Look, we all need to go when nature calls – it’s what makes us human! However, not knowing what to expect when you open the door to a public loo is a bit of a gamble and challenging enough at the best of times, but it’s even more so when you travel (and especially when you’re a woman).

In the past, form followed function in toilets at airports and tourist spots so, at best, they were basic spaces where you could do your business, touch up your makeup or brush your teeth. If you were lucky they were clean, the soap smelled nice and the hand dryers actually worked.

Now, many toilets made for tourists and travellers feature designs ranging from elaborate mosaics to the latest in modern technology, and they’ve become so important that November 19 is World Toilet Day. (Yes, it’s a thing). To celebrate this monumentus day, Lisa Morrow has jotted down some of the very best and most unique bathroom designs across the globe, that you can peruse down below.

THE TOKYO TOILET, SHIBUYA CITY Japan as a country is pretty renowned for innovation and technology, so when the COVID-19 pandemic put the spotlight firmly back on hygiene it wasn’t long before a new public toilet design popped up in the heart of Tokyo. To ensure that the bathrooms were both clean and safe (apparently would-be users were worried someone might be hiding inside the stalls), they built them out of transparent glass. Yep. Each stall comes in a different colour, and they’re absolutely see-through – but don’t panic – once you lock the door, the electricity feeding into the special film covering the glass cuts out, and no one can see you. Promise!

BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, QUEENSLAND It’s not all that surprising that Brisbane International Airport won the 2018 International Toilet Tourism Award. As well as providing the usual facilities for able-bodied travellers, the toilet designers went above and beyond for accessibility. They included specialised equipment such as a hoist, an adult change table and a toilet with removable handrails for people with severe disabilities. There’s even an indoor toilet for guide dogs! Sophisticated digital reporting also ensures constant cleanliness, so it’s always a great experience.

SASKATCHEWAN SCIENCE CENTRE, REGINA The toilets in the Canadian Saskatchewan Science Centre also won the International Toilet Tourism Award for bringing the outdoors inside. Immersive deep forest images shot by photographer Todd Mintz cover the bathroom’s walls from ceiling to floor, complemented by a soundtrack of birdsong and woodland noises. Probably the best way to go to the toilet in nature without dealing with bugs and mulch.  

CUMMINS MOSAIC LOO, SOUTH AUSTRALIA Public spaces in Australia are usually studded with ugly red brick toilet blocks, which aren’t known for their aesthetics. In Eyre Peninsula in South Australia however, locals converted the utilitarian toilet block at the town’s former railway station into something truly fab, and something that even the most famous of artists would be proud to claim as their own. Inside, instead of damp grey concrete floors and moss-covered walls, users are treated to a collection of statues, mosaics and paintings, which makes for a rad and arty bathroom experience.

PIZ GLORIA RESTAURANT, MURREN James Bond fans know the name “Piz Gloria” pretty well already; it was the mountain-top hideout of the bad guy in the 1969 film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It’s also the name of a real revolving restaurant on Mount Schilthorn, 2970 metres above sea level. When the producers of the film were looking for a suitable location, they came across the half-finished restaurant and offered to pay for it to be completed, provided they got exclusive use during filming. After they left, the film’s lingering legacy remained. Signs in the men’s toilets read, “Shake, don’t stir” and “Aim like James!”, while Diana Rigg talks to them from the mirror. When women stand at their own basins, a shot rings out and James Bond appears in the glass, with a single bullet hole beside him.

HUNDERTWASSER PUBLIC TOILETS, KAWAKAWA New Zealand’s wild and challenging landscapes have inspired many creatives in the past, so it’s no surprise that artist and architect Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (AKA, Friedrich Stowasser) designed a toilet facility that is currently recognised as an international work of art. This whimsical piece is concocted out of curvy columns, shard-like mosaics and stained glass windows, and it’s built on eco-smart concepts, with walls of reclaimed bricks, an actual living tree and a grass roof.

NARITA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, TOKYO Back in 2016, dispensers containing toilet paper for smartphones were temporarily installed in Narita International Airport’s bathrooms. Phone owners could disinfect their phones while reading info printed on them about WiFi and apps owned by the telecommunications company that provided them, which was a clever form of advertising, we have to say. Located in Gallery TOTO – in the departures area – TOTO is a major player in sanitary ceramics, and they even provide a solution to indeterminant waiting times. If a stall is vacant, the door shines with a blue light, but as soon as someone enters a red light begins to rise from the bottom. Instead of desperately hopping from foot to foot, just head for the door that’s almost completely red, because that means the occupier is about to leave.

DOWN THE MINE PASSAGEWAY RESTROOM, COLORADO In the small town of Minturn with a population of around 1200, or 1600 if you include the elk (which they do), two curious-looking wooden boxes with undulating sides sit facing one another in a park. Visitors often mistake them for art installations but they’re actually restrooms – to use an Americanism – and are modelled after mine entrances in honour of the town’s mining history. The men’s facilities are designated by a depiction of an elk on the copper door, and there are butterflies and other images from nature cut from sheet metal decorating the interior.