We’re leaving Spain soon so I want to talk about one of the best things in it. Laundrettes.

Laundrettes in Spain are fully automatic. They don’t have any staff. Customers set up and run the washing and drying machines themselves.

It works really well because the whole process has been so well designed.

Paying

I’ve been to two laundrettes so far. Both had change machines that had enough change, and one even took cards.

The payment machine with slots for notes, coins and cards

Using the machines

The washing machines are labelled with the weight of clothes they can take. Each size has a different price so you only pay for what you need.

The different sizes of washing machine, all marked with the weight they can take and how much a wash costs

They also have their own detergent so you don’t need to bring any or buy it there.

When your load is in, you just choose a washing programme.

Washing machine control panel where you choose the wash you want

One of the laundrettes I went to even had a handy guide on the wall explaining which washes were for which types of clothes.

Guide to which washes are for which types of clothes or materials

Clever touches

Both laundrettes I went to had excellent, free WiFi. Not just good for giving customers something to do but useful for foreigners using Google Translate.

I’ve seen these clever laundrettes in every city we’ve visited in Spain but never in the UK.

If someone set one of these up in London, they’d clean up.

Tom