Are shorts OK?

For their age, it won't matter. Short shorts probably aren't a good idea for anyone. The only time you might get funny looks (wearing walking shorts) is if you try to take them someplace nice. A nice restaurant may seat you next to the kitchen rather than at the window.

The Duomo in Venice has people checking bags. I'm not sure if they are also fashion police, in which case your kids might not be allowed in.

I wear lightweight pants almost exclusively but I also travel in shoulder season when it's not so hot.

Shorts are fine.

I wear them all the time in Europe and never had an issue with the exception of some churhes. Some churches may require a more modest form of dressing.

My motto is wear whatever you are comfortable with.

Shorts are fine in Europe. We're less likely to wear shorts than maybe Americans are but that has more to do with fashion than 'acceptability.'

A couple of things to be careful of:

1) Shorts are inherently casual wear; so are fine for casual places. This will cover most 'normal' touristing and casual restaurants. If you go to a nicer restaurant in the evening they may feel uncomfortable in shorts and in London especially some pubs/bars may not let people in in shorts of an evening.

2) Churches in Italy require knees and shoulders to be covered. It's a pretty hard and fast rule - popular tourist churches have people who will stop inappropriately attired people but you should be aware of the rule at all churches. This isn't an issue in the other places you are going.

Warm.. It's only warm right now in Italy. Northern Europe is having highs of 69F - 72F most days. It's a very mild summer.

(Speaking only for Paris) - You are right to worry about the kids sticking out like a sore thumb in shorts. They will indeed! (Sore American tourist) to be more exact! The French only wear shorts to the beach. Some American travelers don't care about what their host country thinks when they travel, but for me, I try to blend in as best I can and try my best to look like I belong there!

Bon Voyage!

Hi-

We're just back from our two week trip and I can tell you that if the kids want to look like their peers in Germany and to some degree in France, they will want to wear Capris. I'd say that on the hotter days the average non-tourist street scene was 40% long pants ( and probably probably more than half of those were fashionable blue jeans) and 50% capri length pants and 10% regular shorts. The regular shorts were generally on tradesmen or workers, like the summer "Norm the Carpenter Carhartt" look. It's hard to pull that look off with a camera slung around your neck.

I'm not sure where you find mens capris here in the US but they are apparently Very Very popular in Europe.

My son insisted on wearing his shorts despite my advice to the contrary and he stuck out big time.

Janice - please remember for the best look your boys' shorts should be at least 2 sizes too big for them and the waistband should be worn low to show lots of their flashy boxers. Your girls should roll the shorts hems up at least once and the waistband down at least once. We Americans need to make sure we export the best looks.

In reality, it doesn't matter all that much but we did not see many shorts on folks of any age in Italy away from the beach. Younger women wore a lot of capris and slim fit designer style jeans.

No one in Europe cares what you wear unless you are at Cathedrals in Italy or really fancy restaurants. I wore shorts all over Britain - and I saw plenty of Brits doing it too. It is not the big deal that everyone makes it out to be.

Don't try to blend in, don't be offensive, just be yourself and you will be fine.

We are a family of four with children 18 and 15. We just returned from a trip to Southern Germany and Salzburg, Austria. We wore shorts everywhere and I never felt out of place. I wouldn't pack the shorter shorts we wear in the U.S. but the longer shorts are fine. It was extremely warm and we were very grateful for shorts.

Americans stick out in Europe like a sore thumb anyway, shorts or no shorts. Don't worry about trying to blend in (you won't), so just wear what you find comfortable for the situation, realizing that there are a few places where shorts are not allowed.

Remember that you will not be the only "kind" of tourist! You are going to destinations where people from all over the world are also going to be tourists visiting the same sites! Part of the fun of waiting in line :) with kids is seeing all the different clothing styles- saris, etc. The only caveat is that on days your plans include touring churches to make sure the girls have some sort of big scarf to throw over their shoulders, if in tank tops, and that would be a day to make sure their knees are covered, too- although I've accomplished that with the same scarf fix!

I still remember two years ago, when tight capris for younger guys were coming into style in Europe and at a family reunion in Italy the luggage was lost of one of the groups with a 20-year-old son. They had to shop with their clothing allowance fromm the airline and he was NOT a happy camper in his capris and tight t-shirt for three days!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be comfortable and have a fabulous family vacation!