Rick Steves

Budapest, the cultural capital of Hungary and much of Central Europe, has no shortage of nightlife. You can go there for grand opera, folk music and dancing, a twilight boat...

As I dodge Parisians walking their poodles and pushing baby strollers down a busy market street, I'm reminded that one of the reasons Paris is endlessly entertaining is its thriving...

At Vienna's Hofburg Palace complex, ground zero of the Habsburg Empire, I'm particularly entertained by its butterfly house, a tropical wonderland on the Danube. In this community of royal butterflies,...

At Padua's Piazza delle Erbe, the market is closed, the merchants are gone, and shadows have replaced harsh sunlight. As if waiting to reclaim their square, students spill out of...

Biking the back lanes of the island of ro, I come to a lonely little church. Wandering through its graveyard, I notice the name on every tombstone ended in "sen."...

Swiss people are experts at living with nature. Like people who live along the coast have telescopes to watch the ships, Swiss mountain dwellers have telescopes on their back decks...

In Croatia's rugged interior, a stone's throw from the Bosnian border, hides one of Europe's most exotic hikes: through Plitvice (PLEET-veet-seh) Lakes National Park. There's nothing like this leafy valley...

My grandparents came over on the boat from Norway, so I'm partial to that corner of Europe. But even if you're not from Viking stock, don't miss the fjords. From...

When I need a dose of quaint cobbled towns and storybook castles while in Germany, I drop into the dreamy Mosel Valley. The Mosel, located near Germany's western border, is...