After several trips and lots of blisters I have come to the not very brilliant observation that.... its your feet, stupid! I have for the most part bad feet,abused by years of high heels and poor fitting. So now I am picky and have to pay for it....but if u have "easy feet" wear what u want and enjoy....but in truth the better u look the better your table...

Floridadee, Try Dillards...I am sure there is one near you. They have a great selection of comfort shoes, and decent prices. But if it comes down to it, wear those Nikes...if all it takes to "offend" someone is to wear shoes that they don't, then too bad for them!!!

I like black walking shoes and they are what I use at home. But I will be in some hot weather this summer, and I'm a little concerned they might be a problem.

How do black walking shoes work out if the temperature is 85F+?

I guess it would be the same thing even if it wasn't summertime. Maybe you can interchange them sometimes with sandals.

I always wear black walking shoes when I travel, no matter the season. And because I'm a teacher with a traditional school year, I'm traveling when it's hot in many places. In Spain, I wore comfortable black leather sandals (Clarks), as it can get miserable wearing any closed toe shoe in major heat...at least for me. I don't believe the color of the shoe will make much difference. Now, if you're asking about shirts or tops, that's a different story.While in Scotland and later London this past August, I wore black leather shoes with a tennis shoe sole. It got to be 96 degrees in London, but my feet were fine.

I have a narrow foot and a high arch, and about the only thing I can find is Birkenstock. You have to be careful which Birk you get because they don't all have the really high arch support. I have a pair of Mephistos and they don't compare . . . not enough arch for me. I have a pair of Siebels and they are initially comfortable, but I can't walk more than a couple miles in them.

The only other shoes I can wear are Hafflinger clogs. I've never seen any other style by Hafflinger but it might be worth checking.

My oldest daughter commented once that she had a pair of Addidas walkers that she couldn't wear because the arch was too high. I immediately started searching Addidas stores and found a pair of very plain white tennies that have a very high arch and I can wear those too.

It the above poster who got plantar faciitis gets this far in the post, try stretching exercises every morning. It is about the only thing that helps and not only does it help, it will prevent the same thing happening again.

When I hit 60, I decided comfort was more important than looks. White tennies and khakis are fine with me. Birkenstock walking shoes and black slacks are fine with me. When my feet are happy, I am happy.

Good luck.

If it is July or August when visiting, I like to have my feet as free as possible. I therefor choose open sandals, like Timberland has them, with a leather base, leather straps and well profiled.

Clarks and SAS both help my feet stand up to the rigors of sightseeing.

My retired aerobics sneakers are what I wear in Ireland. I didn't take them to Paris (and I only saw about 3 pairs of white tennies on people in my 6 days there!) but I took my Clarks. They are what I wear all weekend and to the mall, but they just didn't cut it for the miles we walked in Paris. My feet killed me every night.

I love my Munro shoes.

I have a dressy pair made of microfiber and another of leather sandals that I can wear day or night, casual or evening. They have rubber soles acting like shock absorbers on cobblestones- and my feet, ankles and knees always feel wonderful!

I have a high arch and wear an 11W, which is not always the easiest to find, so I am grateful for this brand.

~Kris

I bought EasySpirit and Clarkes both. THe Clarke's were a sort of clog thingy. THe EasySpirit look ugly in the box but pretty on...weird AND it turns out they are water proofed...found that out in Paris.
THen I also took a pair of pretty shoes for the evening.

Hi Debinnova,
I think you are looking for FEATHERWEIGHTS by Andre Assous

Josef Seibel...they are the best! Available a Dillards, Nordstrom and others. Jusine

I have walked a thousand miles in my Birkenstocks and have never found anything more comfortable!!

Here's another vote for SAS shoes! My problem is not shoes, but socks. I have a relatively small foot (5-1/2), and adult socks are just too large. The heel comes up above my ankle. Where can you find a well padded pair of black children's socks?

I assume they don't care what the men wear? My daughter was just giving me hard time about Nikes I plan to take to Rome next week. I assume I'll be an obvious tourist anyway.

This message is for Dallas: Have you tried the SAS socks? I'm not sure about your size (I wear an 8), but I love them.

Through all of my travels in Italy, I never felt comfortable in any of the walking shoes I took (regardless of comfort). I took Reebok high tops, Tommy Hilfegar low tops, and low heeled sandals. I also took strappy high heeled sandals & high heeled chunky boots. Alas...I spent most of my time in the strappy sandals & chunky boots. I felt like a complete geek wearing my comfy shoes over there, so I chose style over comfort. I did see some comfy looking leather shoes that resembled tennis that a lot of Italians wore and were sold in shops over there (with 3 stripes on the side & a turned-up rubber front that are now sold here in the US). Whatever you choose to wear, I wouldn't choose Birkenstocks (so very ugly and embarassing, especially when people wear them with socks). If you want comfort & don't want to look like a total tourist, I would purchase some nonchalant low-key looking shoes like Keds in both black and white (comfortable but not so conspicuous).

I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow, armed with 2 pair of Ecco walking shoes. Like someone else said, they are not the most stylish, but they are comfortable. For anyone in the NY metro area, there is an Ecco outlet up in Woodbury Commons.

I don't believe anyone has mentioned Bite shoes, a small company out of Redmond, WA that makes high quality, active-wear shoes/sandals (www.biteshoes.com). They are one of those feel-good, Northwest outdoorsy companies. I discovered their super comfortable golf shoes last year and I just ordered a pair of walking sandals for our upcoming Italy trip. I know what you're thinking...I swear I don't work for them!