Has anyone done a Rick Steves tour? We never have, we have some family friends who have and they liked it, but they prefer not to travel with a tour group. We watch his show religiously, it’s one of my favorite things to watch if I’ve had a bad day or am stressed. We’ve used his guidebooks every time we’ve gone to Europe. All four of us have his toiletry bag, even H and S! I have his packable tote bag which I use constantly. We don’t have immediate plans to go on a trip, but I’d like some feedback…
I also love Rick Steves and use his resources (show, books, audio tours). I personally am too cheap to pay the premium for a tour service and would rather plan it myself; but, that’s a preference and depends on time and interest! And I’m sure quality tour groups have their advantages.
My husband jokes that I’m a Rick Steves groupie! I met him when I saw him speak at a travel show at the LA convention center. My SIL is a Rick Steves devotee as well and she’s the one who turned us on to him. The friends we know who took a tour, enjoyed it, but they just aren’t tour people. They had nothing but good things to say about it, but tours just aren’t their thing. That said, they wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rick Steve’s tours to other people. And they love his books and his show. We like to travel on our own, but we aren’t totally against going with a tour. We would only go with a Rick Steves tour. My parents always did Tauck Tours, but that’s too expensive for us. Tauck is a high-end tour company.
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I have not done a Rick Steves tour. Here is the website of a former tour guide for his company. I think she is a very informative source for the community and spirit of Rick Steves. She has a Facebook page, does some YouTube and blogging.
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We have not booked a Rick Steves tour, but often use his guidebooks when planning. I like his general approach to tourism. The tours however, in an effort to appeal to a wide range of interests often have activities we would not normally choose, mixed with a few we favor. Of course, that translates into trying new things, which can be beneficial. But our trips tend to be short, and we are likely never to return to the same area, so we prefer to concentrate on our interests first.
A friend of ours has taken multiple Rick Steves tours, and highly recommends them. She recognizes that much of what they see and do would not be readily available to the average tourist, and appreciates the variety. The tours also seem to have enough down time mixed with organized time. But at a cost.
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I’ve taken a tour recommended by Rick Steves. Is that a “Rick Steves” tour? We had a wonderful time. I told the story on another thread that my friend, who we were visiting in Italy, was a bit of a snob at the idea of a tour, but she loved it so much that she booked it again when her adult children came to visit the next month.
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We’ve taken 3 of his tours. They are the only tours we’ve taken in our lifetime (we are adventurous solo travelers). First we took a Turkey tour because I felt it would be a bit hard to arrange on our own, me being the tour organizer in our family. After that we were hooked, but only for unique tours or to places that would be difficult to go on our own. Our other 2 tours were Village Italy (touring many smaller places in Italy) and Eastern Europe. We might take one more to Sicily.
What we like about the tours - bus only half full, fun and adventurous co-travelers, unique experiences, plenty of solo time, great guides.
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I was waitlisted but declined a few of his tours this spring. (It was just too iffy with Covid restrictions for me). But I wouldn’t hesitate to take one next year. I’ve used his guidebooks and all of the B & Bs and hotels he’s recommended in England, Scotland and Spain have been great. Like another commenter, I would do a tour to an area where I wasn’t comfortable on my own due to language or other difficulties.
I like to see things that most tour companies aren’t interested in, likely because not that many travelers are interested in them. Rick Steves’ guidebooks tend to discuss places Rick likes, just like his travel shows. He seems to like coal mines and industrial history, for example, which have no interest for me.
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I like the idea of his “My Way” tours, where they take care of your transportation and accommodation, but you sightsee on your own. I agree, tours can be great for places that are difficult to get to on your own. For example, I wouldn’t feel the need to take a Rick Steves to London or Paris, but for Eastern Europe or Turkey, I probably would.
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Rick’s tours are also geared to people who can carry their own luggage, walk stairs and put in a few miles every day walking. They also tend to start somewhere other than the airport where you’d fly into, so the tour members need to be savvy enough to know how to get there. One England tour I was looking into started in Canterbury, for example, not London Heathrow.
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The other reason I nixed the tour this year. He requires mask wearing on the bus. If I’m alone in my rental car, I can breathe more freely.
We took one of his tours and liked it. My wife has gotten good at copying tours (some of Ricks and other groups as well) and modifying them somewhat to fit our tastes/preferences. But when we went to Italy we didn’t want to arrange all of the museums and other sites that we saw so we booked a Steves tour.
Smallish group of about 25 people. About half the time was with the group; the rest was one our own. I think 2 dinners with the group and the rest on our own (we had a couple meals with a couple other people in the group that we spent time with). Main guide was good. Flexible in terms providing a lot of direction if you wanted or would let you totally go on your own. Some people skipped certain parts of the group tours. Had a couple of special guides that were also good (museum guide was fantastic).
Only one day with a couple hours on a bus. Rest was walking and public transportation. We walked a lot (which was fine with us) and we walked even more when we were on our own. For us it was the right mix of small group activities and being on our own. Would definitely do another RS tour.
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Yeah that wouldn’t be a problem for us. I actually like tours where they don’t hold your hand. For elderly travelers or those with mobility issues, having your luggage handled for you, might be a big bonus.
The hotels RS chooses are a bit out of the way, a bit far from the main city, some people like it but it’s hard if you want to venture out into the main areas yourself after dinner.
One of our favorite hotels was a RS Venice recommendation, very central about 2 blocks off St Mark’s square. (Admittedly one of our favorite things about it was we happened to get bumped from the small family suite to a nicer option, 2 bathrooms - a treat for family of 4!). The hotel staff was friendly, arranged a great restaurant reservation - when we arrived, the host waved us to a delightful table at the window. We had only one night there before heading off by train to Munich, so it was great to be in the middle of the action. After dinner we walked to a wonderful Vivaldi concert in a church, but that was selected by our travel savvy son not RS.
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We did Lucerne Switzerland DIY after a Viking river cruise–we did it for half what Viking charged for their post-cruise. Booked a hotel right across from the fabled Chapel Bridge recommended in Rick Steves guidebook. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: 5 minute walk from the train station, easy walk to the lake, medieval wall/towers, medieval town squares, etc. Perfect!
Granted, his books contain his opinions (we loved Killarney and the Ring of Kerry, Rick can’t say enough bad things about them!!)–if he doesn’t like an area he pretty much ignores it, but isn’t it his informed opinion that we pay for???
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Side story: When we were in Florence and staying with friends, they recommended this local panini place. It was delicious, but it seemed we beat the crowd. By the time we left, there was a giant line down the street. As we neared the end of the line, I heard someone say, “WTH? Did Rick Steves just put this place in a book or something?” 
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What hotels RS recommends and where his tours stay are not the same.
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Hmmm, our friends who did a Rick Steves tour said all the hotels on the tour were centrally located. Maybe they’ve changed them…
They said that was what they liked about Rick Steves tours, you stay at centrally located (or near to the center) hotels with personality.
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Rick Steves basically put Rothenburg (Germany) on the map. Apparently, it wasn’t super well known before Rick started recommending it. My parents were there with another tour group, and they noticed a ton of other tourists carrying Rick Steves guidebooks.
When we were in London we ate at an Indian restaurant that Rick Steves recommended. It was great, but it was crowded
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