Coimbra is Portugal's third-largest city and home to the country's oldest and most prestigious university. Coimbra is a mini-Lisbon: everything good about urban Portugal without the intensity of a big city. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
To get a full and balanced appreciation for today's Istanbul, you must leave the old town and explore the lively, more cosmopolitan neighborhoods. Experience urban Istanbul by hiking the entire length of its main pedestrian boulevard, immersed in a fascinating sea of people: a melting pot of twenty or so different ethnic groups, with styles from the very traditional to the latest. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating s...
Barcelona's ever-popular strolling boulevard is the Ramblas. While souvenir shops and crowds of tourists have diluted its former elegance, it still offers an entertaining introduction to the city. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Switzerland's biggest city, Zürich, consistently ranks as one of the world's most livable cities. Its lake front is a spring board for romantic walks, and the old town is lively night and day with cafes, galleries, and a colorful cobbled ambiance. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Modern Rome's main street Via Del Corso becomes a pedestrian boulevard late in the day. As the sun goes down, the people come out for their evening passegiata, or stroll. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
After eight centuries of producing salt, the remarkable Wieliczka Salt Mine is busy not with miners, but with tourists. They come to see the sculptures, 20 chapels, and enormous church, all carved out of salt by the miners themselves. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
The Languedoc region's hard-fought past and independent spirit is evident in its old fortifications, fine art, and a culture distinct from the rest of France that survives to this day. Its fortified city of Carcassonne is a 13th-century world of towers, turrets, and cobblestone alleys. Visit early or late in the day to avoid the mid-day tourist crowd. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on...
The eternal beauty of the Irish landscape is most breath-taking with a sweep around the Ring of Kerry. And a great jumping-off point for this tour is Kenmare, with its cozy feel and close proximity to the peninsula. See Rick's full show, South Ireland: Waterford to Ring of Kerry, on your local public television station. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit w...
Munich is considered Germany's most livable city. While packed with history, it's also this country's Hollywood and Silicone Valley, all rolled into one. This city celebrates its traditions with gusto, and at the same time, it remains a modern cultural force. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Being on vacation can be exhausting. Get plenty of sleep, eat healthy, drink lots of water and juice, and pace yourself. If you do get sick, a good first stop for medical advice is the neighborhood pharmacy. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Centuries ago lake-builders of Trebon employed ingenious techniques to transform flooding marshland into a clever combination of lakes, oak-lined dikes, and peat bogs. Today those peat bogs supply Trebon's other claim to fame: its peat spa. Soaking in the black, smelly peat sludge is thought to cure aching joints and spines. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — vi...
Hike to the top of the Plaka and explore the charming "village" of Anafiotika, built in the 19th century by people from the tiny Cycladic island of Anafi who came here to the big city looking for work. In this oasis of tranquility, nestled beneath the walls of the Acropolis, the intensity of Athens seems miles away. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.r...
Rick visits Scandinavia's top kids' sight: Legoland. Then it's on to Denmark's second-largest city — Aarhus — which bustles with a lively port, an important university, a busy pedestrian boulevard, and an old quarter filled with people living well. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Rick resurrects some Ephesian rubble with Mehlika Seval, who wrote THE guidebook on one of Turkey's greatest ancient sites — Ephesus. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
When regimes fall, so do their monuments. Budapest saved its souvenirs of totalitarianism and shows them off here, at Statue Park. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
The mainland surrounding Venice — the Veneto — is one of the overlooked corners of Italy. If you like Italy but don't need world-class sights, the Veneto's Verona is a joy, with its wealth of Roman ruins, 15th-century frescoes, and quiet, pedestrian-only ambience. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Old Salzburg's busy and colorful main drag was, and still is, Getreidegasse. Amidst all the tourists and chain outlets, you'll find purely local hangouts like the Sporer family schnapps shop. This friendly hole-in-the-wall has been distilling and selling schnapps for just over a hundred years, and has enough flavors to keep regulars coming back again and again. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel info...
Burgundy is a big part of why France is famous for wine. The rolling hills of the Côte d'Or are blanketed by lovingly tended vineyards which, to the connoisseur, are a kind of pilgrimage. A bike route laces together scenic villages, with signs that make it clear where visitors are welcome to drop in, enjoy a little tasting...and pick up a bottle or two. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information ...
The uniquely Viennese institution of Heurige is two things: a young wine, and a place to drink it. Long ago, when the Habsburg Emperors let Vienna's vintners sell their own new wine tax-free, several hundred families opened these charming wine-garden eateries clustered around the edge of town — and a tradition was born. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit w...
Since the Romantic era in the 19th century, Luzern has been a regular stop on the "Grand Tour" route of Europe. Its inviting lake front includes a modern concert hall, picture-perfect 14th-century wooden bridges, and swans. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Caernarfon was the most expensive castle an English king ever built, and one of few to achieve architecture, art and defensibility at the same time. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
An hour inland from Barcelona, the heart of Catalyuna beckons with the impenetrable monastery of Montserrat. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
In many ways Istanbul's Grand Bazaar remains much as it was centuries ago: enchanting and perplexing visitors with its mazelike network of more than 4,000 colorful shops, fragrant eateries, and insistent shopkeepers. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
The feudal village of Beynac is a perfectly preserved medieval village, with the Dordogne River at its doorstep. In villages like this, there's nothing to really "tour." It's just plain pretty. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
For lovers of antiquity, the National Museum of Archaeology by itself makes Naples a worthwhile stop. The city's one essential museum visit offers the best possible peek into the art of Pompeii. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
A ten-minute bike ride takes Rick beyond the famous sights of Egypt into a timeless village untouched by tourism. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
The enchanting town of Cesky Krumlov — buried in the hills of Bohemia, lassoed by its river and dominated by its castle — feels lost in a time warp. Its delightful Old Town of shops and cobbled lanes, characteristic little restaurants, and easy going canoeing options, makes it a favorite with tourists. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
Rick visits Lisbon's Belém District, a stately pincushion of important sights, including one of Europe's top coach museums. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
From 1941 until 1945, the unassuming regional capital of Oświęcim was the home of Auschwitz, the biggest, most notorious concentration camp in the Nazi system. Today, Auschwitz is the most poignant memorial anywhere to the victims of the Holocaust. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
The city of Nafplion — one of Greece's prettiest towns — is the perfect base for exploring the northeast corner of the Peloponnesian Peninsula. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — including episode descriptions, scripts, participating stations, travel information on destinations and more — visit www.ricksteves.com.
