laundry???

Five star hotels will have some kind of laundry service. It will be expensive, but if you can afford the hotel . . .

I agree. Use the hotel laundry service. And to be double sure, you might check ahead of time with your hotel.

I doubt there will be a laundromat in the neighborhood.

When I travel to europe I plan on doing laundry once a week. On my trips the past 5 years I have used the RS travel books using the laundry places he recommends. On my last trip to Switzerland I did laundry in Zermatt and Luzern both were excellent. Nice thing in Switzerland they do the laundy for you and charge you by the kilo which came out to around 20 euros for two of us.
In Amsterdam I used a place in Jordann called Clean Brothers Wasserij which is on Westerstraat 26. You can do the laundry on your own or drop off. The tour of Switzerland was by Tauck which stays at high end hotels. I never send out laundry using hotel services.

'I doubt there will be a laundromat in the neighborhood.' Rough statment, but I'll play along. No neighborhoods where mentioned as a basis for the statement, just two cities and whole country, but: It seems that there's a laundromat around every corner in London. I've done laundry at two places in Dublin. Five star hotels exist in other areas which are certainly large enough to have laundromats. I've never done laundry in Amsterdam, but apparently others have. The hotel would still probably be best for Reid.

5 star hotels will usually have a laundry service- and usually same day which is a help. Obviously more expensive than a laundromat, but it does enable you to spend your time sightseeing, which has value

You could test Richard's theory there are no laundromats in these 2 cities (and Ireland) by simply typing the address of your hotel into Google Maps and then clicking on "search nearby" and entering "laundromat". I believe you will find a few as I have done laundry in all of the countries you will be visiting. Major cities (like Amsterdam & London) are easy to find a laundromat. Where are you going in Ireland (I am assuming you will be in one of the larger cities at some point as there aren't a lot of 5-star hotels outside of Dublin, Cork, Galway)? And laundromats (including ones that offer both self-serve and drop off service) can be found near even 5 star hotels as most 5 stars are located very central and typically near or within a business district (just like in the U.S. cities, local office workers often drop off shirts and pants to be cleaned and ironed). Naturally, the most convenient option will be to have your hotel laundry service take care of it for you, but it will cost more than even the drop-off same day service offered at a local laundromat.

Thanks C... In IRL we are doing a 9 day tour starting in Dublin and ending at Dromoland Castle. In between, we are at Ashford Castle, Kinsale, and Kilarny. We are spending a few days at each. Thanks RC

I do the laundry in the sink and let it dry in the room overnight. I find it easier and quicker than spending a couple of hours in the laundry mat.

Five star hotels tend to be on expensive real estate, laundromats do not. I doubt you will walk around the corner from a five star and find a laundromat. Now go waste some time on Google to find an exception to prove me wrong.

Reid, If you're going on to Paris, Berlin or Vienna, I can provide the addresss of public laundrymats, if you need them....laundrymats which I have seen myself. But it looks as though (from your list) these cities won't be on the itinerary this time.

Thanks Fred, WE are doing a day trip to Paris. I think we are going to try the sink method and if that does not suffice, we will just use the hotel.... Thanks.. RC

@Richard: Perhaps you should go back and read the Webmaster's thread at the top of the page regarding posting behaviour. Particularly: "You can, and should, post your own opinion to show a different and/or contrary viewpoint. However, on the flipside, if someone else responds in a way that is contrary to your posted opinion, let it be." Just because a few people have had a different experience from you doesn't mean you need to get your panties in a bunch. Other than Ashford Castle, I have no idea what hotels Reid plans to stay at, but I do know that the not so swanky lodging I stayed at in Dublin on a recent trip was in the exact same area as The Westbury (a 5 star hotel) and I was able to do a load of coin-op laundry 3 blocks away from The Westbury. I would classify 3 Dublin blocks (which are short and nothing compared to a NYC or Chicago block) as "in the neighborhood". Now 3 short blocks probably seems like 3 miles to many car-dependent residents of L.A. who hop in their SUV to get milk from the corner store, but to someone from the Northeast, 3 blocks is no great distance (even carrying a week's worth of dirty clothing). @Reid: Ashford Castle definitely has guest laundry service on-site. Sign up for the terrific falconry walk or go fishing on the castle grounds and enjoy your time there while they take care of your laundry.

Thanks C, I agree with your statement to Robert and I just ignored him,... We are staying at Dromoland castle, The Clarence in Dublin, Kilarney park, The Carlton in Kinsale.... Have you stayed at Ashford? We saw that and dromoland and felt they were two home runs. I would be interested to hear your thoughts. You say the Falconry is worth it? I was looking at that and wondering... IT looks kind of fun... Anyway, Thanks for your input.. RC

A few notes on urban georography in case anybody else is looking for something. Residential areas tend to be modular since MrRichGuy doesn't want to look over his back fence at the likes of me. Commerical areas are largely linear and laminar.. High price per square foot is actually front-footage on the grand bouleveards. On the main drag are the big hotels, the jewelry and clothing stores, and so forth. Assuming the fancy hotel is a block deep, if you go out the back door and look around you'll find find all kinds of stuff: laundromats, hardware stores, places where the plumbers and shopkeepers eat, etc. This pattern will continue for a few more streets and then start to reverse itself as you apporach another main steet. The perpendicular steets follow the same pattern with the more expensive places (such as restaurants) close to, and in view of, the main drag. The pattern repeats itself in London, Beriut, Tokyo, and Dublin. Not so much so in Amsterdam since things tend to get channelized by the canal system. I can't think of a single city I've been in that I couldn't find what I was looking for in very short order. A little basic knowledge beats bad guessing and the mad dash for a computer.

Hi Reid, The public laundry I am familiar with in Paris is located in the 10th arr...the Gare du Nord area. It's "Lav Club", 141 Rue Du Faubourg Saint Denis. There are instructions posted in English on using the machines, should you need to use the facilities. No need to use Google, I wouldn't.

@ Ed Pensacola I agree with your geography lesson. But there can be times when a hotel is not near a laundry mat. Hotel is in a commercial/business/government area with no residential housing. Very expensive hotel or a dumpy motel it doesn't matter a single hotel isn't going to be generate enough business make a laundry profitable if all the rest of the building for several blocks are restaurants, office buildings, government builds, factory etc. OR Hotel is in a suburban community where everyone has their own washer and dryer in their home. In both these cases you are unlikely to find a laundry mat "around the corner" regardless of the type of hotel. However at the more budget places you are likely to find coin operated machines in the basement with the owner looking to profit off of the coins but at some of the more expensive the only option is a more expensive pay service instead of the cheaper do it yourself.

Anything is possible, but I should have mentioned vertical stratification in the commercial areas as well. On the back streets of the commercial district are less plush commercial establishements on the first level, but residences on the upper levels. This is even more true the older a city is. The people that live up there need a neighborhood eatery, hardware store, place to do laundry etc. My earlier thought has no applicability to an insular hotel (a resort remote from anything, for example).

I've found laundromats in most cities and towns that I've visited, and I usually just ask at the desk where to find one. Often they offer very reasonable "drop off" service - drop it off in the morning and pick it up again in the afternoon. This is just washing, drying and folding - clothes aren't ironed or hung on hangers. However, when considering the cost of using the hotel's laundry service, take into account your own time - how much of your vacation "dollars" do you want to devote to finding an inexpensive laundromat?

Prior to leaving for europe I look up recommened laundramats in the RS guidebook and waste little time looking for them. I drop off my clothes early in the morning and pick them up later in the afternoon. The average cost in Switzerland using laundramats in Zermatt and Luzern was 20 euros. Using the hotel service would have cost me 60 euros.
Some do it yourself places takes no more than 2 hours which I use as downtime after a day of travel. The RS recommended place in Lucca had a nice martini bar and food 20 yds away where most of our group used.