Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about 100 days a year exploring Europe. His mission: to empower Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening. A New York Times-bestselling author, Rick produces a guidebook series, a public television series, and a public radio show, and he organizes small-group tours that take over 30,000 travelers to Europe annually. He does all of this with the help of more than 100 well-traveled staff members at Rick Steves' Europe in Edmonds, WA (near Seattle). When not on the road, Rick is active in his church and with advocacy groups focused on economic and social justice, drug policy reform, and ending hunger. What's the ideal vacation for a professional traveler? For Rick, it's to play his piano, relax at his family cabin in the Cascade Mountains, and spend time with family and friends at home in Edmonds. Find out more about Rick at RickSteves.com and on Facebook.

Connect with Rick:
facebook.com/RickSteves
X: @RickSteves
Instagram: ricksteveseurope

Gene Openshaw has co-authored more than a dozen books with Rick, specializing in Europe's art, history, and culture. In particular, their Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveler and Europe's Top 100 Masterpieces have helped bring European art to life. Gene also writes for Rick's television shows, produces the audio tours, and is a regular guest on Rick's radio show. For public TV, Gene has co-authored two television specials with Rick: Fascism in Europe and the ambitious six-hour series Art of Europe. Outside of the travel world, Gene has composed an opera called Matter, a violin sonata, and dozens of songs. Gene lives near Seattle, where he roots for the Mariners in good times and bad. Check out his latest book on art, travel, and love: Michelangelo at Midlife.

"Travel, to Steves, is not some frivolous luxury--it is an engine for improving humankind, for connecting people and removing their prejudices, for knocking distant cultures together to make unlikely sparks of joy and insight. Given that millions of people have encountered the work of Steves over the last 40 years, on TV or online or in his guidebooks, and that they have carried those lessons to untold other millions of people, it is fair to say that his life's work has had a real effect on the collective life of our planet."--The New York Times Magazine

"The country's foremost expert in European travel for Americans."--Forbes

"Steves is an absolute master at unlocking the hidden gems of the world's greatest cities, towns, and monuments."--USA Today

"Every country-specific travel guidebook from the Rick Steves publishing empire can be counted upon for clear organization, specificity and timeliness."--Society of American Travel Writers

"Pick the best accommodations and restaurants from Rick Steves...and a traveler searching for good values will seldom go wrong or be blindsided."--NBC News

"...his books deserve to be in the pop-history canon. Steves possesses a surprisingly strong authorial voice, one that permeates through the expected contrivances of a typical guidebook."

--Slate

"His guidebooks are approachable, silly, and even subtly provocative in their insistence that Americans show respect for the people and places they are visiting and not the other way around."--The New Yorker

"[Rick Steves] laces his guides with short and vivid histories and a scholar's appreciation for Renaissance art yet knows the best place to start an early tapas crawl in Madrid if you have kids. His clear, hand-drawn maps are Pentagon-worthy; his hints about how to go directly to the best stuff at the Uffizi, avoid the crowds at Versailles and save money everywhere are guilt-free."--TIME Magazine

"Steves is a walking, talking European encyclopedia who yearns to inspire Americans to venture 'beyond Orlando.'"--Forbes

"...he's become the unofficial guide for entire generations of North American travelers, beloved for his earnest attitude and dad jeans."--Outside Magazine

"His books offer the equivalent of a bus tour without the bus, with boiled-down itineraries and step-by-step instructions on where to go and how to get there, but adding a dash of humor and an element of choice that his travelers find empowering."--The New York Times

"His penchant for creating meaningful experiences for travelers to Europe is as passionate as his inclination for making ethical choices his guiding light."--Forbes

"[Rick Steves'] neighborhood walks are always fun and informative. His museum guides, complete with commentary about historic sculpture and storied artworks are wonderful and add another dimension to sometimes stodgy, hard-to-comprehend museums."--NBC News

Publisher: Rick Steves

Pub date: 2026-05-05

Length: 216 pages