Whenever I travel, I like to pack light. I will take as little as I can get away with so that I can get around quickly and efficiently. As a result, whenever I traveled in the US or Europe, sometimes I would go to a laundromat to wash clothes if I did not know someone in the area who could let me use their washer and dryer. Is this something that would be feasible for travel to India? I would like to know if laundromat-type facilities are both readily available and affordable? I would pay a small commodity, though, for the convenience. For instance, if it's going to cost me $20 to do laundry once in India, I'm perfectly happy to do that rather than carry a huge suitcase.
I am not sure about this, but depending on where you are staying, they should be able to do your laundry at the hotel you chose. We had no trouble getting our laundry done at our hotel on our last visit. I'm sure even the smaller places that offer accomodation will offer you those services for free.
I have never seen a laundromat in India, so I highly doubt you will come across one. Most good hotels will do your laundry for you so it should not be too much of a problem. Unless you plan to stay in cheap places like backpackers do, it'll be fine. Laundry in India is mostly done manually rather than by machine so if you have a problem with that, make sure to double check with your hotel before you book rooms there.
I have the same thoughts. The hotel you stay in should be able to do your laundry for you, but Rootle is right and you should check with them in advance, just in case. I'm surprised to hear that there are no laundromats in India. I didn't think about this before because our hotel did all of our laundry but how do the rest of the population manage?
Well we have washing machines at our homes if we want them. But like I said traditionally washing clothes is done by people. They're called Dhobis and they usually colect clothes from a number of houses and take it to their place where they wash them, iron them and bring them back. This of course is a much longer process than the washing machine and dryer process you're used to in the US.
You would find laundry to be pretty affordable in India, unless you are living in the 5 star hotels where they charge you at par with US. The only problem is that if the fabric is a bit unusual it can easily get impacted negatively, resulting in problems. Therefore, you have to look into the fact whether your clothes can handle bleach and other such harsh detergents or not and then you can think about giving your clothes to the laundry in India.
I cannot say that I saw a single laundromat when I was there, but a lot of the time we were not in urban settings though so that might be different just depending on where you go. We were only there for a short time, so laundry was not a concern of ours while we were in the country, but I am pretty sure that there were services at the place that we stayed at. If not, I am sure that if you ask around or do a little research you will be able to find something.
There are laundromats everywhere my friend especially if you're staying in a highly urbanized city. When I'm travelling abroad for weeks at a time I do go to laundromats and do my chores but in cases where there are no laundromats around then I recommend buying your own laundry soap and have it with you wherever you are. You can always get information about local laundromats from your hotel or have them clean your clothes.
In the major cities, yes there are laundromats. In the other places, there are washermen who will wash and iron your clothes for less than $2! Also, if you stay at a decent hotel, most of them offer laundry services anyways. You could also go stay at a spiritual retreat, like the one that the Dalai Lama organizes at McLeodganj. These places have all the "basic" facilities that you'd expect anywhere. Finally, if you do end up in a rural area, there are always local washermen, who will wash or dry clean your clothes as you want.
As someone else mentioned, the dhobis are people who will wash your clothes. In India, I have found that there is a lot more human labor than you would find in the West. When I lived at the ashram, we washed our clothes in a bucket with some powder mixed in water. The local people did that too, or washed their clothes in the river and beat them on rocks or concrete slabs. I had no problem washing my clothes by hand, and in the heat, they dry very quickly. The light fabrics that people wear in hot climates, like cotton, especially dry quickly, and I never had a problem with my saris. If you are in a rural area, this seems to be a pretty common practice.
We also travel light since we want to save on baggage charges. And why bring so many things that you will not use. But we have never experienced laundrying our clothes. But maybe that's a good idea. For a 4-day vacation, we can just bring clothes for 2 days and wash them for re-use. However, my concern are the pictures that would be having the same clothes. But we have discovered a way to save on the baggage. We bring less clothes and buy the rest in our destination. Isn't nice to be roaming around Delhi wearing the shirt with a print that says "I love India."
No laundromats in India but the hotels have that facility though expensive. Travelling light is a good idea provided you stay in a hotel that has this laundering facility. It also depends on the length of your stay. If it is just for a few days then you can carry your dirty linen back with you.
