Penn Station is the Worst I have ever encountered. I decided I could wait to get Union Station even if it was three hours. I think people live there. Last Amtrak trip for me!

Actually, the worst bathroom that I encountered during my latest European adventure was in the home of one of my friends! I will spare you the details, but let's just say that nothing shocks me anymore, and I have learned to lower my standards of cleanliness when I go over there.

I have found them much improved over the years. Not so long ago, we found that the restrooms decreased in cleanliness as one moved from northern to southern Europe. This did not seem as true last year we went. They were certainly as clean or cleaner than some of the places we stopped in Montana and Idaho last month!

I was in Europe two years ago and the toilets must have not made an impression. Except for the one in the 4 Saisons restaurant in Montreaux I don't even REMEMBER using a toilet. I know I had to have used them because I was there 2 1/2 weeks!
They can't be as bad as the ones we have here in Canada in our shopping malls.

I'm still hoping to find out exactly where the poster was...!!

I am curious about toilets/restrooms in France. At CDG, I've tried 4 different locations in 2 terminals, and they ALL smelled strongly of urine. The same on my flight from Paris to the US.

Then when I was in Paris recently, EVERY public toilet I used (with the exception of the ones where you pay 40 cents--those were all very clean) smelled strongly of urine. And as I'm pregnant, I used a lot of restrooms, city-wide.

I don't understand.

Where in Europe? I haven't had a problem with public toilets except back in my home country.

Your lucky to find any public toilets here in the UK. Mainly due to the fear of perverts, vandals and the cost of cleaning them.If you do find any you can guarantee that unless they are in a pub or shop they will probably be stinking.
Most parks have them but have already bricked them up...it's a sad sad world.


Muck

Mucky, why doesn't the government control the perverts and vandals and pay to keep them clean?

because by closing them they can kill 3 birds with one stone I guess

Muck

I've found that most of the public toilets in Italy, Austria, Spain and France to be quite clean. Of course there were exceptions. The big differerence is the lack of toilet paper, and or toilet seats in many - especially Italy. It was also surprising to see large public spaces like the Ufizzi only having one restroom. Also unusual was the lack of public drinking fountains, especially in Austria. A nice surprise were the number of spotless public restrooms in some of the hilltowns of Italy.

I too have traveled through several countries in Europe and found most toilets to be very clean. Even the worst one (probably the one at Vienna Westbahnof) wasn't any worse than what I've seen in places here in the US.

I think the worst bathroom I've seen in the US was one of those freestanding bathrooms in San Francisco where you pay to get in. There was urine all over the floor and it was absolutely disgusting. The smell alone would have been bad enough. I just turned back around and walked the other way.

Now that you mention it, some of the worst bathrooms I've been in have been on American airplanes. Combination of piggy passengers, tight quarters, and heavy usage over hours of flight time.

When I flew home on Czech Airlines last March, I was impressed to see a flight attendant (male, as it happened) go into the airplane bathrooms with a spray bottle and paper towel, presumably to clean them mid-flight.