Lauterbrunnen sets up portable toilets to curb wild weeing by tourists

The popular tourist town of Lauterbrunnen, Canton Bern, has announced plans to install new public lavatories in the town to prevent tourists from doing their business in public. The sheer number of visitors has led to a significant rise in "wild weeing" across town, forcing the local council to act.

Tourist numbers force Lauterbrunnen to build more bathrooms

According to a planning application submitted by the local council in Lauterbrunnen, visitors will be able to relieve themselves at six brand new portable toilets. These will be set up in places most popular with tourists, such as in the parking lot of the church and the road which leads to the Stechelberg.

Speaking to the Berner Zeitung, Lauterbrunnen municipal clerk Sandra Balmer said the new eco-friendly Kompotoi wooden lavatories will replace the temporary plastic “Toi Toi” toilets currently in place in the town. She noted that these temporary lavatories were “unavoidable” additions due to the “very high number of tourists” visiting the famous Swiss beauty spot.

Popular Swiss beauty spot plagued by wild weeing

Balmer noted that the high number of visitors has had a smelly and unwanted impact on Lauterbrunnen. Along with peeing behind bushes, locals have also reported multiple incidents where people have defecated in the town’s bushes and streets, leaving behind tissue paper and foul-smelling remains. 

Therefore, in the interest of locals, tourists and businesses, the town will spend 50.000 francs on maintaining the free bathrooms. The new lavatories will be in place for seven months a year, during the height of the holiday and tourist season.

Switzerland continues to grapple with the ups and downs of tourism

The story is a microcosm of how Swiss towns, villages and historical sites grapple with the vast economic benefits and social downsides of tourism. Last year, Lauterbrunnen even mooted an entrance fee in a bid to cut down on tourist numbers, but this was dropped due to legal concerns. 

Elsewhere, the town of Iseltwald now charges tourists 5 francs for access to a small pier, which was swamped after being made famous by K-Drama Crash Landing on You. Lucerne, home to one of Switzerland's most visited attractions Chapel Bridge, has also imposed heavy restrictions on Airbnb and a new registration system for coaches to try and slow the number of visitors.