On our 17 day trip we will need to do laundry. Dang it. We will pack for one week for three of us. Laundrymats are common at home but I have this sneaking suspicion things don't work that way in London or N. Spain. Hopefully I am wrong but I just know the good people of Fodorland can clue me in on the mechanics of laundry. thereyet

You can usually find a laundromat in any city or just stay in an apartment that has a washer and do it yourself.

Hotels charge an awful lot and sometimes you don't get things back quickly or when you most need them.

You will have no problems finding Laundromats (many different names - launderette, etc)

The great thing is in most, you can leave your laundry and the attendant will wash and fold it for very little more than what it costs for you to sit there 90 minutes and do it yourselves. So you can drop it off and come back later to pick it up.

oh, they work pretty much the same way

Thank you Janisj, and cupid. I really don't mind the little down time of sitting in a launderette, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee but... there is a good chance I just won't have the time to do it myself because the days will be filled to the brim as is. Thanks again, thereyet

What do you like to do while the laundry is being done? thereyet

My sister and I actually enjoy our time at laundromats in Europe! Weirdly, it's part of the cultural experience for us, sometimes ith a chance to visit with locals in an unhurried atmosphere.

Some things we've learned: In all the European countries where we've visited laundromats, we found the wash cycles much longer than what we're accustomed to in the US. You might want to double the time you budget for your laundromat visit.

Instructions were sometimes problematic for us, because of the language barrier.

Most important, keep in mind in Spain most laundromats are going to be closed during siesta time. We learned this the hard way in Salamanca. You lug all your stuff to a laundromat a considerable distance from your hotel, only to find it's closed for a couple of hours for siesta.

By the way, that laundromat in Salamance turned out to be great, because it also had internet available, so I was able to upload my photos to DotPhoto and catch up on e-mail while our clothes were washing.

Hi t,

> What do you like to do while the laundry is being done?

We drop it off and go about our sightseeing.

Pick it up at the end of the day or following morning.

The thrill of watching clothes go 'round and 'round in the washer and dryer palled after the first few visits.

If you can find a drop off service, that's the beauty of it, you just go on with whatever your plans were for that day.

Hi thereyet, packing for just one week is what I do and IMHO a smart thing to do. I have always used the drop off service laundry's in Italy and that has always worked well for me.

Part of the key to doing laundry conveniently is having the right type of clothing. We travel very light for about four weeks at a time with three changes of clothing -- wear one, pack two. All of our clothing is a synthetic blend -- no cotton -- a couple pairs of pants do have a 20% cotton blend. We raise underwear and shirts each night -- ten minutes tops -- hang to dry and good to go the next day. As we move about we keep an eye out for a self service laundry. Most of the time we will spot one every fews days or so. We try to wash everything about every 8 to 10 days. If we have not found one in that time period then we ask at the botel or B&B for directions. A couple of times we have had to take a taxi because it was not convenient to where we were. Our attitude towards laundramats is same as bathrooms. If you find one, use it. And with synthetic clothing it dries quickly so you don't spend a lot of time waiting for cotton jeans to dry.