water

Our hotel in Istanbul put up a warning sign in the bathroom for the guests not to drink tap water so I guess so

And if you are going to Ankara, be aware that the taps are dry for 2 days, then run for 2 days, then are dry again. Severe drought.

You shouldn't drink tap water anywhere in the countries around the Mediterranean sea, also including Turkey :-) Even locals use bottle water for drinking

As the others said, don't drink the tap water. In most areas there are public fountains, from which the water is drinkable (there is normally a small certificate from the council saying it is fit for drinking). However, as bottled water is so cheap and readily available, I would just drink that.

Evidonia,
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<hr>don't drink the tap water anywhere in countries around the Mediterranean sea<hr></blockquote>
that is extreme. A look at the map will show Spain, France, Italy, Greece are all Mediterranean countries. Why don't you drink the tap water there?

To give you an idea bottled water in turkish supermarkets costs approx 20p for 1.5 litre bottles but you can get larger cheaper bottles . As a rule of thumb , It isnt advised to drink tap water in NON EU mediterranean countries outside metropolitan areas .I have drunk a fair amount of turkish tap water and never had a problem - It generally tasted awful ! However you do hear of a lot of problems with contamination all the time including hepatitis A and stomach upsets .
Theo

Baz_Faz, sorry if I stepped on your toes by doing such a generalization and blur description of "countries".

In northern Europe we get recommendations not to drink tap water in Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey etc. For southern France (i.e. by the coast) I actually don't know the recommendations, but I drank bottle water there nonetheless.

Tap water consists of different bacteria flora in north and south Europe, so speaking of myself I avoid tap water in south Europe in order not to become sick on the trip.

I advice Americans, Australians and travellers from other continents also to avoid tap water in south Europe. There can of course also be huge differences within a country, for example in Turkey I think it was around Antalya that there is actually drinkable tap water. By this I should perhaps rather say that if the locals say the tap water is good to drink, then drink it. Personally I always drink bottle water when I travel in south Europe :-D

I don't drink tap water when we go to Spain. I wouldn't drink it in Turkey. I think tap water is undrinkable in London and southern England (it tastes awful). As for northen Europe I don't drink the tap water in Poland or Latvia. In France you can drink tap water, whether north or south. Our water comes from a spring in the hills above our village. An enterprising mayor (which ours is not) could bottle it and the village would grow rich.

Unless in a very small village it is actually safe - chlorinated etc etc however the taste is rather awful and as the drought worsens so does the water taste. Stick with bottled.