shankytravel

I would be travelling in Fjord Norway for about 10 days by car with my family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids). We are doing a big road trip where we would be staying at every place for 1 night only.

We are booking cabins / apartments at most of the places. We are finding that every place is offering bed linen / towel sets for rent. When we add the rent for 4 people for 10 nights, it adds up quickly to very high amount.

I have a general question regarding bed linens. I have traveled to so many countries in the past and have never seen anywhere asking to rent bed linen and towels for extra. I would expect that any accommodation place would include those in the cost.

Since we are flying in from USA, I am wondering if it is worth carrying the linens / towels with us instead of renting it from every cabin owner. Any suggestion regarding that. We are making a round trip from Bergen. Should be buy or rent bed linen / towel etc from Bergen itself?

The cabins already have mattresses, pillow and blankets. So when I rent a bed linen set from a cabin, what exactly items from the list below are included in it for each bed?
- A pillow cover
- A bed sheet for the mattress
- A sheet for under the blanket
- A bath size (large) towel
- A small size hand towel

BigRuss

Why ask us for what would be a guess when you can ask the renting party?

bvlenci

It used to be (maybe still is) that youth hostels required that you either provide your own linens or rent them. Many people carried a sleep sack with them, which didn't take much room and took the place of two sheets.

In 1986, I worked in the Netherlands, and traveled a lot with my two young children. On our way back to the US, we spent two weeks in Ireland, and planned to mostly stay in youth hostels. I made three sleep sacks from the sheets we had been using in the Netherlands. I didn't have a sewing machine, so I had to whip-stitch them by hand. I still have one of those sacks, almost 30 years later, and visitors use it sometimes when they sleep on our sofa.

You need a single flat sheet, which you fold in half lengthwise, and sew along the bottom edge and about 1/3 of the way up, so that it's easy to get into. At the top edge, you can cut it down the middle to about the height of your shoulders, allowing about six inches extra for wiggle room. One half can be folded down and sewed to make an attached pillow case. The other half can be used to fold down over the blanket, trimming off any excess.

The sheet is probably longer than you need, so you could save some space in your luggage by trimming off any excess length. You would need the length to be the length of your body, plus about six inches, plus about 20 inches for the fold-over pillow case. I would cut it off at the bottom edge, since that edge has to be sewed anyway, to avoid extra seams.

You probably don't need both a bath towel and a hand towel for each person; you can get light-weight packable bath towels at a camping goods store, and use them as all purpose towels.

cathies

The problem that I see is that if you do only stay one night at each place then you will constantly be travelling with wet towels.

nytraveler

Beds in europe are NOT the same sizes as in the US - so you would have to bring something like a sleeping sack that just sits on top of the bed. And wet towels would be a problem.

I would bite the bullet and rent them, counting it as part of the cost of more space than hotel rooms.

nytraveler

Sorry - if this is all through one agency or website I would check a couple of others to make sure this is standard (it's not in most of europe)

hetismij2

It is actually quite normal here in the Netherlands too, when renting cottages and the like outside of Amsterdam. I have seen it in France and other countries too.
Your problem is that you are moving on every day, and the rental charge is the same whether for one night or a week, since it covers laundry cost too.
Maybe can find some very lightweight sleeping bags to bring with you, and those fast drying roll up small camping towels.
In any other country I would say buy some cheap linens on arrival, but not in Norway, where cheap doesn't exist.
If you want to bring your own linens bring flat sheets, all single. That is a lot of extra weight though.

Cathinjoetown

It varies but wash/face cloths are often not included in linen rentals so bring those if you use them. You can usually get a bundle quite cheaply at BB&B or similar so no grief if one is left behind.

Sheet bags are a great idea, cheaper and quicker than making up 2-3 beds 10 times in 10 days.

Odin

<<I would check a couple of others to make sure this is standard (it's not in most of europe)>>

It is common in Denmark, Finland and Sweden too, when renting a summer cottage.

sparkchaser

Perhaps look into hotel rooms instead?

Staying in an apartment for one night kinda misses the point.

bvlenci

If you take your showers at night and have a quick-drying towel, it will be dry in the morning. Instead of wash cloths, you could use HandiWipes, cut to the size of a wash cloth. These would also dry overnight. In the morning, just use the wash cloth, and drape them somewhere in the car to dry.

Here is a page with some examples of the kind of towel I had in mind:

http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/...Keywords=towel

Micheline

I was surprised that many apartment rentals in Nice,France had a fee for linens. I think it was approx. 40 euros for each bed. I wrote one of the owners to question this and he replied that was the fee the cleaning service charged. I selected one that did not have that fee although it probably was hidden.. You probably don't have that option so I can see how the costs will add up especially with four of you. I don't think you want to bring all that in your luggage. Can you just rent towels and bring sheets or do you have to take the full package?

Bokhara2

If you are driving, why not just buy a set of linens & towels at a cheap shop for each person & donate them to a charity in your departure?

I've done that in my home country.

Micheline

I don't think there are cheap sets of towels and linens in Norway.

nytraveler

In my experience sheets and towels are very expensive any place in europe versus the US (we get things like that very heavily discounted unless you want real linen embroidered by the blind nuns) and I imagine the prices in Norway would be shocking - perhaps as much as all those laundry charges.

suze

<perhaps as much as all those laundry charges>

I'm guessing even more.

jaja

Since some B&Bs in Ireland do not provide washcloths I purchase an 18-pack at WalMart, take along one/person/stop and we just leave them behind when moving on. Towels would take up far too much room. Suppose one could air-dry.

sparkchaser

You didn't specify a brand so you can buy cheap brands at Target and Walmart.

dyoll

Usually you end up with a set of disposable bedding rather than real linen as there wouldn't be a commercial laundry in remote districts. So just take them on with you to the next night. They are usually good for about a week. Alternatively take a sheet sleeping bag with built in pillow case. There are no blankets just a quilt on the beds. Quilts are always single size. Towels are not generally included in linen - take your own.
You can also buy your own disposable bedding at Clas Ohlson shops in major towns - http://www.clasohlson.com/no/Engangs...;y/Pr314887000
You would need one of each of these products per person. Open in Chrome browser for translation.