Laundromats in Madrid, Barcelona (redux) and, by extension, elsewhere in Europe
 

We're just back from Spain, and I'm glad to be able to answer the question that I posted here before we left. First, I should mention that this is a little long and mainly of interest to Midwesterners, who are especially concerned about clean underwear. For those of us raised in Ohio and environs, wearing dirty clothes isn't a viable option. Plus I like to figure out how I'd live wherever we're traveling, and I can't envision doing hand laundry as a regular thing.

In central Madrid there's a small, clean self-serve LavaMatic at Calle Cruz #35. It's just off the Plaza Santa Ana and within easy walking distance from Plaza Major, near where we were staying. Plus it's just down the street from a Maestro Churro that has good hot chocolate. My wife and I spent a pleasant Saturday morning there, learning how to use the machines (instructions in English but require some puzzling out)and helping a young Spanish soldier do the same. It was our first laundromat in Spain, and it was his first time doing laundry on his own. Go by 11 am or earlier to get a washer.

We found out about this place through our hotel, a two-star that didn't offer laundry service. In contrast, the four-star hotel in Barcelona did have laundry service (E1.80 each for men's slips, apparently a euphemism for jockey shorts)and no information on local laundromats. However, I found before we left that the Rough Guide for Barcelona has an extensive list of laundromats (indexed under "laundry"). And the Time Out guide to Barcelona (7th ed.) that I was using lists a few, although they're not indexed and I didn't come across them 'til near the end of the trip. (They're on p. 191 for those using this otherwise useful guide book.)

By extension and from experience now in a half dozen cities or so, I think it's fairly easy and kind of interesting to find laundromats pretty much anywhere in Europe. After all, they have dirty underwear to contend with too.

Joe, for heaven's sake, do you think non-midwesterners don't care about clean underwear!!!!!!!! Scurrilous suggestion!

However, I would add to your otherwise helpful suggestion the warning to be more careful about dealing with laundry service in Spain than we were in Barcelona. Not wanting to pay hotel laundry prices, we inquired about a Laundromat (that's a trademark, did you know that?) nearby and were directed to a drop it off/pick it up place. Since that was going to save us the waiting and shlepping time, and the price was (I think) by the pound, we happily handed it over to the nice women.

Unfortunately, the nice women seem to have divided the laundry into underpants and male T-shirts and Everything Else. The underpants got washed in soap and water; the cotton shirts, jersseys, and nightgown got chemically drycleaned. The chemical reek from my nightgown was so strong that I had to wash it out in the hotel sink several times and wore DH's longest T-Shirt to sleep in until it dried.

Wish I'd learned a) the words for "wash" and "dry clean" and b) the likely choices if one fails to be very specific about how one wants things cleaned.

BTW: re: doing hand laundry -- for an Ohio male is that somehow worse than dirty underwear?

Gosh, I didn't realize that only people in Ohio and surronding areas wore clean underwear. That sure sends a bad message about the rest of us, giggle!!!

Bet you two and fun showing the young Spanish soldier how to do laundry Joe. Imagine he will always remember you.
Sounds like you had a fun trip.

Sorry; the regional humor wasn't intended to cast aspersions-scurrilous or otherwise--on people in the rest of the country. I've been away from Ohio for a long time, and I agree that attention to personal hygiene isn't limited to the Midwest.

Rick Steves is usually a good source for info about laundromats also. He pointed us to a neat one in Salamanca which also included internet access, so I could upload my digital photos to www.dotphoto.com while our clothes were washing and drying.

One important thing to remember about Spanish laundromats, however, is that they're not open during Siesta.

I've always been a fan of doing my own laundry in Europe (and not just because I'm a Midwesterner, but because I don't like to take a lot of luggage, and because I usually have children in tow) and have actually advocated doing laundry as a way of experiencing daily life in other countries. I've done laundry in England, France, Spain, Germany, and Israel. On a recent trip to England, however, we could not locate convenient "laundrettes" (as the Brits call them). We did have fun traipsing around York looking for one, only to find it closing at 5 p.m. Is this because more Brits, like Americans, have their own washing machines these days? I guess I will have to do more intense research on "laundrettes" for the next trip.

I found this chain of laundry coin shops, the service is not bad:

www.lavayseca.com
. C/ Peña Prieta, 40 (Vallecas)
. C/ General Ricardos, 107 (Carabanchel)
. C/ Bravo Murillo, 329 (Valdecederas)
. C/ Valencia 22
. C/ Carlos Martín Alvarez, 71 (Vallecas)
. C/ Juan Muñoz, 51 (Leganes)
. C/ La Huerta, 6 (Alcorcón)
. C/ Ramos Carrión 4 (Prosperidad)
. Av. Dolores Barranco 80 Madrid (Usera)
. Paseo Alberto palacios, 35 (Villaverde)
. C/. Silva 3, Callao
. C/. Hernani 15, Cuatro Caminos
. C/. Doctor Esquerdo 41, (Sainz de Baranda)
. C/. Cartagena 21

I've decided I'll try the hotel laundry service the next time I travel. When I spend a substantial amount of money on a trip, it seems silly to me to balk at paying those laundry fees, no matter that I think they're overpriced.

I mean, it's vacation, right?

I've used laundromats in many places--Salamanca, Rothenburg, Siena, etc. I usually check Rick Steves for addresses. We also came up against the siesta in Salamanca.

jorge topped a 9 year old thread. He's probably promoting his own laundry service.

Let's Go also lists laundromats.