted and that’s why I think people should travel more to see what’s happening in the rest of the world. I will be traveling to Turkey soon so it’s good to know where they fall on the list of drinking water safety. A point that I’m glad you made is about the water bottles. There is so much waste around the world and water bottles seem to be at the top. People should buy reusable bottles and travel with them!
Hi Mia
I’m from turkey and want to say, If you travel big cities of turkey like istanbul or ankara, you definitely use bootle water.
On the other hand if your travel about the cappadocia you can use tap water. Also most anatolian cities of turkey is famous about healing water, like nevşehir or tokat.
This is an excellent resource for any traveller! But I actually knew that tap water is safe to drink in Costa Rica, and even in most of Nicaragua and some places in Mexico… I think this regularly changes. Then, there are countries where tap water is safe to drink and just tastes foul. UK is one of them :)
Water in Uruguay is fine to drink out of the tap. The state water company OSE provides most pf the population and out in the country when a well is dug, it has to be tested.
Most bottled water is just tap water anyway.
Safe drinking water is something a lot of us take for granted. These are some great tips to help from getting sick on the road.
I don’t know how you do it, but I swear I learn something new and valuable every time I read your blog! Thank you for these informative and well thought out posts. I have traveled mostly in places where one doesn’t have to worry about water like Europe and the USA, so I never really thought twice about unsafe water. I’ll make sure I’m prepared as I branch out to other countries that don’t have safe drinking water!
Thanks for such a detailed and informative article, Meg! I grew up spoiled drinking tap water in the US, but living in Asia for the past four years it has been striking how this resource I took for granted is not accessible to all. We were gifted a Steri-pen a couple of years ago, but found that while it made the water safe to drink, it didn’t remove the particulates in the water from pipes, and sometimes the color of the tap water was a bit off-putting. Instead we usually buy bottled water when we’re on the road, which I really feel terrible about doing. When we’re in places for longer we always try and get an 18-liter bottle for our room which we can refill our Nalgene’s with. Looking for a better alternative before our next trip. Will have to look more into the LifeStraw!
I spent months living in rural Malawi and I know first hand how valuable safe water is. My daily schedule was dominated by boiling and filtering. Now whenever anyone asks me what my drink of choice is, I always say tap water. I know they really mean what wine or cocktail I prefer, but honestly there is nothing so refreshing (literally and emotionally) as Canadian tap water. I never take it for granted now.
There are some really good tips in here Meg! While I was traveling through Asia, I was extremely careful with what liquids and foods I ingested. I took one chance in Thailand and was bed-sick for 2 weeks…never again!
This is actually not correct at all. I have been to southamerica and there are a few countries there with better tap water than any european country. I assume you didn’t do your research correctly and just grouped every south american country in the same bag as a lot of ignorant people do. I would’ve expected more from a “journalist” or whatever you are. Please do your research better next time.
I really can’t force myself to drink tap water, I don’t know why. Even when I was living in Finland (where the water is considered to be one of the cleanest ever) it took me few months to get used to drinking tap water. I really need to change my perspective, thanks for this informative post Meg!
As you mentioned above, that info-graphic is highly conservative and shouldn’t be taken for granted. It is just full of misinformation and could easily confuse fellow travelers. For instance, I am Croatian and I must say that the water in Croatia is not just drinkable, but it’s one of the cleanest in the World. It’s obvious that this info-graphic is made without any further research.
In Bosnia, Montenegro and other ex-Yu countries water is also very safe to drink although I do understand that it may be upsetting for individuals if they are not used to that specific water but that is also valid for all the water in this so called safe tap water list. CDC should update their list/map.
Hi Megan,
Tap water in South African cities is generally considered quite safe. Generally, you can trust water from city waterworks as much as anywhere. South Africa has a national department that tracks water quality.
South Africa has great wealth and its government spends some 11% of its GNP for medical care alone. This is not a Third World country in the usual sense.
Very useful post, thanks! We’re currently in Chiang Mai and rented a “serviced apartment” for a month, with kitchenette. We buy large bottles of drinking water (6 liters) instead of drinking tap water like back home in Belgium. Better safe than sorry! I pinned the post for future use and hope to help spread the word.
Argentina water is 200% drinkable in the 96 %of the country I live in Argentina since I’m kid drinking all the time and healthy.
I love how no where in Africa has safe drinking water. I have lived in South Africa my whole life and the tap water here is absolutely fine to drink., if you’re wrong about that I’m not sure a bout the rest of you research
To avoid the plastic waste and uncertainty around the re-filling and sealing of plastic bottles of water, I always carry chlorine dioxide water sterilising tablets. One (or two if you are very concerned about giardia etc) per litre does the trick, they are lightweight to carry and are useful if you cannot make a fire to boil water, or your filter has run out etc etc. Carry a few bottles of your own and I always have a sterilised litre in the room/tent for cleaning teeth or taking medication etc In places where you cannot be sure that the water is safe, avoid ice, ice-cream, salads and un-peeled fruit – anything that might have been washed with the water
Slovakia has a perfectly safe drinking tap water. We only have drinking water everywhere (also used to flush toilets and in car washes). In fact, the Slovaks are surprised when they travel abroad and find out that the water is not drinkable in other countries, because we take it for granted. According to this websie – http://pitnavoda.enviroportal.sk/kvalita-pitnej-vody-v-regionoch – Slovakia has the largest natural reservoir of underground water in Central Europe. Italy, on the other hand, which is marked as safe on this website, is very questionable. Wherever I went in Italy, I was always told by the locals not to drink the tap water because it was not safe for drinking. So..
I would not trust information provided by United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You better check other sources as well. I had a quick look at their website and they provide inaccurate information on many countries. Especially about rabies and vaccination against rabies.
Meg, you say that the reason why it is unsafe for tourists to drink tap water in some countries is that “people’s body’s are used to different mineral counts in different parts of the world” and yet your number one tip is to ask the locals because they are the “best source of correct information” .. this doesn’t make any sense..
Dear Megan, I am travelling from India to Australia during September and was planning to carry a bag full of bottled water, but after reading your article I have dropped the idea. But one question, though. Do hotels in Aus also offer the same quality of drinking water? I was reading some reviews about a Sydney hotel on trip advisor, wherein a traveller had written, that hotels had specifically issued advisory against drinking tap water in their rooms. This could be ploy to force people pay exhorbitantly for bottled water. Pl. advise. I will be staying in hotels of Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast and cairns.
Most of South Africa’s tap water is safe to drink so I question how valid your info graphic is
Thanks for sharing informative article. Keep sharing more article.
Very informative article! Where is it safe to drink water abroad? Here is TravelBarista’s add-on to this; http://www.travelbarista.com/single-post/2016/06/02/Is-the-Water-Safe-to-Drink-Abroad
Thats why we have the advocacy conserve water.
Which outdoor portable water filter purifier is good for using? please
Try the Pure2go Water Purifier from Water One Inc in the USA. It’s a true water purifier and is presented in the drink straw type for format as this is the most flexible format. There is no boiling, adding chemicals or battery operation. You simply drink the water through the straw and it’s instant purification. When you look further into most of the commonly available so called water purifiers they are only water filters. The Pure2Go Water Purifier kills Bacteria, cysts and Viruses instantly. You know it’s good when all branches of the US Military use the Pure2Go Water Purifier. The Parent company Water One Inc has over 50 years of providing ultra pure water to the Pharmaceutical and Chemical Research Industries as well as providing USA wide and Internationally purified bottled drinking water. You can purchase on Amazon or directly via http://www.pure2gopurifier.com or UK/Europe http://www.pure2gouk.co.uk both sites have the Pure2Go Water Purifier on sale
We have perfectly safe tap water in South Africa. Rural areas no but the rest of the country it’s very good quality water.
You can drink tap water from most if not all household taps in South Africa, even most of the taps in public parks, you can even (if you really want to)drink the water from taps in restrooms and public toilets…
Please do a bit more research before you simply copy and paste your so called stats and info.
Thanks for the info, just for clarification, you said that the lifestraw does remove viruses. I received a personal email from their support staff and he said that the lifestraw does not remove virus’ or heavy metals. Thank you for all the helpful information.
I have never really thought about potentially having to not get ice because of what could be in the water! Thank you for sharing.
What about the Caribbean? I heard some countries have their own desalination factories.
Wow, such a nice tips for travellers. Water causes several kinds of diseases when we travel to other places. As there is issue with safe water availability in India, this post which share drinking water tips for foreign tourists in India will help all those who are planning to travel to India.
I’ve done water testing (as have most trained chemists). Most bottled waters would fail municipal water standards in the US. Municipal water standards and their results are published, easily accessible, and frequently challenged. Bottled water is just whatever they put in there. And in fact, the bottling process adds significant contamination – the bottles used are practically petri dishes they’re so good at encouraging bacterial growth.
I like to take something like Grayl water on my trips to asia.https://goo.gl/tNOVsG
That’s one of the best resources about where it’s safe to drink tap water!
Thanks for sharing the infographic and explaining it even further, Megan :-)
One thing I’d like to add is that even in countries where the water itself is clean and drinkable, the pipes might be too old and make the water unsafe.
Funny fact: in Bulgaria where I’m from, in a lot of towns the tap water comes from nearby mineral water sources. So it’s not only safe to drink it, but it’s even healthy ;-)
Cheers, N.
I use a Camelback filtered water bottle on my travels which I find to be particularly effective. The top it comes with is the filter. It also comes with a normal top that is much smaller and lighter!
Estonia has safe tap water! We have free drinking fountains in my town in summer too. If you see this, PLEASE change it. I want Estonia to be seen as the wonderful developed country and not the former soviet union country.
This post is an absolute must-read for international travelers. Thats why we ask all our readers to visit your blog before planning for international travels :).
I would like to add that filters would work in most cases, but if you want protection against viruses as well, you would have to opt for purifiers. This is the primary difference betwee filters and purifiers.
Thanks for this Megan!
Kate M’s comment got me worried. If the store-bought water bottle in America is a petri dish for bacteria, what about here in Africa. Nice informative article by the way, and great comments from great people.
Re: the Caribbean…Cuban water is definitely NOT safe, as I can personally attest!
I teach English to high school students in Japan. Now we are learning about the topic “Tap water vs. Bottled water” with the textbook. For further information, your blog has helped a lot. In Japan, tap water is completely safe, so we don’t think about the quality of water. But by reading your blog, they appreciate how blessing we can get safe water anytime.
It’s fantastic that you’ve listed on the map all the countries where it is safe to drink tap water. Honestly, this is a very handy post because this is one of the first questions I ask when I arrive in a country. It is true that many times people from Europe and the US take it for granted that the tap water must be drinkable but growing up in India (and now living in Dubai), I actually find it very surprising when I visit places in the US and Europe where you can just drink the water from the tap! We are so not used to doing that, it’s a bit funny :D Thanks for also reminding us to be environmentally friendly when we use bottled water!
You might want to revise your map in regards to Korea. The water quality leaving the treatment plant is technically safe but the infrastructure still widely uses lead (unfortunately mainly due to corruption, not the lack of regulation) so almost no one drinks the tap water. That’s is why there is conflicting information when you look it up online but I would not call that safe by any means.
Well, strange iconographic, I must say. Lithuania’s tap water is not safe? come on… I’ve been drinking tap water all my life (45 years already), and absolute majority of people do the same. In fact I was really surprised that in many parts of the world you can’t drink tap water because we all here consider safe tap water as a given. BTW, 100% of tap water in Lithuania comes from deep underground water resources,
Same as Croatia, I have to think twice when I’m abroad. ?
And to be honest I never drank tap water in Italy, UK and France because it tastes like shit compared to my home town.
Only Norway comes close.
Damir is right. I live in France & the water, even though is safe, it takes like s**t.
Especially in summer, even by opening the cold tap water, the water isn’t cold, it’s warm & tastes bad! I blame it on the hot weather.
I’ve been abroad & the best tap water usually comes from cold countries ( Norway & Sweden for example) & countries less hotter than France i.e Croatia & Slovenia.
You always get cold water in these countries even during a heatwave!
Travelling for any length of time without being able to have ice in your drinks, or eat a salad, can be pretty miserable. Here in the Philippines (where you definitely can’t drink water from the tap) I order drinks with ice and eat salads all the time because most restaurants in the cities and tourist areas use purified water for making ice and washing salad greens. It’s only in the rural areas that you have to avoid ice and salads. However, even in the cities you need to be choosy about the places for eating salads because most restaurants are just filtering tap water. That’s fine if the place looks well managed and they change their filter cartridges regularly, but of course some places get lazy. Even Starbucks uses filtered tap water for their ice and drinks, but they have a regular maintenance schedule for their filter cartridges, so I have no problem drinking their water in the Philippines.
The source of ‘best countries’ as for the safe tap water is quite terrible. I would avoid drinking tap water in Germany, the UK and France. Not sure about the rest on the list. Scandinavia has better tap water with Denmark as a forerunner, yet Denmark is nowhere to be seen on the list.
I like the tips. That’s a subject I’ve never seen anyone talk about, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it through your blog. This is a really important point to take into account when traveling to various places in the world… since not all places have adequate treatment of water and in many places lack awareness.
Thank you share.
I have a travel in Ko Tao – Thailand. I will rent kayak and paddle round the island. As you know Thailand is country not safe water. I was relieved to read your post. Just read and note.
Croatia is not on the list od safe tap water?!?! Are you kidding me!
Great post, Megan! Thanks.
I am from Slovakia and we have no problem with water(picture says we do). And Greece is marked as safe but it is not
There’s a mistake in the map of Europe. In Slovakia, the tap water is also safe. We drink it all the time.
Had a couple issues but hard to tell if it was the water or the food. One instance was last week in fact. Got sick on the Pacific coast of Colombia & had to rule out dengue & all that crazy stuff..looks like it was just a stomach infection & now I’m all better ? what about you?
Ha! Been there done that! And nowadays it seems like the consequences for those bar nights are getting increasingly severe and painful. Can’t drink like I could when I was 21!
Ugh! Same! You have to start to get really picky and evaluate if the drinks/night out is worth being bedridden the next day. I used to party at every opportunity, but now I’m more of a special occasion drinker haha
this is a stupid article. total capitalist “me-first” world bias. i’m in morocco and the tap water is great.
i’ve also been to lots of other countries your list marks as “unsafe” and never had problems drinking the water; i’d just like to say thanks for the propaganda boost you’re giving to bottled water corporations – whose lobbies probably influenced the study your article is based on – since it helps promote their product, which contains nasty microfibers of plastic and is polluting the world irreversibly
I was looking for this particular information for a long time. Thank you and best of luck.
Thank you for your post, I like the way you write.
I have done a bit of travelling so far myself. Funny part for me to read about safe water in North America. Personally I got rashes from all the chlorine in the water. Because tap water is free, mostly in restaurants you cannot get still bottled water. Quite an interesting travel.
There’s also other options for filtering water on the go. Someone already mentioned the Katadyn, and that’s def a good one. Also, I really like the Berkey water filter line as well. They have portable systems, a portable water bottle, etc and they were designed for this exact use.
it is a good blog.
Everyone drinks tap water in Slovakia and it’s actually really safe and also people in Croatia and Hungary drink tap water. On the map you literally just marked the less ‘developed’ countries as not safe; which also isn’t correct because countries like Slovakia aren’t any less developed as for example Czech Republic or Poland (which for some reason are safe)
hmmm actually you can drink tap water in Costa Rica Central Vally, which is where 80% lives, clearly in the middle of the jungle or far away in the mountain you cant. But Costa Rica is known because the tap water is great!
Don’t agree with this article. Many countries in east Europe have safe tap water, even I would say very good quality, for example Baltic states. I personal have visited few of them(Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and in the cities I visited you can drink tap water, but of course there are exceptions.
Blog, as well as infographic, is awesome. thanks for sharing with us.
Yes, I think that the tap water is not as safe as it looks, unless it has been boiled. Using tap water has bad effects on your teeth. We should use water filter to avoid approaching hazardous impurities like sediments, rusts, bacteria, virus, residual chlorine, or other heavy metals.
I am from Finland and we have clean tap water, you can use it right away.
Lithuanian tap water is very clean. Everybody drinks tap water safely. Every year there are 160 000 tests performed to make sure that the water is safe. I have no idea where this incorrect information came from.
Hello, this is really helpful, but I wanted to point out that I’m from Lithuania myself and we drink out tap water all the time and it’s confirmed to be one of the cleanest water in Europe. As well as other Baltic states we have safe water and you shouldn’t be scared to drink it, shower in it or brush your teeth :) otherwise I think this list is very helpful
Your map is not correct in several points. For example, tap water in all of former Yugoslavia is perfectly safe to drink. On the contrary, it is NOT safe in Hong Kong due to old piping. Only in newer developments where the piping has been replaced is it safe, but generally every hotel will recommend not drinking tap water and will provide free bottles water.
I am American and this guide is a great example of the way westerners think. You’re telling me no country in South America or Africa has safe tap water? Really? I have traveled to quite a few places and can say Colombia has one of the cleanest water systems in the continent. The Caucasus, specifically Armenia and Georgia have the best tap water I’ve ever had in my life. So refreshing and sweet, as it comes from mountain springs. Please stop scaring travelers.
Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) do not have clean drinking water? Please, it is cleaner than the tap water in for example France and the quality of their tap water is on par with that of Scandinavia.
Nonsense map that includes countries like Spain where you definitely cannot drink tap water and excludes those where you can.
Appears thatyour map is inaccurate. Might it be time for you to remove it if you can’t accurately show a proper picture of the facts? When I first read the article, I was a bit confused. After reading the comments section, I can see that it’s not me that’s confused but the maps that are confusing. Utter nonsense. How can you publish something so silly?
The map is incorrect by indicating that all of African water supply is unsafe,South African tap water is safe to drink n use,only in rural or informal settlements do they sometimes use unsafe water from rivers.I was born and raised here in South Africa and any South African can validate that.
Hi
The infographic appears inaccurate. We now know water is unsafe in several regions with fracking in the USA. There are also small towns in Australia with no water at all – yes, water has to be trucked. It is also safe to drink water in Costa Rica and Chile. Perhaps you could include a more updated chart or links in each region with up to date information.
Thanks for the great effort to put the info together.
Just a note to say that North America is a continent and not a country as you state in the article.
And to not have Canada listed as amongst the best water is surprising.
Also, Costs Rica has good tap water IMO.
Chile does have drinkable water!!
I was born and raised in a country where tap water isn’t safe to drink until you boil it. So when I first traveled to Europe, I was a bit skeptical. Is it really safe? It felt weird to drink straight from the tap, like I was doing something forbidden.
Anyway, for those who are visiting my country Malaysia, I wouldn’t advise you to drink anything with ice except at established restaurants like the ones in major shopping malls because they have to adhere to strict quality/cleanliness standards. Any reported case of food poisoning may cause a restaurant to have its license revoked. But the water isn’t so bad that you can’t use it for brushing your teeth. I’ve never heard of anyone, locals or visitors, who had any problem brushing their teeth with our tap water. Just don’t swallow it! ?
You should add Mauritius to countries where it is SAFE to drink tap water.
The subtitle to your story should be rewritten as – “Countries where the water quality may be doubtful.”
Having lived, worked and/or travelled to +50 countries on all seven continents, I can tell you most modern major cities have good to excellent water quality. This may not be true for smaller towns and villages that rely on dug wells which may be subject to rain runoff or local pollution, or unfiltered artesian wells. In that case having your own water bottle, camel back, and a filtration kit like MSR’s (Mountain Safety Research) Sweet Water filtration system is best to use.
I carry one with me everywhere I go, so if am in an area where the water quality is doubtful, I can use my stainless steel strainer, silt filter and carbon filter on the local water.
And buying water bottles with sealed caps is some countries is no guarantee that the water is pure. They may be sourced from local springs that have minerals and impurities in them, including low levels of lead or arsenic, or worse, the water processing company has not adequately maintained their filtration system. Flint, Michigan USA is point in case where thousand of residents were poisoned by lead contamination in the pipes of the local water supplier.
Check the labels on water bottles you buy to find out where it was bottled, what is in it, and by who. Trust only major companies, like Pepsi (yes they sell bottled water!) Aquafina, Dasani, Nestle Waters, Glaceau SmartWater, Poland Spring, Danone & Fuji.
Travel safe and be well!
Cheers,
Frederic Hore,
Montreal, Canada.
Im from Chile and here you CAN drink tap water, very safe. Only country in South america.
Romania has drinkable tap water. This map is very inaccurate.
Just curious as I am planning a trip to South America. I have been doing a bit of research and with regards to Uruguay I have found several articles claiming that the water is completely safe, has no aftertaste, zero particulates etc. The water quality in Uruguay is excellent in general. The water meets all of the WHO’s water quality standards. In addition of course to the all knowing Wikipedia (pun intended) stating “Uruguay is the only country in Latin America that has achieved quasi-universal coverage of access to safe drinking water supply and adequate sanitation. Water service quality is considered good, with practically all localities in Uruguay receiving disinfected water on a continuous basis.” Could you please delve into this a little bit. Thank you.