Church dress code

You need to be respectful and dress appropriately even if there's not a dress code officer standing at the entrance. I'm guessing you can probably figure this out on your own.

Generally you need to have knees and shoulders covered. We have made do with tugging shorts low on my kids so they cover the knees (and tying a shirt around the waist to cover anything that might show). We have wrapped lightweight scarves around shoulders, and around waists over shorts, to form a skirt that covers knees (for the girls). I have also skipped entering when I forgot about the dress code and happened to be wearing a tank top and didnt have a scarf (but fortunately Id been in that church before).

Not sure what you mean by trousers. Are you saying long pants as opposed to shorts? Or are you saying dress pants as opposed to jeans. Any long pants, even jeans, are appropriate. Shorts that are below the knee are also ok, but personally I think that's ok for kids but not for adults. Also, in Germany this is more just a matter of normal respect than a rule that is enforced like it sometimes is in Italy and some other more catholic countries.

Munich, just respectful.

Other European cities covers a lot of ground. Generally stricter in the south and less strict in the north but Europe has dozens of countries and even more regions within, and they are all different. If you asked about specific places a more precise answer could be provided.

Trousers are not a requirement, covering is. Dresses and skirts are perfectly acceptable as long as they cover what is expected in the place you are.

Generally you need to have knees and shoulders covered.

That is not true for Munich; nobody expects you to enter a church on a hot day with your shoulders or knees covered (on cooler days you do that anyway, because it will be cold inside). Just avoid the extremes that one can unfortunately see every day - do not wear just a bikini top or extremely short sports pants. Rules are more strict in southern Europe.

I have never seen a German church ask for those ugly knees or shoulders to be covered. They just don't care.

We were in the Cathedral in Cologne last week and it was HOT, and no one seemed to care what anyone wore. I think most folks had shorts on. In Italy it is different, but our limited experience in Germany was what others have said. No trousers (long pants?) needed.

I have never noticed any concern about attire in the churches in Munich or other parts of Germany. When I went to Cologne i was wearing a dress that was several inches above my knees and i saw tourists in sundresses/tank tops/shorts. Currently I am planning a trip to southern Spain and the information for many of the churches explicitly states knees and shoulders covered.