Hi Everyone,

Okay, I've been trying to get some info on drinking water but keep getting conflicting info. I'm going to Paris, Switzerland, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples. Is their tap water potable for someone who is used to the North American diet? I would think water in Switzerland is some of the cleanest on the planet. What about France and Italy? I heard wine is the cheapest beverage BUT I am a VERY weak drinker and will turn festively RED after just a couple of sips! Bottled water is very expensive, I heard, at about $3 USD a bottle. Any alternatives?

Water is very reasonable in Europe, and in France you can buy Evian in liter bottles for 1-1.5 euros, so don't worry. As for potable, in my experience most of Europe is fine to very good. If you don't like the taste you can go for bottled, just brush up on the "with gas" and "without gas" phrases in each language. Enjoy.

Bottled water can be that expensive in a restaurant, but if you go to the grocery store they're much cheaper.

Tap water was fine every place I went in Italy and France. Bottled water is not expensive if you buy it in grocery stores. If you don't drink wine and you don't want to pay for water, the best alternative is tap water! Bottled water in Europe usually has a higher mineral content than what I'm used to in the US, so I'd rather not drink it all the time. (Drinking too much right away can have the same effect as drinking milk of magnesia.) Therefore I change off, drinking bottled water sometimes, tap water other times, and drinking different brands of bottled water, with different mineral contents. But really, I don't think about it too hard. It's all OK, but too much of any one unfamilar thing can be upsetting in the first few days of a trip.

I have found the tap water to be fine in both Italy and France but not in Spain. Drinking bottled water in another country is fun to try the different ones not available here in the the states. Certainly less expensive compared to wine.

Never had any trouble with the water in Paris; can't speak from recent experience with the other countries you mention. We filled our empty water bottles from the hotel tap every morning before setting out.

If you order bottled water in a restaurant it will be with gas unless you tell them you want still,natural,non gassata, non frizzante etc. The fountains in Italy that are not for drinking water will have a sign - non potabile I think.

We brought a few bottles of water from home to Paris. When they finished we just refilled from the bathroom faucet. In the restaurants we saved some money by asking for a carafe d'eau. The water tasted great and didn't cause any stomach problems.

We drank mostly bottled in Paris when we were there few weeks ago. Sometimes it was about $3 a bottle, but near most attractions, vendors selling ti for just 1 euro were a good deal. Near the Eiffel Tower they were actually frozen, a rarity since it's hard to get things really cold there. Tap water in hotel seemed fine too

I (a North American) have drunk the tap water in France, Italy and Spain without problem. Bottled water is a money maker at restaurants, and if you simply ask for water you will often /usually get bottled water. In France, ask for "une carafe de l'eau" to get tap water; perhaps others can help with the similar phrase in other places.
That said, I also really like some of the bottled waters, too, but as noted above some of them do have a high mineral content.

We've got electricity and most of us can read too!

I'm sorry but I didn't mean to offend anybody or his/her continent. I simply meant that some people are more sensitive when it comes to drinking tap water! I think it is completely natural for some of us to need a little more time to get used to the things we put into our bodies. I, for instance, need to filter water first before drinking it, no matter which country I am in, even at home in California, U.S.A. But on my trip, I don't think I'll have the necessary equipment to filter anything. As I am on a poor student's budget and as I had thought bottled water expensive in Europe, I wanted to make sure that my sensitive system could handle something DIFFERENT (I did not mean dirty). So certainly, my question was nothing but an innocent attempt to stay informed and make my trip to your continent more enjoyable.

sheila, join the club. Down here in the Antipodes we're still in the process of converting our kerosene-powered TV sets to electricity, but reading is catching on now that we no longer have to ruin our eyesight with whale-oil lanterns. Roll on progress, I say!

muimei, what in hell is Arnie putting in your tap water that you need to filter it??

Have been drinking tap water all over europe for 25 years and have never had any problems with it.

There are only two exceptions I am aware of:

Water in St. Peterburg is contaminated with Guiardia - do not even atempt to drink it since it can cause dystentery.

Never ever drink water from fountains - it has not been treated - as is tap water - and it is not supposed to be drunk. In Italy there are usualy signs reminding people of this (and yes, I have seen tourists drinking out of several of these fountains - somehow they had apparently left their brains at home. You would never do this with decorative fountains in a park at home, why ever think you can do it just because its a famous and historic fountain?)

Sheila, that is very nice - now start working on the plumbing, window screens, ice machines, tiny portion sizes and dentists.

Hi mu,

Since you are sensitive to differences in water, I suggest that you buy bottled water at groceries.

You can find it in 2 and 3L sizes, sometimes in 6 packs, for about 0.6E/L.

I have had no problems with water anywhere in Europe. I think the water quality is the same there as in the US. However, I do know people who are sensitive to tap water just about everywhere, including at home. Buy your bottled water in the grocery stores and you will save a lot of money.

I've drunk tap water everyplace I've every been, including the middle east, and never had a problem. That said, I have read that tap water is not recommended in Italy, Rome in particular, because there are still many buildings served by lead pipes which could pose a long term threat. In the short term, I doubt that anybody would have any problems.

I remember a thread about this some time back, when people were talking about water in Rome in particular, maybe Italy in general. If I recall correctly, a poster who lived in Italy said that locals do not drink tap water in Rome (either because of the taste or the health aspects, I don't remember for sure).

When ordering tap water in restaurants in Italy, I found that I usually received bottled water anyway. In France this was not a problem, the request for un carafe d'eau always worked.

I do know that many locals drink out of the fountains in Rome. There are fountains all over the city and I was told the water is drinkable and comes from the aqueducts. Our Italian tour guide filled her bottle from several of these as we passed them.

About drinking from fountains:
There are actually many fountains that have drinking water. In Hungary for example the water from the Artesian wells comes from very deep down and is very healthy and clean (the same water used in the baths for its healing properties). It is still hot when it comes up to the surface however, so on a hot day it may not be pleasant to drink from. But you can always see locals filling up bottles with it and taking it home to drink.
I would still not advise anyone to drink from an unknown source of water unless you know for sure that it's good.
Personal experience in Costa Rica: we were dying of thirst after a full-day hike in the Rincon de la Vieja National Park that had no amenities whatsoever. Two minutes before we left, we found out that the local well had the cleanest water in the country. Arghhh!