anyscreennamesleft

I have traveled to Italy in the past, and if memory serves me correctly, tap water was pretty much never automatically brought to your table. I can afford to drink whatever I'd like, but for an upcoming trip that includes many European capitals, I will be traveling with several budget-minded younger relatives in their early 20's.

I'm just curious if you fodorites request tap water? I imagine I will often also need a coffee (or glass of wine) to keep me going.

I'm also curious about how to say in French, German, and Italian, "Just bring over a big carafe of the free tap water!" haha

Scarlett

My son, who can afford to drink whatever he wants, likes to drink regular water with meals..he always just asks for water when they ask him what he wants to drink, plain water..never had a problem and it is not tacky at all
I drink fizzy water and wine~

StCirq

I don't worry about tap water anywhere in Western Europe and often request it.

French: un carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaît (if you need to get really specific, it's eau de robinet)
Italian: una caraffa di acqua, per favore
I haven't used my German much for more than a decade, but I'm guessing it's eine Karaffe von Wasser, bitte.

Patrick

In France, un carafe d'eau certainly works well and they are prepared for it. I see many French people doing just that and many restaurants have tap water already chilled in special bottles.
But I have rarely if ever been able to get tap water in Italy. My Italian isn't so great, but attempts at St.Cirq's suggestion are still met with "gas or no gas" and the bottled water inevitable still appears.

StCirq

yikes! hit the button before proofreading - that should be une carafe in French, not un carafe!

elaine

don't hesitate to ask for what you want, in water or food, as long as it's reasonable.

Even here in New York, when customers ask for water (not always automatically brought to the table), some waiters are now told to ask, bottled or tap?
When I want tap water, that's what I ask for, with absolutely no embarrassment.

bienemaus

It's not tacky, but it's unusual in Italy for example. In many places I wouldn't even dare to drink tap water.And I stay away from the huge carafes of tap water in the US , with kilos of ice cubes - did you ever have a look at the water when the ice is melted? Not too transparent!

cmt

I've asked for tap water many times in Italy. I don't like fizzy water, and sometimes only fizzy bottled water is available (some spring waters are naturally effervescent, not deliberately carbonated, but they are still too fizzy for me). Many of the bottled waters are a little too salty or have too much of certain minerals (like magnesium, which has a laxative effect), so I try to keep my consumption to a minimum, especially early in a trip when I'm not used to all those minerals yet. The tap water is fine and safe, and usually tastes MUCH better than the tap water where I live in the US.

Patrick: I've never heard of a restaurant serving the bottled mineral water in a carafe; if you order mineral water, you get it in its bottle, with the label showing. If I REALLY had trouble convincing a waiter that I absolutely did not want bottled mineral water poured into the carafe, maybe I'd emphasize that I wanted "acqua semplice" (plain, simple water) or "acqua del rubinetto" (water from the tap or faucet), but the latter sounds kind of tacky, and I'd only say it I needed to be very blunt about insisting that I did NOT want the bottled stuff at all.

uhoh_busted

We just got back from France and une carafe d'eau works like a charm. Paris water is fabulous. especially when you're also downing a bottle of vin rouge!

cmt

Correction to my previous post: "acqua di rubinetto" is the most precise way to say tap water.

Huitres8

In France, I have always asked for "l'eau natural" aznd that has automatically meant the carafe of plain, not bottled, tap water. The meaning is slightly skewed in Italy where "natural water" could refer to the bottled variety (con o senza frizzante) so I don't bother in Italy. I just drink the bottled, senza frizzante type!

MD

I found the water (bottled) to be quite a bargain. The one time I noticed, we had dinner canalside in Murano - steak $20, Salad $6 each, etc. - and water in a big green bottle that looked like a wine bottle, chilled - $1.50!

jor

I was a house guest of a family in Germany. I was told to take what I wanted from the kitchen, and went for the tap water at the sink. I was treated like I was nuts. What a shock.

PJK

Although I have never had trouble getting tap water in France, no doubt partly because I know the right words, I have had considerable trouble several times in Italy as some of the other posters have mentioned. We were in Venice a couple of weeks ago and ate at a restaurant which was well-recommended though not expensive. We finally named the waitress and created quite an imaginary tale about her (among our family and after leaving the restaurant) because she was such a trip. We were as nice as we knew how to be, but she evidently thought we were stupid as well as unable to speak Italian. I won't elaborate further except to say her most grandiose gestures, followed by much stomping, came after we tried to ask for tap water. Usually we have just been served mineral water without the fanfare.

zippo

Although all restaurants should supply a jug of water for free, most in the UK don't - being supplied with one without asking is a sign of good service.
My partner always asks for one or sometimes "a glass of tap water" if on her own.Waiters attitude is always cooperative.

Bootman4U

No amount of money, large or small, spent on water is "a bargain" given the amounts readily available in most places (please don't start in on the "...but in the desert" stuff. And asking for anything in a restaurant that is within reason is hardly "tacky" (as if any of us would ever know you did it anyway so who cares???). We have repeatedly asked, in English when necessary, for "plain" or "tap" water in France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, etc., etc., and never once have we had a problem..to include this delightful little whole in the wall "reataurant" in Vernio, Italy, when we got lost once. Perhaps it's the restaurants we chose but I think this is a non-issue and based strictly on what your own needs are. "Tacky" is having to ask permission from others to do what you already know is right for you when you travel.

Jed

Once, in Paris, I stoped in a store and asked for "une bouteille d'eau." The man behind me said, "de l'eau." I wonder if he could tell that I was a tourist? :-<

hike

Jed,

It's correct to say "une bouteille d'eau" or "de l'eau". Of course the former is more specific. But you don't say "une bouteille de l'eau" The man behind you, if he was French, must have said just "de l'eau". If he did say "une bouteille de l'eau", he was foreign too.

MD

In Rome, all the locals were zipping around on their scooters taking home six-packs of 2-litre mineral water. The fact they sell so much bottled water to locals must say something about the tap water.

francophile03

Somehow we got in the habit of ordering mineral water in Italy. But when we visited Paris we always asked for tap water. It's no problem-it appears that it's expected. The restaurants already have small pitchers of chilled tap water on hand to serve. It has no aftertaste and we did not get ill. It's alot cheaper than bottled water and many locals ordered it instead of bottled water which is very expensive.