What the FAQ? #4: Is it Safe to Drink the Tap Water?

Mihalkovo bottles sparkling water: my favourite

Is it Safe to Drink the Tap Water? The topic of my FAQ #4. The short answer is Yes… and No. I have drunk the tap water for many years but there is suspicion of how large businesses can operate outside any normal code of ethics. This means that I am less sure than I used to be.

Some say that water can be contaminated on the mountain. Artificial snow making possibly… although I would have thought this snow melt gets naturally filtered as it seep through the rocks and ultimately used to source reservoirs. So, in the absence of evidence and trusted guidelines, I will say you can drink the water. But, because I am risk adverse, there is a small risk that tap water may not always be pure.

Does the Bansko tap water taste good?

Yes, it tastes okay. Not the best, but certainly better than the tap water I’ve experienced in Sofia and Plovdiv. But here is the real trick for drinking water that so many people in Bansko region use; fill up bottles at the spring water places.

The easiest springs to find are the ones in Razlog or, best of all, at the Predela pass. You’ll see cars stopped filling up many large plastic bottles and canisters. This water tastes really good. Highly recommended. Alternatively you’ll also find them at Vihren hut. Good to fill up your own bottles there.

What about bottled water?

I have a passion for sparkling water. And there is one brand I have been drinking for 8 years: it’s called Mihalokovo. It’s now widely available at a price of around 1 leva for a 1.5 litre bottles. Good value for a nice sparkling mineral water that beats many much more expensive Italian and French brands, in my opinion.

You will Devin (still and sparkling), Gorna Banya and many other brands being sold everywhere. All are very good, but not with the higher mineral content I prefer. Some Bulgarians have a distrust of tap water because there have been scares in the past. This explains, certainly in part, why so many people buying water for home drinking purposes.

In restaurants, you will be offered water. Unless you specify otherwise, you’ll be offered bottled water. Because Bulgarians tend not to like very cold water, you will be asked for cold or warm water.

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