My 7th Rick Steves Tour

Take a look at Portugal. It was our 7th and quickly rose to one of our favorites.

Another vote for Heart of Portugal. It was one of our top favorites for history, culture and great cuisine. Or, how about Loire to the South of France? Another winner for charm, cuisine, beautiful scenery and unexpected surprises.

Scotland or Ireland? Prague & Budapest?

Bulgaria! Yes, many museums and churches, but so much more! A bit off the beaten track, mid- to large size cities, mountains, the Black Sea, good food, archaeology, lunch with the Roma, a night in a mountain monastery. And one of the BEST RS tour guides ever!

Why not Bulgaria? You may come away pleasantly surprised.

I have also grown to realize that I can only take so many churches and
so many museums before I glaze over and wish I were roaming the
streets among locals instead. I enjoy mid- and large-sized cities and
do tend to grow a bit antsy in tiny but charming villages where one
can absorb all there is to absorb in a few hours. And like everyone
else, I love beautiful natural scenery and (unexpectedly) delicious
food.

So. Where to next?

Wherever YOU want to go. You've done this tour gig 7X; you know exactly how you want to focus your precious time overseas and it looks like it's not represented on the agendas of these tours from your comments above about what sounds like an overdose for you of churches, museums and tiny villages. Have a wonderful next trip on YOUR terms! :-) Go to the library & persuse travel books like RS, Fodors or anyone else's to help plan and enjoy the pure fun & delight that is planning!

Thanks to those who have suggested Portugal and Bulgaria... those two tours have certainly caught my eye as top contenders for #7, so it's good to get confirmation from the larger group.

What about any of the British Isle tours (Scotland, Ireland, England)? Too many churches? Are there enough intimate, off-the-beaten-path experiences to make them as enjoyable as the others I've been on, but for completely different reasons?

Maybe I'm being too closed-minded by looking toward the more "exotic" (hope this term doesn't offend anyone, but I think you catch my drift) destinations?

I totally understand what you mean that after so many churches and musems you have had enough and want to do something and see something different! I felt that way one year and I have been on 16 tours and love, love museums and seeing churches. So one year I decided to do something different and went on the 14 day Ireland tour. Loved seeing all the nature, greenery, pubs and doing different things you don't get to do in a city.

You may want to check out the Best of Scandinavia tour. I never went on that tour but did go to Norway one year and stayed with friends for two weeks. Beautiful country! That seems to have a nice mix of cities and small towns, beautiful countryside.

I also have known people who have told me I really should do the Eastern Europe tour which is high on my list to do.

You may also want to look at the on line scrapbooks and see what would interest you. That is how I decided to do the Ireland tour which I never even gave it a thought until I started looking at the RS scrapbooks and all the details and photos and comments others provide in their scrapbooks about the tours.

Have a great time, whatever tour you decide to go on.

I think you are going with what appeals to you. We share some of your inclinations. Greece was our favorite tour to date. Portugal, the countries of the Adriatic, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria all share similar backgrounds. Long period under repressive governments, economic hardship, emerging and rebuilding. It’s great to visit these places, soak it all in, meet the people, etc. Yes, we still love our trips to London and Paris, but our fondest memories are of the places less visited. Bulgaria is certainly on our bucket list, but it looks like Sicily and/or Southern Italy for 2019.

I have only been in 5 RS tour
My favs 1st to last are

1) 10 day scotland in 2018
2) 11 day belgium holland (close race with Scotland) in 2016
3) 14 day ireland in 2014
4) 8 day ireland in 2018
5) 8 day barcelona/madrid

2019 will be 7 day london followed by 11 paris & heart of france

2020 will be 14 day scandinavia with two other couples

Bucket list is 17 day Italy- Eastern Europe- Adriatic.

Good luck deciding

You might take a look at Villages of South England. There are a couple of churches - I only remember one and the moment - and only one truly tiny village. I don't remember any museums. The scenery is great, and there are some interesting hikes and activities.

Here's a link to a trip report I posted at the time: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/tour-report-villages-of-south-england

As others have mentioned, two that may suit your fancy might be Southern England and Eastern Europe. After several years of independent travel, I will be going on RS tour #20 in the Fall and absolutely understand your reluctance to visit more churches and tiny villages. Both these tours have some of each but neither tour is overloaded with either. Eastern Europe includes Budapest, Krakow and Prague. We added on several days in Ljubljana after that tour and it has become my newest favorite European city. You have hit nearly all my favorite tours already so maybe give one of these two a try? Keep in mind, if you do choose a tour with more churches or museums that make you glaze over (know exactly what you mean!), you can always opt out of any activity the tour has planned. I have done that once or twice. Just let your guide and buddy know so they aren't searching for you :)

Consider the Belgium-Holland tour that Kim went on. We did that tour three years ago. I chose it because (1) northern latitude (I didn't want to do Italy, Spain or Greece in the summer), and (2) a variety of things to see and do other than churches and art. It included a tour of the Flanders fields (WWI battlefields and cemeteries), a storm barrier (an amazing feat of engineering), and the world's largest flower auction. If you like mid-sized cities, the tour ends in Amsterdam. And it's hard to beat the charm of Bruges. If you go at the right time of the year (we didn't), you can see Keukenhof Gardens (tulips as far as the eye can see). And, Belgian food is wonderful.

We have done Venice-Florence-Rome, Belgium-Holland, and Best of England, and will be doing GAS next month. The bucket list tour is Village Italy.

Lori, my 2 cents, for what it's worth. Given what you noted in your question, I think you would enjoy the Scotland tour and the Eastern Europe tour. They both have a great mixture of large to medium sized towns with only a couple of small ones and you don't stay long in those. I don't remember museums in either unless you count castles. And not too many churches either. I've been on the Greece tour and honestly, after awhile I did get tired and bored with seeing so many ruins. I know that that is why most people do this tour but I guess it never occurred to me that they would stop appealing to me after the first half dozen! I did love the food and the other things we saw, however, there were at least 2 museums on that tour and the second one was on the last full day and I just wasn't into it anymore. But that is me, and you might enjoy it. Good luck deciding which one you choose.

Hubby and I have done some independent travel in Europe and 7 RS tours. First few times we hit the big cities and then decided we wanted a mix

Our favorite RS tours have been Eastern Europe, Village Italy and now I think it's called Villages of Eastern France.

Eastern Europe covers Prague, Krakow, and Budapest with smaller villages in between. For us it was a good mix. The other two tours also cover a mix.

Whatever you decide I hope you have a Great time!
Mimi

Thanks, all, for your input. The list is growing more interesting! And fortunately, not too long:

• Scotland
• Eastern Europe
• Villages of South England
• Bulgaria
• Portugal

I just flew into Prague this afternoon for a work conference and will be here for 4 days. I plan to do Rick's audio walking tours between sessions. I also spent time at Plitvice Lakes as part of the Adriatic tour last month. That might knock Eastern Europe down a few notches due to a couple of redundancies.

Scandinavia and Eastern France also beckon...

I'm really pleased with the possibilities!

Lori,
I would also recommend the Basque Country tour, not sure if anyone else mentioned it. A friend is going on this one on June 8th. I just watched Rick's tv show on the Basque country and it looks wonderfully interesting. You will go to the Basque area in France and Spain giving you different flavors and aspects of the Basque people and their culture.

Lori, I second Basque Country. We went in May 2017 and had a great time and the food was fantastic. We also walked the Camino for half a day, followed by lunch at a winery. No really big cities but a nice mix of town and countryside which we enjoyed. This April we did Belgium/Netherlands which was also wonderful. The day spent in Flanders Fields was incredibly moving. We picked April to see the Keukenhauf Gardens which were spectacular. Our first trip was Munich-Salzburg-Vienna in December 2016 which includes Christmas markets. Even my husband, who is not into Christmas as much as I am, had a wonderful time. Everyone was just so happy at the markets, although you certainly don’t have to go as all the regular sites were also included on the tour. And it was not too cold even for us Californians. We had warm coats, hats and gloves and were fine. Unfortunately (for me) they no longer get snow until January. Next year is Village Italy for us. Have fun making your decision!
Lesley

Having done 7 tours means you still have ~30 more to do to see what you really like.

Happy hunting!

Lori-

Here is my report on the Villages of South England tour:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/tour-report-villages-of-south-england-may-8-may-20-2017

The South England tour had a lot of variety. It is also one of the so-called cultural connection tours (Portugal, Sicily, Village Italy and the Basque Region tours are the others, I believe).

We also just returned from the Loire Valley/South of France tour - it was also a great experience. We spent extra time in Nice at the end of the tour, as well as Paris before and after.

For 2019, we just signed up for the Village Italy tour departing on April 22nd.

Another vote for Eastern France for its variety of towns and locales.

Based on your posts, I would suggest the South of Italy or the Loire to the South of France. Alternatively, have you thought about pairing Best of Barcelona and Madrid with the Basque Country tour? I've been on 5 Rick Steves tours and really enjoyed Scotland, but it doesn't really match up with your initial post of wants and likes. It was enjoyable, but I've been to 40 countries and it isn't in my top 20 for scenery and definitely not unexpectedly delicious food (though meals were good).

Try Portugal, Scotland, Bulgaria, and Scandinavia.

I will add another vote for Village Italy. There are no big cities on the tour and lots of things to do-wineries, cooking classes, olive oil demonstrations and the like. There were fewer churches than on many of the Italy tours. If you liked the Sicily itinerary, I think you will like this one. I would also endorse the Loire Valley and the South of France for similar reasons.

I will second Scandinavia. You visit three capital cities Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. These cities are ancient, medieval, AND modern. There is Viking history. There a few interesting churches, but not in the way of France and Italy. You will see wooden stave churches in Norway. I visited a Franciscan abbey also. Similar to your previous tours you will see gobsmacking scenery.

Happy hunting.

(I don't understand the village suggestions, I am reading in your OP that you like larger cities?)

Well I did Villages of Italy last year and just returned from Scandinavia this year. Both were excellent! But very different areas. The villages tour only has one middle sized city (Lucca) with a day visit to Sienna. The rest are spent in hill towns in the North Central Italy. While we did have museums and churches I was not overwhelmed. Food was wine were fantastic. We went in Mid May and had perfect weather.

This years Scandinavia was different in that we were in larger cities (Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo) with stops in smaller areas. Only a couple of churches with the Reformation all the Catholic churches were converted to Lutheran. Longer bus time this year than last but lost to see and learn about. This trip was by far more expensive than Italy both in the tour cost and the food/drink costs.

Hope this helps. Good luck with what ever you choose!