Public Restroom Finder

About Public Restroom Finder

This tool loads public restroom data published by Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the government open-data portal and maps the ones around you. Each entry shows the name, address, opening hours, whether it is a public restroom or an "open restroom", the managing office's phone number, and whether it has accessible toilets, a baby-changing table, an emergency bell and a CCTV camera at the entrance. It covers South Korea only.

The source data has addresses but no coordinates, so each address is converted to a map position through the Kakao map API. For parks and plazas the pin can land at the site's official address rather than at the restroom itself.

Public restrooms and "open restrooms"

Korea's Act on Public Restrooms distinguishes two kinds. A public restroom is one installed by the state, a local government, a company or an individual for public use. An open restroom is either a restroom in a public institution's building that is opened to the public, or a private building's restroom designated by the mayor or district head.

The practical difference is hours. Park and subway restrooms are often open around the clock, while open restrooms in petrol stations, shops or banks are only usable while the building is open. Late at night, look for entries marked as always open rather than for the open-restroom label.

Reading the opening hours

The source records a category (always open, fixed hours, irregular, not open) and sometimes a time range such as 09:00-18:00. Some entries give only a total such as "9 hours" with no start time; the tool hides those and shows only the category. "Fixed hours" with no times means it opens on a schedule the data does not state.

Restrooms inside government buildings may be listed as open restrooms yet be unreachable at night or at weekends when the building is locked.

Accessibility, baby changing and safety

The accessible filter keeps restrooms with at least one registered accessible toilet or urinal. That count says nothing about ramps or door widths. The baby-changing filter keeps entries registered as having a table, and the data does not say whether it is in the men's room too.

Emergency bell and entrance CCTV flags can help when choosing a restroom late at night. There is no field for unisex facilities, so the tool does not show it.

Search area and data limits

The tool loads the restrooms of your whole district (gu) from a pre-geocoded copy of the data and sorts them together by distance, so a close restroom just across a neighborhood (dong) line is included. Only if that copy cannot be loaded does it query your neighborhood and district live, geocode up to 80 addresses and sort those by distance; in that case only part of the district is considered. For restrooms across a district line, move the map and tap "Search this map area".

Entries are registered by local governments, so new, demolished or temporarily closed restrooms can lag. In a hurry, subway stations, department stores and community service centers are reliable places to try.

Worked examples

How to use it

1. Tap "My location" or search for an area in Korea.
2. Turn on the accessible or baby-changing filter if needed.
3. Tap a restroom for hours and facilities, then open directions.

Frequently asked questions