Best of Europe Guidebook

Made up of condensed versions of the most popular chapters from his individual guidebooks on western Europe, Rick's full-color "greatest hits" guide is perfect for the whirlwind Europe trip.

In Rick Steves Best of Europe you'll find in-depth, Rick-tested information on:

• England
  • London
• France
  • Paris, including Versailles
  • Provence: Arles, Avignon, Pont du Gard, Les Baux
  • The French Riviera: Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Cap Ferrat, Monaco
• Spain
  • Barcelona
• Italy
  • Rome
  • Florence
  • The Cinque Terre
  • Venice
• Switzerland
  • The Berner Oberland: Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, Mürren, and nearby
• Germany
  • Munich, including Dachau Memorial
  • Rothenburg and the Romantic Road
  • The Rhine Valley: Bacharach, St. Goar, Marksburg Castle, and Burg Eltz
  • Berlin
• Netherlands
  • Amsterdam
  • Haarlem
• Extras
  • Self-guided walks and museum tours
  • Easy-to-follow color maps
  • ​City-specific advice on planning your time and avoiding lines
  • Transportation: Trains, buses, city transit, and driving
  • Handy survival phrases for French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Dutch
  • Pre-trip checklist and advice on managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints

I'm taking a whirlwind European trip that includes a bunch of places not covered in your Best of Europe book. Is this thing worthwhile?

If you're going to at least a handful of places included in Rick Steves Best of Europe, it's probably still a smart buy (you can always tear out the chapters you don't think you'll need). You can supplement your copy of Best of Europe with a combination of Snapshot guides, Pocket guides, city-specific complete guidebooks, and — lightest of all — ebook versions of the guidebooks for your extra destinations.

What's the difference between Rick Steves Best of Europe, Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door, and Rick Steves' Europe 101?

• Rick Steves Best of Europe: An honest-to-goodness guidebook, now in gorgeous full color, with all the specifics on sights, hotels, and restaurants for travelers on a whirlwind trip around western Europe (who don't want to buy — or lug — separate guidebooks for every stop on the way)
• Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door: Our essential handbook for how to plan and enjoy a trip to Europe, designed to be read before you go — with in-depth advice on planning, packing, saving money, avoiding lines, staying healthy, leaping the language barrier, finding a bathroom…and lots more
• Rick Steves' Europe 101: Our fun, informative, full-color survey of Europe's art and history — also designed to be read before your trip

Latest updates: When we learn of critical changes to the information in this guidebook, we post them. (Of course, it's still smart to reconfirm critical transportation and sightseeing details locally.) Armed with a Rick Steves guidebook and these late-breaking updates, you're set for a great trip!

Submit feedback: Once you've used this book in Europe, we'd love to hear your feedback — good or bad — about our advice on sights, hotels, restaurants, and travel tips. We're also interested in any tips or discoveries you made while in Europe. Your comments help us improve our guidebooks for future travelers.