Paying for public toilets in Europe is a concept that we are not used to here in Australia, and public toilets are on every corner (most times except when you are busting; and then there is ever any insight) stocked with toilet paper for you to use.

Well in Europe they are a little different; you will notice there are not many public toilets around the cities, and if you do manage to find one you will either have to pay or BYO toilet paper. So that you are not caught out in Europe with the different types of toilets; we have put together this lovely post of the Bathrooms for you; Paying for Public Toilets in Europe!

Let’s get down to “business”

• The majority of service stops will allow you to use the bathroom if you are a paying customer; although there is a lot that do charge for the luxury of using the bathroom.
• The Bathroom fee ranges from 0.50c -0.75c so make sure you have some small change on you.
• Most of them are machine operated; you put your coins in the machine prints you a ticket, and you can redeem 0.50c off a purchase in the shop; so you kind of get it back in a roundabout way.
• Some bathrooms will have an actual person attending the facilities; you must pay them to use the bathroom, or you will have one of 2 fates when leaving; you cop a really big death stare or they will chase you down. They can be a little shall we say; “Unhappy” I would be unhappy too if my job was to hang out in a toilet, and hand out toilet paper. 0.50c is more than enough; they will try to confuse you by only leaving notes on their tray; making you think you need to give them more. This is not the case.
• There is nothing worse than busting for the bathroom; and not having change on you, seriously make sure you carry a little pocket of change at all times. I have had the attendant feel sorry for me a few times; seeing my pure pain and desperation as I dig through my wallet!

German Toilets

This is more for the ladies as we are the ones that sit; yes I know this whole sentence is weird but trust me; you will be thankful that you know this information before sitting down! So the Germans are incredibly intelligent and quite advanced in technology; even in their service stop toilets; the toilets are on a sensor that when you go to stand up (even the slightest); the toilet seat lifts up and begins to rotate around on a cleaning brush. The first time this happened to me it scared the living daylights out of me; the noise and the spinning were totally freaky. The toilets are self-cleaning which is an awesome technology and greatly appreciated, but you will notice they do stay a little wet from the water cleaner; so don’t freak out about that either.

Public Toilets in cities

On the rare occasion that you find a public toilet in the city you tempt fate in using it; but hey when you got to go you got to go! Same deal the public toilets are usually automated and coin-operated! It doesn’t hurt to carry your own tissues with you either in your day bag; you will often come across the problem of there being no Toilet paper in the Public Toilet.

The bigger cities may have coin-operated booths; you have 15mins to do your business no longer as the door opens to get you out. These are quite good as they disinfect themselves after you leave.

McDonald’s, Starbucks or shopping malls are good places to find a free bathroom & Wifi you can use. You could also stop at a café or restaurant; most of them only allow customers to use their facilities; so buy yourself a drink or meal to use the bathrooms.

We don’t want you getting in a crappy situation (Pun intended) on your trip through Europe; these small tips and tricks are things I have learned along the way and hope they come in handy for you.

Travelling Europe? check out Tipping In Europe for some handy hints on how to and how much to Tip when travelling Europe. Don’t be afraid tipping is not a common practice in Australia but you will get used to it. Things happen when travelling; you can’t control everything so have a read of Expectations and Attitude. It might put some things in perspective.