Can you drink the tap water in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Before we departed, one of the key questions I had was whether the tap water in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was drinkable. The short answer is yes, it is drinkable - we drank water from the tap all through BiH and had no issues with quality or taste!

Information online

Before going travelling, I always confirm whether tap water is drinkable. Wherever possible I prefer to refill my water bottle from the tap – not only is it more sustainable, it also saves money! When researching the trip I came across a lot of different information online about whether tap water in BiH was drinkable for tourists. This ranged from assertions that it is among the purest water in the world, through to people claiming it had caused stomach upset. I couldn’t find a definitive answer, so I’m hoping my experience will help future travellers to BiH.

Our experience

Upon arrival to BiH we checked with a few different people – our transfer driver from the airport and our hotel front desk – about whether we could drink the tap water. The resounding answer was yes! Across the 9 days we stayed in BiH we had no issues at all with drinking tap water, and we drank a lot with warm weather and lots of sightseeing!

We stayed in Sarajevo, Mostar, Jajce and Konjic, as well as visiting a number of smaller towns including Livno and Stolac.

Public taps when you’re out and about in Sarajevo

In Sarajevo the Sebilj, an Ottoman-style wooden fountain, provides a supply of drinking water right in the middle of the Baščaršija. We were told if you drink the water from the tap at the front of the Sebilj, you’ll stay in Sarajevo forever, and if you drink from the back, you’ll return soon (although no one told us which way around the front was!). There was also water available in the courtyard of the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, for both humans and animals!

The Sebilj in Sarajevo where you can find drinking water for bottles