Ok, I know this is an unusual question, but my fellow travelers use them. I know in Paris the hotels do not provide them but what about these three cities in Italy?

What has been your experience. Does it depend on the hotel or is it customary for Italian hotels?

Thanks.

Gail

Bring your own!

We bring our own plus our own "big bar" of soap.

We have had washcloths provided in hotels in all three cities you mention so I suspect it may have to do with the hotel itself.

And they've always been provided in the Paris hotels we've used, too.

One word of warning. Don't take white washcloths. If you do and leave them in the shower, they will probably be taken with the hotel's towells. I take a bright blue and a bright green one for our own identification purposes and for the hotel's as well.

And I agree about taking my own big bar of soap.

None of the hotels I've stayed in had washcoths except for a Dorint in Germany. Some people take the disposable with the soap already in them such as the ones made by Dove. I take baby washcloths because they dry faster than regular ones.

Except for international chain hotels and a few others - most European hotels, B&Bs etc do not provide wash cloths (or flannels)

Take your own - some folks like to take worn but still serviceable ones and discard during the trip.

Body Shop sells a wonderful microfibre face flannel that comes in its own ziplok bag and dries in an hour or 2.

Gee, how did we manage to stay in all those "few others"????

We take our own. I use a net sponge to shower so take that as well. I don't think we've had washcloths provided in any of the hotels we've stayed in in Italy, or elsewhere in Europe for that matter. I use shower gel, which I take (now packed in checked luggage in ziplock bag), so no need to take "big bar of soap."

It's usually just the upscale hotels that provide washclothes, and those are likely to be mitts (which I love). Some hotels that cater to Americans provide them as well.

In my limited experience, 4* hotels provide washcloths, and executive rooms in 3* hotels provide washcloths, but not others.

We also got disposable washermitts at the Best Western Eden in Amsterdam.

You can get a washcloth for less than $1 - probably worth it to bring your own and discard if desired.

I buy real cheap wash cloths, a pack of 18 or so for around $4.00 for showers,and then I toss them away. I bring the Olay wash wipes for my face that are also used once and then tossed. I also bring my own bath soap as several mentioned here already. It really bothered me my first time in Italy not having any wash cloths in the bathroom,I thought that was so wierd.

Thanks for all your replies. When we went to Paris we brought our own and threw them out. I didn't know about the disposables ones.

Just trying to lighten up our suitcases and everything counts!

Gail

I read a tip once (perhaps it was here) about cutting up an old bath towel into washcloth sized pieces. After you use the washcloth you can just throw it out.

I did this for our trips to Europe and it worked very well since there weren't any washcloths in the places we stayed in Italy or Germany.

I don't even know what a washcloth is I can imagine , but don't know for sure !

It depends very much onthe hotel. If you're staying in upscale places they will have washcloths - as well as all sorts of free (and often exclusive) toiletries. As the hotels get simpler, sodoes what they provide.

If in doubt bring one with you.

I still have the remnants of my toiletries collected from Italy & France in Oct '05. I took a washcloth but never needed to use - all the hotels have everything plus hair dryers so lighten your load!

Hello Kenderina, a washcloth is a small square of terry cloth that a lot of American use to wash themselves when in the shower.

Personally I don't use one. And if I did I would want to take as many washclothes as the number of days I was going to be in Europe as it would be impossible to clean the washcloth properly from day to day without a washing machine.

gorsenb, if you belong to Sam's or Costco you could no doubt buy a package of washclothes for a small amount of money and consequently could throw them away after using them and they wouldn't take up to much room in your luggage. No doubt Walmart has packages of them also.

I bring a couple of those puffy mesh ball shower things (whatever they're called) and some facial cleanser wipes. Sometimes I bring a bath sponge, too.

In Italy (Rome), they actually had washcloths in the hotel, which surprised the heck out of me. If you think about it, hundreds of guests could use the same washcloth before they retire it, so it probably is best to not use a hotel one, anyway...lol!

These washcloths - they must get disgusting pretty quickly. After all there doesn't seem to be much opportunity to dry them if you are rampaging round Europe