Is there a way to search these forums?

It's staring you right in the face. Look up at the very top of your browser window, straight up from all this. Right above the navigation breadcrumbs (ie: Home / Travel Forum / France / Is there a way to...).

You will see a Search icon (magnifying glass) and the word "Search" in large, gray type. Other than the corporate logo type to its left, it's the largest type on the page. Click directly in the gray space that says "Search" - enter your search term there, click the blue "Go!" square which appears to the right (only after you've clicked in this text search field) and off you go.

You're welcome.

If you’re on a handheld or similar device, you access the search feature by clicking on the horizontal lines in the upper left corner of the page. That brings up the menu, including the search function.

« If you’re on a handheld or similar device, you access the search feature by clicking on the horizontal lines in the upper left corner of the page. That brings up the menu, including the search function. »

whmsll: Being on my handheld device, it only took me about a month to find this feature 🤣 😂 Changed my life!!

However, the Search function on this website is quite poor. I often get better results by Googling and including ricksteves.com in the search.

When I'm planning a trip of my own and interested in a variety of information about a destination, I go to the appropriate country forum, page back at least a year (often two years) and scroll forward, checking the Subject of each thread to decide whether I should read it. Yes, it takes a lot of time (I'm retired), especially for the most popular countries, but I find it really turns up a lot of good information.

I wish I could see the search results in sorted order, most recent posts first. Is that possible?

Thank you all, I am indeed using an iPad, so no, it was not staring me in the face. I appreciate those who posted helpful answers!

I agree with CW Social. Dear Webmaster, it would be awfully nice if the search results posted in reverse chronological order (most recent posts first).

having the results in sorted order has been on the "to do" list for the hardworking Webmaster and his hard working but very small team for many years.

I just learned that, although you cannot sort by date, you can do some filtering to limit your search to newer responses.

Type your search keyword into the "Search" field (at the top of the page on a laptop browser)
To the left of the topics that are returned, see the box "Filter by Type"
Click on any one of the "types" (e.g., Travel Forum)
That will reveal another box to "Filter by Date" with options for:
- 6 months and newer
- 1 year and newer
- 2 years and newer
All

The responses are not in chronological order, but it's still much easier than paging through responses that are 5 and 10 years old!