Appropriate shoes for men while in Paris

Because any vacation typically involves more walking than at home, let him wear what he finds comfortable. Painful feet can kill the buzz of a vacation pretty quickly. Almost nobody will care or even notice what shoes he wears.

There isn't a literal fashion police that will arrest your husband for wearing tennis shoes in Paris. It may not be as common for Parsians to wear them around town, but I'd go for comfort first and looks second, provided he wears the nice shoes out to nice restaurants. And at least it's not WHITE tennis shoes! ducks

For the dinner cruise he will want to wear the same fancy shoes he will wear to dinner at the ET. Dress for most of the dinner cruises is formal. I'm only aware of one operator that allows casual dress.

Patricia-I think the dark athletic shoes sound great for everyday and most restaurants. I don't have experience with the seine river cruise, but we went to the Jules Verne last year and my husband wore dark casual (not tennis) shoes along with dress shirt and pants and a sport coat and tie. I wore a black dress and flat nice sandals (I was a little chilly I admit!) and we felt very appropriately dressed. Hope you enjoy the dinner-we thought it was a very special experience.

Shoes are heavy to pack in luggage. He should wear his dark athletic shoes on the plane and pack his lightest footware, to serve as back-up in case the main pair get wet on a rainy day. Dark shoes are meant to go unnoticed. It's a good bet nobody at Jules Verne will even look at his feet unless his shoes glow in the dark. And those Seine boat rides are only a fraction more formal than taking the bus.

One thing that no one has mentioned is that not only will you be walking way more than you (probably) normally do - but Paris is paved with cobblestones. Many different sizes, heights, shapes of cobbles. It's very different than walking miles and miles in a typical American city. So I would caution that he make VERY sure that his cherished tennis shoes really are comfy for walking long distances on uneven surfaces. They might be - but if they aren't, he might want to look into a pair of real walking shoes.

Rockport makes a line of very comfortable walking shoes that are as dressy as you like. They feature excellent walking-shoe soles.

Dark tennis shoes and another nice pair seem perfect. He could get by with one pair of good black or brown walking shoes, but no need to buy new ones if he's happy with what he's got.
I suppose dinner cruise dress code depends on your boat and timing. Our Bateaux Mouches dinner cruise 2 yrs. ago, Easter weekend, was coat and tie required--incl. the children! They had sport coats at the door "in case the gentleman forgot." (We did not forget. :))

Hi, Patricia Your husband might want to look into Brooks Addiction Walker. It is basically a running shoe with all the support and cushioning of a running shoe, but without the mesh upper. Instead, it comes in leather upper, black or white. Postal workers and waiters wear them. He can wear them to all the events.
My personal preference is to shop on zappos.com because it has free return.

I switched off between New Balance running shoes and Ecco leather slip-ons. Both were very comfortable, and both would be ok in any but the fanciest restaurants.