If you’re going to Greece but you either want to save money on all fronts or you just can’t be bothered to go buy bottled water, then you may want to try tap water. But should you? Is tap water safe in Greece? Let’s take a look!
Is tap water safe in Greece?
Tap water varies a lot depending on the region we’re looking at. Generally speaking, we’d recommend you give tap water a shot if you’re in larger cities or generally modern establishments – even there, though, you may run into an establishment with old piping. In rural areas, we’d certainly recommend not touching tap water unless you can get confirmation from the locals that it’s safe and sound.
Though tap water is generally believed to be safe, it may still carry a very unpleasant taste. As such, as a general rule of thumb, unless you’re in a large city like Athens or Thessaloniki, or you can get confirmation from someone familiar with the area, we’d recommend opting for bottled water. It’s not that expensive and playing safe here is preferable to having stomach issues for the rest of your trip. You can also use a water filter if you have one.
As for specific areas, we’ve compiled a list of our experiences with the tap water there:
Tap water in Crete
While suppliers assure that water is safe to consume in Crete, locals do prefer to go for bottled waters. Frankly, so did we, as the taste of tap water there was not-so-great, to put it mildly. This is due to most Crete establishments still relying on old piping. Thus, though you’d likely be just fine drinking it, and you can certainly try it, we recommend bottled water. For the sake of your experience.
Tap water in Rhodes
Tap water is safe in Rhodes, though you, once again, may not like the taste.
Tap water in Corfu
Same deal as Rhodes – safe, just a bit hard.
Tap water in Santorini
Technically, it’s safe to drink, though locals tend to opt for bottled water themselves. Better to be on the safe side.
Tap water in Kos
Same as Rhodes and Corfu – drinkable, not very tasty.
Tap water in Mykonos
We certainly don’t recommend drinking tap water on Mykonos. Even if safe, it’s undrinkable.
Tap water in Zakynthos
Drinking tap water in Zakynthos is highly discouraged, you’ll have to rely on bottled waters there.
Tap water in Samos
It’s safe to drink, though the taste is not-great again.
Tap water in Athens
Thankfully, Athens is one of the two places where we can safely say that you can totally drink tap water.
Tap water in Thessaloniki
And Thessaloniki is the second place. The taste may not be all that great but that’s as good as you’re going to get here.
Still, we’d like to remind you that if any place raises any doubts, whether it’s an old establishment, you’re in a rural area or you may have heard locals complain about it, opt for bottled water or filters.
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