Rick Steves' Personal Tips for Having a Great Tour Experience

In my mind, there are tours — and there are Rick Steves tours. We don't just do sightseeing; we work to create a unique esprit de corps that turns a bus tour into a merry band of travelers, working together as a team.

On this page, I'd like to share with you a mix of things that I've found will help create a happy tour group experience.

Develop the art of "group awareness." Like any team, when you and your guide keep the interests of the overall group "top of mind" it helps us function better and accomplish more than any other tour in Europe. Group awareness is little things — like buying a big chocolate bar, breaking it into bits and passing it around. These all add up to a richer travel experience.

Like a family, we know everyone's names. Our groups are small and they function as a family. Aside from attracting wonderful people, we create a culture where everyone knows and uses first names (without silly name tags). To help this along, your group will play "the name game" within the first couple of days of your tour.

Your time is precious. Punctuality is required. When tour members understand that being three minutes late holds up 25 people and therefore robs 75 minutes from the group, everyone benefits. Watches are synchronized. Schedules are posted. And your guide runs a tight ship. With this system in place, smart travelers can enjoy every minute of their free time, then confidently board the bus at the last minute. It works great and with a punctual tour, we can offer you even more experiences.

Embrace the buddy system. At the start of your tour, each person will pair up with someone they wouldn't normally hang out with, and you'll become "buddies." Then, rather than doing repeated head-counts, your guide can simply ask, "Buddy Check?" and everyone finds and makes meaningful eye-contact with their buddy. If no one hollers, "My buddy's missing!" the bus takes off. This saves lots of time, and it's fun (unless your buddy let’s the group depart without you)!

Look forward to precision dumps. Something as simple as quickly hopping on and off the bus can save a great deal of time and stress. We are enthusiastic experts at what we call "precision dumps" and "precision pick-ups". When boarding, everyone goes directly to their seat, minimizing time in the doorway and aisle. When it's time to get off, everyone organizes what they'll take along before leaving their seat, so the aisle is never blocked. With this kind of teamwork, your bus driver can, for example, do a quick double-park to unload right at stop, saving everyone a time-wasting walk from a faraway parking lot. Other tours won't even try this, and their groups suffer the consequences.

You'll carry your own bags. Your main luggage will travel beneath the bus, and at each hotel your driver will unload it for you. However, between the bus and your hotel room, you are expected to carry your own bag. This is a strong incentive to pack light — even (or especially) if your spouse is willing to carry two bags. Also, think ahead each morning about what you'll want to carry with you in your day pack. Drivers appreciate not having to open the bus during the day to retrieve items from luggage (which can also cause the group to wait).

Take care of your driver and your bus. Your driver's first concern is your safety. He'll also be focused on supporting the guide, doing his part to make the tour schedule work, and making the bus your comfortable home away from home. While we encourage drivers to enjoy socializing with our groups as part of the family, we also respect their need for private time. While your driver works with a zero-tolerance approach to drinking and driving, after a long workday we welcome his freedom to enjoy the drinks of his choice. If your driver is a smoker, he will do it as courteously as possible, and never on the bus or at group meals.

Eat with a spirit of adventure. When it comes to food, I hope you enjoy experimenting and getting out of your comfort zone. Your guide is there to expand your horizons, and will work to bring your group unique and memorable treats for sampling. Feel free to share interesting meal portions and bus snacks with your fellow tour members. Outside of breakfast, group meals generally do not include free beverages. Whenever possible, your guide will make sure that free tap water is on your table at group meals. If you don't see free water on the table, be sure to request it. At all restaurant stops where the group eats together, the tip is included. When your guide offers special taste treats along the way, those with dietary constraints may not be accommodated.

The most memorable hotels come with character. Part of the fun of travel in a foreign country is to have a memorable hotel. The ones we choose are characteristic — which often means well-worn, creaky, quirky, filled with personality. Because our hotels are rarely big cookie-cutter places, rooms are often of varying size and quality. Trust that your guide will strive to assign rooms so that, by the end of the tour, everyone will have had the same overall quality. If you have a concern, talk privately with your guide to help get your needs addressed.

Communicate with your guide. Please understand that your guide is committed to giving you the best trip possible. If something is unclear or disappointing, don't stew — say something! To this end, your guide will conduct a mid-tour survey (a simple piece of paper passed out on the bus to be filled out anonymously). This is how your guide checks in and can recalibrate the rest of the tour to meet your needs. Please thoughtfully fill out your mid-tour survey so your guide can tweak things as necessary. By the way, in the interest of the entire group, when your guide is speaking, please pay attention and help create an atmosphere throughout the group that tunes in respectfully.

Feeling sick? Be sure to tell your guide right away. It's smart (and best for the entire group) to get medical care early rather than late. Don't be shy. Your guide has heard it all and has dealt with problems that likely make yours look boring.

Feeling bugged? Travel intensifies relationships. Friendships spring up quickly — and so can irritants. When a problem comes up, things go so much better when people deal with it sooner rather than later, respectfully, and face-to-face. Your guide (even if he or she is the guilty party!) is experienced at dealing with these things and is there to help whenever needed. If you feel something…say something.

Practice theft-defense. Pickpockets target tour groups because tourists are considered easy, naive targets. Day packs, shoulder bags and pants pockets are the most dangerous places for cash, cards and passport when you are out and about. You can avoid this problem by getting a moneybelt, and wearing it. The peace of mind is a nice bonus.

Travel is a political act. Obviously, good people can respectfully differ on any issue. But travel is exciting, in part, because it exposes us to things that challenge our assumptions. Hanging out with people from societies that face the same problems we are grappling with — and tackling them differently — can be both fun and educational. I encourage my guides to grapple with complicated and political issues as part of your travel experience. I like to think that travel helps us return home as more appreciative Americans and better citizens of our planet.

Learn before you go. I've made TV shows that cover much of your upcoming tour's itinerary. In fact, the scripts for these shows are born from my experience as a tour guide. If you watch some of these shows in the Watch, Read, Listen section of our website before your departure, you'll get more out of each destination. We've also created a free Rick Steves Audio Europe app with self-guided walks and radio interviews organized by country. Listen before you travel, and bring the app with you to Europe on your smart phone to enjoy both the interviews and tours.

Stay in touch with your group. While we don't share the email addresses of our tour members, we like it when groups connect with email and social media. Please, if you feel you need to protect your privacy, opt out. But your guide will help facilitate getting your group connected to stay in touch and share photos.

Tell us about your tour. You'll receive a tour evaluation email as soon as you arrive home. Thank you in advance for taking a few minutes to thoughtfully complete this. Our tours work as well as they do because of the candid feedback shared with us that ensures our guides, drivers, hotels, meals, and experiences all fit your travel dreams to a tee.

Thanks for traveling with us and bon voyage!

Rick Steves

 

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