Carrying my passport...
 

European travel noob...

I'm heading to several European countries in a few days and I got to thinking... Do I need to carry my passport with me wherever I go?

In other words, when I'm out being a tourist, do I need to have the passport with me or can I leave it at the hotel and just use my U.S drivers license for i.d.? Or do I even need i.d. when I'm out and about?

Thanks

In several European countries you're legally obliged to identify yourself, if asked by police or other public force. The only valid document for that purpose, when abroad, is your passport. Of course, chances that you'll be stopped for identification are extremely close to zero. If you're afraid that you might loose your passport, then have a good photocopy/scan of it and carry this with you. I know many people who do this doing that.

Only ever done so in Russia or when I've been crossing a border (used to live in Strasbourg so dud that a lot pre-Schengen).

Don't know what it's like if you need to use a non-chip credit catd though.

100%

Basically, carry if you *know* you'll be crossing Schengen vs non-Schengen.

Otherwise, carry a scan and other supporting IDs to lessen (low) potential of hassles

I've got the copies so I'll go that route.
Thanks!!

You can buy protective passport pouches, these hang on your neck and have compartments for other travel "stuff", like museum or railpasses. The price is under $10.
If you leave your pp in your hotel room, it could be stolen; also, you never know when you will have to show the pp.
In a thread elsewhere on FT, some people made negative comments (stylewise) about people using a pp pouch...I think they are super convenient.

I've made 80+ trips to Europe over the last 14 years and I've only been asked once for my passport. I was driving over the border from Germany into Switzerland at Konstanz about 12 years ago. Never been asked for any kind of I.D. while I was doing touristy things in a city.

There are some countries, for example Germany, where you are supposed to be able to provide ID at any time. It's extremely rare to be actually stopped and asked for any, it's never happened to me and I've lived there and continue to visit the country frequently.
I suspect in most cases if you say your passport is in your hotel, the police may at worst simply come with you and check it out. After all, it's much easier for them to do that than take you to a police station and start filling in paperwork. It's probably a good idea to have a less "critical" form of ID with you, say a driving licence.

Carrying my passport...
 

You're much more likely to be pick-pocketed than to be asked to identify yourself on a random day. Act accordingly.

That's my view as well. I keep my drivers license photocard in my wallet but my passport stays in the hotel (preferably in a safe)

Yes, even as the chances to be asked for identity docs rises substantially if the person is "brown" or "black".

I've been asked for ID several times when making somewhat large credit card purchases. Nowhere else. So I only carry my passport only when I plan some serious shopping, otherwise I leave it in my hotel room and take a driver's license and/or a copy of my passport's front page as an ID. Will it work if I get stopped by the police? I'm not sure, but I definitely do not want my passport to be lost or stolen.

This has happened to me twice in Paris when using a US-issued non-chip credit card: once in a clothing store for about 150 euros, the other time in a hypermarket for a purchase of around 80 euros. I'm not sure whether it's because it was a foreign CC or because it didn't have a chip, but both times they wanted to see the actual passport, not a photocopy.

When that happens to me, it's most commonly because the transaction is a signature transaction and the store clerks have a practice of asking for ID when the transaction is not using a PIN and will be spitting out a signature slip receipt. The credit card having a chip or being local-issued doesn't stop the ID requests coming my way when when doing a swipe+sig transaction. [I do swipe and sig transaction even with European bank cards that have a chip and even a chip+PIN; and still I get ID requests.]

We tend to ask for ID for ALL cc purchases here in Spain. That said, a US drivers' license should be sufficient.

I would also add to OP, to always carry it with you when flying as well as you may be required to ID yourself officially in that situation. I have a residence card and I'm still required to have my passport.