What should you wear when you are a tourist?

[Shadowman88]

Just keep it comfortable and tasteful. Alot of it depends on where you're going and what you're doing. Be smart about it nd you'll be fine....

 

[Go Surface]

At least if you're a tourist, in touristy clothing, you'll stand out. DC is perhaps the most bland city in the country. Every Georgetown housewife in a quilted Burberry jacket. EEeek.

 

[epa]

I normally dress the same way when I am a tourist as when I am not. I never wear shorts. I never wear baseball caps.

 

[stilmacher]

Please wear anything but those aweful sneakers, tennis socks and shorts! No matter how comfortable this attire might be it looks aweful and is a dread to western civilisation. Please be kind to sensitive people around you, like me, and if you feel there is no way around this outfit, don't stay at the Hotel de Crillon or a similar place but rent a trailer. Or even better if you want to be comfortable by all means - stay at home. We haven't gone through milleniums of civilization to end up like this.

 

[epa]

Originally Posted by stilmacher

Please wear anything but those aweful sneakers, tennis socks and shorts! No matter how comfortable this attire might be it looks aweful and is a dread to western civilisation.

Also, there is a lot of nice-looking AND comfortable clothing around. There is no need to go half naked to be comfortable. And if its hot where you are on vacation, you have an excellent opportunity to bring out your cotton and/or linen suits and jackets.

 

[Luc-Emmanuel]

sneakers, denim and a polo shirt or a tee. Just like I dress during the week-ends.

!luc

 

[Aristocrat]

Remember, business before pleasure.
Always..

 

[tonylumpkin]

Originally Posted by pspelly

I always notice that it is ridiculously easy to tell who is and who isn't a tourist in DC. Tourists wear shorts, sneakers, polo or t-shirts, and visors or baseball caps. Non tourists wear suits or the dreaded business casual.

If you think the tourists are the only ones wearing shorts and baseball caps in D.C. in the summer, you've never lived in D.C.

 

[Bradford]

Originally Posted by pspelly

I always notice that it is ridiculously easy to tell who is and who isn't a tourist in DC. Tourists wear shorts, sneakers, polo or t-shirts, and visors or baseball caps.

First of all, why wouldn't you wear this type of outfit as a tourist? Especially in D.C.? You're on vacation, you're walking from attraction to attraction, on the mall, in museums, etc... You're outside, so a hat is a smart move. Plus, what do you think is going to happen if you don't look like a tourist - is someone going to ask you to head up a government agency, mistake you for a foreign diplomat, what?

I don't have any problem with tourists wearing outfits like these for the daily trips. My only caveat would be, if you're planning to have dinner at a fancy restaurant while you're on vacation... pack some appropriate clothing. Don't show up at the nicest restaurant in town and expect to get in wearing your shorts, sneakers and baseball hats.

Then again, your tourist outfit pretty much describes me here in Phoenix almost any time I'm not working - and some days when I am!

 

[epa]

Originally Posted by Bradford

I don't have any problem with tourists wearing outfits like these for the daily trips. My only caveat would be, if you're planning to have dinner at a fancy restaurant while you're on vacation... pack some appropriate clothing. Don't show up at the nicest restaurant in town and expect to get in wearing your shorts, sneakers and baseball hats.
The fancy restaurant is only example of when a certain type of "typical" tourist attire and behaviour is out of place. Being on vacation is not an excuse for forgetting all rules about how to dress and how to behave. If you care about the way you dress back home, why shouldn't you do it when travelling? Actually, I think that one should normally be even more careful about respecting the norms when one is travelling then when one is at home: if you behave like a slob or bastard when you are abroad, you will not ruin only your reputation, but you may actually harm the reputation of your entire country. On this forum people may associate English with good shoes, pinstripe suits, Savile Row...; in Spain English is often associated with drunk tattooed slobs without any f***ing clue on how to behave.

 

[thewildpig]

I like color, so when I'm a tourist, I wear a high-quality Hawaiian shirt. Also, Bermuda shorts, black wing-tipped shoes, and mirrored aviator sunglasses.

 

[Bradford]

Epa -

I'm not defending anyone behaving in a bad way. Drunk and obnoxious is just as offensive if you're in a Savile Row suit as it would be in a football jersey.

My point is that you should dress in a way that is comfortable for what you are doing on your vacation and if that is a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers for walking museums or visiting memorials, so be it.

 

[andyw]

Dress your age, dress like the locals if it freaks you out to be identified as a tourist and dress comfortably.

Overseas, I pack a little more for changes of formality, I always buy something local and always bring a larger piece of luggage to accomodate the net increase of clothes for the trip home.

 

[epa]

Originally Posted by Bradford

Epa -

I'm not defending anyone behaving in a bad way. Drunk and obnoxious is just as offensive if you're in a Savile Row suit as it would be in a football jersey.

My point is that you should dress in a way that is comfortable for what you are doing on your vacation and if that is a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers for walking museums or visiting memorials, so be it.

Oh no, I did not mean tu suggest that you would favour bad behaviour!
The only thing is that I have spent a lot of time working in touristy places -I actually work and live right in the most touristy area of Madrid-, and sometimes I have the feeling that people think that they can get away with anything just because they are tourists. That applies both to the behaviour and to the way they dress. Of course, not all tourists behave or dress bad, and not all locals behave and dress well. However, I believe that it is important when we travel that we care a bit about the impression that we may make where we go. Sometimes it looks like if many tourists think that the locals are just some kind of exotic background to all the monuments...

I see nothing wrong with sneakers, shorts or teeshirts in general. However, there are places where you maybe should choose something else. A fancy restaurant is a good example of such a place. But there are other places.

Also, my point is maybe that if you are not the kind of guy who would walk the city in a training suit and sweatshirt back home, why do you do it when you go abroad?

As I mentioned above, there are a lot of comfortable and nice-looking clothes around. There are comfortable and nice looking sneakers, linen pants, cotton shirts...

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Oh... wait... TOURIST?

Sorry.