Nightmare in France mixed toilets

[Whattosay81]

Ive been in France for two weeks now and appalled at toilet rules here.

i have two young DD who I cannot let go to the toilets on their own anymore.

Bistro number 1, urinals, a male toilet and a female toilet. Past the urinals!!! So having to take my 8 year of and 11 year old past pissing men to access the toilet.

Restaurant number 2 - mixed sink area, 4 toilets one in male/female and baby changing, one male and one female and one blank. Took them both to the loo - had to put one in blank and one in female as baby changing was full. Then had to stop men in my rudimentary French from trying to use the blank one as my DD was in there, then having to listen to men pee etc and get my daughters out of there ASAP.

just shocked at how toilets are now mixed in France and feel I should warn you all.

In the second restaurant the individual cubicles shared a sink area but I think the men assumed the unlabelled loo was for them but I had one DD in that one and then another in the ladies cubicle. For some reason a man came in and didn’t go the unused male cubicle but tried the unlabelled one. I felt my heart leap thinking I hope the lock doesn’t fail!

much easier if the two loos were together they could go together and look after each other or I could stand outside.

Bars and restaurants in France, Spain and Italy are nearly all like this, they always have been

I didn’t use the baby changing one I used the toilet that was unidentified and then the female one. Although the baby changing one was also disabled and had a male and female sign on it but no baby changing sign I could see the table so didn’t want to occupy it, although sure a man would.

I have encountered this in numerous places. At least once in restaurants and at least twice in smaller service stations. Mainly around the North and Western parts.

I don’t recall seeing them in the 00s when I was regularly travelling there, but certainly in the past 8-9 years.

There's no consistent pattern to French toilets. They're a mixed bag, and I've certainly come across the 'walking past the urinal' thing.over the 30 years I've been visiting.

They can be a bit grim, but I just shrug. It's a slight cultural difference between countries, that's all.

I've encountered this a lot in France, and even new facilities on campsites are almost all mixed-sex.

Grim.

And don't get me started on the number of people who don't wash their hands after using the loo - men and women!

I managed it as a pre-teen in France 35 plus years ago - that's the way it always had been in many parts of France. The loos I hated were the ones that was just a hole in the middle of a concrete floor.

Loos in France have always been a bit of a lottery / mixed bag. The general attitude to toilets there seems to be more laid back.

The only times I've not encountered mixed or odd-by-UK-norms toilet arrangements is when I've visited Paris (obviously I haven't been everywhere in France or in Paris, this is personal experience only).

I have come across it in France, years ago and other countries

It's nothing new. Just holiday elsewhere in future.

Still better than the hole in the floor toilets we were confronted with on the French exchange to Avignon in the early 90s! But even the worst French loo I can imagine is significantly better than a festival toilet and as for the ones during London Marathon? I smelt them and suddenly didn't need the toilet any longer. They must have been hideous.

I think it is worth celebrating men in France actually using a urinal rather than just pissing onto the side of the road.

It is one thing I've not enjoyed since moving here to be honest.

why are you be so hostile towards men?

I have to admit I don't recall this at all, but it's worst for men than women, and rough on kids too.

I was always a bit fascinated by men's circular urinals in the streets in France. They say it stops men passing anywhere, and there was talk of introducing them in the UK but I haven't seen any here....

The very idea that restaurants in France have changed their loo layout in response to the gender movement that is mainly in force in the U.K. and USA is actually hilarious 😂 the french just don't give a toss, their loos have always been a bit gross, it's part of the charm. At least there is one! Don't travel in future, you might be upset.

It's France. That's how they do things and have done for years. They're not as obsessed with genitalia as some other nationalities are.

It was like that when I went on a school trip about 55 years ago. A whole row of English schoolgirls queuing past the urinals didn't seem to worry the French men.

Heaven forbid they hear men pissing.

Phaps the French have a more relaxed approach to bodily fluids.

Just make sure you know where they are as you would in any public toilet area, but generally unclench a bit.

@Whattosay81

"I didn’t use the baby changing one I used the toilet that was unidentified and then the female one. Although the baby changing one was also disabled and had a male and female sign on it but no baby changing sign I could see the table so didn’t want to occupy it, although sure a man would."

Was this last part really necessary?

Also I don't see the drama in you having to explain that a gender neutral toilet was occupied - unless the man in question took it on board and barged past you, in which case horrifying.

Also LOL at the "having to use rudimentary french". Imagine going abroad and being affronted you were FORCED to use the national language.

How dare that man want to pee and NOT be bilingual.

Exactly this. Been going to France since the 70s and was like this. I'm just not a fan of the hole in the floor ones. Like this in parts of Italy/Spain too.

Yep, one of the not so pleasant memories from family holidays in the 80's.

Happy to report back that I suffered no long term consequences from walking past an occupied urinal.

Not been my experience in 30 years of travelling in France. We spent 3 weeks there last summer travelling from Calais to Perpignan and back and the only mixed toilet I came across was in a brand new McDonalds.

I see MN's "if the French do it, it must be cool & progressive" crowd are well represented on this thread. .

Agree with other posters, this definitely isn’t new. Used to live there and it’s very normal, especially in bars and restaurants. Guessing you’ve not yet encountered the gem known as a “pissoir” or public loos with the hole in the floor you’re meant to squat over 😂🤢 alien to brits but very normal across a lot of European countries!

The walking past plainly open urinal thing is a bit inconvenient, but shared sink area with separate cubicles is pretty normal thing in many places.

I remember going in the 70s at about 14 and I had to go in a petrol garage toilet. It was mens or womens, a hole in the floor, and it had a frosted glass window that you could clearly see through. 😄 I'd never seen the like.
My French exchange friend had a bladder like a camel because of the state of their toilets. They were horrified that I kept having to go! 😂