...this is the kind of issue that we never really thought about before we went away, but it is information that is vital if you’re away for anything more than a couple of weeks. If you are travelling around Australia, Western Europe or anywhere similar, expect to spend a surprising amount of time doing your laundry over the course of your trip! The situation with laundry depends which part of the world you are in, we would summarise the situation as follows:
Southeast Asia, India, Nepal: most guest houses and hotels will take in your laundry and have it washed for you, typically for around US$1 and less per kilo. It will usually come back smelling sweetly and be ironed. If your guesthouse is one of the few not to provide the service, ask at reception and you will no doubt find a place within a couple of minutes walk that will do your laundry for you for similar if not cheaper prices. Expect to have your laundry back within 24 hours. Bear in mind that if it happens to be raining then laundry will not dry as quickly since it is dried out in the open.
South and Central America: a minority of guest houses will have in house laundry services for a reasonable amount (again think around US$1 per kilo), but if you’re in a more upmarket hotel, stay away from the laundry service as they are likely to do a stupidly expensive per-item wash (i.e. $1 for a t-shirt, 50c for a pair of underpants etc). Your best bet is to ask the staff where you’re staying where the local launderette is and take it down there. Launderettes in this part of the world tend only to deal with service washes – i.e. you take in your washing, the staff will take it off your hands and wash it for you and typically you pick it up the next day. Again this will cost around US$1 per kilo of laundry.
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| There are easier ways of getting your clothes clean - the banks of the River Ganges, Varanasi, India |
Europe, the US, Canada, China, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: bad news I’m afraid – unless you are willing to shell out a lot for item by item hotel laundry services, you are going to be washing your clothes yourself. Many hostels (and even campsites in the case of Australia and New Zealand) have in house laundry rooms with coin operated washers and dryers. If this is not the case, the hostel will be able to tell you where the local launderette is – most of these will be of the coin operated variety so plan on having a few hours spare to do your laundry as and when necessary!
Africa: outside of South Africa the situation with laundry is, pardon the pun, a real mixed bag. A lot of hostels and guesthouses have a laundry room where you’ll be able to wash your own clothes (most likely coin operated), while others will have a laundry service that should be fairly inexpensive and saves you the time taken to sort it out yourself.
