troy

I will be spending several weeks in Italy and therefore will need to do laundry at some point. I am trying to decide between getting the supplies (laundry line, soap, etc) for doing the laundry myself or just paying for it to be done at a hotel. Do most three star hotels offer laundry and if so, is it extremely pricey? Your thoughts on this are much appreciated.

Alice Twain

Also consider the option of having your laundry done at a laudry service. You can spot them in all cities, as long as you stay far from the historical centers. Most large cities also have thiose shops with rows of washing machies where you do you own laudry, I am sorry, I do not know what's their name in English. Otherways you will find several traditional "Lavanderia", where your stuff will be washed for a cheaper price than at the hotel. In any case I have alays brought with me a piece of laudry soap to use on holiday: I wash my owh shirts, panies and socks in the toilet and hang them on a piece of cord I bring along too. It all takes up as much space as... A piece of soap a a few meters of thightly bundled cord. ^_^

Nikki

Our biggest sticker shock came at a laundry in Italy ten years ago. I believe I bargained them down from the equivalent of eighty dollars to forty dollars to ransom back our shorts and underwear. I did ask how much it would be when we dropped the stuff off, but I was told they'd let me know when I picked it up. I figured how much could it be. Now I know. <BR><BR>Don't know if this is typical.

Alice Twain

Nikki:<BR><BR>Forty dollars? That is not normal!

jorge

if you have too use the sink, buy one of those flat rubber stopers.. <BR><BR><BR>having a hotel do anything for you is the most expensive option..

Sherry

Hi Troy. We were recently in Italy for a couple of weeks. I like to do laundry once a week while I am on vacation rather than washing out nightly.<BR>We were in the Chianti region of Tuscany in an apartment for the first week. The agriturismo did not provide us with laundry service, but they did have a self service washing machine that we could use for $7.50 a wash. Now, this is a typical, very small load European style machine. There was no dryer, but I wouldn't even begin to think how much they would want for that.<BR>So then we started looking for self service laundries. Even in Poggibonsi, which is quite large, we were unable to find one. Every one we found was a drop off, pick up later place. Most of the costs were about $12.00 for a load with a dry. And that was with a normal dry time, whatever that means. I was afraid something might happen like Nikki mentions. No real price until pick up and then the shock.<BR>The second week we were lucky, as the apartmet on the Amalfi coast had a washing machine, for free use.<BR>I am just telling you this as I believe it is very expensive to get laundry done in Italy. <BR>You really do not need to take the supplies with you. If you cannot find a self service laundry, which we were unable to do the first week, you won't need them. And if you are lucky enough to find one, you can buy them at any store very cheaply.<BR>But I would think getting your laundry done by the hotel would be very expensive given the prices we found. <BR>We might not have looked for self service shops in the right places, but we just couldn't seem to find any.

Alice Twain

Sherry:<BR><BR>The reason for you didn't find the dryer at the agriturismo is that in Italy dryers are not used. We just dry our laundry by hanging everything in the oen air. It leaves clothing less crubled and with a better, fresher smell. And it is cheaper too!

Rocky

Hi Troy- Just got back from Italy and here's what I found out:<BR>1) Do like the Europeans and never bathe or wash your clothes.<BR>2) Bring enough clothes to last 3 weeks like some do.<BR>3) Wash every night in your room. Not for me. Some people had the nylon convertible pants with zip off legs. Easy to wash and dry, legs essential for St. Peter's Basilica but shorts great in Italy's hot weather. Available at REI, Magellan, Sonoma Outfitters for around $65. Got mine at Big 5 for $35.<BR>4) Look up self service Lavanderia on internet. Found one in Rome, many in Florence, one in Bolzano so planned my wash to coincide with my trip. Took about 8 days laundry.<BR>5) Met a guy who bought cheap t-shirts and underwear from Costco then threw them away each day.<BR>Basically, I hate carrying around sweaty clothes all around on a trip. Enjoy Italy though- its a great vacation.

Rocky

Forgot to mention, I brought my own soap tablets (Gain I think because I've had Woolite spill on me) and my own fabric softener. The self service laundromats charge 3 euros per wash and dry so cost me 9 euros to do my laundry each time. Also usually the desk clerk will be able to show you where the nearest self service laundromat is. If you know where you are staying you might try to email them about lavanderias ahead of time.

Alice Twain

In first place what makes you think that Europeans do not wash theiur clothes while travelling. in Italy males tend to bring around loads of clean things and get back homewith loasds of grmiy stuff, but usually women do was their stuff (on the whole we are cleaner in every sense ;-P). Secondly: what's fabric softener supposed to be for? I have one slight idea of what it is for when you are at home (although I hate it), but when on holiday i do not understand the reason for getting further burdened with fabric softener, something that, on the whole, just makes clothing feel dirty even when it is clean.

Dawn

I just use the sink in the bathroom and I use the shampoo provided by the hotel as my detergent. I then hang the clothes to dry overnight, which they always do. The only article of clothing that does not work well with this method is jeans. It takes them a very long time to dry and you just don't feel as if you have gotten them as clean as the shirts. <BR><BR>I used the drycleaning service of a hotel in Rome once. It was a tad overpriced but nothing crazy like mentioned above. I believe that it was about $9 for a pair of pants, which is only a dollar or two more than I pay in DC. However, the drycleaners are not as strict about schedules are they are in the states. I barely got my pants back in time for my departure to Positano. They said it would take one day and it took almost four.

LJ

Many agritourismo and villas provide laundry service on property. One of ours cost nothing as we did it ourselves and hung out to dry- the owner provided detergent and a lesson on how to run machine-great hilarity all round. Another was $3 per load and also hang it yourself to dry. <BR><BR>If you are hotel-bound (not villa or agritourisma) consider the balloon trick for quicker drying-simply purchase a pack of kid's balloons before you go, give them a rinse (important, they smell rubbery-surprise!) blow them up and hang your wet, hand washed stuff draped over balloons attached to every available corner of your hotel room. Weird, but wonderful and it works!

Betsy

Here's a tip for drying your clothes if you're traveling by car. If something you've washed out doesn't completely dry overnight, just put it in your car (either draped over the seat or on a hanger) the next morning. Park in a sunny spot, and while you're sight-seeing your car heats up and your clothes get nice and dry!

Sherry

Hi Alice. I am curious. Are there self service laundromates and I couldn't find them, or are all of the laundry places the drop off, pick of kind.<BR>We did hang our clothes out. But in Tuscany, we had a little difficulty getting them to dry as it was raining for two days. We didn't have heat at the agriturismo during the day, so they even took a long time inside.<BR>In Amalfi, the weather was warmer and they dried fine on a line outside on a small porch with a line.

Marilyn

We take dry Woolite soap and the laundry line to wash out underwear, etc. I take the bounce sheets to put in the rinse water--it makes the clothing softer and smells nice. We also take some of the spot remover packages to remove spots. This will usually see us through 2 weeks. M.

carol

Don't waste your valuable trip time washing clothes! Bring one weeks clothes and only wash them when they get stinky or visibly soiled. If you run out of something, buy it. Hand wash only if you don't have enough dirty to make a load. Select your colours so you can get away with two or three similar coloured loads.<BR><BR>Get a service wash done about every week to ten days, but don't use the hotel service, find a place that specializes in laundry service. You can usually pick up later the same day or the next day. They charge by the weight. Make sure you request wash because dry cleaning is a lot more costly.<BR><BR>We made the dreadful mistake of getting a service wash on Santorini. About $50 for two loads. The reason is the water costs a fortune due to desalination. Most places 2 loads costs under $25, but it gives you back a day of tourism.

Susan

Several weeks is not that long... I would pack light, and just wear the same clothes over and over. A 22" roller suitcase can get you thru several weeks (especially in warmer weather).<BR><BR>I just returned from 3 weeks and it worked fine. Needed one small load of undies and tank tops done mid trip (was luckily at a friend's home who did this for me!) but could have made do with shampoo in the hotel sink method (skip the sink stopper, clothes line, packing detergent, etc.) <BR><BR>If you find you really need pants & shirts etc. done, yes, keep your eyes open or ask around for a laundry service (not thru your hotel), either self-service coin-op machines or drop-off full-service or dry cleaners, if appropriate.

Carin

Do it yourself. We had the equivalent of two loads done for us at the Hotel Santa Caterina in Siena and it cost us $78.00. Our clothes were stiff and smelled weird.

Alice Twain

If laundromats are what I meant with "those shops with rows of washing machies where you do you own laudry", they are getting more common now, but only in the big cities. There are a couple right by my office in Milano, but I haven't seen any in Tuscany yet (up here we use to say that Tuscany is at least ten years late on any innovation ^_^). In any case they ar not usually in the areas where tourists show up. They are used mainly by immigrants, so you can find them more easily in areas with lots of immigrants and therefore in really big cities anbd in the outskirts of these cities. If there are any in tuscany, they are bound to be in Prato, for instance.