Times I Ignore Rick Steves (and Times I Don’t)
If you’ve ever planned a trip to Europe, chances are you’ve heard of Rick Steves. He’s an American travel expert, author, and TV host who’s been helping U.S. travelers explore Europe for decades. His Europe Through the Back Door philosophy encourages travelers to get off the beaten path, stay in family-run hotels, and truly connect with local culture. His guidebooks are a staple for many first-time visitors to Europe—so much so that you’ll often spot travelers clutching one of his well-worn yellow and blue books in every major European city.
Rick’s advice is thorough and practical, and his loyal following appreciates how he simplifies trip planning. But like any travel resource, his recommendations reflect his own interests and style. Over the years, I’ve learned when to take Rick’s advice—and when to set the book down and follow my own path.
Rick’s Biases
When using Rick Steves’ guidebooks, the most important thing to remember is that Rick is a former history teacher. His passions are history and art and architecture. He is great at leading you to the best of those throughout Europe and explaining them in an understandable way.
However, Rick does not tend to spend much if any time on:
Beaches or water sports
Hiking and natural wonders
Science museums, zoos, and aquariums
Things to do with kids
Factory tours
Food and wine tours
While I enjoy architecture, history is not a passion of mine. I love art from Impressionism to Modern Art, but I have very little tolerance for seeing yet another Madonna and child painting.
Over time, I’ve learned that I need to mix in some of my other interests. I love a good food tour or cooking class to learn more about a culture. I enjoy hiking, and you can’t keep me away from water. And I’ve given myself permission to skip some “must-see” sights (like the Louvre) if it doesn’t match my interests.
To find things you’re interested in, it’s easy enough to do a Google or ChatGPT search for “food tour Paris” or “hiking near Vienna.” I’ve had luck recently with Get Your Guide as a way to book a guided tour of some place that interests you.
Other times I don’t listen to Rick:
Cities and towns to visit: Rick feels strongly that his role is to narrow down the options in order to guide readers to the best places. This means his books focus on the best cities and towns for art and history. There are some great places throughout Europe that are not mentioned in Rick’s guidebooks, like my own hometown of Valencia, Spain. For those places, I rely on other guidebooks and online research.
Tourist Information: Rick has an odd affinity for the tourist information booth in every city, as a way to get information, maps, and tickets. I can get all that on my phone.
Restaurants: his recommendations are fine, don’t get me wrong, but often focused in a few key areas. There are plenty of online reviews for restaurants to help you find good places to eat in any neighborhood. I tend to use the reviews on Google Maps on the fly when I’m out and about. I once spent an hour in the heat of August wandering around near the Parthenon in Athens to find a restaurant Rick recommended. I never found it, but once I gave up and used Google Maps, I found another great one within minutes.
When I listen to Rick (What Rick is great at):
Initial sightseeing ideas: Rick’s guidebooks’ “At a Glance” section does a great job of highlighting local sites and ranking them from 1 to 3 triangles. But don’t treat this as a must-do checklist. As I mentioned above, I make sure to skip what doesn’t appeal to me and add in some of my interests instead.
Hotels: Rick is great at recommending small, family-run hotels that are well maintained, centrally located, and less expensive than bigger chains. Sometimes I will use these recommendations, but I will generally compare by searching an aggregator like Hotels.com.
Planning your time: Rick’s website has a “Where and When to Go” section for each country that gives a suggested number of days in each town. His guidebooks give a “Planning Your Time” section that is similar for each city. I find these a reliable guideline for planning, even though I may choose different activities than Rick suggests.
Day trip suggestions: Rick’s guidebooks often give great suggestions of nearby towns that are easy to reach by train for an overnight or day trip.
Connections: I do love the end of each chapter where Rick explains how to get to/from the city via train or plane, including how to get from the airport on public transportation. These are really handy. But also keep in mind that you can search YouTube for “how to get to downtown Athens from the airport” to find videos that will walk you through it step by step.
Rick Steves has introduced millions of Americans to the joys of European travel, and his guidebooks remain some of the best resources for understanding a destination’s history, art, and culture. But as with any expert, it’s important to adapt his advice to your own travel style.
Use Rick’s books as a foundation—a trustworthy starting point—but don’t be afraid to branch out. Whether that means skipping a crowded museum to take a cooking class, spending the day at the beach instead of another cathedral, or wandering through a lesser-known town, the best trips are the ones that reflect you.