Laundromat vs. Hotel Sink

Socks, undies & synthetic t-shirts = sink

Pants & nice shirts = laundromats

If you take this approach, you probably will only need to hit a laundromat once, maybe twice.

Pete

We left for our last trip with every intention of doing all of our laundry in the sink. I even bought the RS laundry cord. After doing our first "load" my hands were killing me from rinsing and wringing the clothes out. My husband and I both worked at it, but it took forever for our clothes to dry. Granted the weather was cold and damp, but it was altogether a very unpleasant experience. From then on out during our 5 weeks we hit up laundromats. In the larger cities there is almost always one near the train station, but finding one in a small town can be difficult. Some of the smaller hotels offer laundry service, and we found a few places where you could drop off the laundry and pick it up later. It did take a little extra time, but really not too bad. I've been trying to research possible laundry facilities for our upcoming trip, but not having any luck. Rick mentions a few, but mostly just in big cities. If you let me know what cities you're going to I'll see if I can help

For less then 2 weeks I do only undies and socks, so the sink.
For longer trips I have always lucked out by visits to friends and relatives, they always offer to let us do a load. French machines are super weird, they wash and dry,, in the same machine, and frankly, do neither well.LoL

I do not bring jeans. I can sponge off black slacks , or throw the synthetic ones in the sink, jeans are too heavy.

I just bought some powdered cleanser,, meant for delicates, so it should rinse out easy, it is called " forever new" and I found it at the lingerie department of a store.

We usually plan a laundromat stop half way on our trips of 2 weeks or more. In some you can drop your laundry and pick it up hours later for an extra fee. Once we paid more to let the hotel do it because neither of us wanted to miss touring time. Anyway, I have met and had very interesting conversations with local and/or fellow travelers in laundromats when I had to wait for my laundry.

We'll be spending 19 days in Italy and planned our trip in a way that right in the middle we arrive at an appartment in Tuscany where we'll spend a week. Cheaper than a hotel and it includes a washer!

Laundry can be fun. I remember a great evening in Florance sitting outside the laundromat, eating patries and watching life go by. I also had a great experiance in Portsmouth, I found a laundromat with a pub next door. The key is to find a well located laundromat, some even have WI FI, and put the time to dual use.

I washed shirts, undies, and socks in the sink no problem. Pants however are a bit more problematic. I had the hotel do it for me once and my brother did it at his flat another couple times on my last trip. Having the hotel do it vs. going to a laundromat really wasn't a big savings so I let them do it and went about my way enjoying Europe. A mom-and-pop type of hotel is most likely going to be much cheaper than a chain.

Jeans are harder to wash in the sink, if not impossible. But the rest of the "soft" stuff, I wash in the sink without any problems. I pack light , so I have to wash often and I really prefer to do in the sink.

A couple of keys to doing successful in hotel laundry. You have to have the right fabrics -- synthetic blends, no cotton. Second, you are not washing clothes more just a good rinsing. Use a very, very small amount of soap. We use a backpacking soap call, CampSuds -- designed for that purpose. We pack two changes of clothes and wear one. At the end of each day we wash our underwear and shirt. Rarely wash pants unless stained that day. Takes about as nuch time as brushing teeth. (At one time we would only wash every three or four days but that became a chore and having a place to hang everything was a problems. ) Next day we put on the clothes and go. Every two or three days will change to unused clothes and about every seven to ten days will find a laundromat and through wash everything. For us the developed routine is nearly effortless and takes very little time.

I also make sure to take clothes made from fabrics that are quick dry and easy care. Try washing them in the sink BEFORE you leave, see how much time they take to dry. I have even some 100% cotton clothes that dry overnight. You can make it with a small number of clothing items - two weeks with 9 pieces, see example at HERE

That said, on my 20 day trip to Italy, I paid 13 euros (about $16 then, now $20) for a very, very small load of laundry (mostly pants and shirts). It was done by the hotel staff (same price for self serve, so why not!). Clothes were still damp even after laundering. Worth it though, since I was in the Cinque Terre and wasn't about to spend two hours at the laundry.

I wash everything in the sink or the bathtub.

Don't forget about a quick wash in the shower or bath.
I won't forget the time in Barvaria when I found some hair conditioner that smelled so good that my clothes also smelled like the best honey vanilla cake ever and 5 different people said I smelled delicious on a tour of the castles.

Hi Kim, In my experience, other than the obvious washables, plan to visit a laundromat. There are many in every city that will even monitor your load, wash, dry, fold. I find it worth every penny. Leave the clothes early AM, pick up later in the day. Check the hours so you don't arrive after they have closed. The value of your sightseeing time is worth more than the few extra dollars paid to have your laundry done.

I use a small dab of shampoo for hand washing. I like the idea of using good smelling shampoo. It works fine and helps minimize liquids in my carry-on bag. I've used other products such as Woolite but find most of them harsh on my hands. I don't get really dirty/smelly, so the need for cleaning is slight. I use towels or my pack towel to "wring out" my wet things so they will dry overnight. I like to handwash every evening so that there are only two or three things to wash and I'm not hauling dirty laundry around from town to town. When in France or England I like to take everything to the laundromat every week or so. In Italy I stick with hand-washing; laundromats are very slow and expensive. Rome and Florence have reasonable laundromats, if you can find them.