Knowing how to wash clothes while traveling is a great skill. Once mastered, learning to do laundry from a hotel room allows you to wear your favorite clothing several times and come home with minimal dirty laundry. Less packed clothing allows you to travel lighter or reserve packing space for items purchased at your destination.
Do your own laundry while traveling
If you plan to handwash your laundry while traveling, a little preparation makes your trip much easier. First, check if your hotel lets you hand wash your clothes. Some hotels prefer you don't, citing several reasons, including water conservation, wall-damaging humidity, wet floors, and extra work for their housekeeping staff.
If your hotel allows hand washing, consider putting together a laundry travel kit with the following items:
- Sink stopper (some hotels do not have plugs)
- Travel clothesline
- Laundry bags for dirty clothing
- Laundry detergent
If you have a favored brand, learn how to pack laundry detergent for travel. Fill travel-sized bottles with liquid detergent and seal them in your laundry bag (if you’re packing liquid laundry detergent in your carry-on, remember the TSA 3-1-1 rule for liquids). While liquid detergent is best suited for hand-washing, you can purchase laundry soap bars, sheets, or powders in travel-sized quantities.
Knowing how to do laundry while traveling includes knowing which clothing to pack. Synthetic fibers dry faster than natural fibers, so opt for clothing made from polyester, nylon, or rayon when possible. Some people pack clothing made from synthetic fibers for handwashing and clothing made from natural fibers to pack into a washable laundry bag. (Clothing made from synthetic fibers also wrinkles less when packed.)
Here’s how to hand-wash clothing while traveling:
- Sort clothing by color into lights and darks.
- Check clothing labels. Delicate items may need extra care.
- Rinse out the sink to remove dirt or cleaning residue.
- Sill the sink with lukewarm water, adding detergent to the running water.
- Add a couple of items at a time if using the sink. Use the tub if you have a larger amount to wash.
- Swirl and knead the clothing by hand for about two minutes.
- If you use fabric softener, drain and refill the sink, then add softener after washing.
- Rinse clothes in clean water until soap suds are gone. Drain the sink and refill it with clean water. Repeat until the water runs clear after rinsing.
- Gently squeeze or pat out water. Avoid wringing out delicate or wool items, as doing so can damage the fabric.
- Hand or lay flat to dry
Use a hotel laundry service
If you prefer not to do your own laundry, consider booking rooms at hotels that offer laundry services. For a fee, such hotels will wash, dry, iron, hang and even dry clean your clothing. You simply put dirty clothes in a provided laundry bag, fill out a form, and follow the form’s directions to leave your laundry.
A hotel laundry service typically requires 24 hours to complete your request, although some offer same-day service. While convenient, laundry services are expensive in North America and Europe, especially in luxury resorts or hotels.
Other options
Room service laundry and hand-washing clothing are only two ways to clean clothes when traveling. Other options include:
- Booking accommodations with self-service laundry facilities Hostels, Airbnb rentals, vacation rentals, and motels are more likely to have self-service washing machines than high-end hotels, which prefer to offer room service laundry services.
- Depending on your destination, you can often find a local laundromat. Some laundromats offer drop-off laundry services, while others only provide self-service washers and dryers.
- If available, local laundry services allow you to drop off laundry to be picked up or delivered later. These can be hard to find if you don't know your destination well, especially if you don’t speak the language.
Even if you plan to use a hotel laundry service, you should know how to wash clothes and clean bags while traveling. You never know when such skills will come in useful!
