Tour Conditions

(Covers tours departing January 1–December 31, 2026. See our 2025 Tour Conditions.)

Thanks for your interest in our tours. This document outlines what Rick Steves' Europe ("RSE") provides when you sign up for an RSE tour, and what you agree to do while on tour with RSE ("Tour Conditions"). By signing up for a tour with RSE you are agreeing to these Tour Conditions so please read this document carefully before completing your reservation request.

Tour price guarantee: The price for the tour you've selected will be locked and guaranteed the moment we receive your deposit. For current tour prices, visit ricksteves.com or call Customer Support at 425-771-8303. (Note: Our tour prices do not include airfare and may change without notice.) 

Included in the price of each tour: We pride ourselves on including a lot in our tour price: sightseeing tours by an RSE guide, and local guides when appropriate, including admissions to sights seen as a group; meals as specified; accommodations each night, often in family-run hotels in the historic heart of each city; all transportation from the first hotel to the last hotel of the tour (does not include optional activities or independent travel during the tour); all RSE guide, local guide, and driver tips; and a tour kit including a guidebook (when available) and a moneybelt.
Exception: "My Way" tours do not include guided sightseeing, admissions, or lunches/dinners.

Itineraries are subject to change: Europe is full of surprises, and we need to be flexible enough to take advantage of whatever comes along (good or bad!) so that we may provide you with the best possible tour. Uncompleted portions of the tour itinerary are not cause for refund.

Tour payments: To reserve a seat on an RSE tour you must agree to these Tour Conditions and provide us with a deposit of $400 per person. We accept MasterCard, Visa, and American Express for all tour payments. For final balance payments, we also accept personal checks, bank drafts, or money orders in US dollars drawn on a US or Canadian bank. Your final tour payment is due in our office at least 60 days prior to the start of the tour, in one payment. Your final payment due date will be listed on your tour invoice in your tour account. Missing the final payment deadline may result in your being removed from the tour. If you sign up for a tour less than 67 days before its departure, the entire tour price must be paid, and is nonrefundable after 7 days.

Solo travelers and single supplements: For solo travelers, we offer a limited number of single supplements on each departure for an additional fee, which will guarantee a private room. (Refer to your tour's web page at ricksteves.com for current single supplement prices.) If a private room is not available when we receive your tour order, we will notify you as soon as possible, and you will have the option to either cancel your reservation for a full refund or transfer to another departure with single supplement availability. Please note that a single supplement guarantees a private room — not a larger or nicer room. Single supplements are refundable if cancelled at least 60 days prior to tour departure; those cancelled later will be forfeited, unless you booked a tour less than 67 days before its departure date, in which case, the single supplement becomes nonrefundable after 7 days, except in the case of a Refundable Event, as outlined below. If your original booking was made with a roommate who cancels before their final payment is received, you will be required to find a new roommate or pay a single supplement to travel solo. If you opt to pay a single supplement, it will be added to your Final Payment and due 60 days prior to departure.

Returned payments: If a payment to RSE is returned unpaid for any reason (in other words, if your check “bounces"), we will assess a $35 returned-item fee per occurrence. The fee(s) will be added to the applicable tour balance and must be paid in full prior to your tour departure.

Transferring to another tour: Change in plans? Up to 60 days prior to your tour's departure, you can transfer to any other tour in the same calendar year with seats available, applying your existing payments and with no transfer fee. If you transfer to a different tour, the price of that tour will be applied, effective on the date we confirm your transfer. Transfers less than 60 days before your tour's departure are generally not possible.

Cancellations and refunds: Your tour deposit is 100 percent refundable for 30 days from the date it is received, unless noted otherwise. Deposits made 67–90 days before a tour departs become nonrefundable on the final payment due date. If you book a tour less than 67 days before its departure date, the entire tour cost becomes non-refundable after 7 days. Once your deposit refund date has passed, your deposit will not be refunded under any circumstance.

All payments to RSE become nonrefundable on your final payment due date (60 days before departure): We may provide you a refund of your final tour payment if you cancel your reservation or if your tour is interrupted due to a Refundable Event, as outlined below. If you cancel your reservation for a Refundable Event 31–60 days before the first day of the tour, your refund will be equal to 100 percent of your original tour price minus your deposit. If you cancel your reservation for a Refundable Event 1–30 days before the first day of the tour, your refund will be equal to 50 percent of your original tour price minus your deposit. If you must leave your tour and not return to it after it has begun (Tour Interruption) for a Refundable Event, a pro-rated refund of $200 per day may be issued. To request a refund, you must follow the Refund Request Process listed below. This is not insurance and is not intended as a substitute for comprehensive travel and health insurance.

If we cancel a tour you have reserved, the entire amount you have paid to RSE for the applicable tour will be refunded to you within 14 days after the tour's cancellation, as required under Washington State law. Or you may choose to transfer within two weeks to another tour with seats available (see "Transferring to another tour," above). Once this occurs, RSE and its representatives have no other obligations to tour members on cancelled trips including any additional costs or fees related to the issuance and/or cancellation of airline tickets or other travel reservations not made by RSE.

Refundable Medical or Family Emergency ("Refundable Event"): RSE may provide you a refund if one of the following refundable medical or family emergency events requires you to cancel your reservation or interrupts your tour. A Refundable Event must first occur less than 60 days prior to your tour's start date or while on tour. It is RSE's sole discretion to determine if your situation is a Refundable Event. For these purposes, we consider your traveling partner to be someone who shares the same accommodations with you and a family member to be your spouse, stepchild, or blood relative in the first degree.

1. You, your travel partner, or a family member dies or suffers an unexpected and disabling injury or illness requiring hospitalization or urgent medical care prior to joining or during the tour.
2. You, your travel partner, or family member suffers a certifiable personal disaster (such as your home floods or burns down, or you are a victim of a serious crime) necessitating a change in travel plans.
3. You or your spouse are called into active military service or have leave revoked.
4. Loss of employment.

Refund request process: If you need to cancel your tour you must notify RSE immediately in writing, sent via email to [email protected] or mailed to 130 4th Ave N, Edmonds, WA 98020. Cancellations become effective on the date received by RSE. If you wish to request a refund for a Refundable Event and you have comprehensive travel insurance, you must first file a claim with your insurance provider before requesting a refund from RSE. RSE will only process your request for a refund after you have filed a claim with your insurance provider and can demonstrate the final insurance payment or settlement. You also must provide the following documentation along with your cancellation notice: For an unexpected illness or injury, we require you to provide a letter from your attending physician, on the physician's letterhead, verifying the specific reason and date of the onset of the condition given for advice against traveling; in the event of a death, we require a death certificate or obituary; due to a crime, flood, fire, or accident, you must provide a copy of a pertinent police, fire department, or investigative report; for unexpected loss of your job, we require a letter signed by your employer specifying the date of termination, on the company's letterhead (including contact information).

Tour credits: For all tours set to depart after January 1, 2026, we will no longer offer tour credits. All credits previously awarded will be governed by the RSE Tour Credit Terms and Conditions.

Tour forms, obligations, and risks: To travel on a tour, all tour members are required to review and accept a General Release and Waiver Agreement and a Health and Safety Pledge prior to the beginning of a tour. Omitting important information, or altering any of these agreements, will render it invalid, and could result in expulsion from a tour at your own expense.

Participation: While we do our very best to help everyone on our tours have a great trip, it sometimes happens that someone participating in a tour can misbehave or do things that are incompatible with the safety, comfort, or convenience of other members of the tour. In those circumstances we have the exclusive right and discretion to expel someone (even you) from a tour at any time.

Tour member expectations: RSE tours are physically active, our hotels are centrally located but may provide fewer American-style amenities, and our people policy emphasizes NO GRUMPS! These are essential characteristics of the RSE tour experience. On any RSE tour, you assume certain obligations and responsibilities to RSE and your fellow tour members, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Carry or roll your own luggage for up to 15 minutes over uneven pavement from the bus to the hotel (not applicable on 7-day city tours), then haul it up a few flights of stairs to reach your room.
2. Be comfortable on your feet with brisk two-hour walking tours, climbing lots of stairs, hopping on and off public transportation, plus standing and walking for up to four hours inside museums and outdoors in all weather conditions.
3. Sleep in hotels with no (or inadequate) air conditioning, possible street noise, and slow Wi-Fi connections or Wi-Fi only in common areas.
4. After orientation and transportation lessons, be able to navigate towns and cities on your own.
5. Our tour guides cannot provide assistance for any of these activities! Tour members requiring help must be accompanied by an able companion who can be entirely responsible for providing the assistance. (If you have concerns about the physical demands of our tours, please call us!)
6. Follow all safety precautions and health directives set by your guide, by RSE, or by local officials. Examples may include maintaining proper social distancing, the use of face masks (covering your nose and mouth), proper handwashing, the use of hand sanitizer, isolating if you are showing symptoms of any contagious illness, being seen by a health professional or being tested for contagious illnesses at your own expense as a condition of continuing on the tour. The possible precautions and directives required are not limited to the examples included here.

Pack light: Each tour member is strongly advised to bring just one airline carry-on-size piece of luggage (approximately 21" x 14" x 9") plus a small day pack or shoulder bag. Your Pre-Tour Planner includes tips for packing light and creatively.

Smoking policy: No smoking or vaping is allowed on the bus, in the hotel, or where other tour members are present.

Rick Steves' Europe, Inc. is registered with the State of Washington as a provider of travel (#601-035-937-001) and the State of California as a seller of travel (CST# 2086743).