I judge Turkish restrooms all the time. Public Turkish restrooms are a topic of conversation with my family in a way that restrooms in the US almost never are. Our default expectation in many places is that the bathroom will be horrible so we are excited and amazed when public restrooms defy expectations. To make matters worse, you have to pay for almost all Turkish restrooms (standard fee these days is 1 lira, regardless of quality). If you are lucky, that 1 lira will get you a napkin to dry your hands or a sprinkle of lemon cologne from an aging attendant.
General bathroom tips
Public restrooms in Turkey are a mix of Western-style a la franka toilets and Eastern-style a la turka toilets – i.e., a porcelain hole in the ground.
In a pinch you can almost always find public restrooms near a mosque. McDonalds and Mados are also good bets for finding decent (free!) restrooms. Bay means men, Bayan means women. Public restrooms don’t always have toilet paper or running water, so bring along some pocket tissues and hand sanitizer!
I have recently developed a point system for rating Turkish public restrooms. The points are earned for the following factors:
- Does it smell?
- Is it generally clean?
- Is there running water (both flushing toilets and functioning sinks)?
- Does it have toilet paper?
- Are there any insects flying around? (nothing is worse than using an a la turka style restroom and seeing mosquitoes in the stall with you…)
- Is there a functioning light?
- Is there soap?
- Are there paper towels to dry your hands?
A score of less than 5 and I am definitely using the a la turka option – less chance of actually touching anything! Only a handful of bathrooms have ever made a full 8 on the scale and they are forever cemented into my memory.
Tips for using the “a la turka”
These tips are generally more useful for ladies but the last two tips are useful for you boys as well.
- Roll up those pant legs – you don’t want them accidentally dragging on the ground.
- Get your best squat going and use one hand to press against the wall to stabilize yourself – you don’t want to accidentally fall over.
- If the flush isn’t working on your a la turka fill up the little bucket via the faucet that is provided in all bathrooms and dump it down the basin and the hole. Note that the basin is sometimes wet when you walk in but that is usually water from someone else rinsing it out. Usually water…
- If you can at all avoid it, DO NOT wear sandals on days that you may encounter an a la turka (i.e., when taking trips off the beaten path). I prefer to have on sturdy footwear that completely covers my feet in the event of slipping or splashing…
I should also note that the number of times I have had to use a la turkas has dropped significantly in recent years as Turkey’s infrastructure has improved across the country (even in really random locations). On my most recent trip to Turkey I only had to use an a la turka twice! A true sign of progress.
And now for some bathroom superlatives…
The award for the best public restroom in Turkey goes to:
The Ağaçli Tesisleri in Aksaray at the intersection of the road leading to Ankara and the road leading to the Ihlara Gorge. Aksaray is a city of about 100K people not too far from Cappadocia. Its not a typical city most tourists visiting Cappadocia would pass through unless they are coming from / heading to Ankara. In other words, I’m not sure why these restrooms (and this entire rest area) is so nice. I would venture so far as to say that not only is this the best public restroom in Turkey – it is the best public restroom I have encountered anywhere in the world.
The rest area itself is pretty nice – it has a couple restaurants (including a Mado), a little shop, and a row of massaging chairs. The highlight of the space, however, are the restrooms. Walking into the restroom was like entering a palace (there were lovely white tiles throughout). The restroom was huge (at least 50 stalls), separated into a la turka and a la franka sections, and sparking clean. All white porcelain / marble and SHINING. There was an attendant in there ensuring the place sparkled. Lights were bright: the kind they use in dressing rooms that make you look your best. There was a separate area for ablutions (where Muslim women wash themselves before prayer) that had higher and lower sinks for washing your feet (a separate part of the ablution process and something that can be hard to do in a higher sink). I really wanted to pull out my camera and start taking pictures of this bathroom but I thought taking pictures in a bathroom was maybe a bad idea and I was scared the attendant would start yelling at me.
Most surprising public restroom in Turkey award goes to:
The restroom at the tea garden at the bottom of the Ihlara gorge. The tea garden is several miles from any towns so I had pretty low expectations – particularly when I saw that the restroom was located in a little shack. I was therefore very pleasantly surprised to find a clean, nice-smelling facility with a flushing toilet, toilet paper, and running water! There was even natural light spilling into the toilet hut. The paper towels weren’t inside the restroom itself but were easily available at the table where you paid your 1 lira, along with a spritz of lemon cologne from the attendant. This tiny remote bathroom in the middle of nowhere scored a full 8 of 8 on my bathroom scale!