When you've gotta go ...

It can be difficult to find toilets when travelling. Photo / Thinkstock

A well-watered traveller's bladder knows no boundaries.

For a traveller in an unfamiliar town, it can be tough to find a legitimate, legal and hygenic place to spend a penny. But a new website is taking the guesswork out of finding toilets for tourists.

The site, Airpnp, has much in common with Airbnb, the website that sets up a forum in which homeowners lease out their spare rooms to travellers - often for considerably less than the cost of a hotel stay.

In a similar vein, users of Airpnp are matched with bars, restaurants, offices and homes where they can pay to use the loo, usually for a fee of five dollars or less.

The idea was the brainchild of Max Gaudin and Travis Laurendine, two New Orleans natives, calling themselves "entrepeeneurs", who have encountered the problem frequently over the years during that city's riotous Mardi Gras festivities.

Airpnp connects people willing to share the toilets in their private bathrooms with strangers willing to pay up to $5 for the privilege.

"When there aren't enough bathrooms nearby for the amount of people in any given location, Airpnp is there to save the day," its website said.

Users can select from among pictures posted on the site, which also have descriptions of the amenities.

They are "able to rate their pee experience afterwards so others can see how each rest room stacks up," the Airpnp website says.

The site so far is available only on the internet, although its founders plan a smartphone app.

- AAP