Welcome to the Rick Steves’ Europe Travel Updates and Insights Blog

While “good travel” is perennial, the specifics of how to travel are always in flux. So what’s a traveler to do?

The Rick Steves’ Europe Travel Updates and Insights blog is here to provide clear, relevant information and advice on major European trends and developments — so you can make the most of your trip, while avoiding roadblocks along the way.

More than four decades ago, when Rick Steves’ Europe was just starting out, we zipped an entire trip’s budget (in the form of travelers’ checks) into our money belts, exchanged leftover coins at every border crossing, and collected passport stamps like souvenirs. We showed up to big museums without reservations and prebooked hotels by phone — if we prebooked hotels at all. A paper map was always tucked into our back pocket.

These days, we tap-to-pay on public transit and simply smile for the camera as we zip through border checkpoints. We book reservations online months in advance, ensuring entries to marquee sights and snagging our choice of the limited supply of good-value lodgings. The fear of getting lost has been resolved by the constant comfort of our smartphones. And on the list of travelers’ biggest concerns, overcrowding and extreme weather have replaced language barriers and expensive phone calls home.

And yet, the fundamentals of good travel remain much the same — and Europe is just as alluring as ever. So even though it’s now best to prebook admission to the Sagrada Família, marveling at the colorful, organically twirling genius of Gaudí’s masterpiece still raises goosebumps. The Venice “access fee” is a bureaucratic headache, but once you’ve reached the Grand Canal, it doesn’t reduce any of the “Am I really here?” wonder of floating under Rialto Bridge. And dragging escargots from their shells at a Parisian café still induces an “ooh la la,” even if you now pay for your snails with a tap of your phone instead of by leaving euros (or francs) on the table.

Yes, Europe is always changing. But only some of those changes are truly relevant to travelers — while others are “much ado about nothing.” This has led to an abundance of irrelevant “travel information,” which is more sensationalist rumor than useful advice. Our goal here is to cut through the noise and be a voice of reason, practicality, and fresh-from-the-rucksack guidance on how to navigate Europe today.

Our well-traveled staff, who clock as many days each year in Europe as anyone in the business, are constantly returning with updates, insights, and observations. On this blog, we’ll use that firsthand knowledge to carry on our mission of teaching good travel by helping you understand exactly how new developments will affect your trip…and how they won’t.

What’s the story on the new visa-waiver programs in the United Kingdom (ETA) and the European Union (ETIAS), both due to begin in 2025? When will Notre Dame Cathedral finally reopen after its devastating fire? And exactly how much do you have to pay to enter Venice on certain days next summer? You’ll find clear, practical answers here.

(And for detailed updates to our print guidebooks, don’t miss the guidebook updates for each.)

And we’d like to hear from you! As a member of our merry band of travelers, please weigh in with your own updates and observations by using the Comments for each article. Meanwhile, many of these topics will also be covered on Rick Steves’ Europe’s various social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok — and we hope you’ll join the conversation there as well.

Welcome to the Travel Updates and Insights blog! And stay tuned for the latest from Europe.