Water?

[tryshah]

I keep hearing about how lots of bottled water is carbonated, and expensive. I drink a lot of water. Should I bring a nalgene and fill it up in the tap everywhere? Has anyone heard of water not being safe in western europe?

[LHR02]

Water is perfectly safe in Western Europe....and you can get either 'natural' or fizzy everywhere. Just buy a bottle once you get there and fill it up as you go along. Expensive? No more so than here, but why keep buying new bottles when you can just refill?

[Gemelli]

Our guide strongly advised us not to drink the water in Florence and Venice. For all I know the water could be perfectly fine, but I filled a few bottles up in Innsbruck before going into Italy so I don't know. I also filled a few bottles in Lucerne to take home because it was so good.

[LHR02]

Methinks your guide was getting a kickback from the water bottler! ;D The water in Florence and Venice is perfectly fine...as it is everywhere else.

[Numbers]

From what I've heard (outside of guideforeurope.com), tap water is perfectly fine in Europe. However, many Europeans drink bottled out of habit. I believe this is because during WW 2, enemies would poison water supplies.

I guess old habbits die hard.

[Kim]

Yeah, we drank it everywhere and it was fine.

It also could be a taste preference as well. We did buy bottled in one place (forget where) cause it tasted a bit tinny.

It's perfectly safe though, health wise.

[WillTravel]

I also have read that some places have antiquated plumbing, even with lead. Thus drinking a lot of water could be a hazard. The water itself is fine, but the pipes aren't necessarily.

[Jordo]

Eep.... Really?

[WillTravel]

The odds of getting lead poisoning from a short visit would be really extremely low, but if I were living somewhere in Europe I would want to find out plumbing details about lead or lack thereof before using the water on a long-term basis.

[jennifer]

I don't think you'll get sick from a couple of days drinking tap water, for months, ok I understand, but days!! I don't think you should worry!

[Kena]

I drank water from the street fountains in Venice all the time.

I wasn't 100% sure at first, but all the locals were doing it, and several reliable persons had recommended it (we went there in the middle of the heat wave, so water was a big issue).

Not only did we have no problem at all, but the water was also very cold and very good. Much tastier than luke-warm bottled water that's been sitting on a shelf for hours. (Cold bottled water is not found too often in grocery stores, and it's usually 3-4x the price)