I know some posters do not like him very much. Can someone tell me why?

In any case, I've decided to buy his books as a rough guide - esp. the Rome and Paris walks. I've been planning for 5 cities since early March at nights while I take care of my baby the whole day, I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. I'm getting him because most people seem to use his walks for their self-guided tours.

My question is this: are his books easily available in London. I live in Asia and apparently they don't have the Paris and the Rome city guides here. London is my first stop and I was wondering if I can just purchase it there.

Don't know about buying in London, but he has a website and you can buy his books on line. Here is the website.
http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/ca...d=13&id=52

I've bought lots of different guide books and I actually like Rick Steves guides, I especially like his sections on how to get from place to place.

zizz -

Rick Steves' guidebooks are designed for those of us who are relatively new travelers or who do not have a lot of time. They are a great introduction to a particular area and are full of important details and some good advice.

I personally used both his Paris and Rome books (among others) and did his walks, expecially those in Paris. I was very pleased with both.

His museum tours highlight the main attractions, important when you don't want to spend all of your precious time in a museum but you do want to see it. For instance, I can get lost in a museum because I love everything and can spend so much time on the indivudual exhibits that I don't have time to see the Mona Lisa, for example. By following Rick Steves' tour, (with side-lights along the way of things that catch my interest), I am able to make sure I see what I came there to see.

I think the point of Rick Steves is to get people traveling - to let them know that it does not need to be intimidating and is an important, rewarding experience. After people have "gotten their feet wet", so to speak, they will probably be ready to move on to a more sophisticated style of travel.

Even though I live in the U.S., I ordered his books from his website.

Don't stress too much. The one thing I learned is that we can plan too much. (Although planning is part of the travel for me.)

Have fun!
Linda

I like Rick Steve's shows and books. What I like is that he gives a lot of attention to the arts (museums, churches, etc.), stays away from high-priced tourist trap hotels and restaurants (living like local is a tenet of his,) while giving very practical advice for first-time or naive American travellers.

His travelling advice can seem almost anti-american at times but after seeing first-hand how many Americans come off as arrogant, loud, and demanding I firmly believe a little global travelling education can't hurt.
Eveyone I've talked to who disliked their trips to Europe falls into that camp, wihout exception. Just my personal observation, obviously. Anyway, that's my only guess as to why some people dislike Rick Steve's. well......that, and because he's probably a pothead, which I can live with

John

>>>>
I know some posters do not like him very much. Can someone tell me why?
>>>>

i suggest that you spend some time searching this forum for "rick steves" you will find your answer...he has been debated here to death. all you will ever want to know about what people think of him has already been said.

i have heard a lot about him here but i have yet to see any of his books in london. i would doubt that they are available here (except in a very specialist capacity) as he seems to aim the books at american travelers rather than the whole of the english speaking world.

I have nothing personal against Mr Steves, indeed some of our many guests know him and someone bumped into him on a train in Cinque Terre last week - ah fame has its (dis)advantages. I also several issues of his Italy book left by various guests along the years and looking through them I can't say I have anything negative about his advice, on the contrary its quite good and it has sensible itineries and a selection of what "must" be seen as well as reccomendations of where to stay.

So why do I still dislike the "RS phenomena"? I think it can be summed in the "must see" phrase. Because of the popularity of Steves, so many people are following his book and not branching off on their own, creating a sort of RS pilgrimage trail. It takes the adventure out of travel, sanitizes it in a way. And creates traveller bottlenecks in places which were once pristine (Cinque Terre comes to mind, I am sure RS was not responsible all by himself, but he sure helped to turn the place around into a giant theme park).

But its not the man himself, more power to him and his bank account, he has tapped into the nerve of 21st Century mass travelling,(like Dan Brown and his notorious book) if not for him, someone else would have done it. Even 20 years ago I remember seeing so many people in (Bali, Thailand, India) to name a few places carrying their precious editions of Lonely Planets like bibles, checking off the places where they had been, and Lonely Planet was IMO a much better type of guide book, mainly comprised of travellers reports and much more in depth, but you had to plan yourself and talk to your fellow travellers along the way. I think Steve's book with his detailed itineraries are an interactive version of his TV shows, now you go live to his places.

Me I am old and like to get off the beaten track, give me somewhere no-one has been, and I don't want to share it - sorry I want to go back and find that RS and his flock haven't been there. Selfish, maybe but this is the 21st C, all paradises will be discovered sooner rather then later, so let me enjoy them for a short while before they are lost.

There is a great book shop in London, dedicated solely to travel books, where you can buy Rick Steves and all his ilk, plus Lonely Planet and all the lookalikes as well as virtually every travel book under the sun. I can't remember the name, but its on Long Acre Rd, heading from Leicester Square to Covent Garden Tube stations and easy to find.

I also find Cadogan guide books as being some of the best and most detailed on any country as well as great suggestions, but each to his own.

Buon Viaggio

I travel quite a lot in Europe [live in the UK] and I liked his Rome very much, for the same reasons as your other posters and all his tips about easy ways to get around really work, at least the ones I've tried. You can get his books anywhere via amazon.

ohhh, I've just discovered why the Cinque Terre are not at all a popular Italian destination here in Spain...we can't buy Rick Steves books

I live in London and have looked for but not found Rick Steves books. Never been to the shop on Long Acre Road, however. I have experienced that the chain bookstores don't stock them.

Its called Stanfords (thank you Google) and has been described as the world's finest book and map store, I used to love going there when I lived in London.

http://www.stanfords.co.uk/

I love Rich Steve's books because they are straight forward and easy to read and comprehend. They are not the only guidebooks I look at and I quite othen find things in one book that I didn't find in another. I suspect that the knock on his popularity means that you will find a lot of other people at the sights, hotels or restaurants that he recommends. Oh well, I'll get over it.

If you don't want to get them from his website check out travel books on the cities you are visiting on Amazon. You will find lots of options.

Thanks for all the replies.

I scoured around and got the London, Venice and Paris. No Rome guides to be found! I've checked Rick Steves' website and amazon. Even expedited int'l shipping won't reach me in time.

What's the best travel book for a first timer in Rome can you recommend?

Rick Steves is completely unknown in England. I have only heard of him from forums like this.

As such his books aren’t going to be widely available, as we wouldn’t buy them. As has been mentioned Stamfords in Long Acre is a large shop solely given over to travel literature. If anywhere has them they will.

Another suggestion is to look in the airport bookshops – they have a lot of American customers so might stock American books.

If what you're looking for is guides for walking around London, most bookshops in London will have plenty of locally-produced ones covering all sorts of different interests and topics. Try Foyles on Charing Cross Road (not far from Long Acre) or any of the bigger central London branches of Books Etc.

In Rome you will be able to find bookstores selling English language tour guide books (even at the airport) I have a very good pocket one of Torino published by Mondadori, I am sure there will be a Rome version.

"Most people seem to use the Steeves books for self guided walking tours"

No they don't.

Steeves' 'tourism for dummies' books are available only in America - whose population provides about 5% of the visitors Paris gets every year. The other 95% of us use real guidebooks.

The Paris walking tours used by more visitors than any other are those in the green Michelin guides - the ones the French themselves use (though for Rome, I prefer the Blue Guide: the green Michelin's got easier-to-follow walks, but the Blue Guide's better on what you're seeing).

Both available in any of central London's decent bookshops - though the bookshops at the airports are a bit iffy these days.

You will have no problem buying a good guidebook to Rome in London. As to which one? That’s a matter of taste. I find the Time out and Lonely Planet city guides are good and easy to use.

p.s Rick Steves has American Hair

in trying to find out more about this guy and the fascination with him (both negative and positive) i came across this article:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in697745.shtml

as you get into the second page of the article, you can see why he is not heard of in europe. his approach seems to be equally generic travel recommendations and part his theory about americans' place in the world and the american experience travelling in europe. he also seems to sprinkle in a fair amount of "ahh shucks, we are just silly americans in this crazy place called europe" type of humour.

clearly he is positioned for americans only which allows him to avoid competing head on with the more generic guides that are geared toward a wider english speaking audience.

perhaps his following comes from people who are more interested in following his stated agenda and about themselves as americans rather than about travel itself. he says that he encourages people to become "temporary europeans" when they travel over here but at the same time, he wants people to be ambassadors. his view seems to concentrate greatly on peoples' americanism and what it means when travelling the world. seems to be contradictory. He says that he wants americans to leave their cultural baggage at home. but he also says to try to be an "ambassador". trying so hard not to be an "ugly american" and trying to be an ambassador IS cultural baggage.

finally, in his word association at the end of the article, he equates "proper" with British. he obviously knows little about british culture and can only rattle off stereotypes that are usually busted on one's first visit to the UK.

Dear zizz

If originality is your thing, then you might want to avoid mass-produced itineraries such as those devised by Mr. Steves. On the other hand, I suspect you are using a mass-produced computer with an operating system and browser that you similarly did not invent yourself, but bought off the shelf. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, which I happen to share with you , I am prepared to give us both the benefit of the doubt and accept that our respective posts describe our original thoughts.

So it is with guidebooks and trip itineraries. No matter how many copies sold of a given book/itinerary, each implementation of same is as unique as the person who performed it. Choosing a guidebook thus becomes similar to choosing a computer, in which issues of weight and price and ease of use, amongst others, must be taken into consideration.

One thing I would not bother taking into consideration is whether the guidebook you are considering is deemed 'real' by any party or parties. After all, many of those who insist that a given author doesn't write 'real' guidebooks seem to spend an inordinate amount of time proclaiming this notion on, of all places, the Internet.

Bon voyage!

zizz, whilst you won't find Rick Steves books in London, Stanfords (as has been mentioned) is a glorious travel bookstore with very helpful staff, and they stock just about every other guidebook known to man. So if I were you, I'd get myself down to Stanfords on Long Acre (come out of Covent Garden tube and turn left), and ask an assistant to ehlp you choose some titles for your trip.