You, and the Swiss, can post all the "signs" they want but when you are in a hotel which costs hundreds a night and the breakfast alone is about $60 per person, I'll take, and eat whatever damned thing I want and as much as I want.

Having just returned from rural China, I can attest that there are few, perhaps one with a handicapped sign, public western style toilets. Sometimes they had pictographs on the doors letting you know which kind, squat or sit, was behind each stall door.

Sorry - the note that "in continental europe until recently they used a hole in the ground toilet" is ridiculous. Perhaps in the backwoods of eastern or central europe - but not western europe or major cities in other areas. I have been traveling in europe (practically every country you can think of) since the mid 1970s and used toilets in innumerable hotels, restaurants, tourist sights, etc and have only seen a hole in the floor toilet and that was in Russia at least 20 years ago.

However, I can sympathize with signs for those who are not ued to western toilets.

On one very unpleasant occasion in Reagan airport they had to close an entire ladies room because someone mistook a drain in the floor under a hand dryer machine for the toilet - ignoring all of the stalls.

Nytraveler, there is a hole in the floor toilet in the French part of Switzerland. I refused to use it. This was at a very basic roadside rest stop. I would give you the location but I don't recall the nearby town.

Sorry, nyt - you are incorrect. As recently as 5 years ago, we had to use a hole in the floor toilet in France. We are also well-travelled and have come across these, not frequently, however, they do still exist.

Squatters' rights is a well-settled legal issue.

I have been traveling in europe (practically every country you can think of) since the mid 1970s and used toilets in innumerable hotels, restaurants, tourist sights, etc and have only seen a hole in the floor toilet and that was in Russia at least 20 years ago. >>

i have also been forced to use a hole in the ground at a picnic ground somewhere between Roscof and the Loire - the first time was about 15 years ago and when we found ourselves in the same place 10 years later, it was still there. [If it's still there in another 5 years time, I'll let you know!] And there was one outside a chateau somewhere else in France on the same visit in 2010 [ish]

There are still plenty of hole-in-the ground toilets in Italy. If they're clean, they're actually more sanitary than the other kind. They're difficult for elderly people to use, though.

About 7 years ago, I came across such a toilet at a train station in France (maybe Bayeux?) I was with my elderly aunt and a cousin. I led my aunt to the bathroom, which was coin-operated. When she opened the door and saw the hole in the ground, she realized that she wouldn't be able to use it. So I said I'd use it instead. After I had closed the door, I realized there was a little seat on the wall, over the hole, that you could pull down. So I opened the door and told my aunt she could use it after all. After we traded places, water began to spray out from nozzles all over the toilet. Obviously after two closings of the door, the automatic cleaning mechanism got underway. My aunt got a little soaked but she was greatly amused. She offered to pay for my cousin to see it in action.

There is a youtube somewhere of someone staying in the Paris auto loos, not a pretty sight.

Has anyone else found the rotating loo seats in Switzerland? Washed loo seat between customers, mmmmh.

<i>Has anyone else found the rotating loo seats in Switzerland? </i>

I have seen those at the toilets in many train stations in Germany and at a few rest stops too.

I seem to recall first experiencing something similar to those at ORD.

Has anyone else found the rotating loo seats in Switzerland?
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Yes, but we could never decide who goes first.

I've seen those rotating seats in Italy, too.

Two municipal toilets in France had squat toilets the last time we were there, about 4 years ago: Lucéram and the very touristed perched village of Mougins.

A small restaurant in St-Paul-de-Vence has a rotating toilet seat. I've seen them in two other towns that I can't remember offhand.

Some French toilets have no seats, only the toilet rim. They appear to be designed for stand-up squatting.

>>>Perhaps in the backwoods of eastern or central europe - but not western europe or major cities in other areas. <<<

I guess that makes Milan a backwoods then. Encountered one coming out of The Last Supper. We thought it was funny to go through high-tech airlocks to see the painting and then they had a Turkish toilet.

I'm not suggesting that you can't find a hole in the floor toilet in any random place in europe (yes, a campground or a roadside rest stop that hasn't been updated in the past 60 or 70 years) but this is not the standard and hasn't been since I'm sure at least the 1950's.

I won;t say there aren't any - but have been to europe more than 100 times and the one in Russia is the only one I saw. And we did at least 20 road trips so that includes hotels and restaurants in many quite small towns in more than a dozen countries.

A very nice rest area, outside of Chamonix, had only hole in the floor toilets, 7 tears ago.

A very nice rest area, outside of Chamonix, had only hole in the floor toilets, 7 tears ago.
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Another telling Freudian typo.

Even between Europe and the US there are differences regarding the Western-style sit-down toilet.

Each time I get to the US, I keep forgetting that many toilets are lower than in Europe so the first trip is usually connected with a mildly painful free fall for a few inches between where I expect the seat cover to be and where it actually is.

It also takes a few trips to get accustomed again to the lack of privacy at public restrooms at malls etc. where the stalls offer little cover and you feel like having to squat in public.

<i>Perhaps in the backwoods of eastern or central europe - but not western europe or major cities in other areas. I have been traveling in europe (practically every country you can think of) since the mid 1970s and used toilets in innumerable hotels, restaurants, tourist sights, etc and have only seen a hole in the floor toilet and that was in Russia at least 20 years ago. </i>

Within the last ten years I came across one in a café in the 7th arrondissement in Paris--and it probably still exists. The renovated public toilets in the park in Brantôme are of the squat type.

The renovated toilets of the mosque in Plovdiv are of the same variety--Bulgarian cities are not backwards.

The brand new facilities at the Sulameney (sp?) mosque in Istanbul are of the same variety.