Is Tap Water Safe to Drink While Traveling?
“Can I drink the tap water here?” is one of the most-asked travel questions — and getting it wrong is the fastest way to lose a few days of your trip. The short answer: it depends entirely on where you are.
Check before you go
The single best thing you can do is look it up before you travel. Search your destination on our interactive map for a 0–100 safety score and a breakdown of whether the water is safe to drink, brush your teeth with, use as ice, or cook with. As a rough guide:
- Generally safe: Western & Northern Europe, North America, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Gulf states.
- Check carefully / often not safe: much of South & Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and parts of Eastern Europe.
The traveler’s rules for unsafe-water countries
Where the tap water isn’t safe, a few simple habits keep you healthy:
- Drink sealed bottled water — check the seal is intact.
- No ice unless you know it’s from purified water.
- Brush your teeth with bottled or boiled water; keep your mouth closed in the shower.
- Avoid raw produce washed in tap water, and “peel it, boil it, or forget it”.
- Hot drinks (tea, coffee) made with boiled water are usually fine.
A reusable bottle with a built-in filter or purifier (or purification tablets) is a cheap, waste-free backup — handy for treating tap water when bottled isn’t available.
Why “safe at the plant” isn’t always “safe at the tap”
Many countries treat water well at the source, but aging pipes, storage tanks and intermittent supply let contamination back in before it reaches you. That’s why a country can look modern and still have unsafe tap water. Our scores account for this — see the methodology for how.
Know before you drink
Don’t guess. Look up your destination — and read our companion guides on boiling water and drinking tap water in Europe.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to drink tap water when traveling abroad?
It depends entirely on the destination. In much of Western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, tap water is safe to drink. In many parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America it is not. Always check the specific country before you drink.
Can I brush my teeth with tap water while traveling?
Where tap water is unsafe to drink, it’s safest to brush with bottled or boiled water too, and keep your mouth closed in the shower — small amounts swallowed can still make you ill. Where the water is safe, brushing is fine.
Is ice safe when traveling?
Ice is only as safe as the water it’s made from. In countries with unsafe tap water, skip ice unless you know it’s made from purified water — reputable hotels and restaurants often use it, street vendors usually don’t.