Rick Steves

Leading Authority on European Travel

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Biography

Rick Steves is a popular public television host, a best-selling guidebook author, and an outspoken activist who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. But above all else, Steves considers himself a teacher. He taught his first travel class at his college campus in the mid-1970s—and now, more than 40 years later, he still measures his success not by dollars earned, but by trips impacted. Read More >

Widely considered America's leading authority on European travel, Steves produces a best-selling series of guidebooks and is the author of Travel as a Political Act. He is dedicated to providing all Americans with access to travel information and has made extensive resources available for free on the Rick Steves' Europe website, via the Rick Steves Audio Europe™ app, and in Rick Steves Classroom Europe™, a searchable database of short, teachable video clips.

A longtime supporter of public broadcasting, Steves produces and hosts public television and radio shows that air across the nation.

He is the founder and owner of Rick Steves' Europe (RSE), a travel business with more than 100 fulltime employees. RSE operates a successful tour program which brings more than 30,000 people to Europe annually. The company contributes annually to a portfolio of climate-smart nonprofits, essentially paying a self-imposed carbon tax.

Steves works closely with several advocacy groups and makes regular financial contributions to more than 170 organizations, including annual contributions to Bread for the World. He is a board member of NORML and has been instrumental in the legalization of marijuana in several states. He has also provided $8 million in funding to build two new neighborhood centers in his community and has donated a 24-unit apartment building for homeless women and their children to his local YWCA.

Steves spends about four months a year in Europe, researching guidebooks, fine-tuning his tour program, filming his TV show, and making new discoveries for travelers. Read Less ^

Speaker Videos

TEDx: The Value of Travel

Perspective on Adventure, Culture, and a Changing World

Talks At Google

Travel as a Political Act

Europe: A Symphonic Journey

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Speech Topics

Europe Through the Back Door with Rick Steves

Join travel expert Rick Steves – acclaimed for his bestselling guidebooks and public television series – as he shares the latest in smart European travel. In this entertaining, information-packed slideshow lecture, Rick will explain how to travel smoothly and affordably by stretching your travel dollar, eating and sleeping well, avoiding crowds, and packing smartly. Freshly back from lots of travels, Rick will share exactly how you can enjoy maximum travel thrills for every mile, minute, and euro on your next European adventure.

Travel as a Political Act

Rick Steves – acclaimed for his bestselling guidebooks and public television series – believes there’s more to travel than good-value hotels, great art and tasty cuisine. Americans who “travel as a political act” can have the time of their lives and come home smarter with a better understanding of the interconnectedness of today’s world. In this provocative slideshow lecture, Rick will explain how to travel more thoughtfully to any destination. Drawing from lessons he learned while exploring Europe, Central America, Asia and the Middle East, Rick will explain that by traveling thoughtfully you can take home the greatest souvenir: a broader perspective.

Rick Steves’ The Holy Land: Israelis & Palestinians Today

Join travel expert Rick Steves – acclaimed for his bestselling guidebooks and public television series – as he shares his experience traveling in the Holy Land. In this slideshow lecture, Rick will weave together both the Israeli and the Palestinian narratives. In Israel, we’ll go from the venerable ramparts of Jerusalem to the vibrant modern skyline of Tel Aviv. In Palestine, we’ll visit a home in Bethlehem and pop into a university in Ramallah. Read More >

We’ll also learn about security walls, visit disputed settlements, and walk alongside the fascinating spectrum of people who call this region home. While there are no easy answers to the complex challenges of the Holy Land, with this entertaining evening, Rick will share his personal insights into a land a third of humanity considers holy. Read Less ^

Rick Steves’ Iran

Travel writer and public television host Rick Steves calls Iran “the most poorly understood yet fascinating land” he’s ever visited. In this slideshow travel lecture, he’ll take you on a journey of discovery to better understand this perplexing nation and the 70 million people who call Iran home. From a prayer service in a mosque and non-conformist teen fashions at the mall, to anti-American murals and the hospitality of a family dinner, Rick will help us understand the fears and passions of the Iranian people. Read More >

Rather than exploring complex political issues, Rick’s lecture will be a travelogue designed to humanize a mighty, ancient nation that has been a leader in its corner of the world for 2,500 years and continues to make headlines today. Read Less ^

Rick Steves' Europe: A Symphonic Journey

Usually you'll find Rick Steves touring the great destinations of Europe. Now you can join him on a different journey: a Symphonic Journey. Just as travel broadens one's perspectives, so can music. In his hour-long concert special — Rick Steves' Europe: A Symphonic Journey — Rick teams up with the Cascade Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Michael Miropolsky, on a musical tour that begins in the USA, then touches down in seven different European countries.