Rick Steves's Blog, page 3

As Europe starts opening up to travelers again, it’s more exciting than ever to think about the cultural treasures that await. For me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art and architecture — which I’ve collected in a book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces. Here’s one of my favorites:   

Beauty can take many forms. But since the very beginnings of the human species, the most popular subject for artists has always been the female body. Long before the...

It’s clear that as we, as a society, get vaccinated, we’ll soon be free to travel again in Europe — and it’s more exciting than ever to envision the great sights and slices of culture that await. For me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art and architecture — which I’ve collected in a book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces. Here’s one of my favorites:   

Stand in the center of St. Mark’s Square — the center of Venice — and take in the scene: the histo...

Even though I’m holding off on visiting Europe for now, I believe a regular dose of travel dreaming can be good for the soul. I hope you’ll enjoy this travel tale from my book For the Love of Europe, a collection of 100 of my favorite stories from a lifetime of European travels. 

When you’ve traveled in Europe as long as I have, you experience changes big and small. And more and more, I notice traditional, local businesses making way for cookie-cutter chains and synthetic conformity. In histo...

Even though I’m holding off on visiting Europe for now, I believe a regular dose of travel dreaming can be good for the soul. And for me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art and architecture — which I’ve collected in a book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces. Here’s one of my favorites:

One of the jewels of the ancient world is the Artemision Bronze, a perfectly posed statue of a god at war.

Even though we’re not visiting Europe right now, I believe a regular dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. And for me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art and architecture — which I’ve collected in a book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces. Here’s one of my favorites:  

In a park in Oslo — where children play, couples embrace, and old people reflect — you’ll find nearly 200 statues of people engaged in those same primal human activities. It’s ...

Even though we’re not visiting Europe right now, I believe a regular dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. I hope you’ll enjoy this travel tale from my book For the Love of Europe, a collection of 100 of my favorite stories from a lifetime of European travels.

Entering Florence’s Accademia Gallery is like entering the Church of David — a temple of humanism. At the high altar stands the perfect man, Michelangelo’s colossal statue of David. Like a Renaissance Statue of Liberty, David decl...

Are you from Holland? Because AmsterDAMN. 

My staff recently showed me some memes featuring travel-themed pick-up lines. (Or, as they called them, “Rick-up lines!”) I got a kick out of these pun-loving images and thought you would, too.  

And, with our engaged community of creative travel-lovers, I thought we could have even more fun with this. So, let’s put our heads together to see what playful, quirky, or clever pick-up memes we can come up with collectively. 

Scroll through this fun collecti...

Even though we’re not visiting Europe right now, I believe a regular dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. And for me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art and architecture — which I’ve collected in a book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces. Here’s one of my favorites:.  

The Wieskirche is Germany’s greatest Rococo-style church, and this “Church in the Meadow” looks as brilliant now as the day it floated down from heaven. It’s a divine droplet,...

I believe a regular dose of travel beauty (and dreaming) can be good medicine. And for me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art and architecture — which I’ve collected in a book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces. Here’s one of my favorites:

Around the year 1700, France was Europe’s number-one power, and the luxurious Palace of Versailles was Europe’s cultural heartbeat. For the king, money was no object and he packed it with beauty.

Visitors from aroun...

Germany can overwhelm you with too many castles in too little time. My three favorites are the remote and beautifully preserved Burg Eltz, the ruined but powerful Rheinfels, and the 19th-century fantasy of Neuschwanstein. When I can finally go back to Europe, you can bet I’ll be conquering these castles once again. 

Even though we’re not visiting Europe right now, I believe a regular dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. I share my favorite stories from a lifetime of European travels in...