Public restrooms

Prague WCs:
TI under the Clock and at the Castle/St VitusCathedral
Museums are a good bet.

Our hotel was in old town near the Clock and Charles Bridge making is handy for darting back to our room.

http://www.private-prague-guide.com/frequently-asked-questions/restrooms%E2%80%93wc-prague/

Thank you so much for the info Edgar!

Don't forget to have some coins handy to use the restrooms-at least in Prague.

In Budapest almost every restaurant will have free restrooms. A few places like the Great Market Hall charge 100 forints which is about forty cents. Keep your 100 forints coins for this.

James, what is the etiquette for bathroom use in restaurants in Budapest? Is it like here in the US where you can just waltz in and not have to buy anything? Or is it like elsewhere in Europe where they expect you to buy something in order to use the toilet?

Please use the word "toilet" when looking for one. Nobody knows what a rest room is and a bathroom is where you wash. Everyone understands the word toilet.

I wouldn't use the word bathroom in Europe, as I have been many times before. I only used that word here to relate to the American traveler :-).

Apparently restroom etiquette here in the US varies by individual. I never use one with out buying something. I behave the same in Budapest so I have never thought about it or noticed to the contrary. There are a few obvious public restrooms around town, like at the market, and they charge for keeping them clean and they are always very, very clean.

Oh, I ask for the Water Closet or "WC" as that is pretty much universal.

Just curious--when you ask for the WC, do you ask for the "double you see." or do you ask for the "vay tzsay?"

I say water closet. In June I was in places in Bulgaria where no one spoke English and many had never met a foreigner but even they knew water closet.

Now, explaining Prep - H to a pharmacist that only spoke Magyar was somewhat difficult and bizarre.