How good is Rick Steves?

Old Aug 18th, 2005, 02:32 AM
  #41  
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Wow! First time back to check responses and I'm overwhelmed with great information.

Sorry I didn't explain further in my original post - I've found tons of information between this site, tripadvisor and slowtrav.

This will our family's first trip to Europe. My general itinerary is set, all accommodation is booked, I'm just ready to work out ideas for daily itineraries and was especially interested in those who have used Rick Steves for the city walks, museums and restaurant recommendations. I have usually relied heavily on Lonely Planet when travelling throughout Asia.

Thanks again everyone for the time taken to provide great information... and I'm always eager for more as I learn so much from everyone on this site.
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 03:38 AM
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I think if you want to you can also "rely heavily on Lonely Planet" for your trip to Europe. You know already how comprehensive the LP guides are but I do not think they necessaril appeal to all travelers or to all expense levels.

Some above have made comments about the maps Rick Steves provides: I've had mixed success with those and some were simplistically right on target and others confusing.

I agree that Rick Steves concentrates more on the locations HE feels are the most important to the exclusion of many regions (in his "country" guides).

There are any number of guides with "walks" included and some such as LP and "Rough" which give excellent summaries of museums and contents IMO.


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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 03:46 AM
  #43  
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Mail the appropriate book to your hotel at each city before you leave.
 
Old Aug 18th, 2005, 04:01 AM
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From those who use RS (and I admittedly am NOT one of them), what info do you find in his books that *specifically* is superior to the TimeOut series?
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 05:07 AM
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I've looked through the Rick Steves' books and I've used the Time Out ones. I'd say, the main advantage for FIRST TIME travelers to a particular country is that Rick Steves does more "hand holding" type information. He walks you through exactly where and how to buy train or bus tickets and gives very clearly laid out routes to follow. He explains how ATMs work and talks more about specific hours and areas to find certain types of businesses. Time Out doesn't do that and I think they are more geared to offering more specific suggestions and things to do for those returning to a place. I find more offbeat things in Time Out, but for the firtst time traveler, I think they leave out a lot of details.
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 06:23 AM
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i can't speak to Time Out but I just spend last night comparing Fodors, Frommers and RS's Venice info for our upcoming trip to decide what to copy and bring. I must admit that RS won out- I was only looking for walking tours and his were the easiest format to follow. Frommers were non-existent and Fodors were ok but in an annoying format IMO where it gave the walk but then you had to flip ahead a few pages to read about the places you were seeing. RS also had a lot more than the others...
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 08:29 AM
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FWIW -- I'm a fairly sophisticated traveller, but last year when prepping for my first venture to Europe in over 20 years, I dove into RS's guidebooks and TV programs. I'm not ashamed to admit I appreciated his 'hand-holding' approach -- he does make sure that explicit and detailed advice is available for even the most trivial of likelihoods on a European trip.

That said: After the first few days of my trip, when my confidence level was higher, Rick's books got pretty much ignored. Euro travel these days really is straightforward and convenient. One's initial jitters vanish pretty fast after arrival.

I found the advice I obtained in this forum before the trip and addn'l info I gathered on the web, much more useful for the rest of the trip.

The single biggest drawback to RS's books is that there are an enormous number of people who take his advice slavishly, and venture *only* to those places he recommends. The result is, of course, that those places tend to be peopled primarily by RS fans during the height of the travel season. If one wishes to experience Europe without being surrounded by fellow tourists/travellers/visitors, it's probably better to avoid RS special spots, at least until the very off-season.

Fritzrl
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 10:26 AM
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>if weight is such an issue, why don't you get a Pocket PC, download ALL of your written material into a single five-ounce package, and completely forget about lugging dead trees around once and for all?<

Because I would have absolutely no other use for a pocket PC. While I know you heavily endorse these things, not everyone needs one.

The cost of copying a few pages out of a guidebook vs. the cost of a pocket PC does not make this a logical alternative for me.
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 11:00 AM
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Good answer

At what price point would it begin to make sense for you?
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 03:18 PM
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For BTilke:
My only experience with TimeOut is the one for Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp. I found that it was indeed jam packed with information but I dunno, I just hate the way it is organized! It was really interesting and informative when I was reading it before we came over but I always have the darndest time finding anything in particular. I really don't like how the sections are divided: (i.e. a section called "eat, drink, and shop" which is then divided into "Restaurants," "Bars," and "Shops" which are then divided into areas of town (with no referenced map to remind one of where those areas of town are), each of which is then divided into type of cuisine/store, and no quick-reference indication of the price range without reading the whole description. So a huge pain in the neck to find an inexpensive chinese restaurant easily accessible by foot or by metro from a particular spot, for example.

Again, there is *heaps* of information in the book, but I just keep finding that I only see it long after I could have used it. I prefer books that are more arranged inclusively by area with better "big picture" maps. TimeOut may be fantastic for those who research extensively before your trip but it wasn't at all useful when trying to get "information on demand," in my experience. I don't know, maybe I'll give them another shot on another trip. Just my specific complaints with TimeOut, since BTilke asked.

I've used Rick Steves so far for Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, and Baden-Baden. I've gotten heaps of good advice and little "gems," (Maybe it was just the day we went but good old "Electric Ladyland Fluorescent Art Museum" in Amsterdam was definitely not "flooded with Americans" and it was one of the most fun things we did on our trip! We still laugh about it!) and he wraps the places he writes about in a very neat, manageable, fun package with insight/commentary that I appreciate. I do, however, regret that he concentrates so extensively on his "favorites" and ignores other places completely, without even a mention of "it's not worth it," etc. But I guess that's why his information is good, because he focuses on a narrow range.

So I'm with the person who says they use RS to get an overall idea of what they'd like to do, then supplements with other guide books, web sites, and discussion boards. We *always* do the walks and add in whatever else we think would be fun along the way.
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 03:42 PM
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IMHO Rick Steves books are good for the budget side of moderate travel - and has lots of good tips for people who haven;t done a lot (or any) travel in europe.

We have found that most of his choices are not for us - we go for the 4* hotel at 3* price - I don;t want to be dragging baggage upstairs - not do we have any particular desire to become best friends with the pension's proprietor. And while we do usually use public transport vs cabs and most of our meals are fairly modest - we also do at least one splurge meal in almost every city.

So for us, his guides are not that useful.

But they do have a lot of good basic info - but then so do a lot of other guide books.

I would encourage you to look into some of the others to see which fits your style of travel best (his, Fodors, Frommers or perhaps some of the more upscale ones - or ones that focus most on sights).

You can also get a lot of good specific info off the web sites of the travel magazines - reco Natinal Geographic Traveler and Travel & Leisure - Conde Nast's is more if you have real money to burn.
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 05:06 PM
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I agree with most of the other posters in that Rick's books are great sources for practical information, although not extremely comprehensive. I highly recommend his Paris book for newcomers to Paris. I didn't use his hotel recs, as I usually prefer a little higher category of hotel. I found his museum tours extremely useful - actually wonderful for finding your way around. Of the 4 books you mention, I would
certainly take (yes, take, it's quite light!)the Paris one. As I lived in Italy for a time in the past, I don't know how those 3 books are.
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Old Aug 18th, 2005, 09:02 PM
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I've used RS guides for Italy, Rome, Paris, Ireland, ETBD, Mona Winks and England (twice). I always take other guides as well.

RS guides have been valuable to us on every trip -- except Ireland. That one just clunks, and felt very slapdash. My 2 pennies.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 05:15 AM
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I find the RS guides to be good for an overall travel strategy, deciding on trade-offs, and options for reducing lodging and dining costs--if he fits your travel style. I like his Pocket London. And he is creeping more upscale then I prefer. His strengths are his street tours and museum tours.

I really like Pauline Frommer's London on a budget. I got a lot of good tips.

I found Lonely Planet pretty good for Scotland and the Highlands and OK for Finland.

The Fodor's books and DK books have a lot of pretty pictures...I check them out from the Library but really just for inspiration. I love the DK Top 10 books but I don't know if I would take it with me.

If you are more of a stay in a nice hotel and take bus tour kinda of traveler I think you might like Fodor's best.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 06:23 AM
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I'm always intrigued when a long buried post such as this eight-year-old corpus is exhumed for another round of examination.

How did you find this one? Why did you bring it to light? There must be a dozen or more other "Steves reigns" or "Steves sucks" postings just waiting to be dug up.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 06:46 AM
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wanderful: I wondered, too. I saw a post by Robespierre above. Didn't he pass away?
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 06:47 AM
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I'm always intrigued when a long buried post such as this eight-year-old corpus is exhumed for another round of examination.
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 07:10 AM
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classic necroposting
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 07:24 AM
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Same curiosity here - there have been probably hundreds of threads mentioning RS since this one was posted. How/why did you top this specific one??
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Old Jun 6th, 2013, 07:24 AM
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Yes Robespierre died a couple of years ago but that should not stop him from posting.
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