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Revealed: The Countries Where You Can & Can’t Drink Tap Water as a Tourist

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When you jet off on vacation, keeping your health in mind is important.

Though you may dive deep into various travel guides for things to see and do when you land at your vacation destination, perhaps one of the last things you consider when traveling abroad is whether or not the water you’re drinking is safe for you to consume, as a tourist in the country.

After all, it’s really easy to get to your hotel after a long flight, turn on the tap in your room and fill up a glass of water to quench your thirst, all without thinking about whether or not you really should be doing so.

Drinkable tap water is something that is often taken for granted in places like the U.S. and the UK, and even when tap water abroad is fine for locals, it might not be advisable for you to drink it unless you want to spend the duration of your vacation feeling rather unwell… 

To find out which countries had drinkable tap water for tourists, we looked at the CDC Travellers’ Health Destination Guides to reveal which tourist destinations are given the green light on their tap water for tourists to drink. 

Disclaimer: It’s important to note that the following advice doesn’t mean that water in a country is unsafe or polluted for locals, just that as a tourist, your body will not be used to the water in the area and, therefore, it’s recommended that you stick to bottled water.

The Countries Where You CAN Drink Tap Water as a Tourist

AndorraGermanyMonacoSouth Korea
AustriaGreeceNetherlandsSpain
AustraliaGreenlandNew CaledoniaSweden
BelgiumGuadeloupeNew ZealandSwitzerland
BermudaHungaryNorwayUAE
CanadaIcelandPalauUnited Kingdom
ChileIrelandPolandUnited States
Cook IslandsIsraelPortugalVirgin Islands (U.S.)
Costa RicaItalyPuerto Rico
CroatiaJapanSaint Helena
Czech RepublicKuwaitSan Marino
DenmarkLiechtensteinSaudi Arabia
EstoniaLuxembourgSingapore
FinlandMaltaSlovakia
FranceMartiniqueSlovenia

The Countries Where You CAN’T Drink Tap Water as a Tourist

Based on advice from the CDC, it is advised that many popular tourist destinations have unsafe tap water. That’s unsafe to tourists, not locals, who are fine to drink it.

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In these countries, tourists should avoid tap or well water and instead buy bottled water. 

There are 160 destinations in total where tourists shouldn’t drink tap water:

AfghanistanFalkland IslandsMaliSamoa
AlbaniaFaroe IslandsMarshall IslandsSão Tomé and Príncipe
AlgeriaFijiMauritaniaSenegal
AngolaFrench GuianaMayotteSerbia
British Virgin IslandsFrench PolynesiaMexicoSeychelles
Antigua and BarbudaGabonMicronesiaSierra Leone
ArgentinaGambiaMoldovaSolomon Islands
ArmeniaGeorgiaMongoliaSomalia
AzerbaijanGhanaMontenegroSouth Africa
AzoresGibraltarMoroccoSouth Sudan
The BahamasGrenadaMozambiqueSri Lanka
BangladeshGuatemalaNamibiaSudan
BarbadosGuineaNauruSuriname
BelarusGuyanaNepalSyria
BelizeHaitiNigerTaiwan
BeninHondurasNigeriaTajikistan
BhutanHong KongNiueTanzania
BoliviaIndiaNorfolk IslandThailand
BonaireIndonesiaNorth KoreaTimor-Leste
Bosnia and HerzegovinaIranNorth MacedoniaTogo
BotswanaIraqNorthern Mariana IslandsTokelau
BrazilJamaicaOmanTonga
BruneiJordanPakistanTrinidad and Tobago
BulgariaKazakhstanPanamaTunisia
Burkina FasoKenyaPapua New GuineaTurkey
BurmaKiribatiParaguayTurkmenistan
BurundiKosovoPeruTurks and Caicos Islands
CambodiaKyrgyzstanPhilippinesTuvalu
CameroonLaosPitcairn IslandsUganda
Canary IslandsLatviaQatarUkraine
Cape VerdeLebanonRomaniaUruguay
ChinaLesothoRussiaUzbekistan
ColombiaLiberiaRwandaVanuatu
CongoLibyaSabaVenezuela
CubaLithuaniaSaint BarthelemyVietnam
CyprusMadagascarSaint Kitts and NevisVirgin Islands (British)
Dominican RepublicMadeira IslandsSaint LuciaWake Island
EcuadorMalawiSaint MartinYemen
EgyptMalaysiaSaint Pierre and MiquelonZambia
EthiopiaMaldivesSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesZimbabwe

Methodology:

All drinking water recommendations above can be found on the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) website. The above was correct as of 07/07/2022 in the Traveler’s Health Section and Destinations list.

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A seasoned traveller, Dad, and avid sports tourist, James foundered The Family Vacation Guide to share his expert vacation experiences- especially when it comes to being a travelling family man.

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