Shoes in Europe

[Lalof]

I have seen a number of video posts online from people who have taken Mediterranean cruises. They are saying don’t wear tennis shoes because it screams “tourist.” But, if I can expect to do a lot of walking, wouldn’t good tennis shoes be the most comfortable? What are other Mediterranean cruise travelers wearing for shoes?

[PORT ROYAL]

13 minutes ago, Lalof said:

I have seen a number of video posts online from people who have taken Mediterranean cruises. They are saying don’t wear tennis shoes because it screams “tourist.” But, if I can expect to do a lot of walking, wouldn’t good tennis shoes be the most comfortable? What are other Mediterranean cruise travelers wearing for shoes?

One has worn for many years Sperry Billfish.  So comfortable.  Long lasting.

Wear on ship/onshore with shorts.  Also day/evening casual anywhere.  Thick soles with good padding, strong uppers, copes with all terrains.  Material insets let one’s feet breathe and cool.  

Treat them rough, get them grubby, then a plunge into bucket of water and they’re ready to go again.

Sperry have half sizes and three width fittings.

 

They don’t scream tourist, but a discerning yacht person.

 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by PORT ROYAL
Yacht

[Photo Andy]

Lalof,

My wife wears Nike Black running shoes, I (male husband) wear Merrell Moab 3 shoes (black), Gore-Tex, grippy sole, lace ups, cushioning inlays and very comfortable. As they are black use them for dress shoes with my 3 piece suit, main dining room Cunard Queen Victoria. The Merrell's have been used at the North Cape, Canaries (Lanzarote walking through a lava field and extinct volcano), walking around Lisbon in heat, Disney World Florida in 46.4c and walking the last 5km of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. This was probably the toughest as it was dusty and I was brown from the knees down. Washed the shoes in the shower and left on our balcony and they dried in 2 days. Actually have 6 pairs - yes I like them. 

According to the Merrell web site they do a female version. 

Happy walking.  

 

[euro cruiser]

First, everyone is going to know you're a tourist regardless of what you wear, so stop trying to be something you're not.

 

Second, Italians under the age of sixty wear them all the time.

 

Third, as an example Nike has more than 40 stores in Italy:  Nike Stores in Italy. Nike.com IT

 

The notion of Italians not wearing jeans, sneakers, baseball caps, etc. is at least twenty years out of date.

[PORT ROYAL]

4 minutes ago, Photo Andy said:

As they are black use them for dress shoes with my 3 piece suit, main dining room Cunard Queen Victoria. 

 

As one Grandmother would say “Oh Dear”.

[CruiserBruce]

What @euro cruiser said. Everybody knows who the tourists are. And Europeans have a wide variety of dress...some definitely look like Americans. You will be surprised how many US sports teams are represented on tee shirts in Europe.

 

Just got back from 2 weeks in Amsterdam and France. As we walked and trained everywhere, I wore white tennis shoes. No problem at all. The differences are less and less every time I go to Europe.

[Photo Andy]

9 minutes ago, PORT ROYAL said:

As one Grandmother would say “Oh Dear”.

Port Royal, nobody noticed and once saw on Queen Elizabeth (Canaries cruise) a long gowned lady with Tiara wearing training shoes, I only noticed because I was very observant and was used to observing peoples gait for a living. Your gran would have probably loved them as very comfortable and grippy, less chance of a fall. 

Happy cruising.   

[PORT ROYAL]

2 minutes ago, Photo Andy said:

Your gran would have probably loved them as very comfortable and grippy, less chance of a fall. 

   

No

[cruisemom42]

In addition to all the points raised above, the "athleisure" look is very popular in Europe right now as well, which helps. You'll find tennis shoes widely worn most places -- outside, perhaps, certain office or dressy evening environments. 

 

With regard to what kind of shoes to wear, my contributions would be to find shoes that have a somewhat rigid but padded sole to help you avoid stone bruises from walking on cobblestones (common in many European cities, particularly in the older and more touristed areas). My son wore his regular sneakers and got a stone bruise on Day 2 of an Italian land trip that plagued him for the next week. 

 

My other suggestion is avoiding sandals, although not everyone agrees with me. When I've tried to wear them, not only do my feet get filthy, I am constantly getting small pebbles or sand grains in them which make walking uncomfortable until I find a place to sit down, take them off and shake them out.

 

 

[VMax1700]

28 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

walking on cobblestones (common in many European cities, particularly in the older and more touristed areas).

and cobblestones get wet, and when they are wet they are very very slippy. 

I would not wear 'tennis shoes' as they have very flat soles with little grip (watch tennis players sliding their feet). Running shoes, Cross trainers would be a better choice.  I wear Nike running shoes (grey or black) and DW wears Sketchers Walking shoes.

[marazul]

51 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

I would not wear 'tennis shoes'

In the US, tennis shoes are generic for trainers.  Most tourists would were running or hiking shoes.

[VMax1700]

12 minutes ago, marazul said:

In the US, tennis shoes are generic for trainers.  Most tourists would were running or hiking shoes.

I thought that may be the situation and that's why I put the term 'tennis shoes' in single quotes.  Over here they are called trainers or runners.  I just did not want someone to go and purchase a pair of clay court shoes and then expect to be sure footed on cobbles.

[Lalof]

2 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

First, everyone is going to know you're a tourist regardless of what you wear, so stop trying to be something you're not.

 

Second, Italians under the age of sixty wear them all the time.

 

Third, as an example Nike has more than 40 stores in Italy:  Nike Stores in Italy. Nike.com IT

 

The notion of Italians not wearing jeans, sneakers, baseball caps, etc. is at least twenty years out of date.

Thank you! The vlogs I saw were posted within the last couple of weeks, so I thought this was a current situation. I’m glad to hear it is not! 

[slidergirl]

When it’s over 90 degrees, no one cares what you wear on your feet.  All sorts is trainers/tennies/sneakers you have on - everyone has them on, too!

 

@Photo Andy: the last 5 km of the Camino?  Wuss.  😉😉 My retired teacher girlfriend did the  entire Spanish Camino last September. Solo.  Today she left to go do the entire Portuguese Camino.   She takes her Hoka sneaks and Keen hiking shoes.  Took her Merrill boots last year but decided she didn’t need them.

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by slidergirl

[euro cruiser]

1 hour ago, Lalof said:

Thank you! The vlogs I saw were posted within the last couple of weeks, so I thought this was a current situation. I’m glad to hear it is not! 

 

Keep in mind that anything people post reflects the story they want to tell.  That doesn't make it true, or common, it's just the perspective they want to promote (or what they found, within the limitations of their abilities, sometimes we only see exactly what we want/expect to see, ignoring all other evidence).  

[buckeye7]

We wore sneakers on our 2-week Mediterranean trip a month ago and we looked like 90% of the people we saw in Spain, France, and Italy. My husband even bought a new pair while there.  Wear the comfortable sneakers!!!

[RTR 21-0]

While reading the comments I was thinking the same thing buckeye7 posted when we were there in May.  I purchased a pair of New Balance 990GL and they were fantastic. Pretty neutral color so they went with nearly everything I wore. We walked upwards of 18,000 steps a day.  Trust me, wear whatever is not going to make your feet curse you at the end of the day 😂

[steamboats]

13 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

First, everyone is going to know you're a tourist regardless of what you wear, so stop trying to be something you're not.

 

Second, Italians under the age of sixty wear them all the time.

 

Third, as an example Nike has more than 40 stores in Italy:  Nike Stores in Italy. Nike.com IT

 

The notion of Italians not wearing jeans, sneakers, baseball caps, etc. is at least twenty years out of date.

 

Couldn´t have said it any better!

 

@Lalof wear whatever you feel comfortable in!! Sneakers are widely worn in Europe and popular with all ages. And you can´t avoid to be identified as a tourist. I can´t either as a German being on vacation in Italy... Why, we all dress differently when we are on vacation. We don´t go on the street in our business/office wear when we´re on vacation. We don´t wear shorts either when we go to work... 

 

Especially cobble stones can be tricky so do wear comfortable footwear!!

 

steamboats

[CynBeth6]

We are currently in Europe. We were on a cruise visiting Spain, France, and Italy and then have been spending time traveling on our own. We are wearing sneakers/tennis shoes and have noticed a lot of people are as well as sandals and other types. 

[gail-s]

Find a comfortable pair of shoes that you can easily walk 5+ miles in and you're good.  Don't worry about what they look like.  I wore sandals that were very comfortable and looked good with my dress to Sagrada Familia and ended up with blisters on my little toes.  Never happened before but it was so hot and with the leather rubbing for that many miles it happened.  People said "no one in Europe wears flipflops" but I wore my awesome Eddie Bauer flipflops for the next few days and I was much more comfortable while I let my toes heal.  Unfortunately, as it got hotter and hotter, my feet started sliding around a bit and they weren't as comfortable for that many miles.  I ended up switching to my Cariuma sneakers for most of the trip.  White, basic, blended in with everyone.  My only stupid move was that I brought no-show socks only and the back of the shoe rubbed on my ankle because they weren't totally broken in yet.  Believe it or not I had trouble finding somewhere to get socks that came up and covered that while walking around Rome.  Maybe I didn't look hard enough.  I had some blister pads from 3m that worked though.  The sneakers were the best bet.  DH wore Hey Dudes all week.  They were super light and comfortable.  Looked like his boat shoes but more casual.  As everyone else said, no one looks at your feet except other tourists.  

[marazul]

In this heat hiking sandals work great. Keen, Teva and others make them.

[Hlitner]

My message to the OP is that no matter what you do or wear, anyone (who cares) will quickly identify you as a "tourist."   Just wear the footwear that you find most comfortable and do not concern yourself with looking "touristy."  Since you are on a cruise and going to cruise ports and other "touristy" places you will find that there are an awful lot of other "touristy" folks.

 

That being said, DW and I have spent many hours sitting at European outdoor cafes enjoying food/drink and having fun "people watching."  DW prides herself on being able to often identify where folks are from by what they wear and how they act.  It has almost become a hobby.  We have been to Europe dozens of times, and we feel blessed that we have the ability to be "tourists" on a routine basis.   In fact, trying to blend-in can cause more problems.  Walk into a store in France, dressed and looking like a French person, and say Bonjour" just like the locals.  You will likely be met with a quick response, in French, and then you can look bewildered and say something like "do you speak English?"

 

Hank

[NCteacherlovescruising]

34 minutes ago, marazul said:

In this heat hiking sandals work great. Keen, Teva and others make them.

This!  I’m planning on wearing my Chacos because they are very comfortable and supportive. 

[marazul]

13 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

This!  I’m planning on wearing my Chacos because they are very comfortable and supportive. 

For a long vacation I always bring two pairs of hiking sandals with different designs. That is, the straps fall on different places. Also, look for sandals with cushioning on the heel strap. 

[Hambagahle]

On 7/14/2023 at 5:42 PM, Lalof said:

I have seen a number of video posts online from people who have taken Mediterranean cruises. They are saying don’t wear tennis shoes because it screams “tourist.” But, if I can expect to do a lot of walking, wouldn’t good tennis shoes be the most comfortable? What are other Mediterranean cruise travelers wearing for shoes?

I am European (Swiss) and I can tell you that here everyone from toddler to great grandmothers wear what we call "Baskets" - or tennis/sports shoes.  ALL the time.    Everyone will know you are American anyway without looking at your shoes (dress, voice etc) so why bother?  Be comfortable and safe.  Tennis shoes give you a better grip especially on cobblestones etc.