Hi from Rick: 2025 Tours Have Arrived!
One of my favorite experiences is chatting with happy travelers who've joined our tours in Europe. I'm humbled and touched when they seek me out — as they so often do — to share how our tours helped create some of their most cherished lifelong memories.
If you're looking to create a new set of travel memories, I have some good news: We've just opened our 2025 Rick Steves tours for booking. That's 30,000 seats on more than 40 itineraries, across Europe, all year long…ready and waiting for you to book.
With all the excitement around our tour launch — and having just returned from leading an "apprenticing tour" for our newly hired guides — I've been thinking about what makes a Rick Steves tour so special. Doing a little brainstorming, I came up with five pillars upon which all our tours are built:
Unforgettable Places: We take you to our very favorite, handpicked locations all across Europe. From the plains of Spain to the scalps of the Alps; from Balkan beaches to Nordic fjords; and from Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria to Portugal, Ireland, and Wales, we cover precisely what we consider to be the very best of Europe.
Vivid Experiences: Each year, we review our itineraries and brainstorm impactful experiences that leave our tour members saying "Wow!" Learning how to hand-make pierogi in a Polish kitchen, hiking among grazing cows through a high-mountain alpine pasture, or shaking the dust-covered hand of an alabaster sculptor in a Tuscan hill town, we create indelible memories — many of which would be difficult, if not impossible, on your own. And we lace these experiences together in a smart, efficient, thoughtful way that values your time, money, and intelligence.
Amazing Guides: I read mountains of post-tour feedback from our tour members. And I hear you loud and clear: You adore our wonderful team of tour guides. I agree wholeheartedly! We work hard to recruit the very best guides in Europe. Then I personally mentor them to ensure that they deliver what you expect on a Rick Steves tour. It's no surprise that, for many of you, your guide is what you remember most fondly from your entire tour.
Great Travelers: Our tours attract thoughtful, fun-loving, flexible travelers who share our travel philosophy. We keep our groups small (24–28 people), allowing us to connect with small local businesses. We expect everyone to pack light, carry their own bags, and keep up with our experience-rich itineraries. Our guides teach you how to be independent, so you can make the most of your free time (and, maybe, come back later on your own). And our "No Grumps" policy ensures that everyone approaches the trip with the same positive spirit of fun and openness.
Being Good Global Citizens: The best traveler is also a good global citizen. This means fostering a spirit of empathy and curiosity — seeking out people-to-people connections and traveling like a local rather than a tourist. Because of our insistence on staying in small, locally owned hotels and dining at mom-and-pop restaurants, Europeans view us as part of their community, not just part of the economy. When you pack up and head to the next stop, you'll wave goodbye to all your new friends: the village baker, the gelato maker, and the flower vendor — and they'll be glad they met you, too.
If this whets your appetite to hit the road, now's an ideal time to join us — with our 2025 seats newly released, you have your choice of tours and dates. As you review our itineraries, you may notice a few small changes from previous years. That's because every year we tweak our tours based on feedback from our tour members and guides — to ensure that we're always providing our travelers with the best possible experience. In fact, we're flying our guides from Europe to Edmonds this summer for a week of in-person meetings and brainstorming sessions. It's a big investment. But it's worth it to know that each of our itineraries is as rock-solid as our guides.
If you're pondering where you want to go in 2025, we'll help you out in this month's Tour News: Jump-start your travel dreaming with a colorful slideshow of our 10 most popular tours, read a few tour member raves about our top-notch guides, and take a test drive of a Rick Steves tour with our Tour Experience video.
Unforgettable places. Vivid experiences. Amazing guides. Striving to be both great travelers, and good global citizens. These have always been the pillars of Rick Steves tours. We're hoping you'll join us in 2025 — whether it's your first tour, or your tenth — to experience it for yourself.
Keep on travelin'!
Rick