Le Point WC – Paris’ Glamorous Toilet!

It's not easy to find a public toilet in Paris when you need one, and the good ones are not always obvious. When nature calls, you have a few options, and one is far more glamorous than the rest.

Le Point WC is a pay-to-enter luxury toilet in Paris, and today there is one left, tucked inside the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center at 99 rue de Rivoli. Entry costs around 1.50 euros and buys you a spotless, themed, attended cabin instead of a street sanisette.

This post focuses on Le Point WC specifically. If you want every option for finding a bathroom in Paris, from cafes and hotels to department stores and parks, I have written a full guide to using the bathroom in Paris. 

Paris Street Toilets (Sanisettes)

You can use the public toilets found on the street, called sanisettes. Here is the good news, and it is the thing most guides still get wrong: they are free. The city made them free in 2006, so you don't need to hunt around for a coin. They clean themselves after every use, and for years I still was not convinced they were all that clean.

That has changed. Paris rebuilt the entire network of 435 sanisettes between early 2024 and May 2025, so the ones you come across now are a newer, cleaner generation with contactless controls and a fast cleaning cycle between users. Many are step-free too, and they have a little fountain with soap on the outside.

By the way, a good tip: the door opens automatically after a set amount of time, so if you are, uh-hmmm, blocked in any way and need extra time, I don't suggest a sanisette! This timer was developed to prevent toilet abuse.

Using a Cafe Toilet

Another way to use the restroom is to go to a cafe and buy a drink, like a coffee. This is the method I use most often. In some cafes, you may still have to pay to use the restroom. There may also be an attendant to make sure the toilets stay clean.

A few years ago, when we stopped for a panache and saw Christian Clavier, I used the facilities at Les Deux Magots. The attendant was actually a guy, probably a university student, and he let me use the men's stall as the women's were all in use. For France, that is like royal customer service! It was worth the 40 cents to have access to the barely used men's stall!

You can also go to a restaurant, but of course, that needs to be coordinated with when you actually want to eat…

Le Point WC, the Glamorous Option

However, the most glamorous way to access a public restroom in Paris is Le Point WC. Talk about chic!

When I first wrote this post, there were three of them: on the Champs-Élysées, inside the Printemps department store on Boulevard Haussmann, and at the Carrousel du Louvre. Those first two have since closed. Today there is one left, and happily it is the best located of the three:

Le Point WC Carrousel du Louvre

Address: 99 rue de Rivoli, 1st arrondissement

It sits at the bottom of the escalator inside the Carrousel du Louvre, the underground shopping center attached to the museum, which makes it the single most useful toilet in the city if you are doing the Louvre and the Tuileries in one day. Expect to pay around 1.50 euro.

One thing that trips people up: the site is now run by a company called 2theloo, so you may see that name on the signage alongside Point WC. It is the same place, so do not walk past it thinking you are in the wrong spot.

I am not exactly sure when the one at the Carousel opened. When I passed through to use the public restroom in May of 2009, it wasn't there. But that November, voila, it was there!

At the bottom of the escalator was an entrance I actually thought was a bathroom store. That would have been an odd choice for the upscale shops at the Carousel, although there is the exception of the damn new McDonald's. But no, Le Point WC is a public toilet, and it is magnifique! You can pee in luxury.

There are several little rooms, each with a different theme, and each is meticulously cleaned after each use. It is an absolutely decadent experience.

During our visit to Paris, I used these facilities twice on two different days. Somehow, no matter where we started out, we always ended up passing by the gardens of Les Tuileries, and the Carousel is right nearby- very strategic if you ask me.

Le Point WC does sell a large variety of colored and decorated toilet paper (are those safe?) as well as other luxury bathroom items, so there were just as many people in the small space buying product as using the facilities; in fact, if it wasn't for the fact that I am an honest gal, I could have slipped in and out without paying. But since I am a good girl, I made my way to the counter and left my one Euro coin nonetheless.

The Carousel sits in the 1st arrondissement, which is worth a wander in its own right if you have the time.

Another Beautiful Paris Toilet: The Lavatory Madeleine

Address: Place de la Madeleine, 8th arrondissement (to the right of the church)

If Le Point WC is the modern glamorous toilet, this is the historic one. The Lavatory Madeleine opened in 1905, was listed as a historic monument in 2011, and then sat closed for twelve years while the city dealt with water damage. It reopened in February 2023, and it is genuinely worth going out of your way for: polished mahogany, stained glass, and soft green ceramic tilework, all of it underground beneath one of the busiest squares in Paris.

Entry is 2 euros, and it is open daily from 11:00 to 17:00. The same company that now operates the Carrousel du Louvre site runs it. One heads-up: you reach it down a flight of stairs, so it is not step-free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrapping Up

I don't plan on doing a whole bathroom series (I promise), but this is one of those small Paris details that makes a real difference on a long day of sightseeing. Knowing there is a clean toilet at the bottom of that escalator has saved me more than once.

And if you want every option, not just the glamorous one, I have written an entire post on using the bathroom in Paris. Check it out! 

Have you been to Le Point WC? Was it worth the euro and a half? Tell me in the comments, and if this helped, please share it with whoever you are dragging around Paris with you.