Where Is It Safe To Drink Tap Water?

When one is travelling to foreign countries it is important to ensure that the tap water in the countries that you are visiting is hygienic and safe to drink, or one could find oneself in real deep trouble and too ill to enjoy your vacation.

One of the most common causes of sickness while travelling abroad is drinking contaminated tap water. Common conditions that can arise from exposure to unsafe water include diarrhoea, hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera. It is not only through drinking water that one can get ill though; this can happen via any exposure to unsafe water, and the last thing you want is to spend your vacation on or hanging over the toilet.

While many individuals generally err on the side of caution and end up buying bottled water every day, this can become rather expensive, leaving less money to spend on all the great things that make an overseas holiday great. Actually, the water in the majority of European countries is perfectly safe to drink straight from the tap.

Places in Europe where you can drink as much tap water as you wish with total abandon include Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

Remember, you do not need to drink the water; you can get ill from using the tap water in the following countries to drink, brush your teeth, prepare food or even just wash fruit: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and the Ukraine.

Remember to also be careful when bathing in lakes, rivers and ponds in a strange country; it is best to ask the locals about the quality of their open and tap water, and if you are not sure whether the drinking water is good or not, find a water cooler that can provide you with fresh, chilled and filtered drinking water.