Shoes for Europe trips are always a compromise for me. I cycle tour for part of every trip, so I MUST travel light. I need a walking shoe that can also do light alpine hiking and not look too bad in a nicer restaurant. And I need a sandal that I can walk in for several miles. The sandals in particular need to be light weight - they are dead weight on the bike and when hiking with my stuff.
I've got screwy feet, wildly high arches (just a few years ago they finally collapsed enough that heel connects to ball in pool-side footprints), perma-fractured bone in ball of one foot. Fun! No not really, but they are mine and not going away.
Until two summers ago my Euro sandals were Hoka recovery slides. Quite light and insanely comfortable - I live in them at home. And remarkably walkable. But the look! They look very much like bloated shower shoes.
Looking to class things up a bit, two years ago I thought I didn't need a sandal per se, and instead brought remarkable nice looking, light, durable, comfortable Crocs loafers. But as much as I liked the sharper look, I couldn't stand to take off my trail runners and stick my feet right back into another close pair of shoes. Bought a pair of flip flop the 3rd day and suffered the dreaded travelling with 3 pairs of shoes the whole trip. Boo. Plus flip flops suck for my needs. Double boo.
This last summer though I tried the plastic Birkenstocks. They were great! Weigh less than half of regular Birkenstocks, maybe 1/3 of Chacos or Keens. Firmer than recovery slides but very nice support - they are plenty to pad my weird feet walking a couple of miles on cobbles. The look, I've decided is fine. I'm a tall, thin Germanic middle-aged man, and in Europe at least no one anywhere so much as sniffs at my Birked feet. I can wear them with long pants and socks (no shorts and socks yet - haven't gone full native) and in Europe come off as totally passable if not a fashion icon. They pack in a flat, small package mushed up next to one another. I can strap them to my bike's downtube as a mudguard. I can wash them spiffy clean in the shower.
My current position on the never ending quest for optimal travel-shoeing has me looking for sleeker, more urban looking trail-runners without losing support. That search has been been tough sledding. But plastic Crocs have thankfully become a the anchor of my two shoe combo. Two big toes up!