Mens swimwear in France

[Changeeman]

What can men actually wear to swim in France? I know traditionally it was mandatory to wear speedo trunks, is this still the case?

My DH has his knickers in a right old twist so trying trying work out what will be acceptable.

We'll be staying at a Yelloh! campsite.

It was definitely enforced at the Eurocamp we went to. We are going again this summer and my SIL is coming along, so DH has threatened to buy budgie smugglers

DH, DSes and I have gone to France on holiday for 25 years and swum in all types of hotel and public pools and they wear normal bog standard non-skintight shorts. There has never been a problem. Last year at a Pierre et Vacances pool I saw loads of men swimming and not one in budgy smugglers (guests included a lot of French ME/Algerian/Moroccan families where modesty is a thing and tight trunks frowned on).

I assume this is one of those French myths along with all French women being slim and all French teenagers being immaculately behaved sophisticates.

Definitely not a myth, but not enforced everywhere. It tends to be on the campsites, some of them don’t but many do.

https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/information/france-swimwear-rules

Same with t-shirts, etc.

It's not really a myth as pp have experienced it. There is a link from yelloh explaining this in the thread.

sorry To hijack the thread but can I ask is anyone knows about female swimwear in the pools there? Has anyone got experience of whether swim leggings would be allowed? French pools seem to have very restrictive views on burkini type swimwear?

Well as I say we've never encountered it in annual trips to France and DH and DSes actually laugh when I suggest they should buy speedos in case. Maybe it's just a Eurocamp / campsite thing?

Its not a myth, the law was brought in to stop farmers wearing dirty overalls in public swim baths/pools when public swim baths were being set up, about a 100 years ago

Its not always enforced but it seems to change like the wind as to whether it is or not.

There may be pools in France where they don’t insist on skintight swimming trunks but I’ve yet to encounter one. We often stay in Eurocamp-type places and the argument between a furious Englishman and a pool attendant who’s chucking him out for wearing baggy swim shorts has become a regular feature of our holidays.

Not a myth but I think there’s a chance (not to be assumed) the rules are a bit more relaxed in hotels/camps where there are a lot of foreign guests. We went to a very outdoorsy campsite where you swam in a lake, not a pool, and men wore looser shorts. We also went to an outdoor lido where the ‘tight swimmers’ rule was strictly enforced, and no male seemed to be in anything that even went below upper mid-thigh.

No.

Which site is it?
The Yelloh site we have been to were fine with ordinary swim shorts.

Burkinis are banned on some beaches (Nice I think and some others) but per my earlier message I was at a place last year in southern France where a sizeable minority of guests were French North African and modesty swimwear was worn by some of the women. I think I might have seen one burkini at the hotel pool but more usually long sleeve / long legged fitted swimming costumes.

My DS had to borrow some stretchy jammer type trunks from the pool at a public swimming pool in France. He was only about 3, but the shell-suit type swim shorts he was wearing were not permitted and we were approached and asked to change.

L'atlantique in Brittany

Usually this is again for hygiene reasons. No one wants people in pools wearing possible outside clothing as it were. This was always a big problem in the Middle East where you would get women in ordinary covered clothes going into swimming pools. I don't know if swim leggings are a common concept?

Women's swim wear is skin tight and barely covers our arses - so much so that we have to wax our pubes.

Forgive me if I don't have much sympathy for men with their knickers in a twist.

Women can also wear the shorts style swimwear, I see lots in Next and M&S etc these days

In my experience it varies

• pool complex in big campsite enforced skintight swimwear
• municipal pool in Pyrenees enforced skin tight swinwear
• municipal pool in Chamonix didn’t care (after partner had brought only skin tight shorts on my advice)

I would take both but be prepared he may just have to wear the tight ones

My observations in France is that it seems to depend on location. Saddened to read of the OPs DH being uncomfortable about this, men come in all shapes and sizes.

I stayed in a different yelloh campsite last year which had the same rules on the website but DH and many others wore baggy swimming shorts and nobody said anything.

I did buy him a pair of these to take just in case but he didn't end up wearing them.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/men's-swimming-boxers-yoko-black-grey-blue/_/R-p-333275

It's really not a myth. All the pools near us have a no boxer type swim shorts rule. Maybe some places don't bother sticking to the rules, but many do.

Funny thing is, he actually has the physique of a Greek God 🤣😍 but he's just a modest dresser

Imagine being female eh?

The tight swim shorts should be fine, that’s what my DP has been wearing for the last few years in France, just make sure they’re tight fitting and swimming costume material, look for men’s jammers.

As PP’s have said it’s location dependent, some places are strict and others don’t seem to care much.

Lucky you op! 😍
I do have sympathy with him. My DH is more ultra-lean runner than greek god (cracking bum and pair of legs, but the farmers tanned and skinny top half I'm yet to see represented in marble), and he wouldn't be particularly comfortable with this either. I think he'd embrace it though. Hopefully your husband will if necessary and you have a great time.