Italy-Hair Dryer

Ann,

Check the Magellans website. However, I've found that many Hotels in Europe (including Italy) now provide Hair Dryers for guests. Sometimes these are kept at the Front Desk and you have to ask for them.

Happy travels!

I have a travel blow dryer that I bought here in the U.S. It is dual voltage and works perfectly well in Europe with a plug adapter. I bought mine on sale at a travel store, but I have seen small folding travel dryers at places like Target or Walmart.

The advantage of buying one here is that it is also useful for traveling anywhere, not just Europe. You would just need the plug adapter for wherever you are traveling, or none at all if you are traveling here.

I have found that MOST places have a hair dryer available. For my upcoming 4 week trip I have decided to leave my dryer at home, because as far as I can tell all the places I have reserved have one. If you are not reserving lodging ahead of time you will probably want to bring one with you.

The key to making a dual-voltage one last is to be diligent about using the switch that adapts it to 220-240V. On most driers, it is a little screw that you turn, with a small coin or similar. Basically it just locks out the "high" setting and the "low" becomes "high" because of the higher voltage. That means you don't have a "low" so if that is an issue you might do better with a European one.

I bought a folding hairdryer at Magellen (online) for our recent trip and it worked fine.

Usually you can get an adaptor. We went to Italy last summer for fifteen nights and pretty much all of the hotels had a hairdryer. If your hotel has one, it could be one less thing to lug around.

Depending on your hairstyle this might not work for you, but you might consider streamlining your routine and not bothering with a hair dryer at all (unless the place you're staying already has one). I have short hair and when it's really hot I can just towel-dry and go. It air dries very quickly. I have a friend with longer hair, and she just puts it up in a cute twist with a clip while it's still wet. It looks great all day and is cooler, too. Maybe this isn't for everyone, but it's something to consider.

I bought one at Walgreens with a dual converter. Worked great everywhere except Venice, where it tripped the circuit, but this was common enough that they had a switch on the wall!

It was only $14.99, so I figured why not. Packed light and little!! Two of our hotels had dryers mounted on the walls, but they were like a gentle wind. I wanted to be out the door in 5 minutes, so I used my own.

I bought one in Italy a few years ago for 12 euros. It goes with me every time I stay at a hotel where I'm not sure if they provide one. I never have to worry about switching currents or if it'll fit in the plug. My sister has borrowed it for her last 2 trips and we'll take it again next year when we tour Bavaria. If you travel to Europe even once a year, it's worth the small investment.

My wife bought the Andis MicroTurbo 1600 dual-voltage hairdryer a few years ago and she swears by it and brings it on every trip.

I'd skip bringing a hair dryer. I stayed in budget hotels/b&b's in Italy (6 total) and they all had one in the room. I would ask them before you book. A tiny bit more room in your luggage for souvenirs if you don't bring one :)

I always carry my own 1600W travel dual voltage dryer both here and in the US. It depends on your hair. I have thick, shoulder length hair that requires brushing while using a dryer so it doesn't frizz and curl to an unattractive style of it's own! The hairdryers on the walls in hotels do not have enough power and heat to dry my hair. My own dryer does it efficiently in just a few minutes. It all depends on your type of hair and style.

After a number of trips to Europe I finally purchased a hair dryer in Italy. Have used it on several more trips and it was worth the small price I paid for it. Previously would bring a dual voltage dryer from home and it just didn't have any power once you switched the voltage and it always smelled hot like it was going to start on fire.

Every hotel we've ever stayed at had a built-in hairdryer. It might be Italian Code.

My wife uses a regular US hairdryer in europe ( including Italy. According to her, their hairdryers really blow ). The trick is we found a voltage converter at Wal-Mart's travel section that has a high and low setting, with plug adapters to fit all the different country outlets ( we use the high setting most of the time ). So far nothing has been tripped off or caught on fire. When she gets done with it I use it to charge the batteries on the camera or the computer. I've had it for about seven or eight years and I'm surprised it still works when I plug it in. Maybe it's time to get new one. It's about $18.00.

Every hotel we stayed at in Italy this summer had a hairdryer.

Leave yours at home and use the space for something else.

I second Miquel's wife's comment...my travel buddy and I joke about the hair dryers in Europe, they are terrible! At least in the hotels...buying one is a good idea. This from a woman with long hair that MUST be dried, or pulled back tightly.

I picked one up for my wife from LL Bean a few years back (it was small, foldable, and dual voltage), but I can't remember the name. If it's really important to you, e-mail me and I'll dig it out and let you know. What I do remember is that the hair dryers provided over there (not always the case) weren't very good. We have a voltage converter that we always have with us for various power issues, although her hair dryer only required a plug adaptor to work.