Two summers ago, Pauline Frommer was at a train station in Dijon, France, when she had to run to an ATM to make an emergency cash withdrawal. Her shopping couldn’t wait.
“I needed euros to pay for the toilet,” said the co-president and editor-in-chief of Frommer’s Media, which publishes Frommer’s guidebooks.
As temperatures rise in Europe, travelers need to make sure they stay hydrated to avoid heatstroke. The more water you drink, the more bathroom breaks you’ll need to make. To avoid having to squirm to get to the bathroom, you’ll want to get used to European bathroom customs. Though the mechanics are similar, the experience can cause culture shock.
“It’s surprising that we have to pay,” Frommer said.
Public toilets are often affiliated with local authorities or municipalities. You’ll find them in a variety of locations, including train and bus stations, parks and gardens, and tourist sites. Toilets can be traditional, with a row of toilet cubicles and sinks, or separate cubicles with foot-operated sinks. Look for the universal symbol, which features a male and female pair. Other common abbreviations include “WC” or “water closet”, or variations of “toilet”.
During a recent trip to Europe, I came across numerous public toilets, for which a small fee was charged, including in train stations in Berlin and Zurich, at a cruise ticket booth on Lake Zurich, near the shore in Positano, Italy, and by the main square in Ravello, also on the Amalfi Coast.
“Europe has more public toilets than Japan,” says Kate Storm, a New York-based travel blogger who covers toilet culture on her site, Our Escape Clause, “but if it’s not owned by a private company, you generally have to pay for it.”
Pay toilets are usually staffed or self-cleaning. The fee covers maintenance, supplies and labour and is usually small change: 50 cents or 1 euro in EU countries, 1-2 Swiss francs in the UK, or 20 pence per pound. Toilets with extra facilities such as changing rooms and showers may cost a bit more.
Many tourist destinations are moving towards a cashless society, and an increasing number of toilets are accepting credit cards. In toilets that don’t accept credit cards, you’ll need coins, or you’ll get caught on the wrong side of the ticket barrier or by the toilet attendant.
Prices for public toilets vary from city to city; some cities offer free facilities. London, for example, has toilets in national train stations, and Copenhagen abolished fees in 2013. Paris has 400 automated public toilets, called “Sanisettes.” As of last year, Berlin had renovated 100 toilets to make them free to use, according to the city’s official website.
Raymond Martin, managing director of the British Toilet Association, advocates for free, publicly accessible toilets, but he said that without government oversight, toilets carry risks such as safety, hygiene and a lack of functional facilities.
“Unfortunately, like many other countries, there are bad people in this country, people who can’t see the light,” he said. “And so things start to fall apart.”
Businesses adopt open restroom policies
Using toilets in private establishments such as restaurants, cafes and shops is more difficult. Some establishments, especially in busy tourist areas, put up “no public toilets” signs to stop non-customers from using them. But cities with an influx of tourists and a shortage of public toilets are encouraging businesses to open their bathrooms to the public.
Germany’s Net Toilette (nice toilet) initiative gives restaurants and stores monthly subsidies of between $64 and $107 for allowing them to use its toilets. The program, which began in Aalen, Germany, in 2000, has expanded to more than 200 cities and more than 2,500 businesses in Germany and Switzerland. Participants place a red smiley face sticker in their storefront window. Visitors can also find the locations using the Net Toilette app.
In London, the Community Toilet Scheme is a collection of establishments that allow people to use their toilets without purse strings. The map includes establishments such as the Old Doctor Butler’s Head pub, Shaw’s Booksellers and Nando’s, plus Urilift, a pop-up urinal.
Travel experts recommend shopping malls, restaurants, and cafes that are busy or spacious enough that you can sneak into the restroom without being noticed. In his book “Backdoor Europe,” travel guru Rick Steves recommends restaurants and fast-food joints with outdoor seating. He says that you don’t need to buy a quick soda and fries, even though the bathroom door’s pin code may be printed on the receipt.
Frommer has no qualms about just wandering into a store and asking to use the restroom, bathroom, banheiro or toilet.
“When I need to use the restroom, I go into a cafe or restaurant and ask,” she says. “In Europe, I’ve never been turned down, especially if I’ve learned the phrase in the local language.”
When you have to go to the bathroom, you really don’t have time to waste time searching for one.
Thankfully, many tourist offices and information booths have printed or posted maps showing where toilets are located, and municipalities such as Oslo and Rome have compiled lists of welcoming toilet stops for tourists and provide this information online or in apps. Many of the maps also include information on which toilets are accessible for travelers with disabilities.
Companies and technology entrepreneurs specializing in toilet development have developed navigation tools for people looking for toilets. JCDecaux, which designs free public toilets in more than a dozen Swedish cities, launched an app called ToaSverige in 2021, which lists 100 toilets in Stockholm alone. HogeNood claims to work with more than 9,500 toilets in the Netherlands.
Apps like Bathroom Scout and Flush offer extensive coverage of bathroom situations, but their crowdsourced data may be out of date, so don’t use them with a full bladder.
If you’re traveling on a budget, plan to go to the bathroom. Use the bathroom (twice if necessary) in every museum or cultural institution you visit. Bathrooms are included in your admission ticket. At train stations, wait for the on-board bathroom, even though it may not be as comfortable as the one on the train. Listen to your inner parent and use the bathroom before every meal.
Martin says that some service stations on motorways and train stations in the UK even offer perks like discounts on snacks like candy bars, coffees and doughnuts in addition to the toilet admission fee, so keep your receipts and cash in any coupons you might have.
“I would say only 20 percent of the tickets are redeemed,” he says, “so it’s a really clever scheme.”
At some facilities, attendants replenish toilet paper rolls and hand out sheets. Places with less stringent maintenance schedules may run out of paper products. As an insurance policy, Strong always carries a small box of tissues with her.
“Bring some coins and toilet paper,” she said, “but don’t overthink it.”
Also, try not to use too much toilet paper: European plumbing can be old and you don’t want to be the traveler who clogs a public toilet.
“Americans are notorious for only using half a roll of toilet paper at a time,” says Bob Cromwell, who runs the online resource Toilets of the World.
You may see signs in restrooms encouraging people to conserve toilet paper. These PSAs are usually in English.
