Key Notes
- Visit Norway has refreshed its scenic-toilets guide in a tourism response to Donald Trump’s comments about the country.
- The gallery features nine photographs from the official guide, covering eight architectural rest stops.
- Several restroom facilities are seasonal, so travellers should check opening periods and road access before visiting.
Visit Norway has turned Donald Trump’s insult into an invitation to explore the country’s most spectacular public toilets. The tourism organisation’s refreshed guide celebrates rest stops where architecture, fjords and mountain scenery make the bathroom break an attraction in its own right.
The campaign follows Trump’s description of Norway as a “shithouse country” during a dispute over the Nobel Peace Prize. As Skift reported, the tourism team updated an existing guide rather than building a new collection of facilities for the campaign. The Nobel Committee is independent of the Norwegian government.
The resulting pitch is playful, but the places are real. These nine photographs, all drawn from Visit Norway’s official guide, highlight eight stops where practical roadside facilities have become part of the landscape.
1. Stegastein: A Bathroom Break Above the Fjord
At Stegastein, the viewing platform reaches out above the Aurlandsfjord, 650 metres below. The service building sits slightly over the cliff edge, combining a view with privacy for the person inside. Visit Norway highlights the toilets’ inclusion in DesignCurial’s international top-10 selection, a reminder that even the smallest public buildings can attract design attention.
2. Ersfjordstranda: Senja’s Golden Toilet
The triangular, gold-clad building at Ersfjordstranda stands beside a white-sand beach framed by Senja’s sharply rising mountains. Established in 2014, it became an attraction in its own right. The nickname “golden toilet” refers to the building’s distinctive exterior, giving a simple beach facility a remarkably recognisable silhouette.
3. Ureddplassen: A Wave Beside the Sea
The illuminated curve at Ureddplassen gives the Helgeland coast one of its most striking rest stops. A broad terrace looks towards the fjord and open sea, with steps descending towards the shore. The location also has a quieter purpose: it is a memorial to those lost when the submarine Uredd struck a mine during the Second World War.
4. Eggum: Snøhetta’s Lofoten Amphitheatre
At Eggum, the rest area faces the ocean on Vestvågøy’s seaward side. Snøhetta shaped the service facilities and parking area around an amphitheatre-like form, beneath the remains of a wartime radar station. The setting attracts visitors for its coastal landscape and summer midnight sun, with the small building sitting within a much larger natural scene.
5. Utsikten: Solar Power and Mountain Geometry
The gallery includes two views of Utsikten: its dramatic viewing platform and the restroom tucked beneath the angular structure. Located 700 metres above sea level along Gaularfjellet, the stop overlooks a valley and the road’s hairpin bends. Visit Norway says the restroom runs on solar power. Code arkitektur designed the project, whose concrete architecture received Norway’s Concrete Tablet award in 2016.
6. Ostasteidn: Architecture in a Painter’s Landscape
Ostasteidn sits just beyond the Sandsfjord Bridge in Ryfylke, in scenery associated with artist Lars Hertervig. The rest area takes inspiration from his work, while its paths and seating turn attention towards Sandsfjorden. Visit Norway describes the restroom’s exterior as designed to encourage moss growth, gradually connecting the building with its surroundings.
7. Oscarshaug: Built for the Mountain Setting
Oscarshaug’s restroom adds a sharply folded roof and bright yellow doors to the Sognefjellet landscape. Visit Norway notes that the building needed steel reinforcement because of the demanding weather at the site. The result is a memorable piece of roadside architecture, although a summer photograph should not be treated as a promise of easy access throughout the year.
8. Tungeneset: Senja Under the Northern Lights
The final photograph places Tungeneset’s timber restroom beneath an aurora-lit sky. The coastal stop includes a walkway over the rocks towards views of the sea and pointed mountain peaks. Its location makes the surrounding landscape central to the experience; northern lights remain a natural phenomenon, rather than something a visit can guarantee.
Check Opening Seasons Before Making the Detour
Scenery and operating hours are different things. The Scenic Routes operator currently lists Ureddplassen and Ostasteidn’s toilets as open year-round, while facilities at several other stops are seasonal. Ersfjordstranda, Eggum and Tungeneset are listed for early May to early October; Utsikten and Stegastein extend into late October. Road conditions and facility availability should be checked for the actual travel dates.
We have covered Norway’s use of architecture as a visitor attraction in our Whale museum coverage. This gallery offers a smaller-scale expression of the same appeal: useful buildings that give travellers another reason to pause and look at where they are.
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