Best of Europe in 21 Days

Aside from first hand accounts, also make sure to look through the tour member feedback on this site here

Hi Ron ,, it is a great idea suggested by CL to check out the tour feedback. I have taken a RS tour( Famiy 14 day tour) and right after the tour they send you this form to fill out for the feedback. I was very happy with my tour( loved it) but had a few negative things to say... I thought for sure those comments would have been "edited" out of what they posted,, but low and behold, they did in fact post them. This should reassure you that what you read is pretty accurate and unbiased.

You should also apply ( you can do that here online) to have them send you the free DVD for the tour, it looks a bit dated,, but I do think it gives a fair account of what tour is like.In fact I think it makes tour look a bit more strenous then it actually is.. we and most everyone on tour found the walking componet reasonable, and our youngest was not quite 8 yrs old!!! If she could do it you could do it! LOL

The tour was well run,, we didn't have to wait in long lines as we were prebooked into most busy sites, the group is 1/2 the size of most other tour groups we saw( we felt quite smug about that, LOL) and the guide and driver were great. We always had some free time at every stop,, and we never made stupid " shopping " stops , or went to a bunch of " craft demonstrations" that were actaully just sales pitches,, which I totally appricieated. We did a few off the schedule things that were pretty cool. When our guide found out one of tour members sang Gregorian Chants,, he found a small empty church ,,during one of our lunch stops ,, and we all filed in and heard this young man sing( chant) one for us,, it was a 15 minute detour, but amazing to hear in a quiet country medival church.. magical .

Touring is not for everyone, if you are a whiney or needy person , don't bother, RS doesn't cater to that type of traveller. You may be given a metro ticket and shown how to use the public transport, and then told to " meet the group" for dinner , you will learn lots!

Ron, the tour feedback mentioned above is great for any questions you might have. I just signed up for GAS 14 days for 2009 but I read every feedback comment on my tour, plus the tour you are interested in and several others. The plus comments out number the negative comments about 90/10. Many comments on the heat and humidity of Europe in July and August. Many hotels are not air conditioned so consider that. I picked 9/13-9/27 which can get much cooler weather, especially in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. I still prefer the cooler time of year so just pick what is comfortable for you. I would probably pick Europe 21 Days for 9/6-9/26 or 9/12-10/2 but the late May early June is also good before the height of the season. Late June, July, August is very crowded. Air fare is also a little cheaper after Labor Day. One other thing, at the top of the page, type in scrapbooks in the search box. The 2007 Rick Steves Tours scrapbook winner was Best of Europe in 21 Days by Barbara Filipiak. She did a great job and it would give your a more detailed tour description by someone who took the tour.

Ron,
My husband and I took this tour in 2006. We both loved it. We had been to many of the places in Europe wirh our kids in 04 but decided to do it with a tour. We saw all the highlights and were very relaxed because we did not have to drive or figure out where we were going to eat and see. We went in mid Sept. and the weather was very nice. We did have a little rain (3) and some snow in Switzerland. I am looking forward to doing another RST in the future. Many of our tour mates have continued to do a tour a year and they seem to enjoy it. We like to do some travel on our own. We enjoy both ways of travel.

Thanks for your suggestions/comments, very helpful!