On our first mainland Europe trip 2012 we used RS book a lot (especially before and after a Western Med cruise).
When we went to Madrid and stayed at Hotel Europa, we were surprised to see there was a RS tour booked there. It was kindof fun - we’d peek at the itinerary posted in the lobby to see what they were up to. It was a great location near Plaza Mayor. Lots of sites were walkable but we also did Hop On / Hop Off tour from there. We noticed that the RS tour took advantage of the nearby train station.
Our hotel was in a good location. Walking distance to restaurants, shops, attractions, etc. And a 5 min walk to a train station. We did a lot of exploring on our own late afternoons/at night. And vast majority of our excursions with the group started on foot from the hotel. I would expect proximity to activities would depend on the particular RS tour and location.
Please, everyone is entitled to their opinion of RS, but he in NO way put Rothenburg on the tourist map. Michelin Guides had highlighted Rothenburg’s place on the Romantic Road long before RS arrived on the scene.
I guess. I think it’s just that it wasn’t as widely known until Rick recommended it…but it’s personal opinion.
@saillakeerie I agree, it probably depends on the agenda of that particular tour. Plus, in certain cities, the tours might be visiting sites all over the place.
We have gone on three Rick Steves tours, and thank you for reminding me that our final payment for our next tour is due tomorrow!
The tours are absolutely fantastic. I hate doing travel planning, and they totally figure it out for you. Where are the best places to go, the best times so you don’t have to wait in line, hire the best local guides and do all the work for you. They are not expensive for what you get, as all you end up paying extra for are the trinkets you purchase, a couple of meals, inexpensive wine and your airfare. The guides are wonderful, so much knowledge and personality. I’ve traveled many places on my own, but I get far more out of it when I have a local guide.
One of the best parts of the RS tours are the people. Nice, well educated, adventurous, not whiny, happy and positive. We met some people who are now dear friends, on our first RS tour, went on our third tour with them and are going on our fourth with them. If you can go with people you already know and like, it makes it even better. I’d say that most people are in their late forties-early seventies, relatively fit, because there is a lot of walking.
I wouldn’t recommend it for kids (unless you went on one of their family tours). And if you’re not a wine drinker, you’re missing out. There is a lot of wine drinking on these tours. But weirdly, nobody seems to get hung over…no sulfites?
We’ve gone on three Rick Steves tours over the years and our experience was completely the opposite. All the hotels were small and centrally located. Rick has said that’s something his smaller tours can do that the larger tours with 60 people on the bus can’t do; they need a hotel large enough to accommodate that many people and they’re much more likely to be on the fringe of town than in the center. RS uses smaller family-run hotels and I think he likes being able to bring them steady business as he and the staff find ones he likes.
As for the tours in general, we liked them and would recommend them to others. They have a combination of the convenience of a tour (they make all hotel bookings and arrange transportation between locations, a tour guide, reserved admission time to many museums) with some free time so you’re able to explore and dial things up/down as you wish. A catch, as with many tours, is that the pace is a bit quick. At most you spend 2 nites in most locations and sometimes just one; if you’d like 3-4 nites to soak up the ambience and maybe go at a slower pace then a tour may not be right for you. The flip side is it would be quite difficult to accomplish on your own the same things the tour does in a similar number of days; my ballpark estimate is multiply his days by 1.5x.
Let’s just say we have different expectations. Small family run hotels cannot afford to be centrally located and be affordable. Sometimes, his hotels are located in areas which aren’t big enough for tour buses. I’ve investigated RS tours many times but nixed them because of the accommodations. I’ve even spoken to Rick personally in travel meetings about his choice of accommodations. Large hotel chains such as the Marriott, Hyatt and Accor are generally centrally located and can accommodate large groups. In fact, tour groups and business travels are the mainstay for larger hotels. If you are looking for value at a more budget level, perhaps RS is your best bet.
I really am not sure what you’re talking about? I can’t think of a single place that we stayed during one of our three RS tours that I disliked, or thought should be more centrally located. No large chain hotels, but that’s fine, I’ve spent enough of my life in chain hotels. Some of the large cities on our tours, Paris, Lisbon, Porto, Florence, Rome…very centrally located. No complaints about the hotels or locations whatsoever.
Nixing RS tours because of hotel locations is just plain wrong. You might easily have other reasons, but hotel locations? Nope.
RS whole thing is avoidance of the large, international, “American-style” hotel. If I were to take a tour, I’d just as soon spend the $$ on experiences rather than a hotel that could be in any big city in the US.
We’ve stayed in plenty of apartments, but the last place we stayed in Paris (Dec 2019) was right in the Marias and was a RS hotel. It had everything we needed - a decent sized room, nice bath, breakfast room, elevator, and didn’t have the extortionate cost of the places on the Champs.
Some of his stuff I could take or leave, but for a good part of my 40 years of European travel, he’s been a resource. We still have pages of the mimeographed info from one of his seminars in the 80s.
I’ve never encountered a person who didn’t love the RS tour they were on, FWIW. ( I live in the land of RS, the next small city to the one he calls home.)
No, all tours are capped at 28 people. The only difference between his tours is a few are city tours (London, Paris, etc) where you stay at the same hotel the entire time, the majority involve travel on tour buses between locations. As Rick Steves says
Keeping our groups small gets us into quaint, centrally located hotels in the historic heart of each city, within walking distance of the major sights. Full of personality and often family-run, our hotels are a memorable part of your trip. So are the stairs. Many of the places we stay don’t have elevators, so pack light, because you’ll carry your own bags from the bus to your room. https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ricks-10-commitments
What? I think the whole point of RS Tours is to avoid the big, chain hotels that aren’t that fun and quirky. I wouldn’t like a tour that stayed in just Hiltons or Marriotts. We’ve stayed at several wonderful non-chain hotels that were very centrally located. I mean, they weren’t right next to Big Ben, but they were close to everything. Also, the hotel doesn’t matter. As long as it’s clean, safe, quiet, and in a nice location, that’s what matters. The point of the trip is to get out and about. Also, RS tours aren’t big, so they wouldn’t need a large hotel…
