Why do many Spanish homes have bidets?

Bidets were invented by the French during the 1600s, but while they are now virtually non-existent in France, in Spain they’re still in many homes.

If you're not very familiar with bidets, you might make the mistake of thinking they're for washing feet (or a great place for hand washing clothes), but in fact they are specifically for washing your nether regions after going to the toilet, instead of using toilet paper. You sit on them, turn on the tap, wash your bum, you get the picture. 

They were mainly introduced for hygiene purposes and throughout the ages, many doctors have championed their use. 

It's not only in Spain where bidets are popular, they're also widely used in Italy, Portugal, Greece, some South American countries, Japan and India. That means that for a great number of foreigners who move to Spain, it's the first time they've ever seen a bidet. 

Bidets were first introduced in Spain in the 1960s, during the Franco era, and soon became a must-have luxury.

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In the 1970s and 1980s, the bidet became standard in most households in Spain and was just as common as a sink or a toilet. They even became mandatory in apartments with four or more bedrooms according to the official public protection system. It was also obligatory for social housing between 1976 and 1978.

During the 1980s, it was very common for most hotels in Spain to have bidets too.  

But after the 1980s, the popularity of bidets began to wane. Bathrooms started to get smaller and even baths were replaced by simple showers. Even so, they remained in many Spanish households until the early 2000s. 

Between 2010 and 2020, the number of bidets in Spain fell by 60 percent.

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This means that bidets are much more common in older properties in Spain, but you may still find them in homes where the bathrooms have not been refurbished recently. 

Many Spanish homeowners nowadays are prepared to sacrifice their bidets for the sake of having extra space in their bathrooms. Photo: Mariakray/Pixabay

Bidets are still law in one place in Spain

There is one place in Spain where the bidet remains mandatory and where you’ll see them everywhere. This is the city of Zamora in Castilla y León (western Spain). Here bidets are still a requirement for bathrooms in all new builds.

This is the only city in Spain where the installation of bidets is still mandatory by law, a rule which has been in place since 1986.

These requirements were maintained when the plan was renewed in 2001 and again in 2011 with the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU) law, which is currently in force.

Increase in popularity again during the pandemic

While in most other places of Spain, the presence of bidets is disappearing, they did become important once more during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Due to the lack of toilet paper available in supermarkets, Google searches for bidets increased by 1,000 percent, particularly in Spain.

Could there be a resurgence of bidets or was this just a trend during the pandemic?

We may still see bidets in Spain for a few more years yet. ¡Viva el bidé! (Long live the bidet!)