Rick Steves' Europe

Rick Steves' Europe Our mission is to inspire, inform, and equip Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening.

Rick Steves' Tours helps people experience the best of Europe through fun, affordable, culturally-broadening trips. We offer small group tours led by expert guides and more than three dozen, experience-packed itineraries. Learn more at ricksteves.com/tours.

09/05/2026

This week on the Travel with Rick Steves radio show:

Writer Nicos Hadjicostis created a global travel itinerary to see the world as one destination. But in his travels he realized extensive layers within a region will forever keep us exploring the world with new eyes, no matter how many times we visit a place. He joins us to discuss how he's become a global citizen.

And cultural historian James Grant-Peterkin shares ways to experience the diverse cultures of the far-flung island nations of the South Pacific.

Find your local station, subscribe to the podcast, or listen online at https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/radio

Hoping to visit the Louvre? Or the Colosseum? Or the Anne Frank House? To get into these sights — and many other major E...
09/04/2026

Hoping to visit the Louvre? Or the Colosseum? Or the Anne Frank House? To get into these sights — and many other major European attractions — you'll need to buy tickets in advance. But between third-party vendors jacking up prices, "mirror sites" designed to look like official ones, and scammers ripping people off, booking those tickets can feel complicated.

There are occasional genuine reasons to buy a resold ticket (like if official ones are sold out or you'd like to join a guided tour). But almost always, you'll want to buy from the official source — like the museum's website — because it's the cheapest and most secure method. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.

The best source is a trusty guidebook. In each of ours, we list the official sites for all attractions (big and small), give tips to help smooth out your booking process, and — most importantly — provide engaging information and historical material to help you have a better experience once those tickets are scanned.

If you’re searching the internet without the help of a guidebook, skip any hit labeled "sponsored" or "ad." These are third parties paying to try to outrank the real listing.

Then look for "official" somewhere on the page, which many attractions put to stand out from posers. But there's a catch: Increasingly, mirror sites are saying they're also "official" — rationalizing that, technically, they are official...resellers. AI chatbots can generally help w**d these out, but even they can get fooled by misleading language, so it's worth staying alert.

Finally, compare prices. If one "official" site charges €28 and another charges €14 for the same ticket, you want the cheaper one (it lacks the reseller markup). But don't start your search here: Some bogus sites lure people in with unusually cheap tickets and wait to tack on a hefty fee until the final checkout screen. Vet the site with the above criteria before using price as an indicator.

For quick reference, find the official links for many of Europe's most popular attractions (and more ticketing tips) in our latest Updates & Insights article: https://blog.ricksteves.com/insights/european-ticket-tips/

09/03/2026

London's National Portrait Gallery is what a portrait gallery should be. Look into the eyes of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II, today’s King Charles III, and many more great Britons. Creative presentation and a new focus on greater inclusiveness have transformed this once-stuffy place into a genuinely engaging experience, putting faces on major figures from the past 500 years of British history. Well-written gallery panels set the historical context and let you know why each portrait subject has earned a place on the wall.

Find more information on visiting the National Portrait Gallery, along with London’s other great museums and sights, in our London guidebook: https://store.ricksteves.com/products/london-guidebook

Watch the full one-hour long special, “Rick Steves Best of London” on your local public television station, stream with PBS Passport, or on our website.:
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/best-of-london

Every Rick Steves' Europe tour is smartly designed to connect you with local culture — through history, food, music...an...
09/02/2026

Every Rick Steves' Europe tour is smartly designed to connect you with local culture — through history, food, music...and, of course, art. While all 50 of our itineraries bring you to can't-miss galleries and thought-provoking works, some really turn up the art "wow" factor. So if paintings, sculptures, and installations make you tingle, here are some tours to consider:

Best of Paris
Timeless wonders of the Louvre, Europe's greatest Impressionist collection at the Orsay, Monet's water lilies at the Orangerie, Rodin's sculptures, modern art at the Pompidou...Paris is a beacon for art museums — and our weeklong stay here takes you inside many, while giving you plenty of time to explore others. Learn more: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/france/paris

My Way France
But France's art treasures aren't just in Paris! On this 13-day choose-your-own-adventure, you can explore the country's finest galleries and painting-packed chateaux at your leisure — from Chagall in Nice to Gallo-Roman art in Lyon (and, of course, those world-class collections in Paris). Learn more: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/france/my-way-france-vacation

Best of Venice, Florence & Rome
If you rave about the Renaissance, you've found your tour. With visits to Venice's Accademia, Florence's Uffizi and its own Accademia (home of David), and time to check out the Vatican Museums and Borghese Gallery in Rome, on this 10-day city-hopping extravaganza, you'll never stray far from your next Leonardo or Michelangelo. Learn more: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/venice-florence-rome

Heart of Belgium & Holland
This sneaky art-forward tour gets you up close and personal with the Dutch masters for 11 days — not just in Amsterdam (where you'll visit the Rijksmuseum and have time to explore the Van Gogh Museum), but also in Ghent, where Van Eyck's superb "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" can really make your art-heart thump with excitement. Learn more: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/holland-belgium/holland-and-belgium-tour

Best of Spain
Not all great art hangs in museums! This two-week Spanish cultural buffet serves up some of Europe's best art-chitecture, from Gaudí's Modernisme in Barcelona to Moorish wonders of Granada and Seville — plus plenty of great traditional works by El Greco, Goya, Velázquez, and more.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain/best-spain-tour

Explore each of these itineraries — and the artistic highlights of our other tours — here:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/

As we head toward the Midterms, guidebook co-author Cameron Hewitt shares his thoughts on voting when you're away from h...
09/01/2026

As we head toward the Midterms, guidebook co-author Cameron Hewitt shares his thoughts on voting when you're away from home:

Yep, that was me: The first time I voted for US President was in 1996, at my host family's dining-room table in Salamanca, Spain.

Before leaving on my semester abroad, I had requested an absentee ballot, enabling me to vote in my hometown Ohio election even as I broadened my horizons in Europe. I was excited to participate... and grateful that I could do it from halfway around the world.

Much has changed in the 30 years since this photo was taken. Our politics (and our elections) have grown extremely polarized. International travel is even more critical in fostering good global citizenship. And remote voting has become more accessible than ever.

In Washington State — where I now live — our elections are entirely mail-in. Since we adopted this system, researchers have documented a modest increase in overall turnout, especially among voters who were previously less likely to participate. And exhaustive studies have demonstrated no significant increase in fraud. (In fact, some have concluded that mail-in voting results in *less* fraud.) The jury is in: Remote voting is good for democracy.

However, not every jurisdiction makes it quite so easy.

If you'll be away from home on Election Day — whether enjoying a European trip, or on a quick visit out of state — don't wait: Take a moment right now to find out how you can vote. This is especially important this year, as powerful forces in our government are actively making it harder to participate in our democracy, and your specifics may have changed recently. If you need to request a ballot, do it now!

Alternatively, be clear on your state's options for early voting, and be sure to cast your ballot before heading out of town.

And if you're an American voter who lives in Europe, you may already know that the vast majority of expats don't vote. But it doesn't have to be that way. Exercise your right to support candidates and policies that reflect your values. There's no time like now to get registered and request your ballot.

In short: Wherever you are, vote!

Think you know Europe better than the staff of Rick Steves' Europe? Tonight at 6pm PT, join the Monday Night Travel team...
08/31/2026

Think you know Europe better than the staff of Rick Steves' Europe? Tonight at 6pm PT, join the Monday Night Travel team for our first-ever Monday Night Trivia, as quizmaster Gabe grills Ben, Emily, and Lisa on topics from second cities to art masterpieces to European women's history and beyond — with many questions pulled from our past year of Monday Night Travel adventures.

Gather a team of your favorite brainiacs, print out your scorecard, and put your European travel savvy to the test in this festive hour of fun factoids and playful competition. Let's get quizzical!

Monday Night Travel is our live, weekly virtual show. Register to receive a link to watch via Zoom, or watch live on our "Rick Steves Travel Talks" YouTube channel.

• Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4TJgahEzTAu6uqqvlGk_Zg #/

• Watch live on YouTube at 6pm PT:
https://www.youtube.com/

Get your scorecard:
https://tinyurl.com/wj2dv6yu

Explore the full schedule of upcoming Monday Night Travel shows and watch previous recordings: www.ricksteves.com/mnt

08/29/2026

This week on the Travel with Rick Steves radio show:

A historian helps us re-envision Europe's eastern half, from the Baltics to the Balkans, with a lively account of how most of the region's countries have modernized since the Cold War, and of the challenges they face today.

And an American-born artist and creative-writing teacher shares her joy of being "Welsh by choice," telling us of Welsh words that describe feelings we don't easily express in English.

Find your local station, subscribe to the podcast, or listen online at https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/radio

08/28/2026

Let’s get quizzical with some rapid-fire European trivia — how did you do?

If you enjoyed this quick trivia warm-up, join us for virtual trivia on August 31 at 6pm, PT! Quizmaster Gabe will be grilling the Monday Night Travel team on everything from second cities and art masterpieces, to European women’s history and beyond.

Gather a team of your favorite brainiacs, print out your scorecard (link in bio), and put your European travel savvy to the test in this festive hour of fun factoids and playful competition.

To join, register (for free) via Zoom, or watch live on the "Rick Steves Travel Talks" Youtube channel.

Register on Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4TJgahEzTAu6uqqvlGk_Zg #

Watch on YouTube live:
https://www.youtube.com/

Get your scorecard:
https://tinyurl.com/wj2dv6yu

Southern Italy is a land rich in contrasts. Here, your travel experiences range from bustling cities to sleepy remote to...
08/27/2026

Southern Italy is a land rich in contrasts. Here, your travel experiences range from bustling cities to sleepy remote towns...from world-class archeological sites to relaxing beaches...from rugged lifestyles to glamorous ones. Get a dose of it all on our Best of South Italy tour, a 13-day journey that bounces between coastlines, cultures, and cuisines while wrapping around the heel of Italy's boot.

We start in Rome, exploring the world's first museums (the Capitoline) and wandering lesser-known parts of the Eternal City — with plenty of time for you to explore some of its big-hitting sights as well. After a visit to what's left of Emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, it's up and over the Apennines to the Adriatic and a charming seaside town in beautiful Puglia — a region of craggy coasts, hidden grottos, and unusual rock formations.

Speaking of rock: Our next stop is Matera, where we'll visit a cave dwelling and rock-hewn church in the 9,000-year-old Sassi to better appreciate the conditions endured by residents of this "stone city." Then, following a visit to the ancient Greek temples at Paestum — and another to unlucky Pompeii a couple days later — we head for the glittering Amalfi Coast and stunning Sorrento. With multiple free days here, you'll have time to wander cliff-side lanes, spread out before the waves, and take a well-earned vacation from your busy vacation. Our tour then ends in Naples, turning up the energy with a Vespa-dodging walking tour through town and turning up the history with a visit to the spectacular Naples National Archeological Museum.

And of course, you'll eat well. Along with forcing you to choose between sumptuous fresh options at every dinner, this tour also includes a visit to a countryside farm that produces mozzarella di bufala, an inside look at the secrets of Pizza Napoletana, and the chance to watch gelato being made...and taste the results.

See the full itinerary, view departure dates, and book your seat to enjoy the many different sides of southern Italy today: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/south-italy

08/27/2026

Pizza—Naples’ great culinary creation—has been exported around the world. And yet, it still tastes best in its birthplace. While updating the Naples and Amalfi Coast guidebook, researcher Robyn Stencil visited two historic pizzerias in Naples: L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele and Antica Pizza Fritta Da Zia Esterina Sorbillo.

The origins of pizza date back 2,500 years, to when flatbreads were dressed with oil, salt, herbs, and sometimes cheese. Tomatoes only arrived in Campania after Columbus’ journeys to the Americas, and were not routinely used with flatbread until the early 19th century. But once they figured out this recipe, the Neapolitans perfected it.

Neapolitan pizzerie often make the crust the day before, using very little yeast, and then they let it rise for 12 to 15 hours. (Lesser pizzerie—especially outside of Campania—use ample yeast to affect a quicker rise, but this toughens the crust and gives it a ye**ty flavor.) The pizzaiolo (pizza maker) makes an individual pie for each diner, and bakes it in a very hot wood-burning oven for about three minutes.

In Naples, you can head for the famous, venerable places, but these can have long lines stretching out the door, and half-hour waits for a table. As an alternative, there are plenty of simple neighborhood places offering a tasty pie. Most pizzerie offer both takeout and eat-in, and pizza is often the only thing on the menu.

Find more pizzeria (and other restaurant) recommendations in the Naples and Amalfi Coast guidebook: https://store.ricksteves.com/products/amalfi-coast-guidebook

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