Amsterdam is an amazing city loaded with canals and bars. Indeed one of the major tourist attractions is the Red Light District, an area loaded with a high density of bars. Through necessity, the ingenious outdoor solution has evolved over the years for outdoor Amsterdam Urinals.
Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy for more information.
17 Remarkable Facts About Amsterdam Urinals
- Pissour is the Dutch term for Urinal.
- Wild Peeing (Wild Plassen in Dutch) is the term used for urinating in the canal or against a building/tree. For this reason, Wild Plassen is the whole reason Amsterdam Urinals exist, well the outdoor type anyway.
- Each year an average of 8 people die from peeing into an Amsterdam Canal. As a result, some 400 ambulances per year are called out for people who fell into a canal in Amsterdam. Hence there is such a fuss about public urinals in Amsterdam. The humble Amsterdam Urinal saves lives!
- Wild Peeing can cost you up to a € 90 fine if caught by the police, you may even be detained for your trouble. In short, you should have used the outdoor Amsterdam Urinals.
Expensive Toilets
- If you walk into a bar and ask to use a toilet, you will likely be refused or asked to pay up to € 1. Note that bars will typically charge € 0.50 even for paying patrons.
- Victims of wild peeing are easy to spot, their dead bodies have their flies open when they’re removed from the canal.
- Some of the oldest brick Pissours in Amsterdam are centuries old.
- The latest Pissours are high-tech metal ones that descend beneath the pavement during the day and are raised at night.
- Amsterdam has installed the first high-tech metal female public urinal in the Netherlands.
- Toilets also are called WC in the Netherlands, pronounced ‘Way Say’ in Dutch.
- de Krul (meaning “the curl”), is the nickname of the curved Pissour of Amsterdam, which has been around since 1880.
- There is an ingenious initiative in place in Amsterdam to turn Pissour waste into fertilizer.
Quadruple Pissours
- Newer plastic pissours have been around for about a decade, and usually accommodate 4 men at once.
- Original design pissours were all metal and drained straight into the canals. However, newer designs are plastic and drain into the wastewater system.
Red Light District
- There are 3 de Krul pissours in the main Red Light District, 1 in the Singelgebied Red Light District, and 1 in De Pijip Red Light District.
- Amsterdam has a total of 35 public urinals for men and 3 for women.
- It is possible to purchase disposable cardboard tubes in Amsterdam pharmacies to allow women to pee standing up, using the men’s pissours.
Pissour Expert
Given these points, you are now somewhat of a Amsterdam Outdoor Urinal Expert. When you are in Amsterdam keep an eye out for the very unique outdoor Amsterdam Urinals. In other words, no Wild Plassen, and use the de Kurls! One last tip: be ready for the strong stench if you are ever privileged enough to use this fine contraption.
Would you like a free copy of our Ultimate Bucket List?
Not sure where to travel to next? We have created the Ultimate Bucket List to help you plan your next trip. 1170 awesome travel destinations in 167 countries. And we want you to have it for FREE.
