Please offer your ideas regarding the best places to do laundry while on vacation...please answer this question as if I have no idea whatsoever how this is accomplished...

Hotel service
apartment washing machine
self-service washeteria
sink
bathtub
bidet

All of the above will work just fine.

Happy travels!

Where in Europe worldview?

I take a little bottle of liquid laundry detergent, some inflatable hangers, and some plastic clothespins that have a coathanger-like top, and that takes care of the laundry issues. If I'm moving from town to town, I wash out clothes when I first arrive in a town so they have plenty of time to dry. Also transfer some Fabreze to a small spray bottle.

If you're in France, you could look for a lavarie, but I would rather just wash out a few things every day instead of spending several hours in a hot lavarie.

Your best bet is to pack clothes that can be worn several times before laundering and are made of fabrics than can be washed out easily in your hotel sink/bathtub. You can find suggestions here on Fodor's by doing a search on what to pack or on travel clothing.

It is pricey to have laundry done by a hotel and it isn't always easy to find self service washeterias in the areas where tourists usually stay.

Do as elizbuth and take what you need to do laundry in your room. (I would add to her list a flat sink stopper.) Febreze is always handy when traveling for freshening up your clothes or a musty hotel room.

I don't do laundry on vacation. I just wear the same outer clothes over and over for the length of the trip.

I wash out underthings occasionally using hotel shampoo in the bathroom sink.

If you go to a self service
laundromat be aware that the
wash times for European washing machines are very, very long compared to North American washers.

We once stopped in Limoges, France to throw in a couple
of loads and it seemed to take forever. I was sure the machine had malfunctioned and would just keep sloshing our clothes around until they were pulp!

On recent trips to Paris
and Athens I noticed many
laundries... I'd pay a few euros extra and have them do the wash... sitting in a laundromat is not my idea of fun in Europe!

Rob

We took dh's clothing to a laundry place in Florence - dropped off and picked up the same day. Worked out well and was not too costly.

If you pack carefully and choose clothing wisely there is no need to use anything but a sink...even if you are aways for a month.

The wash time on home machines is very long (2 hours on ours for the full cycle) but this is not the case for commercial machines; their wash time is similar to machines in the States.

Re wash times... things must have changed because we thought we were going to have to overnight in the laundromat
in Limoges! LOL

My method is to take extra clothes to begin with - things that are presentable but you don't especially care about them. I wear them for a few days and toss them out. By the end of my trip I have room in my bag for items I may purchase along the way - that way I am not dragging shopping bags etc. I may end up having to rinse out a few things at the end of the trip but so far it has worked out well.

Wear black or navy. Doesn't show the dirt. I have synthetic underwear that I save for travel, as it dries quicker than my regular undies. Inflatable hangers are good, too, because things dry faster.

My sister has a somewhat embarrassing picture of all my underwear and socks strung over every available surface in our room in room.

Two issues:

The OP is a guy. Guys' underwear is not as easily washed in a sink and dried on a hanger as womens' is. Fabrics are heavier and garments are likely to be larger with thick elastics and (on boxers) several layers of bunched fabric.

As to shirts, fuggedabout it unless you are desperate. I have done it, but it is never a happy experience.

Go to the laundromat or leave it at a laundromat that does wash and fold.

The laundromat we used in Aix en Provence was fully equipped with Maytag washers and dryers, just like at home!

Most recently we rent an apartment with a Washer/Dryer and do the laundry whenever we have downtime. This is less trouble than washing out in the hotel sink, but I've done that enough. My wife disdains such roughing it.

worldview,

Naturally, access to laundromats will vary from place-to-place, but I've always found it best while in western Europe to either do your own laundry at a commercial laundromat (for example, in Siena, close to to Il Campo, simply drop it off and continue sightseeing; pick it up in a bit and transfer your laundry to the dryer), or to leave it where an establishment will wash and fold for a rather steep cost.

Granted, doing laundry while on holiday is unappealing, but the idea of washing in a hotel sink and hanging damp clothes on inflatable hangers seems like a particular drag. Also, isn't there the potential of causing hotel management to raise eyebrows, what with their hotel room taking on the appearance of a college dorm along with concerns of water damage?

My advice, worldview, is to learn the location of the nearest laundromat from either your hotel or tourist information center, and then take it from there.

Best of luck.

When we stay in London, I always use the local laundramat, which does service washes. Leave the stuff in the morning, pick it up washed and folded when we come back from a day's sightseeing.

One tip if you are forced to do hand laundry in the hotel sink: roll the garments in an extra bath towel if you have one before hanging to dry. They'll dry in half the time.

Having laundry done mid-trip by the hotel service is a splurge, I agree, but the indescribable look and feel of freshly laundered and ironed clothing, all wrapped up with tissue and cellophane... We don't eat expensively on trips and I'd rather have my laundry service

kswl - my cousin did that ONCE at the FourSeasons in Paris - she said it cost her almsot as much as the room. Never again.

worldview, even though you are a guy, you still might want to wash out your underwear in the hotel sink fromt time to time.

JC Penny has a great line of men's underwear that is a cotton/poly blend. They are great quality and my DH loved them so much he wears them all the time now. They are the Towncraft brand. Just be sure they are the blended fabric and not 100% cotton. They will easily dry overnight, even the undershirts, especially if you use the inflatable hangers mentioned earlier.