We will be spending 3 1/2 weeks traveling through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, and Scotland in June and July. We are hoping to travel with carry-on luggage with a minimum of clothes. Obviously we will need to do laundry several times during our trip. Where can you find laundromats in these areas? When we were in Europe 13 years ago, we never found a laundromat and had to do all of our laundry by hand. I'm hoping this situation has changed. Can anyone give me any tips on how to find a laundromat? Thanks

They still are not easy to find. Easier in England & Scotland than in the other countries due to the ease of asking. Try near colleges, universities & hospitals in semi-residential areas of mid-sized cities. We've had some success with that.

Hi Marilyn, <BR>Sadly, it's true and getting truer. While there are plenty of exceptions, self-serve laundries are getting pretty hard to find, and when you do often as not you realize you've spent more time and effort (and sometimes money too - they're not very cheap any more), than if you just capitulate and do it yourself or have the hotel do it at their punishing rates. We finally decided last year to bite the bullet and figure it into the daily cost - hey it's only 3 weeks anyway. Although it makes you crazy to consider it, buying cheap underwear, socks, etc. at large stores in Europe (C & A, others) or at street markets, can be a semi-fun way of postponing the inevitable.. <BR>

We had to do that in Scotland. After asking several stores, we find one near a university in retail/residential area. But the hours can be very incovenient. The last load on Saturday at one place was 2:45pm. When we found out that our B&B will do that for us for 10 pounds a load, we took advantage of it and went back into town to do something more interesting instead. When we paid so much to go there, we did not want to spend prime time doing the laundaries.

Luckily, there was a self service laundromat right across the street from out hotel in Lausanne Switzerland. The machines in Europe are different than what I am used to. The cycles last alot longer and the clothes come up very clean. We thought the washer was going to take off, it spun the clothes so fast (it sounded almost like a jet engine)! The clothes come out of the washer barely damp so they don't take as long to dry. It cost us ~$10 to wash and dry a load, so it's much more expensive than at home. We spent about 2 hours there, so next time we'll probably just have them done by the hotel or laundry service.

I'm a language impaired American, but i always turned to the yellow pages and found several wherever I went. I had good luck finding a nearbt hairdresser for madam wash and set, she always seemed to come out ok, never were turned away. I often got a haircut while the wash was running, had a lady load soap in for me, I had left it on the washer. <BR>The proprietor sewed a shirt button free, would not take anything.

Perhaps I am strange, but I don't see what is so difficult about washing out clothes each night or every other night in your hotel sink. We carry dry detergent in a plastic ziploc bag and a small light nylon rope and a few clothes pins, also a couple of very light (flat) hangers. Also take one of the "towels" that wring out water really well -- I think camping stores (as well as Wal-Mart) have them. You can get most of the water out of things that way and many things dry very quickly. Choose clothes especially for their ability to dry overnight. The time you spend is usually late in the evening when you are getting ready for bed and those with you can take turns doing the laundry. I am sure it is quicker than trying to spend time in a laundromat, if you in fact can find one and it's a whole lot cheaper than ten pounds a load! JMHO <BR>