I didn't read the whole other thread, but I'd try to speak with your instructor about the reasons why flip flops are necessary for you.

A brand that works for a lot of bad feet is Naot from Israel. Absolutely the softest footbed ever.

Dansko shoes seem to work for many problem feet also. Their clogs have a different sole and footbed than the sandals. They have cute open back clogs that might suit you.

Seibel's, Ecco's, Reiker's and Dansko's have always been great for me.

Stl Susan, I had to laugh, I bought the first pair ever sold here and love them but I have huge feet and they make them doubled so wear them for errands and around the house but yes, they are so cool and comfy. Anyone with small feet are lucky. Buy them

Accept that the shoes that are best for your feet are not necessarily the shoes that look the “cutest.”

Low hiking boots with thick socks, all sized correctly, are good for walking. You can cover many kilometres in them without any fatigue or blisters at all.

Just re-read this thread -- man, they really got after you ddumaine! And quite needlessly. I suppose 40 years ago young women were getting admonished for not wearing nice traveling suits, pantyhose, and pumps on airplanes . . . .

Just shake off that agro, baby, who needs it!

It looks to me as if flip flops are quite common among the younger crowd, at least in southern Europe. At risk of getting 471 lashes again and "No" repeated to you in several different languages (yikes, can someone give that poster a Prozac?), you might post directly to the German board and ask for feedback from college age folks who have lived/traveled there in the last year or so to see what their experience is.

And my vote for absolute best every travel shoe (warm weather) is my pair of Josef Seibel black leather sandals. They wear like track shoes, I can climb rocks in them like a billy goat, and they look just dandy with a skirt.

Actually, it was the flip-flop posting that got you all the agro, not this one. Let it roll off your back ducky!

Thank you :) I appreciate all of this advice.... Even the hiking boots- my father is adament about tennis shoes but I don't wear those here unless I'm working out. I am determined to find a compromise of style and comfort that wont make my legs look like twigs! :) Naive....? Maybe.... Going for it? Hell yeah ;)

I love most of the shoes pointed to in the links here, but you guys have to be kidding if you think you have bad feet and can wear sandals for intensive sight seeing. Much as I'd love to be able to wear sandals or something cute, I have very flat feet and simply must wear tie shoes with orthotics.

How many of the posters on this thread are under the care of a podiatrist? My podiatrist would have a fit about most of the suggestions offered here, if you ar looking for shoes for bad feet doing a lot of walking.

Can you detect some sour grapes and resentment there, due to the fact I am doomed to wear tie shoes with support for my arches?

Oh, and another thing: Regarding Faina's statement that you should buy soft cotton socks, did you see the study out of the University of Missouri in February this year that found that cotton socks were actually the worst for blisters?

http://tinyurl.com/pc7yv

I am going to try both the Nylon socks that did best in the study and the acrylic blend wick-type socks on our May trip.

I don't claim to have medically defined bad feet....I have bed in feet in that any loafer back unless very soft leather will cut my ankles... they seem to be shallower then most peoples or then what most shoes are made for. Other then that blister are a common factor in my life and Im tired of them....Running did change my feet but it was other stuff too however I ahve been seen by a physical therpist and orthopedtic and essentially I am an over pronator.....

Mary-Fran- I am sorry you have medically defined bad feet.... but I'm probably on the way down your road... despite the fact I wear shoes with srch support and that are oprhtopedically correct. The problem is that I am 20 and while I want to take care of myself( I wear sunscreen everyday) it is hard to be the one in the group who is wearing ugly shoes at 20....Im just trying to use advice to find a happy medium for travel. P.S did not know about the nylon vs cotten thing...will def take that into consideration!

ddumaine, I hope I didn't sound as cranky as I was feeling about not being able to consider cute shoes for touring! I didn't mean in any way to be unkind.

If I were your age, I'd probably throw my podiatrist's instructions to the wind and wear cute shoes, even if it meant I had to crawl on my hands and knees to see the Sistine Chapel!

Gosh! Have a great time at school in Germany! My sister is also going to school in Germany this summer for language school, after our trip. Is that what you're doing too? Where are you going? Maybe you can hang out and be chums! She's great!

I am going with LSU its creativly called "LSU in Germany". We are traveling all over Germany every 2 weeks about, and its for a month and a half. I am not taking a language... I have not had much sucess with German but had signed up for this trip ( it requires pretty early registration) before I realized that. My grandfather lives in Germany which was another factor in that after the school part is over I can still hang out over there if I like.... I would love to make some connections though since I have no friends in this school group and everyone else has 2 or 3 going with them!

I know its stupid to turn down good shoes that aren't attractive I just really think theres got to be a medium that works for me~!!! :)

Here's the site for SAS which doesn't show the shoes but gives you store locations near you:

http://www.sasshoes.com/

I think I have the weirdest feet on the planet. 5A width (or narrowness, I should say.) I get my SAS on eBay & get them new since there's no store near me & SAS won't allow their shoes to be mailed outside the US from their stores.

First and foremost, I wish you a great experience in Germany! I know that painful blisters can put a real damper on a good time.

In addition to the brands mentioned, I would add g-series, a joint effort by Cole Haan and Nike. They can be slightly odd looking at first - not necessarily American looking - but are incredibly comfortable and I always get compliments on mine. Also, Clarks has another "brand" called Privo, which I have found to be incredibly comfortable. Both brands have served me quite well in Paris, where walking is the norm. If you are most comfortable in flip flops (I wear them a lot also), take them and if you "need" them, you have them. We have whipped them out in Europe before and not been stoned to death or mocked to our faces. Remember that you want to get the most out of your experience and whatever makes you most comfortable will allow for that. Keep in mind, you will never see most of these people again :-)

Also, don't completely dismiss the concept of a tennis shoe with skirts - if you are talking clunky running/gym styles then yes, steer clear - but some of the sleeker ones are perfectly fine with skirts, in my opinion.

Finally, one of the greatest discovery my sister and me made in French pharmacies were the blessed blister bandages. Band-aid now has them here. They are large and oval in shape and very thick. They have been a life-saver to everyone we have ever travelled with and are the first thing (after wine, of course) that we seek out and buy in bulk when we get to Paris. No matter how well a shoe has served you in the past or how good the recommendations of others are, you can always end up with the ol' blister. I HIGHLY recommend taking some with you. They have the large ones for the heel and also specially shaped ones for toes (if you get a blister on the top of a smaller toe, for example).

Have a great trip!!!

1 bad foot here... but I can go happily along my days IF I vary the shoes as the days go on, and vary the elevations and what not...
Flats, then a bit of heel, that sort of thing. Less achiness.

Hey Mary Fran - what is the brand of shoes that you have found to work with your orthotic? I have just graduated from bad feed (where I wore lots of European comfort brands) to officially terrible feet. I have a new custom orthotic, and I'm having a very hard time finding shoes, especially anything I can wear with nice slacks. Wearing skirts/dresses now seems totally out of reach :(

My foot doctor told me to conjure up a
female relative in my past and sue her
for giving me these terrible feet!

Just had surgery on one and was told
to wear thick soles and wide fronts -
and no other. Well, as a shoe addict
this was sad news indeed - I have a
closet full of every kind of footwear
that I'll have to deep-six! But vanity
versus wheelchair I now accept my fate
and move forward (I hope on two feet).

To this end I just bought Crocs to try
out b/f Italy. Thought they'd be called
to be co-respondants in my divorce but
no - my DH now wants a pair for himself.
Wow, are they every comfy!! Ugly, but
sooooo comfy. And only $30. I'm sold.

My other 'new' shoes are Naots - I
bought two pairs to 'break in'. Solid
and a little clunky but quite cute.
One pair may do fine with skirts and
capris.

This problem is certainly not a shoe-in
she said tongue-in-cheek and with a lot
of sole.

What about open back sneakers that are popular these days? They are all over Eurpoe, too. Most are in colors. You could wear them with a denim skirt...

I've posted on your flip flop thread, but the best options are to order up a bunch of shoes and try them. Or wait until you're in germany.
I know that you should break in the shoes, but if you have a back up pair (of flip flops?? mules?) then hold off. Many of the brands mentioned here are a lot less expensive in germany. For example when I was in Austria recently the birkenstocks were no more than 40 euros.

Noe, I have two pairs of shoes I can wear with my orthotics. Both are tie shoes. One is a Nike Air (classic nike white athletic shoe) and the other is a Rockport tan suede, which is slightly less clunky than the Nike and can pass with skirts if I wear them with nylons, though I will never win any fashion awards thus attired and shod.

The kiey for me in fitting for the orthotics is to buy one size larger than I usually wear and with a cut that is higher than usual, as my orthotics take up half an inch of height inside the shoe.

I'm feeling a dangerous sense of recklessness, with all this inspiring talk of cute shoes, and I want to jump in the car and speed down to the Nordstrom shoe department and challenge them to fit me with something that will work with my orthotics and still not shock with their ugliness.

However, I have to keep in mind the memory of aching feet that ruin my enjoyment of walking in Europe. Many times, when I look at the wonderful photos of my trips to Europe, my first memory of the sight is how much my feet hurt at the time. It's 100% better with the orthotics, so they have to be tolerated.

Mary_Fran---I bet Nordie's is up to the challenge---you should at least give it a try. This may not be the best time, though; I just came from there (on my lunch break) and it's all about sandals. But the sale rack has some great "closed" shoes, including some of the Cole Haan/Nike hybrids that someone mentioned.

Ddumaine---I noticed you asked about Chaco's above. They are a high arch and lots of support; if you can find a style you like they might be good for your "over-pronation". Howver, all the ones I've seen have a synthetic, not suede or leather, footbed. Maybe there is something new this year, though.