Laundry while in 13 day trip

There are self-service laundries and dry cleaners in most cities. I’ve done a Google search prior to traveling to see where I might be able to do laundry. Also, most hotel rooms have heated towel bars, so some larger items can be hand washed and dried.

I pack a 21” carryon for a two-week trip in winter or a six-week trip in spring, planning my clothes using Rick’s packing list. I can’t handle maneuvering a larger suitcase, so I’m content with repeating outfits and enjoying traveling light.

Google “laverie” and whatever towns you plan to stop in. Plan for laundry to take more time than it might in the US. You might also be able to drop off a load and have it washed for you, then pick it up later (or even have it delivered). You might check with your hotel if you will be in one place for a couple nights. They might even offer to do the laundry for you.

This might help.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/packing/has-anybody-else-used-a-speed-queen-laundromat-in-europe

If you’re layering, the micro-thin 32 degree tops that are usually at Costco work great, and they will dry very quickly. Your outer layers should be fine for a few wearings unless you spill food on them. We had one trip that was cold in Switzerland, and I always had a micro-thin top as the base layer.

I have even used the long sleeve black scoop neck ones alone with a pair of black pants, black flats & a nice large scarf for an evening dinner for early Fall or cooler mountain evenings in Summer.

Otherwise, I always just sink wash everything, wrap it in a towel - squeeze & hold for 30 seconds, and everything is usually dry by morning or that afternoon. (I used to do the same for work trips that were 1-2 weeks.)

Wear clothes for 7 days. Launder, rinse.
Repeat!

In Paris near where I stay is a "laverie." This is very close to Gare du Nord. Does your trip include Paris?

There are laundromats (laveries) in any town of sufficient size. And in a student town they're absolutely everywhere. They're DIY - very few places will take care of stuff for you ("wash and fold", which I've seen elsewhere in Europe, is not a thing here). However, when the washing machine runs you are free to leave the place and wander around for the 45-60 minutes that it takes. You only need to hang around for the drying phase, because anyone can open the dryers.

However, when the washing machine runs you are free to leave the place and wander around for the 45-60 minutes that it takes. You only need to hang around for the drying phase, because anyone can open the dryers.

Do the washers have a lock?

My experience is that you can't open them during the cycle (edit: it unlocks at the end, to clarify). And that's what everyone does, at least in Paris, where I occasionally use my nearest laundromat when I need a dryer.

On such a short trip I bite the bullet and pay for the hotel to do my laundry. It always comes back immaculately pressed and I haven't wasted a minute. Some are more expensive than others, for sure. But having clean clothes and time to do what I want are most valuable to me.

Based on my experience, a lot of the hotel sinks are often not deep enough to adequately do laundry. That said, beginning with my first Rick Steves tour, I brought a Scrubba bag so I wasn't at the mercy of finding a laundromat or having to pay someone else to wash my clothes. It was a quick and easy wash every two nights or so and I would allow the clothes to hang dry in the closet or shower. For thicker items, you'll need towels to help extract the water, but overall, it worked out well. Allowed me to pack lightly enough so that I was still able to carry my own backpack for 2 weeks! I don't want strangers washing my clothes for fear of them getting washed improperly.

If you do choose to go with a laundromat, just grab a croissant and a coffee and plan to hang out there for a bit. It's a good time to catch up on blogging, edit your photos, and can make for some great people watching!

Overall, just remember to choose neutral clothes so that you easily can mix and match a few items over 2 weeks. That's the key!

My wife and I were in France a month ago. 17 nights and we did laundry 3 times, Chamonix, Nimes, Paris. I like to do my search before we depart so I have an idea of where and when I'll need to find the laverie. Be sure to confirm the hours of operation too. So easy to find an hour or two to do laundry, and I rarely wait in the laverie. Early morning, I'll get it started and go for a walk. Later in the day, I'll go for a beer and a snack. "Wash and fold" service is great, but we couldn't find one in France this trip. But in Greece, on the other hand, we found lots of "wash and fold" places. Go figure..... I also bring a couple travel size Tide packs to take away some of the guesswork!!!

I just look to book a stay in the middle of my days that has a washer.

When we’ve done laundry (in Spain) the washer was locked until the cycle was over, then it unlocked automatically. If you weren’t there when it unlocked and somebody needed the machine, they’d place the wet clothes in a hamper. For us, unless the trip is for more than 18 days, we don’t need to do laundry.

We've traveled both in Europe and North America for a month at a time, at least 5 times, now. We always do just carry on luggage. I've never used a laundry mat on our travels. I rarely buy clothes that are strictly for travel. I wash underthings when I shower, makes my shower a half minute longer, maybe. I chose clothes that dry quickly. It is quick to wash out a dress or skirt. We rarely bring jeans. I have never needed to wash out an outer layer, like a sweater or pullover. If I did, often my pullover is fleece which dries quickly. If something that I think I will wear again on the trip get soiled, I wash it immediately. I don't ever have a "load" of laundry that I carry around.

There are certain things I've learned as I travel. For example, NO to cotton socks. They really stink when they get wet and take forever to dry. I layer, like crazy. Even in Switzerland in January, I did not have a winter jacket. (long underwear shirt, long sleeve shirt, lightweight fleece pullover, lightweight quilted jacket (meant for 25-45 degrees), raincoat)

I recommend watching some of Adventures with Sarah videos on packing and doing laundry on the go.

I am just here to reaffirm what Balso states - I always leave my laundry in the washer and go off and come back a few minutes before it's done. Nobody is going to rip open the door of a washing machine while it is in its cycle.

To be honest, I leave when I set the dryer too, but I live in my neighborhood and have been doing this for years. If I was visiting somewhere new that I didn't know very well, I might be more inclined to stay. (I do run dryer cycles for longer though, because I prefer not to use the high setting, and I only wash/dry sheets, towels, and duvets at the laundromat.)

For doing hand laundry in the sink, bring a cover for the drain as many hotel sinks do not have stoppers. Buy some blow up hangars to dry shirts much faster.

Blowup hangars are good yes, as is one of those stretchy rubber clotheslines - you really need one of those.

My main "secret" is to avoid cotton, since it just takes way too long to dry. When I'm home everything is cotton, when I'm on the road everything is microfiber or a poly/cotton blend. And let's be real, if you bring 3 or 4 shirts and wear each one twice, you're already home and your trip is over right?

We've been to Europe for 3 trips, all about a month long and we research places where we can drop the clothes off and pick them up the next day (or sometimes same day). I use Google mostly, then someone on the forum recommended also emailing the hotel, to see if there's a place nearby to drop the laundry off at. This was great advice. One of the hotels we stayed at in Dublin this summer, partnered with a take out service and we dropped the laundry off downstairs the night before and the next afternoon it came back washed/dried/folded. Was about 20E and that was for about a week's worth of clothes for my wife and I. This was a different service than having the hotel do it.

Our first trip about 15 years ago we tried the self washing of socks and underwear. Not sure if it was the type of socks I brought or my poor washing skills (probably the latter!), but by the end of the month my socks were super smelly. The look I got from my wife when I took my shoes off on the flight home was pretty priceless. They went back on pretty quick!

We don't care to do much laundry in the sink, so we also have used Google to find a service close to our hotel and have never had any problems. The hotel is also a great resource for a recommendation. I think the time savings of letting some else do it is more than worth it, especially with what you have already invested in the trip.

Lately, we prefer to book an Air B&B in the middle of the trip, with in unit laundry, and pack a little laundry soap, but everywhere we have booked has had some soap in the unit. It is reassuring to not have your things leave your possession.

As others have noted, laveries are quite common and easy to find in the central parts of most towns of a sufficient size (maybe 5,000 people or larger), possibly some smaller places. They have washers and dryers and pretty much all of them sell detergent from vending machines as well. Many of them these days accept cards so you don't have to worry about scrounging up change.

In addition, if you'll have a car, many supermarkets have standalone laundry facilities under a canopy in their parking lots. Stores such as Intermarché and Carrefour spring to mind.

And don't worry about getting by for 13 days. Before we moved here my wife and I did a 5-week trip across France with just our carryon bags. Never had trouble with laundry.

We always get apartments with washers but sometimes there are not dryers. The apartment we usually stay in has an American style dryer (except for the water reservoir that has to be emptied by hand). But the one we return to this fall just has a washer. I usually just throw the wet wash in a grocery bag and walk down to the laundromat and and dry them. the giant industrial dryers work very quickly. The alternative is hanging them on the rack provided.

Washers lock and so you are safe leaving the place while they run, dryers on the other hand can be opened, so you do need to stay, but the cycles go very quickly.

While washers take hours in apartments, the commercial ones are much faster and the dryers even more so.

Some of the most memorable conversations with actual locals not in the travel industry have been at laundries in France and the UK. Most don’t have dryers at home so they use the public ones. Start the conversation by asking for help.

Good point -- use of the machines is not obvious for Americans -- all the transactions are done on a central panel and I have had one or two that don't seem to work when I do what seems to be the right thing. Locals are always good about showing one how it works. If you speak French, a conversation might ensue -- and occasionally you get someone wanting to try out their English.

There are not many chairs in most laundromats. As an old lady I usually don't have a problem being offered one, but it can be an issue. The one near the apartment we will be in this fall, only has two chairs (nailed to the floor) for 6 dryers.