The world is huge

Don't miss any of it

Travel news, itineraries, and inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.

By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

X

How to Do Laundry on Vacation (No Laundromat Required)

If you want to travel light and still be clean, you should know how to do laundry on vacation. But no one wants to spend precious travel time at a laundromat or pay exorbitant fees for hotel laundry service. Here are some quick, easy, and cheap ways to wash your clothes while traveling.

Use a Ziploc Bag

Keith Homan/Shutterstock.com

SmarterTravel executive editor Josh Roberts has doing laundry in hotel rooms down to a science. His method: “Bring a Ziploc gallon bag. Wash clothes with detergent in bag. Unzip, rinse clothes out, and hang to dry.”

The Scrubba

Amazon

When you want your clothes to be washing machine clean, pack the Scrubba. This little, lightweight (five-ounce) bag is a more portable version of a washboard: It has flexible nodules built in to help scrub your items clean. Simply fill the bag with water and detergent, toss your clothes in, rub them to cleanse, rinse, and hang them (and the bag) to dry. The whole process takes just three minutes.

More from SmarterTravel:

Follow Caroline’s travels on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline and on Twitter @CarolineMorse1.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2016. It has been updated to reflect the most current information.

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

Top Fares From