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Toilets

Are there toilets on trains and busses from Rome to Assisi and Rom to San Giovanni de Rotondo?

Posted by
15043 posts

Yes. Each train car has toilets at both ends.
Buses...depends which buses. Intercity long distance buses generally do. Local buses (city buses or buses that serve the immediate nearby communities) do not.

Posted by
7737 posts

You do know that it takes about 10 hours to get from Rome to San Giovanni Rotondo, right?

Posted by
26840 posts

When traveling in Italy, always have toilet paper with you, not just for train journeys.

Posted by
4025 posts

Everywhere in Europe it's good to keep small coins handy for public toilets charging a fee. That's true in highway service centres as well as government facilities. In my small experience of guided bus tours, passengers are almost always requested not to use the on-board toilet. Maybe it's small and awkward (but more likely the driver doesn't want to handle clean-up.)

Posted by
26840 posts

I encountered several buses in Spain that had toilets, but in some cases they were kept locked. The buses made pit stops every 2 hours or so.

Posted by
11247 posts

I think you are getting the picture based on the input above. 😏 I have never carried toilet paper but I do carry wet wipes and heavy duty tissues as both items are dual purpose. I have frequently had to spiff up the toilet because of other passengers. The wet wipes are good for hands, face, bum, and toilet seat. True on planes as well.

Posted by
3218 posts

I have never taken a bus trip between towns in Italy - just trains. The toilets have always been just fine.

My friends tell me that I am "prissy" when it comes to bathrooms. Maybe so. I have only taken two trips to Italy, but I have never had an issue with the toilets, and I always travel without toilet paper!

Posted by
15679 posts

Another vote for carrying tissue and Wet Wipes! Haven't had to use a loo on a bus but we've run into any number of bathrooms lacking soap and/or toilet paper, and at least one on a train that needed a bit more than just a little spiffing up. And yes to keeping a supply of change on you at all times for pay toilets.

Posted by
26840 posts

Traylaparks, you have led a charmed existence! The tissue issue (I made a rhyme!) is more prevalent in the south, for sure, but not limited to that area. I remember a line of women outside the ladies' toilet at (I think) Ostia Antica. Every one of them had a little packet of tissues already in her hand, similar to our purse packs of Kleenex. There was no paper in the ladies' room at the Villa Lante outside Viterbo, either (entry fee over $10), which I also found annoying.

I've seen women emerge from toilet stalls with a wad of clean TP to use on their hands because there's neither an air dryer nor paper towels for hands. So that's part of the problem.

Italy is not the only place where you can encounter disgustingly dirty toilets; the problem tend to increase as you move south and east in Europe, though that's a generalization. I love finding a toilet that requires payment, because I know I will actually be willing to use it. Free toilets in small-town bus stations and train stations can be very problematic, because there is no one checking on them regularly.

Posted by
672 posts

And don't be surprised if you encounter toilets in Italy with the seats missing. We learned on our last trip that due to vandalism, people just don't replace them.

Posted by
23178 posts

Then there is the occasionally infamous "Turkish toilets" - the hole in the floor.

Posted by
26840 posts

Don't remind me, Frank.

Edited to add: 45 years after my first trip to Europe, I made a useful discovery last year in France. Some multi-stall ladies' restrooms have a mixture of hole-in-the-floor and western-style toilets. If the first door you open does not offer the style of toilet you prefer, check behind the others.

Posted by
786 posts

I encountered quite a few toilets with no seats in Italy. Fortunately, I didn't need to attempt sitting. It would have ended badly.

Posted by
13809 posts

"Edited to add: 45 years after my first trip to Europe, I made a useful discovery last year in France. Some multi-stall ladies' restrooms have a mixture of hole-in-the-floor and western-style toilets. If the first door you open does not offer the style of toilet you prefer, check behind the others."

Yes...^ ^ ^ this! I've encountered this in the train station in Monterosso al Mare as well as the toilets at the public parking lot in Dinan France. Sometimes you just have to look! In the one in Dinan, the TP was a big roll on the wall OUTSIDE the stalls so you had to cue in to know to grab some before you went in the stall. I didn't look carefully and used Kleenex which I always have in a pocket, then saw the industrial sized roll as I was coming out.

Posted by
26840 posts

It's interesting how often there are public toilets right beside parking lots in France. It's a good place to look if you don't have a museum in your immediate future.

Posted by
3940 posts

Yeah - I've run into no TP - seemed both times to be in one of the Cinque Terre villages (and I didn't have any back up). Luckily, it was...uh...#1 (sorry). Now, no matter where we go, I take a roll of tp, make 3 smaller rolls with it, put it in a baggie and carry one in my daypack - you just never know.

Also - I know we shouldn't use handicap toilets if we aren't disabled, but after coming across hole in the floor toilets in France (at the Millau viaduct public toilet) - and after my misadventure with a hole in the floor toilet in Monterosso al Mare (I don't want to talk about it) - I checked the handicap stall and there was a standard toilet! My back and knees (and lack of balance) don't mix well with hole in the floor.

Posted by
26840 posts

That's another thing I learned late: Bend forward before you squat. That helps. But roll up your pant legs first.

Posted by
13809 posts

^ ^ ^ And make sure you don't have your pelvis tucked. If you usually tuck your pelvis, make sure you rotate it back so you don't aim for your shoes.

Posted by
98 posts

My wife started leading leading High School groups to Italy over 25 years ago. On her first trips the hole-in-the-floor toilets were more common than they are now. The look of shock on the kids faces when they encountered these was something she still finds amusing after all these years. Apparently, growing up a farm was good preparation for at least some things in life.

Posted by
1542 posts

Leno, I do hope you can hold out until you get on your bus or train. Good questions.

Posted by
15679 posts

Apparently, growing up a farm was good preparation for at least some
things in life.

LOL, Jeff! I learned how to Assume The Position as a hiker: no potties in the middle of nowhere! Same for civilized things like soap and paper.

Posted by
6265 posts

Pam and Kathy: you've got it. Hiking or camping in primitive sites does help you learn how to do it... I like the hint about not tucking in your pelvis. We've been taught for years to tuck, even in yoga and Pilates classes. Doesn't work on squat toilets.

Posted by
585 posts

Always carry. small packages of tissue with me - very useful item!

On the R S tour to Southern Italy our tour manager handed out packets of Kleenex explaining we should have it with us at all times because of the lack of TP in some facilities...came in useful on all sorts of occasions, dripping gelato, or juicy fruit, runny nose, mopping hot sweaty face, oh yes, and as emergency TP!

Posted by
11056 posts

And if you see a handicapped sign on a toilet stall door, it will be a regular toilet with seat, not squat. Learned that in Asia where there were mostly squat toilets.

Posted by
286 posts

What do you mean Barbra? If the toilet in your carriage is not working, you can go to another one! Why wouldn't it be possible?
Trains, no problem, probably not the cleanest, buses, I have no experience.

Posted by
2668 posts

I now know I need to take lots and lots
of Kleenex pack and Hand wipes. But Inquiring minds want to know: how secure is my carryon when I leave my train seat to tinkle? Do I chain it to the overhead luggage rack? I can take my tote with me or should I chain it to the seat?

Posted by
8293 posts

“I’ve never seen a toilet on a public bus in Europe. But I have never taken a long distance bus,”

Exactly what is the point of this statement? Are you expectinga public bus, let’s say, Bus No. 69 in Paris to have a toilet? Or Bus No. 63 in Rome? And if you have never taken a long distance bus then your toilet savviness is nil on the subject.

Posted by
32523 posts

Barbra, every long distance train I have been on, or worked on, anywhere in Europe has a toilet in every carriage. Some may have a fault but some will be ok. I've never known where a passenger on a train was blocked from going to one. Where did you have this experience? Can you be specific please?

Some short distance or commuter trains will have one or two per section of train, and some commuter trains where the average ride time is just a few minutes will have none.

But long distance trains? Never.

Posted by
3812 posts

that due to vandalism, people just don't replace them

People don't replace them because Italians seat on porcelain, but never on plastic. Why paying to replace something nobody uses?

Posted by
3200 posts

I have managed to not comment on this post for six months, but as it hasn't disappeared I can't refrain any longer... The thing that confuses me about all the different comments is that there is often one item in common: sitting on a public toilet. Was I the only one whose mother taught her child never to sit on a public toilet? (Well, I taught my child as well.) She taught me: Lift the lid and seat, if any, with TP or Kleenex and then use the toilet... So you can see my fascination & confusion with this topic. :-)

Posted by
26840 posts

Horsewoofie, when I'm on my way to a new city and have all my gear in tow, anything of significant value (tablet, smartphone, extra credit cards and ATM cards, money) is in my purse, and it absolutely goes with me to the toilet, just as it would on an airplane. On a good day my prescription meds are also in the purse, but I often forget to transfer them, in which case they're in my tote bag along with reading material, travel notes, snacks for the train, etc. I refuse to worry about the tote bag and suitcase (which has a little lock on it). I would never travel with expensive jewelry, designer clothes, etc., and my luggage is inexpensive and unlikely to attract attention. It would be annoying if someone made off with my entire suitcase, but why would they? When you see a person leave her seat with a sizable purse, why would you think she has left valuables behind in a tote or suitcase? Also, you cannot count on having a place to hang up a purse in a train toilet, much less both a purse and a tote.

I always try to allow time to use the toilet at the train station before boarding a train, so I often don't have to use the one on the train. However, it's not too uncommon in smaller stations to find that there is no toilet, or that it's locked, being cleaned or otherwise out of commission.

Posted by
627 posts

Wray, I think there are some like you, but many unlike you as well.....unless if looks bad, I sit.....

Posted by
15679 posts

Was I the only one whose mother taught her child never to sit on a
public toilet?

Guess I'm deprived. That's one lesson my mother didn't have in her (extensive) arsenal. 😉

Posted by
734 posts

got curious, what actually can you catch by your upper thigh touch plastic that someone else's upper thigh has touched? It maybe a bit yucky but not dangerous or contagious.

Posted by
12 posts

a pet peeve of mine is women who insist on squatting. They don't seem to have been taught the way the lady above was to lift the seat and squat over bowl - nope - just squat and spray all over a seat so that another lady can come along and clean up the mess.
I tend to think my bum is the least of my worries when it comes to encountering exposed germs in public.
This (in my humble opinion) anti-social behavior pushes my buttons to no end... I wish all the squatters the joy of the Turkish toilet ( a nice elderly man collected money from me in a hill town in Italy for the pleasure of entering a bathroom and leaning against a wall to pee over a trough in floor (much like a men's room urinal I suspect - but on the floor)

Posted by
23178 posts

Could avoid it after six months either -- The open air men's urinals in the Netherlands on the sidewalks were the most interesting.

Posted by
4138 posts

I haven't followed a squat and sprayer anywhere. That would be annoying if they didn't clean up after themselves. I have followed women who use toilet seat covers and then don't check to see if the thing flushed after they used it. That seems to happen anywhere those covers are supplied. I have also followed women who just walk out of an "automatic flush" stall without checking to be sure it flushed completely or at all. Totally oblivious they are.

Posted by
26840 posts

A lot of annoyances mentioned above, but for me nothing tops an automatic toilet that decides to flush aggressively while I am sitting on it (or crouching over it). Those things were obviously invented by a man.

Posted by
15679 posts

The open air men's urinals in the Netherlands on the sidewalks were
the most interesting.

OMG, Frank. Those were, er, certainly different.

Posted by
3200 posts

I agree ... anyone who pees all over someone else toilet seat should be locked out in the future. ;-) There are far too many of them.

Posted by
484 posts

"When traveling in (Italy) ANYWHERE, always have toilet paper with you, not just for train journeys"
Once you experience desperation Renminbi (at least they are not worth much) emergency "wipes" you'll carry paper with you everywhere.