Hi there,

I've read on this board that some hotels in Italy do not have shower curtains. I thought I had read that there are light weight travel shower curtains that some people take with them. But, I called around to the travel stores in my area and they all reacted as if they had no idea what I was talking about.

Has anyone bought one of these? If so, where did you get it and how much was it?

Although I've been to Italy and have always had a shower curtain in my bathroom, I am about to depart on a trip that includes some stays at less expensive hotels than those I've used in the past. So, I am concerned that I may run across this issue.

Thanks so much!

Stress levels peaking? Don't take this the wrong way, but are you not just worrying too much about nothing? What's it hurt to have a little water on the floor?

And the odds are greatly in your favor you will have a shower curtain or be able to stand/sit in a tub and use one of those tricky little water wands!

Packing a shower curtain, even if its lightwight, is just one more thing to carry and slow you down. But if you must, try using your raincoat and some clothes pins?

I hope this doesn't sound mean - we all worry prior to a trip.

It wouldn't help to buy a shower curtain for some hotels. One we stayed in last summer just had a shower head in the corner of the bathroom and a drain in the floor. There wasn't anywhere to attach a shower curtain.

kybourbon: That is called a wet room, these are increasingly fashionable now, and very pleasant to use.


As for a shower over bath affair not having a curtain - it's not your floor, don't worry!

I've only encountered one or two hotels in my travels that didn't have a shower curtain, but the ones that didn't had no place to put a shower curtain, so don't bother, unless you want to wrap yourself up in the curtain to take your shower.

Actually, I don't care about getting the floor wet. As someone mentioned, it isn't my floor. I am just a big baby when it comes to getting cold and I figure a shower without a curtain sounds cold!

If there is not a curtain provided - the hotel must figure you can take a shower without one!! If you start packing stuff from home for every conceivable situation out of the ordinary, you will be hugely overpacked with unnecessary items. So take a deep breath & skip this idea. Most kindly, Suze

I have to say skip the idea of bringing a shower curtain! One of our hotels (Il Nido in Sorrento)didn't have one, but that was because they didn't have shower heads, either. All that was available was a hand-held shower wand. It would have been rather awkward to have stood using one of those things anyway. Sit in your bathtub, scrub up, and rinse yourself off with the wand. No shower curtain required. Or take a bath.

Strange as it seems it's true that shower curtains are a concept unknown in many places/hotels in europe. (what do these people do with their showers at home? the mind boggles!) We have had rooms with drains in the center of the floor - and places with shower heads in tubs but no curtains in a regular bathroom. My philosophy is to try to be as neat as possible - but if they don;t provide a curtain and the entire room is drenched - then there's really nothing I can do. (I have had a couple of dirty looks from maids - but don't really see what other choice we have except to go without bathing/hair washing - not an acceptable choice!) Do not pack a shower curtain - if they choose not to provide one then the clean-up is their responibility.

Next thing you know, people are going to want to bring their own bedsheets, but that's another thread.

If you have one of those bathrooms without a shower curtain, just don't forget to put the toilet tissue outside the room while you shower.

Byrd

I've encountered this in both France and Germany but not yet in Italy. It may very well depend on the level of accommodation you stay in.

As far as it being called a "wet room" and, more importantly, that this concept is becoming either more popular or fashionable as someone above implied....well, I rather doubt that because if that were true you'd see a lot more of these...so I discount that particular response.

I'd forget about taking a shower curtain along...how would you keep it in place since there will no rod or hooks, etc.
Go with the flow as it were and worry about more important things such as possible lack of face cloths!

It's very common in Southern Europe. It's so warm the water evaporates very fast.

There's evena chapter on this very subject in "Teach yourself Greek"

In Italy, in a bathroom that has no shower curtain, the toilet paper has a little plastic or metal hood that flips down to protect it from flying water. In some bathrooms (where the drain is just in the floor and the shower on the wall), mop-like squeegees are proviced to push the water back toward the drain. It's always an adventure.

Well, I guess my memory failed. For some reason, I thought I had read posts on this board in which people described taking their own lightweight curtains as if it was commonplace. Again, I don't really care about the mess (I assume the maid will be used to cleaning that up in all of the rooms). I was worried about being cold. But, I certainly wouldn't want to take a curtain unless it was VERY small and light weight and had its own way to attach itself. At this point, it seems the easiest thing to do is just forget the hole thing.

Grazie tutti!

Well, try packing a wet shower curtain from hotel to hotel and there wouldn't have hooks for them anyway.

Personally I would rather not have a shower curtain, I have seen too many with mildew, not to mention the clammy feeling when they stick to your back, ugh.

I like to run free when I shower!

The last memory I have of Italy is of the $100 hotel by the train station in Milan and my husband's experience with the shower there. It was one of those no curtain, drain in the middle of the floor types. My usually calm and good natured sposo was furious. His pajamas were wet, as was the toilet paper, in fact, the whole bathroom was drenched. A learning experience!

I didn't realize that they have bathrooms without shower curtains in Europe. I always thought that was only found in Asia (along with the squat toilets). Oh the interesting things we discovered while traveling!

Denmark definitely has these types of showers also (I saw them myself in two cities and also in rooms offered on the web).

Just don't leave anything at all in the bathroom.