What tours would you like Rick Steves to add?

I would like some tours that focus on a smaller area with more nights in a couple of bases and day trips out from there.

I'd like tours of:

Northern England
Wales
Brittany
Dordogne
Provence
Maybe another area of France that is not familiar to me!

For a start, hahahaha!!

I would like them to bring back the Florence and Venice city tours back.

For those interested in my way Scotland with a hiking emphasis, May I suggest HF holidays while you are waiting.

I would love to see added and/or resurrected more city tours. I loved my 7 day Nice tour and would happily take such tours in Dublin, Berlin, Amsterdam, Florence, Venice (I think there were once city tours for those last two but they fell by the wayside quite a while ago).etc., and even a return to the Nice tour. The Nice tour not only covered Nice in depth but we took some fun half day trips to nearby villages. I’d also love to see an Iceland tour and a country tour for just Wales.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Berlin city tour would be top of my list.

I would like to see a tour in France that focused on WW 2 history. I would also like to see a tour in Britain that focused on the Roman history.

Anita, I like your thinking regarding the British Roman history. We were in Southern England in September and saw quite a bit. Old Sarum in Salisbury, Fishbourne Palace in Fishbourne and the Roman Museum in Canterbury. Our hotel in Canterbury even had a section of plexiglass in the floor displaying a piece of a Roman theatre.

Since he's done a couple of shows on Egypt, I was hoping he was going to branch out to there.

A Berlin tour like the ones for London/Paris/Rome.

A "south of France" tour focused on Provence and the Riviera.

A "north of England" tour focused on York, Durham, Newcastle, Hadrian's Wall, Lake District, Peak District, maybe the Borders part of Scotland. Could include Edinburgh and/or Glasgow, but that would be a pretty long tour.

You could make a case for a "Roman Britain" tour or "Roman Gaul" or "Magna Graecia" or some other historical period focus, but the trouble is you'd be covering ground that has lots of good stuff from other periods too. How do you keep them focused on Londinium when London is all around? RS tours are good for introduction to a country or area, to be followed by more focused trips there as time and funds allow.

RSE tours cover some of the Balkans - Croatia, Bosnia. I would like to see a broader tour of the Southern Balkans region - Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia. Perhaps also Romania also Moldova - although some of this area is a bit close to the action going on in Ukraine right now.

@Carolnowretired. Thanks for the HF tours suggestion! Have you used them? The tours look wonderful. If we decided to go to Scotland next year, we will consider them.

Brittany and Normandy
Crete

Slovenia.
And as mentioned, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

I agree with several of the others: The southern Balkans; Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; Malta, Slovenia.

I agree with others' comments about the Baltics and southern Balkans - I had to use other tour companies to see those locations and am so glad I got a chance to visit these beautiful but underappreciated countries. I wish Rick Steves would add them to the itineraries because they have so much to offer the curious traveler.

You have to assume they know their market demographics, and while some of these places would indeed be interesting, it has to be sustainable to a broader audience, many of which are not past the "major" destinations yet.

But to fantasize, a year ago I would have suggested Ukraine, (maybe I did?) but I guess thats not going to happen. I keep thinking that England could use a few more options. Israel & Palestine, but thats a pretty crowded market already. Maybe an art-themed tour (Paris to Amsterdam?) But the more narrow you make it the smaller the potential market.

I suspect it will be a bumpy couple of years before things settle down enough for the travel industry to make significant changes. That is, if nothing else goes wrong.

Wales

Northern England

Roman Britain

You have to assume they know their market demographics, and while some
of these places would indeed be interesting, it has to be sustainable
to a broader audience, many of which are not past the "major"
destinations yet.

Perhaps another question for a future post is what sites to add to existing tours. We decided against the RS Scotland and England tours in favour of our own trips this year because of specific interests not addressed by RS. I suspect what Stan said plays a part in the company's decisions, afterall, you can't be everything for everybody. I'd be curious in the thought process a company goes through to determine why some things don't make the cut. There seems to be love on this thread for Roman Britain and I wonder how much is actually addressed on the current tours? We found Fishbourne Palace to be a gem that shouldn't be missed. And while it's not Roman, Bodiam Castle is a must-see in my mind.

Rick’s said that India was his favorite country to visit - a tour there would be wonderful.

7 day Provence
Bologna, Parma, Piemonte tour

I would be interested in tours of places that might be considered more challenging to visit on one's own. Someone mentioned India - no way would I feel competent to go there on my own, but definitely would with a Rick Steves tour. The Balkans. Egypt. St. Petersburg, Russia (alas, I guess I will never get to see the Hermitage).

From things Rick has said in the past, I would be surprised if he did indeed branch out beyond Europe to India and Egypt. Luckily, I have lots of unexplored places in Europe still to visit.

I really like the idea of more "staycation" type vacations similar to the Paris, or London, or Rome 7 day trips. I was on one of the last Venice in 7 days and it was my intro to RS. Loved that trip/tour. It does not have to be a major city, for example, the Veneto and Istria.

I was very happy when the MSV tours were added especially during Christmas market time. How about something similar to the other half of the GAS tour, the beginning part? Or something that starts in the Rhine and goes down through Colmar or Freiburg down to Basel. OK, that could go on and on.

I did not have time to take the winter Nice tour. It sounded appealing. And I would be also v. interested in northern England and areas around Hadrian's Wall.

While it might seem like it takes awhile, advocating for itineraries can pay off. For me, that would be MyWay Alpine and MSV.

Cheerful thread!

Count me in for the aforementioned Berlin and Crete tours!

I'd like to see a northern France tour with focus on Canadian WWII sites.

Andrea,

I would also like to see Canadian WW2 sights in France, but, alas, there are not enough of us Canadians on RS tours, I look forward to Paris and the Heart of France in a couple of years because it does contain some WW2 sights.

I would really like a Berlin city tour. Lots to see. My favourite RS tour was the Best of Paris. “Wow” moments multiple times a day, with literally no long bus time. Berlin has SUCH history, and I’d like RS to guide me through it.

Most, or all, have been mentioned already but I'd like to see:

In depth Wales

Northern England and the borders

The Baltics + Helsinki

Corsica and Sardinia

Add Malta to the Sicily tour and extend it to 14 days

More Scotland: Inner and Outer Hebrides

And even more Scotland: Orkney and the Shetlands

Village/Small Town Slovakia and Czechia

Best of Romania

Village/Small Town Hungary

There are just so many possibilities and ways to branch out to lesser touristed areas.

I would also like to see Canadian WW2 sights in France, but, alas,
there are not enough of us Canadians on RS tours, I look forward to
Paris and the Heart of France in a couple of years because it does
contain some WW2 sights.

Susie, when I was on the Loire to the South of France tour in 2019, I asked our guide about the tour that includes the DDay beaches and she said she could arrange an alternate trip for Canadians wishing to visit Juno Beach. It's an extra cost but arrangements can be made and you'd meet up with your group at the end of the day.

I would love more My Way tours. I don't see me ever doing any of his standard tours (maybe when I'm older). I love the My Way concept.

@lamb616 Why when you are older? Do you think the tours are a bunch of geezers that can barely get around? Nothing can be further from the truth. I find traveling on a RS tour to be an extremely active proposition, walking 5-8 miles a day.

Another vote for:
Crete
Northern England
Berlin
Amsterdam

Andrea, I would also like to see Canadian WW2 sights in France, but, alas, there are not enough of us Canadians on RS tours, I look forward to Paris and the Heart of France in a couple of years because it does contain some WW2 sights.

Susie, when I was on the Loire to the South of France tour in 2019, I asked our guide about the tour that includes the DDay beaches and she said she could arrange an alternate trip for Canadians wishing to visit Juno Beach. It's an extra cost but arrangements can be made and you'd meet up with your group at the end of the day.

Allan and Susie, maybe there could be one or two departures per year that are advertised as covering the Canadian sites? Might be worth a try.

Villages of Turkey.

@Mile High 33 A huge YES for a return of Villages Turkey. That was quite a wonderful tour. We saw some amazing things and met some awesome people on that tour. I’d for sure take it again.

I, too would love to see village Slovakia and Czechia. I would love to visit the wooden churches of the Carpathian mountains in Slovakia.

City of Florence
!4 day tour of the Netherlands and Belgium that would cover Bastogne and Luxembourg.

I would like a tour of the Alsace in the winter for the Christmas markets that included Lyon and the Fête des Lumières.

Northern Greece.

Romania

Wales

Berlin city tour

Shetland and other Isles

Oh my gosh, I am never going to be able to see everything I want to see, but it sure is fun to think about!

I was booked on the Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn tour but that was canceled in Feb 2022. I went on the Scandinavian tour instead & that was exceptional!! I was hoping they would add Helsinki & Tallinn back into the 2023 tours & perhaps include Riga, Latvia, Vilnius, Lithuania & Minsk, Belarus to make a new tour.
I'd also like to see tours to Iceland, Romania, Morocco added as options.

For those who mentioned Egypt and India, check out Imprint Tours. It is run by a former RS tour guide and has a similar feel. I know they offer those specific destinations as well as others outside of Europe.

Wow, what a lot of choices!

I totally support:

Northern England (Wales included)
Split the Scandinavia tour up with more time in Denmark and Sweden. Add Finland to Norway
Split the Turkey tour into an East and West. (Way to much bus time on the current tour)
I second all the Eastern Europe adds.

Thanks for the ask.

I have never done a “my Way” tour but am quite interested in the concept. I like the idea of visiting places that are hard to get to on one’s own.

It would be fun to have a second “village Italy” tour that visited different ones from the current tour.

I also would love to see a “villages of France” tour! But perhaps the south of France and the Eastern France tours already cover those?

I agree with above posters who mentioned India and Egypt, too!

Greek Islands? That would be fun. Scottish isles like Orkney, Shetland and Skye…

I have only joined one RS, tour- “17 days Best of Italy” and it was fabulous! I went with hubby and friends. We loved it! As soon as I got home I signed up for “best of Spain” which I’m excited to do solo this time!

It just occurred to me from reading another thread, that it might be feasible for RSE to offer a rail-based tour, without getting more specific about where.

I would love to see them branch out - outside Europe. I've had trouble finding comparable small tours outside of Europe.

I like Stan's idea of a rail-based tour.

I have a feeling that a totally rail based tour is probably off the table because it would be somewhat tricky for a guide to corral 24-26 individuals onto a public train - maybe even several times - versus on a chartered bus. With a bus they can wait a few minutes for straglers (although they may not encourage that), with a scheduled train - no can do. Also, handling baggage (along with souvenirs picked up along the way) would be much harder for the participants to deal with than on a dedicated bus.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see an all train tour (it's my favorite mode of travel), but it's just not practical for a tour group.

And, by the way, several of the tours I listed above that I would love to see would involve more than one boat trip to various islands (or maybe even a short flight or two) - also not likely to happen due to the logistics and practicalities. But, it's still nice to wish for something, even if the chances of getting it are slim.

I would like a tour of Northern Spain. And more city tours-Florence, Venice, Vienna. Thanks

Guides dealing with corralling tourists on and off trains? That is what you get in Japan without problems.
I would like to see Brittany included.

I would love to add a tour of Iceland, winter and summer tours.

Why is there not a "Best of Germany" tour as though there isn't enough in this country to do a whole tour? Edit: I was wrong. There is one.

Why is there not a "Villages of Germany" tour? There are so many charming villages and towns here, many with fascinating histories Germany is so much more than Rothenburg, Bacharach, and Munich.

Why is there not a "Best of Germany" tour as though there isn't enough in this country to do a whole tour?

Jo, there is a Best of Germany tour. I think they added it a few years back.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/germany/best-germany-tour

I agree that a Village Germany tour would be a great addition.

I know this isn't in Europe, but Rick covers Morocco in his Spain book. So, a Morocco tour would be great!

theme trips might be a cool idea like ww2 sites or ww1 or cursader sites or english battle sights like hasting york

I would like a Village Germany tour, too. Good idea.

Some nice ideas here. Fun topic. Re a villages of France tour, the Best of Eastern France tour used to be called Villages and Vineyards of Eastern France. Have at it. ;)

To those asking for the Baltics and Helsinki, yeah we’re sad we had to close our St Petersburg/Helsinki/Tallinn tour earlier this year. I’m hoping we can find a way to bring this back without including Russia.

Rail tours are a fun idea, and we highly recommend train travel, but it’s much more complicated and expensive to run that for a group.

I have wanted to do Egypt since I was 6 years old. I can dream. :)

An eight day South of England tour would be nice. We all can't take 2 weeks off. Plus arriving early a day or two isn't always easy.

Bath, Cornwall, Dartmoor, and Alfriston or something along those lines. Arrive in London then take the train to meet the group.

For those of you (us!) wanting more staycations, Sarah Murdoch (Adventures with Sarah), a former long time RS guide, offers a number of these. I'm certainly tempted!
You can find her on Facebook and possibly through googling her name.

I would like a tour of and guidebook on Shetland/the Shetland Islands. I have my heart set on going there!

For those of you (us!) wanting more staycations

Not sure I understand this. I thought a 'staycation' meant staying home and enjoying your own area instead of going somewhere.

Iceland
Greenland
Romania
Australia
New Zealand
French Polynesia
Japan

I know almost all of these are outside of Europe but I'd like to visit these countries

Greek Islands, Northern Greece, The borders area of Scotland and England

I’d like a whole splurge tour where we stayed at all fancier places 😁

But then it wouldn't be a Rick Steves tour, it would be a Tauck tour. :-)

...when you are older? ....a bunch of geezers....an extremely active proposition, walking 5-8 miles a day.

We've taken many RS tours, and while we have more than a few laps around the track, we are definitely not geezers. We can easily walk 5-8 miles over the course of a day. However, there have been times on several tours when the pace of things seemed like a forced march. It seemed the purpose of the "walks" was aerobic exercise rather than enjoying the points of interest. It often seemed like tour members were trying to prove who could walk the fastest. On one tour there was a tour member who broke her leg because a "walk" was scheduled in what was clearly a hazardous area. In fact, several people opted out and simply skipped that activity. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to skip a "walk". Sometimes it's necessary to get from one place to another. Perhaps consideration should be given to having some slower paced tours so one can savor the moments rather than gulping them down. Several years ago Rick was considering slower paced tours, but nothing ever came of it. Maybe it's time to reconsider the possibility. After all, there is more to life than increasing it's speed.

I would like to see Rick add a Greece tour to the Epirus and Western Macedonia regions. These are regions that are ignored when talking about Greece.

I second the earlier suggestion of Bologna, Parma, Piemonte, especially Torino, with a food and wine emphasis. That would be delicious!

Ireland/Scotland tour (2 weeks)
Spain/Portugal tour (2 weeks)

Sardinia. Possibly with Corsica.

More "city" tours where we stay in only 1 or 2 places---like a SLOW TOUR philosophy (minimum of 4 nights in 1 place). I'd love to see CITY tours of:
Munich
Athens
Jungfrau area
Salzburg
Tuscany--but stay in 1 city only

A Wales only tour appeals after reading this thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/wales/ring-of-iron-castles

I would love to see another family tour added to either Eastern Europe, Greece or to explore the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). I would also love to see a tour of Northern Italy to Milan/Piedmont/ Lake Como areas.

An art history tour. Every other day would include a trip a major museum. Rome to Florence to Paris to Amsterdam to London. Would probably be a candidate for high-speed rail. The leg from Florence to Paris need to be broken-up. One idea is to spend a day in Aix-en-Provence and add another stop along the way.

A 7 day tour of Berlin
Because St. Petersburg is no longer doable, a tour of Tallinn, Helsinki and some Baltic countries.

How about a group of era-based UK tours? Lots of sites could be included for each. The tour would focus on the people who occupied Britain at different times and what they did, rather than where the sites are geographically located.

Celtic and pre-historic Britain.

Roman Britain.

Anglo-Saxon Britain.

Viking Britain

Norman Britain

Iberian peninsula, Spain and Portugal. I'm planning month long trip there and I'm having a hard time combining both countries I wish RS made it easier for me. He has a good 2 (Portugal) and 3 (Spain) week itinerary for each country but nothing linking both.

Just in case someone at RS headquarters is keeping count, I will add my vote for Northern England. I am researching tour companies right now for exactly that trip and was wishing RS did it. We want to visit the Dales, York, Hadrian’s Wall, etc. I have been to London enough and am happy to skip it.

Sam321, there was a tour group a few years ago that had a tour of Plantagenet England with a bit of France thrown in. It looked fascinating, but sadly was no longer offered. Probably appealed to too few people.

A more in-depth Northern Italy tour from Friuli-Venezia Giulia to Piedmont.
Also, would love an Italy tour with Calabria on the itinerary.
Really want to see the week-long tour of Barcelona return. Even his Barcelona-Madrid tour is too brief/weak on Barcelona.
Northern Spain from San Sebastian to Santiago de Compostela - throwing in a stay or two at Paradores would be amazing as would a stop at a fantastic winery.
Probably a logistical nightmare, but a Greek island tour (especially less visited islands) would be fantastic.

We've done all of the Italy tours and almost all of France tours. I'd like to see completely different itineraries for both countries!

Edit:
After reading several comments I agree with all of them! I especially like the idea of a focus on WWII. I would also like to add Slovenia and have Tina as your only guide so I can be sure and be on her tour! Was on the Family Tour last summer with her and really connected with her! I would also like to spend an extra night at popular places. One or two nights sometimes just isn't enough!

I'd like a My Way Christmas Market tour -- all the lodging and transportation planned, but on your own in the cities/towns/markets.

Any new tours are always exciting. I look forward to the new itineraries every year to see if anything new comes out!

1. French Riviera
2. Brittany & Wales
3. Southern Sweden (Blekinge & Skane)

I’d love to see an Iceland tour!

How about a combo tour for example, 3-4 day river cruise on one of the cruiseable rivers of Europe then continue on an 8 day land tour after leaving the boat

7 days in Vienna. 7 Days in Budapest. 7 Days in Morocco

As mentioned by several others, would love to see Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Too long neglected.
Also, when things settle down, Ukraine

I know its Rick Steves Europe but I would love to see some Asian tours...

Ooh, a Norman tour encompassing the Normans in England and the Normandy area of France would be cool. A tour focused on WWI or WWII or both. Northern Greece and the Islands.

I would love additional My Way Tours!

We have done Iceland on our own quite a bit, but I think both a winter and summer tour there would draw a lot of people.

Another vote for more My Way Tours!!

My Way Greece
Iceland

1) Best of Norway
2) Best of Netherlands (Amsterdam, Haarlem, Edam, Hoorn, Delft, Arnhem)
3) Best of the Alps (guided tour similar to Alpine Europe My Way, including Hallstatt, Berchtesgaden, Alpe di Siusi, Appenzell, Berner Oberland, Zermatt, Chamonix (might be enough to split into two tours if including the Julian Alps and Lake Bled)
4) Best of Venice
5) Sweden, Finland (Helsinki) and Estonia (Tallin)
6) Denmark, Hamburg, Gdańsk

We have recently discussed this quite a bit in my household. We love the idea of the Alpine tour, but wish it could be split into two different tours (maybe guided) of Eastern (Slovenia/Italy/Austria), and Western (France/Switzerland/Italy) Alps.

I would also love more city tours that stay in one place for several days. I like getting to know one place more than cramming in as many major sites as possible in a small amount of time in an entire region.

Great topic. I hope someone's wish comes to fruition eventually!

Please bring back the Florence city tour. A few days on two of the current tours are just not
enough for this glorious place. And I have never been!

I really love the idea of expanding into Egypt. A few days for Cairo, off to Luxor, small boat/large felluca/dahabiyas style so you can stop off at some of the smaller sites (Esna). Travel to Aswan, trip to Abu Simbel and then return to Cairo.
There is a real gap in that their are mainly large, large, large boats going down the Nile. Not my style at all.

I like the idea of the best of the Alps, too! Good one :)

Another vote for
Best of the Alps.

Best of Wales
would be very popular,
I'm guessing.

Rebecca, Rabbies has a Wales tour.

I agree with the suggestions above for My Way Greece, Best of Norway, and Best of the Netherlands.

I would love to see Puglia, Italy added to Ricks Tours

How about some “themed” tours - art, architecture, military, history, hiking/nature. I’m particularly interested in additional tours in France.

RS tour touches down in Puglia briefly in “Best of South Italy”tour but not enough when I read the tour day by day description.

Iceland My Way

Iceland, India, include a 3 day add on to Morocco from his Southern Spain trip.

Oh, well. Just saw the 2024 tours were released and they are exactly the same as 2023. Maybe next year there will be something new. We have so many good suggestions.

@lamb616, I understand your thoughts on the My Way tours. I took my first “My Way” last year, after taking five itinerary tours, and loved it. I only wish that some of the cities we stayed in were an extra day like Lyon, Avignon and Nice. I look at these tours as “36-hours” in each locations.

I would like to see a “My Way - French Riviera” tour, Nice could be the home base and then you train or bus to other locations as you wish but in the summer months. There was one I took “7-Days on the French Riviera” that was off season. One in June or early September would be nice on the French Riviera.

Sharon

Paramus, yes to a my way Christmas markets tour.

Would love to see more My Way tours added to the RS lineup. Have taken all the My Way tours offered and several fully guided (RS) tours as well. Really like the flexibility the My Way tours offer.

Such a great wishlist here. I will just add that I love the idea of more “My Ways” and I also would love to choose city or region for a home base, then dive into the region. Also, perhaps try more of a hybrid my way/guided tour, so in one place a bit longer?

I can never see enough, but still trying for more ;-)