This one little tip could save you hundreds of euro's when visiting Europe, Italy in particular.
All travel is exhausting and dehydrating. Whether that's from the airline or train travel or the increased walking to explore the sites. Let's face it, summer is the most popular time to travel and this means lots of walking or standing in the sun. Either way, you'll need to hydrate regularly.
There are those who will live by only drinking bottled water. That's fine and actually highly recommended in some countries, in fact, in some countries, it's advised to even brush your teeth with bottled water and avoid tap water at all costs. Not so with Europe.
Italy for example has an abundance of free, fresh and clean drinking water available from fountains on the street and its completely safe to drink.
So, how much can you really save? We travelled through Europe (UK, France, Belguim, Italy) for 5 weeks as a family of 4. Each day we at least drank 2 bottles of water at some stage. In some cases it was far more than 2 bottles a day. Especially at places like Pompeii.
How much does bottled water really cost? Local supermarkets will charge you around €1-1.50 and is the most economical way to purchase bottled water. Airports will change you a premium around €2-3.00 and if you buy on the street near any major tourist attraction like the Colluseum it'll cost anywhere from €3-4.00 per bottle of water. Doesn't sound a lot, but do the math.
If we were away for 35 days, and we each drank bottled water from around key tourist sites because it was convienient, the likely cost would be a total of between €840 - €1120. Even buying bottled water at a supermarket for €1.50 at 2 per day for each family member would still cost us €480 during the entirety of our trip. Given the heat, standing around and the distances we walked, I believe we'd be on the high end of numbers of bottles purchased, around €1,000. It adds up !
But it didn't have to be that way. Given our time over, we'd take portable or even new collapsalbe water bottles to refill when needed. There's an assumption that tap water in forgien countries is not fit for drinking. In some Asian and African countries that's possibly correct. It's important to do your research and check the quality of tap water, but in Italy its fresh and free so save your hard earned funds for more important items like coffee and gelato. Just imagine €1,000 more of gelato on your trip.
About the Author
The author of this blog, unless otherwise noted has no affiliation with any property or business linked in this blog. Unless otherwise noted, there is no free accommodation or payment from any businesses mentioned in this blog. The information contained in this blog is strictly the views of the author and not professional advice. The author of this BookDirect blog is a travel and tourism professional with over 30 years of experience in international hotel management, global travel, short-term rental management and a tourism awards judge specialising in accommodation and attractions.
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