New itineraries coming?

Thanks Barbara! I just signed up. Can’t wait to see what’s new!
Kathy

I saw that too! I’m excited to learn what’s coming. I’m hoping for a week in Berlin.

Thanks for the heads up! I’m hoping for some new my ways.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/tour-news

Link for those who are not on the email list. It’s great to see Francesca is still guiding. Presumably still in Rome. She was our local guide on my very first RS tour. Best of Rome in 7 Days. That tour got me hooked. I’m looking forward to seeing what new tours they offer.

How fun, new tours on the horizon. Thanks for posting this, I see my guide Andrea from the Villages of Italy tour is hosting the Italy night, I'm signed up for that one, but we will be ironically on a RS Tour in London when the new tours are announced, but I'll catch up with it later.

I noticed too that you can now sort tours by "seats available" on the tour page. I know several people have asked for that. Hoping also for a couple more MyWay tours and I did see a show with Rick where he mentioned a tour to Romania.

Thanks, Barbara!

Thanks, Barbara, very exciting indeed!

Hoping for a My Way Scandinavia tour.

Guessing one of the new itineraries might be Provence and the French Riviera. A new guidebook just dropped. It is more in depth look at this area than the France guidebook.

Probably a tour of Iceland. It's already one of the forum countries and RS has a guidebook printed.
The Greece guidebook now includes Naxos, Paros, Folegandros, and Rhodes. Maybe a tour of the Greek Islands and Crete?

Thanks for posting. After I signed up I realized I have a conflict--darn! I'll have to watch the video.

I just emailed the tour office to see if they can provide any hints for us dedicated forum members. :-) I'll let you know what they say.

Hello,

These should be announced during the Festival of Tours next month, so be sure to tune in!

Thanks Rich!!! i guess we will have to remain in suspense until next month. :-)

Thanks for highlighting this new development. Perhaps RS will finally add the Greek Isles (Mykonos, Delos, Thera/Santorini, Crete, Rhodes etc.) to the lineup which would be awesome.

This is exciting. Stan and I have been tossing ideas around about which tour to take next year; guess we'll need to wait a few more weeks to see what our choices are!

I know, Jane. I was thinking Switzerland for next year but now I have to wait and see. I'm assuming they won't start selling the 2027 season until after that episode of the Festival. Who knows?! I don't think they want people booking something and then switching over to a new itinerary tour.

Wow, some good ideas being mentioned. I like the idea of something in the area of Berlin. Something perhaps for northern Germany and a bit of Scandinavia? Maybe something featuring the Rhine down to Basel - taking in parts of the Black Forest or Alsace? Also a few more during December??

So many possibilities! Thanks for being creative, Rick Steves team.

It's so exciting to have new tours to consider! It would be great to see more tours to Northern and Alpine locations so that people who can only travel during the summer months have more choices. Iceland, Best of Norway, Finland and the Baltics, Scotland's Highlands and Islands, etc.

I predict a new My Way Britain tour. Perhaps also the Village Italy model, with its emphasis on somewhat slower travel and more culinary experiences, will be applied to other regions.

A My Way Britain would be awesome. We did the My Way France tour last September and it was everything we'd hoped it would be.

I'm going to say "Iceland." Just a hunch........

Didn’t Rick say once, he would never offer an Iceland tour? Hmmmmm. …….

I'm so excited to find out! I would love to see another tour in the Balkans. I absolutely loved Best of the Adriatic, but one night in Bosnia wasn't nearly enough. A deeper dive into Bosnia with a couple of others like Albania or North Macedonia would be amazing!

I would enjoy a MyWay Britain. Great ideas!

In his most recent Facebook post, Rick mentions the Festival of Tours, which will highlight new itineraries in Scandinavia, Greece and Portugal.

https://www.facebook.com/ricksteves/

Thanks, Carrie!

Yes, more My Way Tours would be great! Love the idea of one in Great Britain..

Ooooh, a My Way Portugal, maybe?

Carrie, thank you very much for that helpful "heads up" on the new itineraries. I suspect that "Scandinavia" is likely to include the addition of Iceland since it is already featured in the new RS guidebook and is a listed forum country. Finland would be a nice addition as well. For "Greece" I'm hoping it's the Greek Isles (at last, just Hydra doesn't do it) now that they are being listed in the guidebook. It'll be interesting what the addition on Portugal will include since it already has a 12-day tour and is a relatively small country. I believe that there used to be a combined Spain - Portugal tour but I no longer see it listed, perhaps it's being added back? I guess we'll know the final answer on 4/23 unless there are more teasers to be released beforehand.

FYI, two years ago the new season of tours started being released on April 15 or 16, 2024. I remember it because I was on the South England tour in Canterbury when I signed up for 3 more tours in 2025. I’m paying particular attention this year to sign up for the Poland tour next year; they fill up fast.

My guess is that they will be releasing next year's tours on the first day of the festival. They won't start talking about the tours without them being available to book.

Nothing released as of this morning, perhaps they will do it after tonight's opening Festival program.

Is anyone going to be watching the episodes live and able to post updates?

I have an early bedtime due to my work schedule and always watch the shows two days later when the recordings are posted on you tube.

They are posting them now!

Yay!, I am watching it as it happens! thanks!

My way England!!!!!

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/england/my-way-england-vacation

I like the change in the Central Europe tour. Instead of staying overnight in Eger, they stay in the Slovak mountains. Sounds fun. And just pass through Eger.

8 day Athens and Napflio

Also My Way Ireland

Also My Way Ireland

I am so taking this one!!!!!!!!

This is exciting! Decisions, decisions…

I don't see Scotland tours posted yet. Perhaps a my way Scotland is coming?????

The teaser mentioned Scandinavia and Portugal, which are yet to come.

The 2027 tours are available now!

Looks like the new Portugal tour is just an 8-day option. No my way. Still holding out hope for my way Scotland.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/portugal/heart-of-portugal-tour

New Scandinavian tour is capital cities in 10 days.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scandinavia/capitals

No Sicily tour for 2027.

Not all tours are posted at this point.
I noticed a few tours are using trains for a portion of the route. The Scandinavia tours, for instance.

I see a couple of new My Way tours, including Ireland and England, but the Spain one is gone. And yes, Sicily is gone.

I noticed a couple other tours had been shortened or lengthened.

Plenty to think about for next year!

There is a spain my way for 2027:

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain/my-way-spain-vacation

There is also a sicily tour for 2027:

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/sicily-2027

Scotland 2027 tours are posted and no my way option (yet). Boo!

I’m disappointed to see that the ”new” itineraries are just shorter tours or ”My Way” tours.

It looks like not all the tours have been released yet. I guess we need to be patient...

Laura, I agree. I have time so don't need a shorty tour. Oh well.

Let me know if I'm wrong but so far it looks like the new ones are:
My Way Ireland
My Way England
8 day Greece
8 day Portugal
10 day Scandinavia

changes I saw: Portugal went from 12 days to 13 days
My Way Italy went from 13 days to 11 days

Please let us all know any changes, etc that you see. It's fun to see where we can travel next year!!
Happy Travels

No Greek Isles (just a shorter 8-day mainland tour added), bummer, they remain 'off limits' in the RSE world and am not sure why?

David
I recently returned from the Greece tour, which does spend 2 nights on Hydra. The group had to split between 2 hotels there, and I assume lodging and travel would be even more difficult for tour groups on other islands.

David, perhaps because booking ferries for 28 people could be challenging (especially for times when a ferry is cancelled due to bad weather)?

Thanks Liz and Barbara for your perspectives on this, I think it certainly has some traction particularly with the smaller islands with less travel-friendly infrastructure. However, I would note that some of the larger/more popular destinations (Crete, Rhodes, Santorini/Thera, Mykonos etc.) are more accessible in terms of hotel capacity and air link connection alternatives, especially during the "shoulder" seasons of spring/fall when it is less crowded. This approach would leave out the smaller islands but they could still be accommodated via individual travel prior to the start or at the end of a RSE Greek Isles tour. I'm hoping to see this happen one day because it seems very doable.

I suspect that "Scandinavia" is likely to include the addition of Iceland since it is already featured in the new RS guidebook and is a listed forum country.

The only problem with that, David, is that Iceland is not part of Scandinavia. I think some people lump it in there, but it's not really considered to be part of Scandinavia, which is technically just Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

I took an REI hiking tour in 2018 that visited three islands, Naxos, Tinos and Santorini after starting in Athens. We had a bad storm and could not move on to the next island since the ferries were not working. We did not know when they would start up again. The REI "home staff" would keep purchasing ferry tickets for the next ferry for the 16 of us (plus 2 guides) over and over again until we finally got on a ferry that would run. They also had to rebook our hotels. I was very glad to be on a tour and not have to deal with this logistical nightmare. I knew then why RS tours would never do an island tour. And in regards to flying to larger islands, RS is a bus tour company. While they do flights and trains sometimes, that is not their forte, so just don't see it happening. Just my 2 cents.

Wow! That new Best of Scandinavian Capitals in 10 Days Tour looks great!. For 2027, it's that or the Bulgarian tour or Turkey. Hmm.

Got to give it some thought.

Happy travels.

Two things I like about the new Scandinavia tour: Very little bus time and each stop is for three nights. My first RS tour was the old Paris and Provence tour in 2006 where we had three nights in Paris, Vaison la Romaine, Arles, and Villefranche.

I thought the dates for the new my way Ireland were a little awkward. All the tours run Saturday – Tuesday. No option for other start and end dates like some other tours.

I still work, so I need to consider the number of vacation days needed. I don't like that Tuesday end date. I guess they can’t please everyone. :-)