Wash-and-fold by weight
Hand over a bag, get it back clean, dry and folded the next day.
Yes — pack fewer clothes
This is what the packing calculator means. With this available, a week's trip needs about five days of clothes instead of seven.
What it is
A shop that washes laundry by the kilo, dries it, folds it and often irons it. It is the normal way to do laundry in much of Southeast Asia, South Asia and Latin America, and it exists in the tourist quarters of most southern European cities. If you have seen a sign saying "laundry 50฿/kg" or "lavandería" with a set of scales inside, this is it. For the price of a coffee it removes the whole errand.
How it works, step by step
The transaction takes two minutes and there is one thing worth doing before you hand the bag over.
- Count what you're giving them, or photograph the open bag. This is the only real precaution, and it makes a missing sock a two-second conversation instead of an argument.
- Hand the bag over and watch it go on the scales. The price is per kilo and the weight is taken wet-free, in front of you.
- Agree the collection time out loud, not just on the ticket. "Tomorrow" can mean 10:00 or 19:00, and that difference matters if you have a train.
- Say if anything must not go in the dryer. Merino, technical shirts and anything with elastane are worth naming — shops default to a hot dryer because it is faster.
- Keep the ticket, and photograph it. It is often a paper stub with a number and nothing else.
- Check the bag before you leave the shop, against your count.
Typically €1–€3 per kilo, and a traveller's full bag is usually 3–5 kg — so most of the time this costs less than a laundromat and takes none of your afternoon. In Thailand, Vietnam or India it can be under €1 a kilo. In European tourist areas expect €3–€4 and a minimum charge.
- A minimum order, often 3 kg, so a small bag is charged as 3 kg anyway
- Same-day or express service, usually 50–100% more
- Ironing, sometimes included and sometimes charged per item
- Delicates and anything they'll hand-wash, charged per piece
- It is a next-day service, so it does nothing for you the evening before an early flight
- Everything you hand over is washed together, so one new red shirt can colour a whole bag
- Items do occasionally go astray, which is why you count them first
- Hot commercial drying is standard unless you ask otherwise, and it is what shrinks a cotton t-shirt and ruins a technical layer
- It is genuinely hard to find in northern Europe, where the laundromat is the norm instead
- A bag you don't mind leaving for a day
- A count or a photo of what's in it
- The name of your accommodation, in case they offer delivery
- Cash — many of these shops don't take cards
- Are travelling in Asia or Latin America, where it is cheap and everywhere
- Would rather pay a little than spend two hours in a launderette
- Are staying somewhere at least two nights
- Have a full bag of ordinary clothes and nothing precious in it
Turnaround is measured door to door — from handing the clothes over to wearing them again — not from the machine's timer.
Questions people ask about this
Usually €1–€3 per kilo, and often under €1 in Southeast Asia. A traveller's full bag is 3–5 kg, so the whole thing typically lands between €3 and €15 depending on the country. Watch for a minimum charge of about 3 kg.
Sometimes, in the cheapest shops, and it is worth asking if that bothers you. Most places wash each customer's bag as its own load precisely because sorting is what takes the time. Either way, the risk that actually shows up is colour transfer inside your own bag, not between customers.
Count or photograph the bag before you hand it over, and check it before you leave the shop. With a count, a missing item is almost always found in the back within a minute. Without one, there is nothing to discuss.
The wash is fine; the dryer is the problem. Commercial dryers run hot, which shrinks merino and degrades elastane. Say "no dryer, please" for those items, or keep them out of the bag and wash them in the sink.
Often, in Asia, where clothes come back pressed and folded as standard. In Europe it is usually an extra. Ask, because "wash and fold" and "wash, dry and iron" are two different price lines in most shops.
The calculator asks whether you'll have laundry. Start with this answer filled in and it will size the list around washing once mid-trip instead of packing a fresh set for every day.