Water from the faucet/tap in the Philippines is not potable.

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If you’ll need water to drink, we advise you to:

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• Purchase bottled drinking water: they are widely available in convenience stores, restaurants, food chains, vending machines and other commercial establishments. Common drinking water is purified or distilled. Natural spring water is not common and is mostly imported and expensive.

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• Ask for “service water”: restaurants or other similar food establishments are mandated to serve safe and clean drinking water for free to their customers. If you want to make sure, ask the server what kind or what is the source of their service water. Generally, you could consider service water safe in common restaurants, kitchenettes and bars while it could be advised to avoid it in very basic small eateries or street vendors.

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• We suggest to bring your own refillable drinking bottle: it is a sustainable solution as you can re-use and bring this bottle around for personal use. Hotels and other establishments often have water dispensers in their common areas for complimentary use for their guests. You may refill your personal drinking bottle there. In case you don’t want to bring a refillable bottle, you may still refill a used plastic bottle you already bought. If you want to know more about how to behave sustainably during your trip, check our Sustainable Travel Tips.

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• What about Ice? In general, it’s suggested to avoid having ice in your water/drinks because the safeness of the water source used for making their ice cannot be always guaranteed. To be safe, just order your drink cold/chilled. Anyway, ice can be considered safe in restaurants/establishments of a good level.