Fodor's mentions the dangers of diarrea. I will be visiting Madrid,Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Jerez & Granada in May. Are these cities particularly dangerous for contaminated food or water? Thanks for your input.

Very dangerous!

No, really, they are about as dangerous as visiting Texas if you were to come from NYC.

Their water is probably better than your water. What causes the digestive upsets (I'm being polite here.) is the change in water. No matter where you go, Toledo or Toledo, Ohio, you are drinking different water with different microbes in it. Occasionally your body objects.

I drink bottled water everyplace so I always drink the same water. However, I brush my teeth, use ice cubes, take showers, etc. with local water even in third world countries and have not had a problem. I hope that keeping the majority of my water consistent, i.e. bottled, helps. I drink a lot of water so feel this is important. I suspect it may all be in my mind though!

Don't worry about the water. It's okay.

SalB is correct about the water.

DO however be careful with Tapas. If the food has sat there all day, I do know people who have got ill (particularly in Madrid). Just make sure that, if you go for Tapas, go somewhere that is busy (so there's a fast turnover of food) and which seems to contain a lot of locals.

Kate, excellent point!Fresher is better.

We usually choose any restaurant by looking at the crowd. If the restaurant is busy and especially if it looks like a lot of locals there, we go in knowing we'll have a good chance at an acceptable (or even terrific) meal.