The world’s lavish lavatories, bizarre bathrooms, and unexpected outhouses have been given some time to shine in a new book.

Lonely Planet’s Toilets of the World reveals 100 of “the most bizarre, beautiful, and sometimes downright outrageous toilets scattered around the globe”.

Among the standout thunder boxes are a Rainbow Restroom in Lisbon, Portugal, a remote outhouse in the Namib Desert, and even Abraham Lincoln’s own 1850s privy.

Here are 10 more of the best:

1. Most extreme

The title of the world’s most extreme toilet has been awarded to an adrenaline-inducing long-drop in a freezing-cold weather station called Kara-Tyurek in the Altai Mountains of Siberian Russia.

The outhouse hangs precariously over a cliff at 2600 metres above sea level.

2. Biggest bowl

In Kidscommons, a children’s museum in Columbus, Indiana, US, the World’s Largest Toilet (part of the ExploraHouse exhibit) can fit several small people within its behemoth bowl.

When the flush is operated it works as a water slide, so you can quite literally drop the kids off at the pool …

Trying the world’s largest toilet for size. Photo: Kidscommons

3. Most massive footprint

At the Foreigners’ Street amusement park in Chongqing, China, the Porcelain Palace is a massive complex with more than 1000 toilets and urinals sprawling across 3000 square metres.

The façade has an ancient Egyptian theme, while another toilet complex to the south invokes the style of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, because, well… why not?

The famous, and sprawling, Porcelain Palace. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

4. Highest

Poo is a problem around Camp Four on Everest’s South Col (7906 metres above sea level), where there are no toilets and climbers just go in the snow.

Further down, at Base Camp (5364 metres), there are proper potties.

5. Tallest

Stabbing 829.8 metres into the Dubai sky, the Burj Khalifa is the planet’s tallest building, and it boasts the world’s highest restrooms in a human-made structure.

The crapper in the clouds on the 154th floor (585 metres) is surrounded by windows.

6. Most remote

In orbit an average of 400 kilometres above our heads, the
International Space Station has space loos in its Zvezda, Nauka and Tranquility units, including a titanium toilet that cost $US23 million ($A35 million) to develop.

Just like on Earth! One of the loos on the International Space Station. Photo: NASA

7. Deepest

Well over 2000 metres below the surface of the planet, at SNOLAB – an underground research laboratory in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada – are four flush toilets, the deepest dunnies on (in) Earth.

8. Lowest

The Dead Sea is the lowest place on the planet, and if visiting the lowest latrine in the world is on your bucket list, then you can queue for the loo at Amman Beach on the Jordanian side of the super salty sea, or Ein Bokek Beach on the Israeli shore.

9. Oldest

Discovered by archaeologists during a dig in Xi’an, China, in 2023, the oldest known flush-toilets in the world date to about 400 BCE.

Bog boffins believe this toilet was warmed by an emperor and flushed manually by servants.

The pricey Hang Fung golden throne. Photo: X

10. Most expensive

An 18-carat gold toilet worth £4.8 million ($A9.6 million) was part of a participatory art project (punters were encouraged to use it) at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, until it was stolen.

However, the most expensive toilet on record was in Hang Fung Gold Technology’s showroom in Hong Kong. It was made with 24-carat gold and coated with gems – and worth some $US29 million.

Lonely Planet’s Toilets of the World is available from shop.lonelyplanet.com or where all good books are sold. RRP $24.99