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Restrooms along the Norwegian Scenic Routes

625 points • by giuliomagnifico • today at 10:47 AM • 360 comments • view on HN

Comments

speedgoose • today at 2:00 PM

Since we are talking about shithouses in Norway and international politics, I should mention as a Frenchman the existence of French toilets with the colours of the French flags and the France national motto displayed on top. In front of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo.

https://koro.no/prosjekter/liberte/

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cs702 • today at 2:44 PM

This cracked me up:

> If you are a mere mortal like us and can’t afford a gold-plated toilet seat, the Golden loo on the island Senja is the next best thing.

All joking aside, I'm impressed at the beauty and serenity of these public restroom facilities. They are truly architectural works of art.

Kudos to the people who designed and built them!

teekert • today at 11:53 AM

Really loving such responses to POTUS, I hope they don't spend too much of our tax money on addressing his childishness though, although, in PR this probably has good ROI :)

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anotherpaul • today at 11:42 AM

Best public restroom density I've ever had was in Japan. Every corner you can find a toilet. So relaxing when you are traveling.

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rurban • today at 12:56 PM

I still believe Estonian restrooms are prettier. Norway has a shitload of public money, but Estonia very good designers

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armcat • today at 11:54 AM

I hiked Norwegian fjords above Bergen a couple of times in the past, highly recommend it if you ever get a chance.

Also: Norway has one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, valued at $2.2 trillion; over 50% are investments in US assets; close to $200 billion in US Treasury securities; and is a major shareholder in US corporations, especially across the tech sector.

So well done Norway, this is how you deal with clowns, not debate or argue on social media, but rub their face in your pure awesomness.

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jpgvm • today at 11:15 AM

Norwegians are honorary Australians apparently, we love a good shithouse.

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talon8635 • today at 2:51 PM

They can’t possibly be the best because I went into the public bathroom out our local playground last week at 10am and there was a gigantic steaming turd perfectly deposited on the seat of the all-metal prison-style toilet. My 3 year old was as stunned as I was. To think, some local resident was thoughtful enough to bless us with this gift.

Are you telling me my Oakland California toilets are somehow inferior? I find this hard to believe…

abcd_f • today at 12:51 PM

And that's, ladies and gentlemen, how you promote yourself as a tourist destination!

arjie • today at 3:18 PM

I find it fascinating that the cost of these gorgeous places is roughly the same as the cost to build a public restroom in San Francisco. Notably the architects in SF are much more expensive than those in Norway. Certainly quite interesting.

sgt • today at 12:53 PM

Old Rome had the best shithouses though. A whole row of toilets which made the experience very social and intimate.

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Betelbuddy • today at 11:47 AM

This is the problem with HN not doing humor. You are always the one who does not grok it...

"Trump calls Norway a ‘shithouse country’" - https://www.euronews.com/video/2026/10/27/trump-calls-norway...

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paaloeye • today at 11:26 AM

Holly molly, Norway #1 rank on the front page. Let's gooo!

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ideasphere • today at 11:14 AM

Just scroll normally!

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aktuel • today at 11:36 AM

It is amazing what you can do with oil money.

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throwawayffffas • today at 2:23 PM

Surprisingly few pictures of the facilities interiors.

Symbiote • today at 11:15 AM

This is prompted by Trump saying "Norway has become a shithouse country, actually" after he was not awarded the Nobel prize for peace.

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mglvsky • today at 1:06 PM

finally: unshittification

starefossen • today at 1:35 PM

If you want to visit Norway come to the west coast if you want fjords and scenery - not the capital in the east.

tippa123 • today at 11:38 AM

This reminds me of Rick's secret pooping spot in Rick and Morty

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boringg • today at 12:02 PM

No way you could have those in North America -- people would ruin them. Which is a shame because they are pretty place to be a king/queen for a bit.

hyperionultra • today at 1:51 PM

To drop a massive log in house with a nice view is a thing. A good thing.

tesnorindian • today at 11:33 AM

India please kindly follow. Indians peeing on the roads should be put in the prisons for life.

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benwerd • today at 3:12 PM

Sure, fine, but have you ever been to a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike?

nntwozz • today at 3:00 PM

Intrusive thoughts tell me to defecate straight down the scenic balcony.

Havoc • today at 2:13 PM

The most shitest shithouse is clearly white and has a orange gremlin in it

andsoitis • today at 2:07 PM

Besides aesthetics, there are so many functional aspects that sets apart good from shitty bathrooms.

Things I evaluate when I use public restrooms include: are they 100% touch free (doors, toilets, taps)? Recycled towels for drying or air dryers where your hands invariable touch the unit?

etc.

jxf • today at 2:20 PM

Great marketing, a wonderful country, and beautiful shithouses.

comrade1234 • today at 11:30 AM

Trump got confused and said shithouse (which makes no sense) instead of shithole, his original term for basically any non-white country.

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kvam • today at 5:02 PM

Why has the title of this post been changed, when HN rules are to use the title of the article? The rename is less engaging and misses the point completely. Moderators did this or?

_joel • today at 1:28 PM

As an Englishman I can confirm they are built like brick shithouses.

arthur234 • today at 12:41 PM

I've been to about half of those, and can confirm their awesomeness!

m3kw9 • today at 3:15 PM

In the US, you would get squaters living there the moment it gets opened to the public

pcf • today at 2:14 PM

It's kinda funny. But I'm a Norwegian, and I can tell you that Norway actually is a shitty country in so many ways. It likes to tell the world how fantastic it is, but there are just so many things that are structurally pathetic, weak, or inadequate about it.

Norway has been severely mismanaged for decades now, and soon the chickens are coming home to roost. Sadly, karma will be a bitch.

blackhaz • today at 12:04 PM

Meanwhile in London we have public... urinals. Just a few minutes from the city center. People urinating in the open. Opposite to where my wife goes to dancing classes. UK is really fucking abysmal sometimes.

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vconnor • today at 12:30 PM

Well, that's a pretty good ad from Visit Norway: now I'd really like to visit.

In fact, if they weren't so damn rich and everything so expensive compared to my Southern European way of live, I'd consider moving there just to enjoy the gorgeous nature.

DivingForGold • today at 1:16 PM

Shithouses and SHITTY NAGSCREENS I will never agree to ...

throwaway323929 • today at 2:45 PM

I like them and I think they're cool, but Norway is a country of 5.6 million people that discovered a massive oil deposit and has an enormous public fund per-capita because of it, so making it a referendum on how bad the United States is is pretty weird. Saudi Arabia has indoor ski resorts too, yes if we had that much oil per person I bet we could have some pretty sweet toilets.

I'm totally fine with the pit toilet design they came up with for the parks. I'm not there to take an instagram poop, I'm there to go hiking.

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bergheim • today at 2:03 PM

Somewhat relevant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47207284

Lots of shit coming out of Norway lately.

llm_nerd • today at 2:13 PM

On the topic of great shithouses, I highly recommend the 2023 Japanese drama Perfect Days. It's about a quiet man that works for Tokyo Toilets, cleaning a set of architecturally interesting public toilets around the Shibuya district. The movie itself is compelling -- a fascinating study of a man and purpose, very similar to Paterson (2016)[1] -- but the whole thing is like taking a trip to Tokyo, with an enormous number of gorgeous shots of fascinating scenes. Also a lot of shots of someone cleaning toilets.

[1] The directors of both movies are friends, and interestingly Paterson ends with the protagonist talking to a man from Tokyo who came to visit Paterson, as a poetry fan of William Carlos Williams. It is coincidence, but it does make it feel like they're the same universe.

antirez • today at 3:11 PM

As seen in Rick and Morty

cactusplant7374 • today at 2:02 PM

Did I miss something? Where are the pics of the actual toilet?

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dzonga • today at 2:42 PM

the dignity of public toilets is a reflection of society

eesmith • today at 12:31 PM

Back in the 1980s, The Miami Herald's "Tropic Magazine" ran a couple of competitions for most scenic outhouse in the world.

(That is, an outhouse with a great view, which is different than finding ones which are architectural masterpieces.)

I can find no trace of those results online. Perhaps someone here has better success?

artemonster • today at 11:19 AM

Just the fact that the level of politics dropped this low and this is being celebrated is something that makes me feel that we are on a 100% downward slope on our civilizational collapse with no turning back. How tf the most powerful country on earth became such an openly corrupted clownshow?

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lousken • today at 1:15 PM

The US should take better care of people with mental illness... oh wait

chaostheory • today at 2:00 PM

So Rick’s toilet is real and there are more than one

jaza • today at 11:34 AM

That's some good shit right there!

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