Where France England Germany Belgium Countryside

No, his books are organized by country or broader regions. You can see his guidebooks by clicking on the orange Shop Online category on the left side of the page.

Thanks for update

That is a very general question. Try Google first and maybe narrow down what places you find that interest you. Then ask more specific questions here about the areas you pick in the specific country instead of General Europe for better results. Try searching on Google, best countryside of "whatever country you want".

Check out the “Explore Europe” tab on this website. Might give you some ideas. Most importantly, you have to know what it is that most piques your interests - art, history, culture, scenery, village life? Then you begin to plan accordingly. To give you further ideas, check out the detailed itineraries of Rick’s tours.

Awesome thank you will do

Other guidebooks that often cover places that Rick doesn’t, including towns and sights in the countryside, although without as much detail, and in without as many insightful tips, are: Lonely Plant, Frommer’s, Rough Guide, and Fodor’s. In order, those would be my next place to look.

Once you have a shortlist of villages or places to stay in, Google Street View (best accessed through Google Maps on a computer) is a great tool - outside of Germany and, I think, Austria where coverage is very limited - to see if the "reality" matches the literature, without spoiling yourself too much.

Guidebooks will generally focus on the mainstream attractions, and many will focus on cities, not countryside. For Germany for instance, you will find mostly Bavaria in the guide books, and mostly cities (Rothenburg, Munich, Nuremberg). From what I have heard, Rick Steves' guides don't make an exception to that rule.

Of course there is lots of countryside in between those cities. You can just go there (preferably by car, in that case) and find it for yourself.

Or you could help us help you by being a bit more specific about what you are looking for. Germany for instance has some great countryside in the Northwest, and you won't find anything on that in most guidebooks.

The Eyewitness series of travel guides includes some "Backroads" guides intended for drivers. They lay out suggested driving routes and provide more detail than many others on small towns and villages. You might be able to find them in your local library. If not, look online; often older editions are available at a good price.

The Eyewitness guides are printed in full color on heavy paper stock, so they are quite heavy. I wouldn't really want to carry a full book around with me, much less multiple Backroads guides, but the information looks useful. I am not a driver in Europe, so I'm just giving you my impression from skimming one of the books.

These Backroads guides cover countries you are considering: Backroads Great Britain, Backroads France and Backroads Germany.

When Covid kept us from visiting England in August, we flew on to Paris and used Lonely Planet's "France's Best Trips" guidebook. (We've practically exhausted Rick's guidebooks on France and Paris and wanted to visit some places we'd never been.) We picked the Brittany road trip and and had a great time. The itinerary from the book was excellent but it helped to use TripAdvisor to fill out the trip. Then keep your eyes open for opportunities. For instance, in Crozon we noticed flyers for boat tours of local grottos. We were the only English speakers on the boat except for the guide but she gave us enough translation to make it quite memorable.

Guidebooks can help, but I suggest you use this website with its countries containing many posts with great information. Also, post what you are interested in, historic or scenic, touring or car rental and you will get answers.

My favorite city in Belgium is Brugges. Nearby Ghent is worth a visit, also Brussels for one day.

England:
We did a four week drive tour of England and South Wales and did not go to major cities like London.
Here is my detailed review that includes what we saw and our lodging choices, etc.

28 days in Britain and Celebrity Eclipse home

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

France:
Lots of choices if you want the countryside and smaller cities and towns.

We did a great river cruise in SW France. You could visit what we saw renting a car.

AMA Rhone River
http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=103733

Also, you could do Normandy, if you like WWII history. Don't miss the Bayeux Tapestry in that city.
The Loire Valley has many Chateux that you could visit. We stayed in Blois.
Straussbourg and the Alsace region of France (next to Germany and near the Black Forest is a good one.

Germany
I lived in Augsburg Germany for four years. Recommend three main areas:
1) Bavaria, Munich, The Romantic Road (Rothenburg and more down to Garmisch).
2) The Rhine Valley from Cologne down (lots in between especially Heidelberg) to the Black Forest in SW Germany. Check out Friberg and Triberg.
3) Berlin Area

Thank you so much this is great information

I'm confused. You said you are looking for countryside, now you are getting mainstream city recommendations like Brugge, Strasbourg, Munich, Heidelberg, Berlin, and you sound like it's just what you were looking for. What are you looking for?

Back in the 60’s and 70’s my father studied maps and figured out where he and my Mom would go in Europe. This was before computers and all things online. It’s still a great exercise to look at maps to figure out from A to B. Of course computers, Rome to Rio and everything online has solved most of it, but I still read maps to discover places that might be of interest. The great thing about computers and maps is you can make the type as large as you need!