• two pictures of tour groups

Festival of Tours

A Rick Steves' Europe tour is a vacation, an adventure, and a cultural crash course all in one — and from April 21 to May 2, you're invited to join our Festival of Tours to learn about our tour program and discover which of our 46 exciting itineraries could become your next trip.

To kick things off, Rick sets the stage by recounting the origins of our tour program — back when a Rick Steves tour was just Rick, eight travelers, and a minivan — and how the spirit of those early tours lives on in today's itineraries. From there, our Tours 101 session helps tour-curious travelers determine if a Rick Steves' Europe tour will be a good fit for them. Finally, our great guides join the party to show off their favorite cultural wonders region by region — from ferrying to Scotland's windswept islands to clapping along with a flamenco show in Spain to cooking up pierogi with locals in Poland — and to share how you can experience these "wow" moments alongside them on a Rick Steves tour.

It's all free, and you can sign up for any (or all) of these fun, informative sessions below. Plus, tune in for your chance to win a free Rick Steves city tour!

Watch Our 2025 Festival of Tours Video Recordings
neuschwanstein castle in bavaria

Monday, April 28: Germany, Austria & Switzerland Tours with Dave Hoerlein & Jim McDonough

6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET | REGISTER

Dave Hoerlein was Rick's first employee, leading tours across Europe for decades. In this session, he's joined by new guide and German expat Jim McDonough as together they trace our itineraries across the Germanic world. We begin by visiting Germany's Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich before enjoying Bavaria's fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle and medieval Rothenburg. In Austria, we tour the grand capital of Vienna and Mozart-crazy Salzburg, along with Danube charm. We finish in Switzerland — licking gelato in Italian-speaking Lugano, savoring cosmopolitan Lausanne, and ascending cut-glass peaks to a nature-lover's nirvana.

granada spain

Tuesday, April 29: Spain & Portugal Tours with Robyn Stencil & Francisco Glaria

6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET | REGISTER

The Iberian Peninsula sizzles with colorful traditions and epic history, and tour program manager Robyn Stencil and tour guide Francisco Glaría are excited to show off our tours there. In Spain, we indulge in rich helpings of Catalunya's Gaudí, Toledo's El Greco, and the masterpieces of Madrid's Prado before heading south to Andalucía for iconic castles, dreamy hill towns, and fine cuisine. Next, we visit highlights from our Best of Portugal tour: trendy Lisbon, sunbaked Évora, beachy Nazaré, youthful Coimbra, gritty Porto, and the vineyards of the Douro Valley.

red bridge and church in Lyon France

Wednesday, April 30: France Tours with Gabe Gunnink & Virginie Moré

6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET | REGISTER

French tour guide and researcher Virginie Moré is a font of France knowledge, and in this session, Monday Night Travel host Gabe Gunnink gets buckets of information from her on our France itineraries. We start in Paris with the Louvre and Orsay museums and the extravagant Palace of Versailles. We then visit the powerful D-Day beaches and mesmerizing island abbey Mont St-Michel before wandering the châteaux of the Loire Valley, markets of the Dordogne, hill towns of Provence, and half-timbered villages of the Alsace to find your next French adventure.

lake bled island in slovenia

Thursday, May 1: Central & Eastern Europe Tours with Cameron Hewitt & Marijan Krišković

6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET | REGISTER

Guidebook author Cameron Hewitt teams up with tour guide Marijan Krišković for an inspiring sweep through our Central and Eastern Europe tours. We begin by touring the Czech Republic with perfectly preserved Prague, Hungary with cosmopolitan Budapest, and Poland with lovable Kraków. We then continue along the Adriatic Sea: weaving together Slovenia's charming Ljubljana and fairy-tale Lake Bled and Croatia's seaside Rovinj, waterfall-laced Plitvice, historic Split, and picture-perfect Dubrovnik.

lady-in swiss-alps

Friday, May 2, Best “Wow” Moments on Tour with the Rick Steves’ Europe Team

6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET | REGISTER

Each year, we ask our 30,000 Rick Steves' Europe tour members to share the top "wow" moment of their trip. To finish off the Festival of Tours with a bang, the Rick Steves' Europe staff reveals a highlight reel of these most memorable moments, which often extend beyond the marquee sights — intimate experiences from cooking up pierogi in Poland to sipping wine beside an Italian volcano to watching sheepdogs at work in Scotland. Plus, at the end of the show, we give away Rick Steves' Europe city tours to two lucky travelers!