How to Maintain Your Gut Health While Traveling: A Complete Guide

Have you noticed that whenever you travel to somewhere new, your gut health isn’t quite where you’d like it to be? There are all sorts of reasons for this, but travellers’ diarrhoea is incredibly common, as is bloating and feeling sluggish overall. 

The good news is that you don’t have to choose between exploring the world and feeling your best. You can have both at the same time, as long as you take the right precautions.

Start prepping the week before

Before you travel, start prepping. Make sure you load up your gut with good bacteria so it can deal with any challenges it faces in the microbiome ecosystem while you are abroad. Make sure you have plenty of probiotics and some extra supplies to take with you on your trip.

Also, surprisingly, it helps a lot if you prioritise your sleep. Exhaustion can compromise the immune system, much of which resides in your gut, so make sure you get ample rest leading up to your trip.

Master hydration and digestion on your flight

You also need to be wary of hydration and digestion when travelling, especially if you’re planning on taking a long flight. Many people can go hours without eating or drinking anything, or consume the wrong types of items. Make sure you drink at least 8 oz of water for every hour you’re in the air. Bring a reusable bottle with you and fill it up regularly. Usually there are water points once you’ve got past security. Limit gut irritants:

• Don’t drink a lot of alcohol or caffeine.
• Don’t drink heavily carbonated beverages.

These can damage the stomach lining and worsen bloating. Also, keep moving. Your digestive system relies on physical activity to function properly. If you’re travelling hours between airports, make sure you do plenty of walking and get up every 90 minutes or so.

Go to your pharmacy

It’s also a good idea to go to your pharmacy before you fly. Make sure you’re up to date with all your vaccinations and that you have the medications you need with you. If you’re prone to gut health issues, go to a reputable provider like St Mary’s Pharmacy to see what options they offer. Usually they can provide you with some guidance on what you might need. 

Use the boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it rule

When travelling, you might also want to use the “boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it” rule. The idea here is to mitigate problems with local sanitation standards or unfamiliar microbes. For example:

• For water and drinks, choose sealed bottled water, hot tea, or boiled water. Do not drink tap water, and do not put local ice cubes in your drink.
• For fruit and veggies, peel fruit yourself (like bananas, oranges, and mangoes). Avoid raw salads and pre-peeled fruit from street vendors.
• When it comes to meats and seafood, be especially careful. Only accept piping-hot, freshly cooked dishes. Don’t go to buffets where the food has been sitting at warm room temperature for many hours.

Why Travel Disrupts Your Gut (and Why It’s So Common)

Knowing why your gut struggles when you travel makes it easier to target the right interventions. The short answer is that almost everything about travel conspires against your digestive system at once.

Data from multiple health sources suggests that up to 70% of travellers experience gut issues including constipation or diarrhoea on international trips, with travellers’ diarrhoea defined as passing three or more loose stools in 24 hours being the most common travel-related illness. Bacterial infection is thought to account for the majority of cases, with contaminated food and water being the primary routes.

But it’s not just pathogens causing problems. The combination of dehydration on flights, disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms, a dramatic change in diet, stress, reduced physical activity, and exposure to an entirely different microbiome environment all compound each other. Your gut is genuinely dealing with a lot at once, which is exactly why the preparation steps in the original guide matter as much as the precautions you take once you arrive.

It’s also worth naming the often-overlooked flip side of travellers’ diarrhoea: up to 40% of travellers experience constipation while on holiday, which is less talked about but equally disruptive. Flying, long car journeys, poor hydration, lack of fibre, and changes in routine all contribute. Both conditions are largely preventable with the right approach.

What to Pack for Your Gut

A well-prepared travel kit for gut health is more useful than any amount of hoping for the best. These are the things worth having in your bag.

• Probiotics, ideally multi-strain. A study found that over 80% of participants who took a multispecies probiotic did not develop travellers’ diarrhoea during their holiday, even when travelling in high-risk countries. Single-strain supplements are better than nothing, but multi-strain ones cover more bases given that gut microbiome environments vary significantly between regions.
• Oral rehydration sachets. Electrolyte sachets such as Dioralyte, added to clean water, replace essential electrolytes lost through diarrhoea and help prevent dehydration. They should be taken as soon as symptoms start and after each episode. These are available from UK pharmacies and weigh almost nothing.
• Loperamide (Imodium). A practical option for when you need to function despite symptoms. It reduces the frequency of unformed stools and increases absorption of fluids and electrolytes in the bowel. It doesn’t treat the underlying infection but manages symptoms effectively for when you have somewhere to be. Consult a pharmacist about dosage and any contraindications before travelling.
• Antidiarrhoeal medication from your travel clinic if going high-risk. If you’re travelling somewhere with significantly different food hygiene standards, a pharmacist or travel clinic can advise on whether additional medications are appropriate for your specific itinerary.
• Antibacterial hand gel. Washing hands before handling food and after using the toilet is one of the most effective preventative measures available, and carrying an antibacterial gel provides an option when proper handwashing facilities aren’t accessible.
• Fibre-rich snacks. Having your own supply of nuts, dried fruit, oat-based bars, or similar means you’re not entirely dependent on whatever’s available at the airport or on the plane. These support regular digestion and avoid the fibre crash that comes with several days of unfamiliar food.

When to Seek Medical Help

Most cases of travellers’ diarrhoea are self-limiting and resolve within a couple of days without treatment beyond keeping hydrated. However, there are situations where medical attention should be sought promptly rather than waiting to see whether things improve.

Seek medical advice if symptoms persist beyond 48 hours without improvement, if there is blood or mucus in the stool, if there is a high fever alongside diarrhoea, if you’re experiencing severe abdominal pain, or if you’re unable to keep fluids down and showing signs of significant dehydration including dizziness, very dark urine, or dry mouth. Children and older travellers are more vulnerable to the effects of dehydration and should be monitored more carefully.

On returning home, if symptoms persist or recur, it’s worth seeing your GP and mentioning your travel history. If diarrhoea persists beyond the acute phase, stool specimens may be requested to check for ongoing bacterial or parasitic infection, and travel dates and location should be provided when giving clinical details.

Frequently Asked Questions

How common is travellers’ diarrhoea and where is the risk highest?

Travellers’ diarrhoea is defined as passing three or more unformed stools in a 24-hour period with at least one additional symptom such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, or fever, occurring during or shortly after travel to a high-risk area. Risk is highest in parts of South and South-East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and South America, where food hygiene standards and sanitation infrastructure differ significantly from the UK. The National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) publishes country-by-country risk assessments and is worth checking before you travel to somewhere unfamiliar.

Do probiotics actually help prevent travellers’ diarrhoea?

The evidence is encouraging though not conclusive for every strain. There is ongoing research into the use of prebiotics and probiotics in the prevention of travellers’ diarrhoea, with findings suggesting that taking a multi-strain probiotic prior to and during travel may offer protection by increasing beneficial bacteria in the gut and supporting its natural defences. The key is starting them at least a week before travel, taking them consistently throughout the trip, and choosing a multi-strain product rather than a single-strain one. They’re unlikely to cause harm and the evidence for benefit is sufficient to make them a worthwhile addition to a pre-travel routine.

Is tap water safe to drink in Europe?

In most of Western and Northern Europe, yes. Countries including France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and the Netherlands all have tap water that meets EU drinking water standards and is generally safe for tourists. In Eastern Europe the picture is more variable and it’s worth checking before you travel. Outside Europe, the risk profile changes significantly, and the “boil it or forget it” approach to water is generally the safer default in destinations where sanitation infrastructure is less reliable. When in doubt, sealed bottled water is the safest choice.

What’s the best way to recover if I do get travellers’ diarrhoea?

Hydration is the priority, and oral rehydration sachets are the most effective way to replace the fluids and electrolytes lost. Plain bottled water alongside an ORS sachet is better than sports drinks or sugary beverages. Eating bland, easily digestible food, bread, rice, bananas, boiled vegetables, rather than rich or spicy food, allows the gut to recover without further irritation. Most cases resolve within one to two days. If symptoms are preventing you from getting on with the trip and there’s no blood or high fever, loperamide can help manage symptoms in the short term. Rest where possible and seek medical advice if things are not improving after 48 hours.

How do I protect my gut health on a long-haul flight specifically?

The main risks on a long-haul flight are dehydration, which the low cabin humidity accelerates, and reduced gut motility from sitting still for extended periods. Drinking plenty of water throughout the flight and limiting caffeine and alcohol, which both dehydrate you, is the most effective single intervention. Getting up to walk the aisle and doing leg and ankle exercises in your seat helps keep the digestive system active. Choosing light, easily digestible food over heavy, greasy options reduces the digestive load during the flight. If you’re prone to bloating, changes in cabin pressure can cause gas to expand and cause discomfort, so avoiding carbonated drinks and gas-producing foods before and during the flight helps. Arriving at your destination already hydrated and rested sets your gut up better for the transition ahead.

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Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.