Laundry... Help!
 

Greetings, <BR><BR>I am currently in the planning stages of an Easter trip to Italy and purchased the &quot;Fodor's 2003 - Italy&quot; guidebook. During this trip, I will travel to 4 different cities and will stay primarily at 2-3 star<BR>hotels. <BR><BR>I am a little concerned at the lack of laundry facilities identified in<BR>hotel websites. With thousands of tourists traveling throughout Italy each day, I would think that laundry facilities around big cities (Venice, Rome, Florence, Genoa) are plentiful, easily accessible and even cheap! Am I right in my assertion? If not, then what should I do about laundry? Any experiences? Please help! <BR>

How long is your trip?<BR><BR>Also, you may want to do a search first under laundry or laundromats then Italy...I remember seeing a similar post before. Good Luck!

I am going for two weeks and hope to pack as light as possible. <BR><BR>Thanks for the suggestion. Am currently looking into Italian laundry sites...

Lots of luck. As some of you know my European trips range from 2 to 5 months at a time, so laundry is a big issue with me. France, Switzerland, and Germany among other seem to have laundramats readily available, but laundry always seems to be an issue in Italy. I carefully recorded the only self-serve laundramat in Venice according to my research only to arrive and find that it had closed up a couple of months earlier. We were arriving there on Friday morning for three nights but couldn't get anyone to do our laundry before Monday afternoon pickup -- and we were leaving Monday morning.<BR><BR>In Rome I've only been able to find a couple of laundries where you leave your laundry and they will do it by the kilo -- much cheaper than by the piece, but still far from cheap.<BR><BR>The best deal I've had twice was staying in smaller hotels that didn't offer a laundry service, but having one of the maids take it home and return it the next day beautifully washed and folded (and often ironed!) for next to nothing.<BR><BR>I know there are those who say, just let your hotel do it. OK, two weeks worth of underwear and socks alone often amounts to about $100 -- yes, do the math for socks at 3 euro a pair and undershorts for 4 euro a pair. Multiply that by two people and add in a few shirts and a couple pairs of pants and do that every two weeks and you'll see what I'm talking about.<BR><BR>Others suggest washing a few things out in a sink and letting them dry. That may work for ladies' &quot;dainties&quot;, but not so effective for men's heavier socks or khaki pants. I have now invested in Tilly travel jockies -- which actually do almost dry themselves overnight, and that has been a major help.<BR><BR>Someone told me that Lonely Planet is good at giving addresses for laundries -- so you might want to check there.

There are a number of self-service laundromats in the center of Florence. I can check my notes for the locations, but I'm sure your hotel will be able to direct you. Warning - they weren't cheap - I think a load washed and dried cost about $7.00.

One of the reasons I like &quot;Lonely Planet&quot; guidebooks is because of the laundromat listings. You could look at one for Italy in a bookstore and see if it has any listed for the towns you're interested in.

I'm not sure if this will apply to you but here's an idea anyway: For jeans, pants, sweaters, etc. (stuff that doesn't get REALLY dirty but should stay clean anyhow), try using Dryel. <BR><BR>That way it can save you a few euros since you only need a 30-minute dry. I use Dryel for some dry clean only clothes in between actually going to the dry cleaners and it works great!<BR><BR>I must admit, I haven't tried this in Europe yet so any critiques or comments are welcome! Also, if you don't already use Dryel, I'm not sure if it'd be worth it to purchase a whole new kit just for a two-week trip.

This is kinda old but may help...<BR><BR>Author: Margo<BR>Date: 06/20/2001, 02:05 am<BR>Message: ROME <BR>LAUNDROMATS (Lavanderia) <BR>Daily: 8am-10pm. 13,000L for 14 lbs. of wash, dry and soap. Self-service. <BR><BR>North of the train station <BR>Acqua &amp; Sapone: Via Montebello 66. Tel: 06-4883209. <BR>Onda Blu: Via Milazzo 20b. Tel: 06-4441665. <BR>Oblo: Via Vicenza 50. Tel: 06-4463194. <BR>Bolle Blu: Via Palestro 59/61. Tel: 06-4465864. <BR>Bolle Blu: Via Milazzo 20b. Tel: 06-4465864. <BR>Laundry: Castelfidardo 31. <BR><BR>South of the train station <BR>Onda Blu: Via Principe Amedeo 70b. Tel: 06-47446647. <BR>Onda Blu: Via Lamarmora 10. <BR><BR>Vatican City <BR>Onda Blu: Via Vespasiano 50. Tel: 06-39724255.<BR><BR>

We used the Onda Blu in Vatican City. Open 24/7. Worked out fine.

Can't say that we found laundry facilities to be &quot;plentiful&quot; (or cheap) in either Venice or Rome last spring but they certainly do exist. <BR><BR>In Rome, we used a laundry (non-self-service) on the north side of Campo di Fiori. Unfortunately, they seemed to be unaware of the concept of separating darks from lights (or else just missed this item) and one deep purple washcloth gave our whites a dash of pink.

Just my two cents:<BR><BR>We are renting apartments in Italy (very reasonably, I might add) and this is solving the laundry problem for us since the ones we've rented have washing machines.<BR><BR>Great idea on the Dryel, Craisin! I never thought of that. However, it's my understanding that dryers are far and few between in Italy. And, I know Dryel can only be used in a dryer.<BR><BR>I have also used Febreez or Downey Wrinkle Release to freshen up clothes on a trip. It's obviously not the same as washing clothes that really need it, though.<BR><BR><BR>

I can't imagine searching for, or spending the time it takes to wash and dry, laundramats while traveling, so I pack only things that can be rinsed out in the sink and will dry overnight, or by evening if you wash them in the morning. Cotton/poly slacks/chinos (I love Lands End and LLBean for these), for example, will drip dry in a few hours and require no ironing (and keep their creases). I always bring some plastic hangers (those with clips for the slacks) and a small bottle of liquid laundry detergent (it rinses out better and less is required to do the job). If you're one who changes for dinner/evening, that outfit is still clean enough to wear the next day, or another.

I usually use the bathtub. if there is one or the sink.. <BR><BR>-bring a flat rubber stopper just in case...<BR>-a bar of soup.. <BR>-add water<BR>-scrub <BR>-rinse.<BR>-hange all over bathroom.. and on heater. .<BR> <BR>if you find a near by laundry matt use it after a couple of days just too get your things nice and clean.. other tehn that your set and you can use the coins you saved. for lemon ice..

I'm a big bathtub/sink/even bidet(!) user. The universal stopper is a must. Most travel or camping stores sell a clothesline, whose twisted wire functions like hangers.<BR><BR>I agree about the lightweight, quick-drying clothes. Most of us nowadays don't want to be easily recognizable as americans, so forget the jeans. With quick-drying, moisture-wicking clothing, you won't have to pack as much. Light packing will make travelling to 4 cities, particularly if you are taking the train, more enjoyable.<BR>

For a trip that is only 2 weeks long, I would imagine you'd just need a laundry matt/service one time mid-trip.<BR><BR>Backed up by an occasional bit of washing in the hotel sink. You can still pack very light. Just keep wearing the same pants and outerwear over and over (I'm serious!). Tend to underwear, socks, tshirts now and then. You'll be fine. I wouldn't fret over it.

Great question. I worry about doing my laundry on all of my trips. Forget about jeans (although I love them they take much too long to dry). I only saw one Laundromat in Rome (an Onda Blu near the Vatican). We ran across many self-service laundromats in Florence- ask at your hotel for the nearest. There was one Laundromat near the train station in Venice right across the bridge. I brought 8 sets of underwear and only had to wash twice on my 3 week trip to Italy last summer. Try a nylon convertible pants that changes into shorts when the weather is hot or you want to go into a church. They dry very quisckly. I also bought shorts and T-shirts from the open air market in Florence. I met a guy who bought 12 T-shirts and underwear from Costco. Threw them out each night. Rick Steves' book lists self service laundromats in different Italian cities. I brought my own soap tablets and anti-static sheets to use in the laundromats. Liquid detergents always spilled on my clothes. Have fun.

Just got back from a stay in Rome 7/26/09. We were 2 couples sight seeing for a few days before a cruise. We used OnDaBlu "self service" laundry on Via Famagosta? near the Vatican to wash our 3 days worth of clothes before we left the morning of the cruise. It was a disaster. The owner, who was not Italian, would only allow us to 1/2 fill our washers. The washers were tiny. We needed 6 washers to wash 3 days worth of clothes. The posted rate was 3Euros/wash and 3Euros/dryer. He charged us the equivalent of 9 Euros for the 6 loads or 54 Euros!! It was a scam! Beware! While riding a train to Nice we struck up a conversation with a couple of British girls on vacation sight-seeing in Italy, France and Spain. They used a drop off laundry in Rome and paid 7 Euros in total for their laundry service. Stay away from OnDaBlu!!

This is a six year old post so the OP must have had his holiday and I assume that some of the launderettes etc will have expanded or closed.

Basically Fodorites stay in places where there are few indigenous residents who would be the customers of launderettes. Now washing machines are cheap and most families will have their own home laundry service. Otherwise they will leave it with a local laundry, those specialise in the big things that need ironing too. In addition Italians like their clothes to look good and so they want a good finish on their clothes after washing whether they do it themselves at home or pay someone else to do it.