Dear all:
My spouse and I will travel to Vienna later this summer. We will for sure eat at the wonderful restaurants and have tea at the grand cafes, in order to maximize our "Vienna Experience." Since it is hot and humid there, is it ok for men to non-sporty wear shorts? He will wear his sneakers, not sandals. I will for sure not wear shorts (but dresses or blouses with capris/pants) and so I think I am covered. Thanks for your help.
Of course, people do, and no one will stop them, particularly if they are eating at outdoor tables. But, I began wearing a casual sports jacket and light weight slacks while we lived and traveled in Europe for lots of things that most Americans would say "What the heck!" about. Show respect for a nice dining establishment and they will probably show respect for you. Not required, and not necessarily reciprocated, but it is about how we see ourselves not how others see us. If you are trying to get into an overbooked place it can't hurt.
https://www.aboutvienna.org/culture/traditional_fashion.php
Man's traditional clothing is made from leather, linen and wool.
'Lederhosen', knee-length trousers or short-pants made from
leather are worn with rustic shoes and wool socks.
I am the kind who show respect for European culture. They are indeed more dressy than we are. However, Mister says that muggy weather is unbearable and he does get heat rashes easily.
For instance, I had heat rashes on my neck for 1.5 weeks in July in Zurich (between two heat waves). We are not used to humidity.
I will try to persuade him.
So I was in Vienna literally last week... I would not sweat the [perceived] dress code so much. I brought capris but honestly it was hot enough up until the end of the week that if I'd been wearing them, I would have been miserable. We certainly saw locals also wearing shorts tpp. We wore our shorts and tennis shoes to the restaurants we ate in and considering many of the other guests were wearing the same things, no one batted an eye. Let your husband wear his sneakers and if you wear shorts one day, it'll be just fine. Another example, we were in Salzburg on a day when it was 108 in Paris and 110 in Northern Germany and a measly 100 in Salzburg. You bet your butt we were wearing shorts and tank tops then.
Our one exception to the relatively casual dress in Vienna was eating at Steirereck in Stadtpark. It was recently ranked 17th in the world restaurant wise and yah, that was a true fine dining restaurant. We were in dresses and dressy sandals. Unless you're eating at something like that, I really wouldn't worry too much about it.
Yes, it’s fine.
