Buy used: $5.65

FREE delivery July 21 - 26. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Great Time Books

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the Author

Rick Steves

Rick Steves Provence & the French Riviera Paperback – November 24, 2015

by Rick Steves (Author), Steve Smith (Author)

4.6 132 ratings

Part of: Rick Steves (67 books)

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Paperback

"Please retry"

$11.00

$1.50

Paperback, November 24, 2015

$5.65

—

$1.97

Paperback
$5.65

25 Used from $1.97

There is a newer edition of this item:

Rick Steves Provence & the French Riviera (2023 Travel Guide)
$20.99
(45)
In Stock.

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Provence and the French Riviera.

In this guide, you’ll find a dazzling mix of enjoyable cities, warm stone villages, Roman ruins, and breathtaking coastline. Experience Roman history with self-guided tours of the Pont du Gard aqueduct, Roman theater in Orange, and Arena in Arles. Explore sun-soaked Riviera beaches and resort towns, from cosmopolitan Nice to colorful Villefranche-sur-Mer. Get inspired by artistic masterpieces by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, and Chagall. After a day of sightseeing, relax at a café with a view, dive into a bowl of bouillabaisse, and watch fishermen return to the harbor.

Rick’s candid, humorous advice will guide you to good-value hotels and restaurants. You’ll learn which sights are worth your time and money, and how to get around by train, bus, car, or boat. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves guidebook is a tour guide in your pocket.

Part of series

Rick Steves
Print length

576 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Avalon Travel Publishing
Publication date

November 24, 2015
Dimensions

4.5 x 0.81 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

1631211978
ISBN-13

978-1631211973
See all details

Highest rated | Lowest Pricein this set of products
Rick Steves
45
Paperback
in Provence Travel Guides
$20.99
Most purchasedin this set of products
Rick Steves
135
Paperback
in Paris Travel Guides
$23.90
This item:
Rick Steves
132
Paperback
25 offers from $1.97

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rick Steves has spent 100 days every year since 1973 exploring Europe. Rick produces a public television series (Rick Steves' Europe), a public radio show (Travel with Rick Steves), and an app and podcast (Rick Steves Audio Europe); writes a bestselling series of guidebooks and a nationally syndicated newspaper column; organizes guided tours that take thousands of travelers to Europe annually; and offers an information-packed website (RickSteves.com). With the help of his hardworking staff of 80 at Europe Through the Back Door—in Edmonds, Washington, just north of Seattle—Rick's mission is to make European travel fun, affordable, and culturally broadening for Americans.

Steve Smith manages tour planning for Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door and has been researching guidebooks with Rick for two decades. Fluent in French, he's lived in France on several occasions, starting when he was seven, and has traveled there annually since 1986. Steve's wife, who is an expert on French cuisine and wine, provides invaluable contributions to his books, as do his two children.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avalon Travel Publishing; 11th edition (November 24, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 576 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1631211978
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1631211973
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.5 x 0.81 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,528,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #77 in Provence Travel Guides
- #1,805 in General France Travel Guides
- #4,290 in Tourist Destinations & Museums Guides

Customer Reviews:
4.6 132 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Rick Steves

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Guidebook author and travel TV host Rick Steves is America's most respected authority on European travel. Rick took his first trip to Europe in 1969, visiting piano factories with his father, a piano importer. As an 18-year-old, Rick began traveling on his own, funding his trips by teaching piano lessons. In 1976, he started his business, Rick Steves' Europe, which has grown from a one-man operation to a company with a staff of 100 full-time, well-travelled employees at his headquarters in Washington state. There he produces more than 50 guidebooks on European travel, America's most popular travel series on public television, a weekly hour-long national public radio show, a weekly syndicated column, and free travel information available through his travel center and ricksteves.com. Rick Steves' Europe also runs a successful European tour program. Rick Steves lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington. His office window overlooks his old junior high school.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

132 global ratings

5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Reviewy McReviewsalot

A MUST for French Rivera Traveling

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

Used this book religiously for our trip to France. We actually went on a cruise, but did more venturing out on our own. We went to Nice from Monaco on the train, using the tips in this book, EXCEPT I didn't read the train tips in detail (for some reason). We couldn't understand the French on the screen to purchase the tickets and no attendant was around to help, so we ended up paying for a reduced fare by mistake and paid a hefty fine. To make matters even worse, is that there were exact instructions in this book, that I was carrying with me, to purchase train fares at the kiosk!! This guide has so much to discover in the French Rivera, and very easy to locate your needs, in the divided chapters. We even used it to visit a couple of wineries by car in Cassis, known for their limestone soil white wines. I cannot wait to pass this on to a friend to use it as much as we did!!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Pat McK.

Great information, but the recommended itineraries are too ambitious.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

If you know the Rick Steves method of travel, you know this guidebook won't be about reading a novel with a bottle of rose. If you follow his advice, throw any hope of relaxation out the window, as any moderately interesting sight in the area (there are hundreds) will be recommended.

Rick's whirlwind style of travel is great in a major city, where sights are concentrated together. His style was even perfect for Ireland, where the sights were separated by roads that were sights in themselves. However, in Provence, the sights are separated surprisingly far distances by mostly-boring roads. To compound the issue, the Provencal schedule throughout the day is incompatible with an ambitious sightseeing schedule. On a typical day, you will:
9am: Leave the hotel (early breakfasts aren't really a thing here, from what I can tell)
10am: Arrive to the town your visiting and have time to see one big sight
Noon: Eat lunch (don't be late, the French take their lunch hours very seriously. Yes, I said hours.)
2pm: See a couple more sights around town (at this time of day, your pace will be hampered by the heat)
6pm: Arrive back at your hotel to get ready for 8pm dinner
10 or 11pm: Go to bed and repeat the next day

There is nothing wrong with the above schedule, and you should adapt the schedule the locals follow, but the book doesn't do enough to warn you about how little you can accomplish in a given day. The recommended sightseeing itineraries for a given number of days is too hectic, and even worse, I feel they over-hype the marginal sights to keep you moving. I feel that almost every sight has an extra triangle than it would get in other guidebooks (A 3-triangle sight would have only gotten 2 in other books, the 2 deserve 1, 1 didn't deserve any). I'm sure there is a caveat in the book somewhere to include rest days, but this is the first Rick Steves book where I felt rushed to meet one of the recommended itineraries in the time provided.

All that being said, it is still a wealth of knowledge like any other Rick Steves guidebook. I would recommend it to anyone going to Provence, but please consider slowing your pace down to about 75% of the speed that he recommends. It's hard to live like a local when you're moving twice the speed as them.

24 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bezos Lies

Excellent guide.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

This was very helpful. We were in Marseille staying with friends and then went to Puyricard to stay with other friends. We rented a car at the TGV station in Aix-en-Provence. We drove to Monaco, then to Nice where we spent the night. The next day we took the scenic drive that is recommended along the coast and stopped in Cannes. Then we continued on to St. Tropez where we stayed with friends. This book was perfect for all of these locations and many more. I really liked the history included. It was well worth it.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Placeholder

Always a big fan of Rick Steves

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

I have used this guidebook to plan a 2-week independent tour ot Provence and the French Riviera. I don't know how well it will all work out yet. However, I am a big fan of Rick Steves, and he has never let me down yet for my European trip planning. I don't know any other guidebook series that I would prefer to use to plan a European trip, and I have experimented with several.

Helpful

Art Smart

Excellent guide, well organized. The only book you'll need.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

This guide was the one we used every day in our recent trip. I might quibble with some of the commentary but the information was well organized and help us to plan our days when we stayed in Nice, and traveled on alternating days to the hill towns and to the coast. This is the only book you'll need. (But we do suggest supplementing it with current localized food recommendations from TripAdvisor and Yelp.)

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Erin Falcon

Great book and very useful for trip to southern france

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 22, 2013

Verified Purchase

I used this book on a trip to France and found it pretty accurate. Some of the costs for transportation were off, but it was a great reference and it really did hit on the highlights of the area. Unfortunately the pages are like tissue paper- super thin and easy to rip. In the past the pages were thicker but must be trying to be more economical. Now you are unable to highlight the pages which is very helpful in traveling and preparing where to go.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. McCourt

Good guide for the Provence area

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

Most of the data is pretty accurate, but Rick Steves should make some caveats as to the time of year where his data may not be so accurate. For example, in St. Remy, there's a restaurant he writes about which is supposed to offer a free fois-gras dish to anyone visiting with a California driver's license. We went to that restaurant, hoping for the free fois-gras. When we showed them our CA driver's, they just laughed at us and said that was only valid during the summer. We felt a little chagrined. We were visiting in February. A fair number of the restaurants/attractions he wrote about were closed during the off-season. It would have been nice to know which ones stayed open all year. As it was, we wasted some time trying to find certain restaurants, only to find them closed for the season. Then we scrambled trying to find somewhere else to eat. We did rent a car and enjoyed his Cote-du-Rhone village driving tour.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Robin Lukacs

I loved the details and little tips

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book was read from cover to back, by my (grown) children and I, who absolutely used it on our trip to France last summer. I loved the details and little tips. Excellent! It's now on my bookshelf, dog-eared, ready to use when we return to France someday.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Robert Sheridan

this too is well written and easy to follow

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

As with all of Rick Steves travel guides, this too is well written and easy to follow. While other guide books may have more colour photos of the sites and towns written about, these can easily be found in more detail on the web. I normally buy one of Steeves guides as well as another from another source (Lonely Planet, DK, etc) to 'round out' my understanding of the important sites to visit.

Amazon Customer

Great information for planning our vacation

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great information for planning our vacation!

Assya

Don't leave to Europe without it!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

I never do a trip without a Rick Steves guide. And neither should you!

Dejan

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great book.

victor bergson

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 18, 2015

Verified Purchase

Good book. Arrived promptly

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust

Follow the Author

Rick Steves Provence & the French Riviera Paperback – November 24, 2015

There is a newer edition of this item:

What do customers buy after viewing this item?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Rick Steves

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries