I am a steves fan and use his books all the time.I believe he is the only guidbook author who updates his books each year which is why they are generally not available in fall but in January or February.Im am 65 and my wife is 66 and we have no problem using his advice.

I'm lucky enough to live very near Rick Steves' headquarters and have attended a few of his FREE travel classes. Last month he held free 2 hour travel seminars covering everything from rail travel to packing light to specific country info. He even taught several of the classes and we found him to be a wonderful speaker. The seminar was fabulous and we received some very good info. Also, felt no pressure to purchase things from his travel store. He offers very candid opinions about travel and he and his staff are very generous in providing answers to all of your travel questions.

Rick's books are great for a first trip anywhere, they give you the top 10 sights and directions to get there and good times to visit, places to stay that are definately central and somewhere to eat...he makes it easy to visit a new place... I agree with others, his hotel's are not exactly what I would like and I really don't like any of his restaurants, I usually use Time Out for those.

This has been a remarkably informative and civil set of postings. Judy, if you do a search, there have been prior posts on Rick Steves, but these included a number of personal swipes at him.<BR><BR> I have used Rick's London and Venice guidebooks and found them to be very good. They would not be the sole guides I'd use, but they are excellent in giving selective but accessible recommendations about the leading art and architectural attractions. His tongue-in-cheek style may not be for all, but new visitors will find his information very helpful.<BR><BR> As others have said, his hotel and restaurant recommendations are not as strong because he very explicitly caters to the budget traveller. Those who are looking to splurge on a memorable dining experience or prefer upscale accomodations will be disappointed. The guidebooks put out by Fodors and Frommers are much stronger in those departments.<BR><BR>

Art: Rick will come out with guides on Poland and Rumania next year. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get advance copies for our trip this year. But, I am glad I am going now as the crowds will surely increase when his guides come out next year.

I too am very lucky and live near Edmunds and am going to a free RS seminar this Sat. on Spain in preperation for our upcoming trip.

I used his books on our last trip (along with Fodors, Frommers, and several websites and suggestions from this website) and was very glad that I did. While I wasn't thrilled with all of his suggestions for hotels (i.e. The Europa in Madrid and Hotel Continental in Barcelona), we loved The Hostal Cardenal in Toledo. I found his information to be overall very helpful, especially Mona Winks and Europe 101. I truly admire what he has done and especially appreciate his attitude.

Like any other guidebook, his have a target audience. We've never found the one magic guidebook that gives us everything we need. I go to the library and use 3 or 4 different guidebooks (including Rick's) and use the internet to put together our own guidebook.

The worst accomodations we had in Germany were recommended by him, though we didn't know that he had recommended the place until after we got there and he showed up at breakfast one morning. He's taller than we thought he'd be.

But then we also found out on the same trip that one of the best places we ever stayed was also recommended by Rick.