I’ve just huddled for three days with my lead editors and co-authors to review our entire series of guidebooks. We consider this a “wellness check”: While we assume that our books are in good shape (and are reassured by our ever-increasing sales), we want to be certain they are all living up to their full potential.
As I travel, I enjoy bumping into people using my books, who allow me to anecdotally get a sense of how they are using our material. But we have no way of knowing for sure which chapters and which sections in each book get the most use. And throughout our “book summit,” we often wondered, “What would our readers say about this?”
We’re hoping you can be our guinea pigs. Here’s a list of some of the questions we wish we had a crystal ball to help us answer. Let us know your take on any of these topics:
- In our Spain book, has anybody used our chapter on Cantabria (the northern coastal region featuring the Altamira Cave, the towns of Comillas and Santillana, and the Picos de Europa mountains)? If no one hollers, this chapter is toast.
- Has anyone used our coverage of Sitges, the beach resort near Barcelona? Speak now or say “Adéu” to Sitges.
- In Germany, is anyone still using the Romantic Road bus tour? Or is it more for drivers these days? Back in 1980, this was one of the original “Back Doors” in the first edition of Europe Through the Back Door. But these days, it seems those buses are going empty. Achtung! If no one speaks up, it’s auf Wiedersehen to the Romantische Strasse.
- For the German city with the great Gothic cathedral, we’re debating between the German name, Köln, and the English one, Cologne. We call Florence “Florence” rather than “Firenze,” but we call Seville “Sevilla” — so consistency is not our policy. Your preference: Köln or Cologne?
- We love the city of Dresden, in Germany, and cover it generously in our guidebook. But it’s hard to gauge how many of our readers are going there. Have you gone? Do you care?
- We generously include Salzburg (which is in Austria) in our Germany book. We wonder: Are a lot of our readers in Munich and Bavaria side-tripping in Salzburg, without continuing all the way to Hallstatt or Vienna (which are covered in a separate book)? Unless there’s a huge outcry, we’re going to cut Salzburg out of the Germany guidebook.
- Speaking of Salzburg–has anyone taken any of the “Sound of Music” tours there? Did you enjoy them? Are we overrating these in our book?
Thanks in advance for your advice. It’s a big help
I say go with the local language spelling. It helps with signs and we can then make Germans pronounce Goethe Street in Chicago Go Thee. :)
I really enjoyed my visit to Dresden. I had had no idea that so much of it had been restored.
On the Helpline (now Travel Forum) we seem to often get asked about day trips or at least trips to Salzburg from Munich.
Pam
And I took Bob’s SOM tour and loved it. I liked the small van, I like the guide, I liked the chance to ride the luge and I liked the fun with SOM.
Pam
3) Having driven in Bavaria and Franconia 5 times in the past 7 years [1,000km + each time], we have never felt any advantage to a bus. A few times our GPS rerouted us around the notorious summer traffic jams…probably not happening on a bus. Spontaneous “evolving” is not as feasible by bus.
4) Most of us butcher umlaut ¨ pronunciation… definitely Cologne.
5)We spent a week in Dresden {and nearby Bad Schandou, spa town on Elbe River 35 km SE of Dresden near CZ & PL borders] in summer 2010, and used your book extensively.
You should not eliminate Dresden and its poignant WWII history and reconciliation.
6) All 5 of our itineraries which included Salzburg originated in Germany. Since each time was further into Austria, we used your Austria book. Salzburg sections of the Germany books were cut out and left home.
Thanks for asking.
I know you did not ask anything about England, but we have used many of your guide books and have been studying the England book for a couple months and I have to say it is more confusing than any of the others. Transportation for one seems to go back and forth and confusing. I know London has a lot of sites to offer, but usually you present it a little more organized and I feel you have to go back and forth from one part of London to another. Also I had considered tearing parts out of the book but am too afraid of missing on something.
I think that Salzburg worked great for our German trip we did a loop from Frankfurt, the Rhine, Black Forest, Austria, Prague and back.
I prefer Cologne only because it is historically what I have called the city. We loved Dresden and Gorlitz and the guidebook made it easy and efficient in 2010. Both were way better than I thought East Germany would be. We used the German & Austria guidebook when we went in 2008 to Aus (Vienna, Salzburg, Melk, Hallstatt) and Bavaria. Not sure you publish that anymore, but it was very useful. We used the 2010 Germany GB when we visited the Rhine, Nuremburg, Dresden, Gorlitz, and Berlin.
Used the Salzburg part of the Germany book, and loved it. Also loved the sound of music tour! Used the Germany book extensively 3 years ago. Was great. Just finished the western Mediterranean cruise, and found your cruise book very helpful. As well, the audio tours in Rome were wonderful, particularly the Sistine chapel, where we sat and stared upwards and listened!
Recommend Highly Hotel Golden in Rome! Family operated and an absolute delight!
took Bob’s special SOM tour and loved it! It was a chance to see some of the countryside, visit a lovely park, a drive thru Mondsee (location where the wedding scene was filmed). We passed on the luge, but kids seemed to enjoy it.
We stayed in Munich in December and day tripped into Salzburg and found that section in the Germany book to be extremely helpful! We did the self guided walk and it was great. Having the Salzburg section in the Germany book was very useful for our trip and I would hate to see it taken out!
We used your guidebook advice in Salzburg on our Germany trip last summer. We visited Salzburg in between Reutte and Munich.
We were just in Germany in September and I have these comments:
Romantic Road bus – no interest, we rented a car and prefer that flexibility
Dresden – would have liked to go there, but just didn’t have the time. Appreciate the coverage in your book, hope to visit in the future.
Salzburg – we day-tripped there from Munich and would hate to see that cut from the book. Did not do a SOM tour.
I vote to keep Salzburg in the Germany book! It’s an excellent and easy side trip from Munich and, in my opinion, really rounds out a Germany trip nicely by giving a traveller a taste of the Alps. I did a southern Germany trip a few year ago with family, and Salzburg was among the highlights.
I also really enjoyed the SoM tour. For fans of the movie, it is a great way to see the outlying movie sights without having your own transportation.
I used the Picos de Europa info by carrying it to Spain and reading it while planning a driving route there, but did not have time to stop at the recommended lift area. I had already visited Santillana and Altamira before they were in Rick’s Spain book.
I also enjoyed a stay in Dresden using Rick’s Germany book.
Like what one other online poster stated, if a destination/attraction is not recommended in your books/website/shows, it’s almost like it will not make it in on many of your readers/followers’ travel plans (like me :-) ). Example: Because of your coverage of Dresden, we’re planning a side trip there next month while visiting a relative near Cologne.
Because of Dresden’s reputation as “the Florence on the Elbe” and Dresden appears near and easy to get to (compared to like Cesky Krumlov, recommended in the EE book) from Prague, perhaps a mention of this in the Prague chapter of the Eastern Europe should be considered.
My comments for some of the questions:
4) My suggestion would be to standardize all your Guidebooks by putting the English name first, with the local name in parentheses. Knowing the local names is important for buying train tickets, and it certainly doesn’t hurt for travelers to know these.
5) YES, please continue to list Dresden in your books. Possibly that section could be expanded? As a matter of fact, I plan on going there this year and I’m using your book extensively to plan the trip.
6) I’d leave Salzburg in the Germany book as it’s such an easy side trip from Munich. That will save the cost of having to buy two books just for information to take a day trip.
Hello Rick! We relied on your books quite frequently for our first trip to Europe last year. We went to Munich, then traveled by car to Fussen (and the castles), then up to Rothenburg, then west to the Rhine (and eventually to Brugges, Brussels, and Amsterdam by train). To me, covering a lot is easiest by car, and quite honestly, much more rewarding. Seeing and stopping where we wanted was great. And let’s be honest, the pride of conquering the Autobauhn and riding the inspiration for the US highway system is invigorating.
Also, I like Koln. I was mocked at my US company by a German born citizen when I pronounced it Cologne (although it helps to know both).
1/2. Used your Spain book, but didn’t visit either of those places.
3. We went directly from Munich to Nurnberg. We weren’t interested in the towns along the way so the fast train was great for us.
4. My vote is for Köln. I like being familiar with the local spelling/pronunciation of things.
5. We really wanted to go to Dresden and Gorlitz on our last trip but couldn’t make it work. We intend to return to see those great cities!
6. We visited Salzburg and Vienna before heading to Munich, and we brought along both countries’ books.
7. We are not huge SOM nuts (it did come out nearly 20 years before we were born…), but went on a tour because of your enthusiasm for it. We were…underwhelmed. It wasn’t terrible, but we weren’t impressed.
Salzburg is a straight shot on the autobahn from Munich so I would vote to keep it in.
I enjoyed a half-day visit to “mad” King Ludwig’s replica of Versailles known as Herrenchiemsee. It is situated on a lush island on Lake Chiemee near the village of Prien. The palace is stunning and worth a visit.
Posted by Rick’s Doppelganger in Florida
Would love to visit that part of Spain for the Picos hikes … S it’s nice to leave it in. However if you decidentomtake it out it would be great to have a link to download that chapter as a PDF for a couple years for those at like it … An idea that might work for all the other chapters you’re looking to prune … And put them in the updates or extras archives sections on the book website . Best of both worlds for customers and cost cutting publisher :)
Rick,
4. I prefer Koln. It’s what locals call it, and I like to fit in when I travel.
On a trip to Berlin, I learned some interesting trivia from a tour guide on a walking tour. I learned that in the Middle Ages, western Berlin was call Kolnn with the extra letter N.
5. I would like you to keep material on Dresden. I admit that I have never visited Dresden. On my most-recent German trip, I wanted to visit Dresden because of what you had written on it but didn’t make it because of a lack of time. I plan to visit Dresden when I next go to Germany. Also, I think Dresden should be kept because of the Rick Steves’s back-door philosophy.
6. I don’t mind if you cut Salzburg from your Germany guide book. While I mostly enjoyed my visit there in 1996 because of the Mozart and other sites, I do not plan to go again. Salzburg caters to the wealthy. I feel the same about Bruges, Belgium. It and Salzburg are too chi-chi for the true, independent-minded traveler.
4. Cologne. Umlauts are intimidating.
6. We visited Munich in December 2008 to see the Christmas markets. It was a short trip, but we managed to fit in a night in Salzburg. (Back then, Germany and Austria were in a single book. I would have bought a separate Austria book if needed, but my preference would obviously be to include Salzburg with the Germany book.)
7. I loved the Sound of Music tour and would recommend it to anyone who has a passing interest in the movie. We had a wonderful, enthusiastic tour guide and chatty tour mates, and the sites were picturesque.
Yes, please cover Dresden. Looking forward to a 2016 trip to Germany and plan on Dresden and Gorlitz in our itinerary.
Also, seems to make sense to continue offering Salzburg in the Germany guidebook.
I’d vote for Cologne but do agree that it’d be nice to reference/link to the local names somehow in the chapter titles to help familiarize readers with how the names will appear in country.
4) We just visited Cologne in October and used both pronunciations. You seem to interchange them after some time and never really notice which one you are using. I think it would be best for the first time visitor to Cologne to get used to “Koln”, especially when travelling via train to and from. Either way, enjoy the Kolsch!
6)No, don’t do this. Salzburg is the perfect side trip when visiting Bavaria. The German rail network considers Salzburg as a German stop, you should too! We spent one week of our two week vacation in the Fussen and Salzburg areas and loved it. Your guidebooks were a tremendous help. Don’t make us buy two for the same area because your stuck on a nationality.
Hi Rick,
I was in Germany a few years ago. I loved the Romantic Road. I rented a car in Wurzberg and drove down to Fussen. I only had the car for one day. Rest of time took trains.
Also, while in Salzberg, I did the SOM tour. Loved it. I was traveling solo. I was on the tour with very nice American family. We stopped in the Alps at a lovely roadside cafe for apple strudel and tea. Your guidebooks are always helpful especially for sleeping arrangements.
Just got your new Great Britain guidebook. How can you not include much of anything on Oxford. It is a great destination. You do readers a disservice by not having more on Oxford and much about Cambridge. BOTH are valid , excellent destinations.
Great questions! I can answer a few of them from my and my wife’s travels:
5. Yes, we went to Dresden and we really enjoyed it!
6. Yes, we toured Germany using your Germany book, and we did side-trip to Salzburg! It was a great addition to your Germany book IMO. I hope you keep it. We have fond memories of Salzburg.
7. No, we didn’t do any Sound of Music tours when we were there. We found so many other interesting things to do in Salzburg that we skipped it.
Hope that helps!
We went to Germany, Salzburg(only) and Turkey in 2012. I really appreciated the inclusion of Salzburg in the Germany guide. We loved the Sound of Music Tour. I considered the Romantic Road bus, but decided the train was the easier way to get to Rothenburg.
Also, I greatly appreciated the instructions on getting to Fussen and the detailed instructions for getting from there to Neuchwenstein. The time we spent in Fussen was one of the best memories of our trip-such a great picturesque city and great place to walk.
3) I’ve driven the Romantic Road by rental car and frankly did not know until now that there was a bus tour, but that does not matter, I would have taken the car anyway.
4) I have never heard anyone refer to the cathedral as the Koln Cathedral, always the Cologne Cathedral.
6) Spent a wonderful day and a half in Salzburg. Stayed in a lovely little apartment over a garage on a local farmer’s property just outside of town. The views were great as was the room. It was a quick hop by car to get to the city. To me, you have got to get past the “Sound of Music” aspect of the city and enjoy it for what it is. I really enjoyed it here, I would not drop it, but I would cut back, way back, on tying it to the Sound of Music.
(1) My wife has been dying to see Altamira since we saw the Dordogne caves in 2010. We are planning on Spain in 2016, so we’re hoping it’s covered in the R. Steves guide by then.
(2) & (3) – did not even consider Sitges or the Romantic Road bus tour when we were there. We did Romantic Road by car.
(4) If you go with Köln, it’s only fair to go with Firenze, which I always thought was one of the cooler native city names compared to the anglicized version.
(5) In our case, we did indeed continue on to Hallstatt and Berchtesgaden when we hopped over to Salzburg, but I can imagine a more German-centric itinerary where we would have made room for only Salzburg (and I have friends who did this). It’s so wonderful, and so convenient from Munich, that I think you should go with your original instinct to include it in the Germany guide. If you don’t, then Salzburg won’t get annual updates, is that right? That wouldn’t seem just for a city of it’s significance.
The Sound of Music bus tour would probably have been only one pyramid for me, but it was a solid two pyramid’s for my wife (who likes the movie, although I wouldn’t say she is a huge fan or anything), so I wouldn’t suggest de-emphasizing them too much.
One more note on Altamira: they are opening the cave paintings to the public! This is hot off the presses news as of YESTERDAY:
theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/26/altamira-cave-paintings-open-public-spain-cantabria
Maybe a bad time to cut Altamira?
Hi Rick…just joined your site but have been using your books and watching your shows ‘forever’. I’ve lived and travel often in Europe…so my two cents worth:
3. Never took a bus tour anywhere (except when I lived and worked in Germany)…travel by car is the best! Costs more of course, but saves a lot of time and the flexibility can’t be beat.
4. Köln please…American’s in general are lazy enough with foreign languages and should at least know the ‘local’ names of the cities and towns. Imagine how we would react if a foreigner came to the US and used their own names for our cities?
5. I’ve been to Dresden in the 90’s…it is a bit out of the way and is not known as a hot-spot for US tourists. Lovely region of Germany and not well visited either. Go with the consensus of your readers on this one.
6.Please keep Salzburg in your guide book! It is a charming city with a lot of local side trip opportunities. It was the first city I visited during my first visit to Europe in 1981!
7. I have visited Salzburg numerous times over the years but never took a SOM tour. It just doesn’t resonate with me…so many other things to see and do in and around Salzburg!
I love your website…great information and I will be posting more in the future! I am heading back to Germany/Austria in 2015…looking forward to it!
rick, please don’t delete the sitges chapter in the spain book! as a huge fan of you and your guidebooks, i am always impressed that you include details for and about gay americans traveling to europe. as you know, sitges is a big gay destination outside of barcelona, and your coverage of it is excellent as always. please consider this for your avid gay (and straight!) readership. thank you!
I did a day trip from München to Salzburg in 2003 with a Bayern Ticket (since Salzburg is just over the border, it’s included even though the ticket is technically just for Bavaria) and enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it to anyone in the area. I did not take any of the tours, (although I did visit the fortress and saw the abbey from the foot of the cliff on which it sits) and almost never do regardless of where I go.
I prefer to go with the native city name when possible, so I vote for Köln.