On a scorching June day on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, Chloe Madison and her boyfriend, Colin Pinello, stop for lunch in Positano, a charming town overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
With their refreshing caprese pasta plates and Aperol spritzes, they thought of one thing: ice water. But they know that asking for it would be too American. Although the Europeans around them seemed unfazed by the temperatures, he said, they felt dry.
“Water is something we always have to ask for,” he said, and when they asked for ice it was “just a few cubes.”
Ms. Madison, 27, decided to laugh it off, posting a TikTok video of a couple fanning themselves with the caption: “resist the American urge to ask for a cup of European ice water.” (In this, he joins a trend of Americans wanting frosty drinks in tourist hot spots, with some wondering on social media if Europeans don’t drink water).
With huge numbers of US tourists returning to Europe this summer and heat waves also setting records, American sensibilities about staying cool are at odds with European etiquette and norms. (Some tourists are changing their travel plans because of the heat.) In the midst of the broader climate change crisis, a penchant for flip-flops, shorts and guzzling ice water may seem trivial, but those differences can be striking.
Savvy travelers looking to mingle with locals are increasingly turning to social media, particularly TikTok, for advice and sympathy. Most of the guides seem familiar to seasoned travelers.
For example, be careful with small talk and asking personal questions of strangers. Don’t be surprised that many Europeans still smoke in cafes and other public places. Do a little research on local customs and learn some basic conversational phrases in the local language.
There’s also this common advice for Americans: “Be less noisy.”
But record high temperatures in Europe have led to a new theme in online travel advice.
“I can’t help but notice the stark contrast between how Americans and Europeans handle a heat wave,” Ms. Madison, saying that Europeans “are less dependent on things that Americans consider important.”
Experts agree. For starters, don’t expect a large pitcher of water filled with ice cubes the moment you sit down at a restaurant.
“This is not common in Europe,” said Viviane Neri, director of the Institut Villa Pierrefeu, a graduate school in Montreux, Switzerland. “In some places, restaurants have an obligation to serve tap water, but they charge for it, because they say we have to wash the bottle and the glass and everything.”
Nor did the American cold brew fad permeate the continent. If you order an iced coffee at a local shop, it will look more like a Greek frappé or something coffee freddo. In some places, this is simply not an option unless there is an American coffee chain.
“Iced coffee in America is a thing, and I’ll be honest, I like it,” said Ilaria Rondinelli Huey, 30, an Italian. Creator of TikTok who moved to the United States several years ago. “That’s the thing I miss when I’m in Italy.”
Ms. suggested Rondinelli Huey to have a traditional hot coffee for breakfast and then order an Aperol spritz at lunch.
Also: “We don’t put ice in our wine.”
Nor should travelers from the United States expect air-conditioning or other power-hungry comforts.
Europeans are more concerned about climate change than Americans, surveys have found. That is reflected in the rejection of not only air-conditioning, but clothes dryers as well. Instead, you may find a clothesline in your rental. Energy shortages in recent years have also led to limitations on electricity use.
Older architectural styles designed to keep people cool meant that only about one-fifth of European homes had air-conditioning, compared to nine-tenths of Americans.
“You leave the shutters closed when it’s hot. You open them in the morning to let the cold air in,” said Ms. Neri. “And then you endure a little discomfort, and that’s not the end of the world.”
And when there is AC, don’t expect anything to explode. “Even if it’s on, it’s not ‘United States on,'” said Amanda Rollins, an American. Creator of TikTok who lived in Paris for six years.
He recently went to a movie theater where he said the audience was fanning themselves, a contrast to the typical deep freeze in American theaters.
And then there’s the matter of what to wear. Even in the heat, it may not be advisable to wear the comfortable shorts, T-shirt and sandals that some people wear to dinner or to the theater in the United States.
“Here in Italy, people dress up to throw trash in the street,” jokes Stefano Lodi, general manager of the Hotel Brunelleschi in Florence. “You wouldn’t dare wear flip-flops.”
Some fashion faux pas resonate – swimwear on a city street, cutoff shorts and crop tops in a fancy restaurant. And the cost can be more than just a dirty look: Upscale restaurants and even bars can turn you away for dressing too casually.
said Mr. Lodi turns people away from the Michelin-starred hotel restaurant every summer because they arrive in shorts (despite instructions to the contrary in the reservation confirmation). “They said, ‘It’s too hot; you should have told me,’ and we say: ‘Well, yes, we told you.’”
Other tourist spots, including churches, have dress codes. “No short shorts, no crop tops,” said Ms. Rondinelli Huey. Generally, athleisure or sneakers can come out.
In fashion capitals like Paris, the heat doesn’t stop fashionistas.
“Even when it’s hot outside, I see French people wearing long sleeves or long dresses or coats,” Ms. Rollins, adding that he rarely sees Parisians in shorts.
That’s a contrast to the American style in the hot summer: “We’re as close to bare as possible,” he says.