My wife and I will be traveling in Portugal and Spain from Sept 17 to October 5. Two questions:
1. Are white pants worn by women year round in Spain or only in the summer months?
2. Are long slacks required for men in any of the cathedrals in Portugal and Spain?
Thank you
Hi from Wisconsin,
In October I bet you will be wearing long pants because of the weather. So don't worry.
And I would NEVER travel with white pants. I use black. And I am always in the market for that perfect dirt color pair of pants. Then again, maybe you travel with walk in closets.
wayne iNWI
White pants for travel??!! Not unless all of your hotels have overnight laundry facilities. Even when we travel in the tropics I only pack coloured bottoms. I might pack a white tank top or shirt,, but that's it.
I hope one or more of our Spanish members will opine on men in short pants. I did see in quite a few men in shorter pants in some places, but they were almost all either young or tourists.
White pants are infinitely impractical for touring. You have to be very careful about where you sit, to start out with. No one cares what color they are. If you are referencing the "no white after Labor Day" - that's a misunderstanding - it had to do with white shoes.
I do think you are wise to plan on hot weather in late September and early October.
Again, as I always point out in my posts regarding similar questions: SPAIN is not "a country" per se in the traditional sense. There's no uniformity as it's composed of different regions with different cultures, some of which have little in common and are at odds so, often, there's no "Spanish" this or that, there are habits, values and ways of doing things in Basque Country, in Catalonia, in Galizia or in the generic "Spain" -which normally refers to Castille but which includes most every other remaining region too.
Saying so because you're not specifying where are you visiting. While, in general, as in most Western countries, dress codes are very 'loose' these days, there are still some instances in which there's a code, even if unspoken one. And it might change substantially depending on which culture you're in.
Thus, for example, Andalucia is a rather conservative area, especially when relating to religious matters (ie. visiting churches and cathedrals) while say, Catalonia, it's rather the opposite, is far more progressive. In fact, in the later, the only place I know you'll be asked to "cover" your shoulders and wear attire "below your knee" would be the Cathedral of Barcelona -and only at certain hours. To my knowledge, all the other religious buildings won't object much to "most attire" -tiny tiny shorts and transparent wear might still be over the top for these places though :)
As per white trousers and women, speaking for my culture here in Catalonia, is rather a Spring/Summer (all the way to early Oct if the weather is nice) thing. White trousers are very uncommon when the weather is already autumny. Still, no one will frown if you're wearing white pants in December either, as said before, this is a progressive society with very few "strict dress codes" -if you catch my drift- so there's a lot of live and let live attitude here.
Same goes for "food"... no "Spanish food", but rather Catalan, Basque, Andalusian, Castillian cuisines. They can be quite different one from the other and, as in most other places, that's due to different climates and also whether they have access to the sea or not.
Having said this, there are, obviously, some culinary specialities that transcend "borders" and can be found most everywhere.
PS @Chani, for reference, in my neck of the woods, white shoes -leather shoes or boots- are considered simply "tacky". But white espadrilles in Summer, for example, would be "en vogue": https://www.glamour.es/moda/tendencias/articulos/espartenas-sandalias-verano-tendencia-2019/44743 or https://lookastic.es/moda-mujer/alpargatas/como-combinar
PS @Chani, for reference, in my neck of the woods, white shoes -leather shoes or boots- are considered simply "tacky". But white espadrilles in Summer, for example, would be "en vogue"
Enric, I think it's tacky (for men) the world over!
The only man I saw wearing white pants in Barcelona was at the rooftop bar of the W Hotel. Think "two wild and crazy guys". It has taken me a long time to un-see it and I now have PTSD.
LOL Enric - do I have to leave my white sneakers at home next time?
@JC... I was referring to women... for man, white shoes is a sin. Period. hahaha!
... and clarifying @Bill's humorous remark... Trabucaires (blunderbuss gangs) are a folk figure in Catalan heritage and some of them do indeed wear white shoes -well, "espardenyes"- as part of the outfit in their performances, LOL!
@Chani... sneakers are not "shoes" :))
Attention: This morning on the Barcelona metro, line L5, getting on at the Sagrada Familia stop, I saw a Frenchman in tight white pants above the ankles and white leather shoes with no socks with a strong whiff of cologne, a real señorito (little man), as we call a dandy in Spain lol :)
In reply to number 2...in my opinion long slacks are always appropriate in churches and cathedrals whether in Portugal and Spain or the US. But, we have noticed in Madrid especially, that Spaniards dressed much more formally than other places in Europe. Pressed collar shirts and slacks on men and dresses on women...and that was streetwear! Kind of a throwback really...but lucky for us we had packed some of those types of clothing and felt we looked like we respected the culture.
@Carlos: sounds like the man I saw at the W!
