Rick Steves does more than just list where to travel in Europe; he gives travelers inside information on what to visit, where to stay, and how to get there--economically and hassle-free. Travelers can delve into European culture, make friends with the locals, and experience everything Europe has to offer.
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Review
Today's tourists are as likely to be toting Rick Steves as Giorgio Armani, tasting the good life without burning through the Kids' college fund.
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More About the Author
Rick Steves advocates smart, affordable, perspective-broadening travel. As host and writer of the popular public television series Rick Steves' Europe, and best-selling author of 40 European travel books, he encourages Americans to travel as "temporary locals." He helps American travelers connect much more intimately and authentically with Europe -- and Europeans -- for a fraction of what mainstream tourists pay.
Over the past 20 years, Rick has hosted over 100 travel shows for public television, and numerous pledge specials (raising millions of dollars for local stations). His Rick Steves' Europe TV series is carried by over 300 stations, reaching 95 percent of U.S. markets. Rick has also created two award-winning specials for public television: Rick Steves' European Christmas and the ground-breaking Rick Steves' Iran. Rick writes and co-produces his television programs through his company, Back Door Productions.
Rick Steves also hosts a weekly public radio program, Travel with Rick Steves. With a broader approach to travel everywhere, in each hour-long program Rick interviews guest travel expert, followed by listener call-ins. Travel with Rick Steves airs across the country and has spawned a popular podcast. Rick has also created a series of audio walking tour podcasts for museums and neighborhoods in Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice (with more tours, including London, coming in 2010).
Rick self-published the first edition of his travel skills book, Europe Through the Back Door (now updated annually), in 1980. He has also written more than 40 other country, city and regional guidebooks, phrase books, and "snapshot" guides. For several years, Rick Steves' Italy has been the bestselling international guidebook sold in the U.S. In 2009, Rick tackled a new genre of travel writing with Travel as a Political Act, reflecting on how a life of travel has broadened his own perspectives, and travel can be a significant force for peace and understanding in the world. Rick's books are published by Avalon Travel, a member of the Perseus Books Group.
In addition to his guidebooks, TV and radio work, Rick is a syndicated newspaper columnist with the Tribune Media Services. He appears frequently on television, radio, and online as the leading authority on European travel.
Rick took his first trip to Europe in 1969, visiting piano factories with his father, a piano importer. By the time he reached 18, Rick jokes, "I realized I didn't need my parents to travel!" He began traveling on his own, funding his trips by teaching piano lessons. In 1976, he started Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD), a business which has grown from a one-man operation to a company with a well-traveled staff of 70 full-time employees. ETBD offers free travel information through its travel center, website (www.ricksteves.com), European Railpass Guide, and free travel newsletters. ETBD also runs a successful European tour program with more than 300 departures -- attracting around 10,000 travelers -- annually.
Rick is outspoken on the need for Americans to fit better into our planet by broadening their perspectives through travel. He is also committed to his own neighborhood. He's an active member of the Lutheran church (and has hosted the ELCA's national video productions). He's a board member of NORML (working to reform marijuana laws in the USA). And Rick has provided his local YWCA with a 24-unit apartment building with which to house homeless mothers.
Rick Steves spends about a third of every year in Europe, researching guidebooks, filming TV shows, and making new discoveries for travelers. He lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington, where his office window overlooks his old junior high school.
Over the past 20 years, Rick has hosted over 100 travel shows for public television, and numerous pledge specials (raising millions of dollars for local stations). His Rick Steves' Europe TV series is carried by over 300 stations, reaching 95 percent of U.S. markets. Rick has also created two award-winning specials for public television: Rick Steves' European Christmas and the ground-breaking Rick Steves' Iran. Rick writes and co-produces his television programs through his company, Back Door Productions.
Rick Steves also hosts a weekly public radio program, Travel with Rick Steves. With a broader approach to travel everywhere, in each hour-long program Rick interviews guest travel expert, followed by listener call-ins. Travel with Rick Steves airs across the country and has spawned a popular podcast. Rick has also created a series of audio walking tour podcasts for museums and neighborhoods in Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice (with more tours, including London, coming in 2010).
Rick self-published the first edition of his travel skills book, Europe Through the Back Door (now updated annually), in 1980. He has also written more than 40 other country, city and regional guidebooks, phrase books, and "snapshot" guides. For several years, Rick Steves' Italy has been the bestselling international guidebook sold in the U.S. In 2009, Rick tackled a new genre of travel writing with Travel as a Political Act, reflecting on how a life of travel has broadened his own perspectives, and travel can be a significant force for peace and understanding in the world. Rick's books are published by Avalon Travel, a member of the Perseus Books Group.
In addition to his guidebooks, TV and radio work, Rick is a syndicated newspaper columnist with the Tribune Media Services. He appears frequently on television, radio, and online as the leading authority on European travel.
Rick took his first trip to Europe in 1969, visiting piano factories with his father, a piano importer. By the time he reached 18, Rick jokes, "I realized I didn't need my parents to travel!" He began traveling on his own, funding his trips by teaching piano lessons. In 1976, he started Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD), a business which has grown from a one-man operation to a company with a well-traveled staff of 70 full-time employees. ETBD offers free travel information through its travel center, website (www.ricksteves.com), European Railpass Guide, and free travel newsletters. ETBD also runs a successful European tour program with more than 300 departures -- attracting around 10,000 travelers -- annually.
Rick is outspoken on the need for Americans to fit better into our planet by broadening their perspectives through travel. He is also committed to his own neighborhood. He's an active member of the Lutheran church (and has hosted the ELCA's national video productions). He's a board member of NORML (working to reform marijuana laws in the USA). And Rick has provided his local YWCA with a 24-unit apartment building with which to house homeless mothers.
Rick Steves spends about a third of every year in Europe, researching guidebooks, filming TV shows, and making new discoveries for travelers. He lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington, where his office window overlooks his old junior high school.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
You're going to LOVE ITALY!,
By
This review is from: Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2004 (Paperback)
I've been to Italy several times.....Rome, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Milan, some of the hill towns, etc. Here are my reviews of the best guides to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!
Rick Steves' books are not recommended. They may be an interesting read but their helpfulness is very poor. They don't do well on updates, transportation details, or anything but the first-time-tourist routine and even that is somewhat superficial on anything but the mega-major sites. Frommer's These are time tested guides that pride themselves on being updated annually. Although I think the guides below provide information that is in more depth or more concise (depending on what the guide is known for), if your main concern is that the guide has very little old or outdated information, then this would be a good guide for you. Lonely Planet Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless. Blue Guides Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn. MapGuide MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the public transportation system. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the center of the city. Time Out The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best! Let's Go Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what: Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of. City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city. PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.) Michelin Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books. Fodor's Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what: The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it. SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Use it along with another book,
By Wacky Mom (American in Germany) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2004 (Paperback)
We just returned from 10 days in Tuscany. I bought this book and also Rick Steeves Italy book. While the Florence Tuscany book has more specific information I found myself looking to other guides for more. The maps are hard to read because they are hand drawn and not very detailed. We were there to explore the wine regions and there just wasn't much information about it. Surprising since that is what the majority of the area is. Also, don't let Steves scare you away from Pisa. We didn't find traffic and parking to be a problem at all. I'm glad we didn't follow his advice. The one recommendation that turned out to be the highlight of our trip was Lucca. His suggestion to rent bikes and bike the ramparts was great! For everything else, fortunatley, our villa we had a Frommer's Italy 2003 guide. It turned out to be a much better resource for what we were looking for.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really made our vacation,
By A Customer
This review is from: Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2004 (Paperback)
We just got back from a trip to Lucca, Pisa, Florence, and Siena and we used this book to plan most of the trip. Wow, Rick was almost invariably smack-on on everything. Of the hotels we stayed in, all were from his recommendations and only one of them was unsatisfactory. (Two of the others were terrific.) The restaurants he suggested were all great and his guide to the sights helped us enormously. If you're going to Tuscany, you should really invest in this book. You'll be glad that you did.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The best of Florence lies mostly on the north bank of the Arno River. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
initial zero, bus office, view terrace, cathedral museum Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Marco, Fra Angelico, Ponte Vecchio, Duomo Museum, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella, Medici Chapels, San Gimignano, San Lorenzo, Arno River, John the Baptist, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Michelangelo's David, San Domenico, Brancacci Chapel, Field of Miracles, Pitti Palace, Science Museum, Uffizi Gallery, Civic Museum, Filippino Lippi, Middle Ages, Piazza Gramsci, Getting There, Giotto's Tower New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The best of Florence lies mostly on the north bank of the Arno River. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
initial zero, bus office, view terrace, cathedral museum Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Marco, Fra Angelico, Ponte Vecchio, Duomo Museum, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella, Medici Chapels, San Gimignano, San Lorenzo, Arno River, John the Baptist, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Michelangelo's David, San Domenico, Brancacci Chapel, Field of Miracles, Pitti Palace, Science Museum, Uffizi Gallery, Civic Museum, Filippino Lippi, Middle Ages, Piazza Gramsci, Getting There, Giotto's Tower New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 27
books:
See all 27 books this book cites
- Europe Through the Back Door on 7 pages
- On Painting (Penguin Classics) by Leon Battista Alberti on page 95, page 131, and page 141
- Birth of Venus by BOTTICELLI in Front Matter, page 66, and page 69
- The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso) by Dante Alighieri on page 56, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Divine Comedy (Oxford World's Classics) by Dante Alighieri on page 56, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 27 books this book cites
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