Rick Steves' Europe Video

The Norwegian Folk Museum keeps traditional culture alive for visitors to Norway's capital. Over 150 old buildings from all corners of the country have been reassembled in a sprawling park. Costumed guides demonstrate slices of rural and urban life, and, every hour through the day, a crowd gathers to enjoy performances of fiddle music and dance. Don't miss the evocative wooden stave church. Locate...

The French Riviera stretches along the Mediterranean from St-Tropez to the Italian border. Two popular destinations are Cannes and Antibes. With exclusive hotels lining mostly private stretches of sandy beach — Cannes is for strolling, dreaming of meeting a movie star, and lounging on the seafront. Don't look for any actual sights to tour. If you missed the film festival (usually held in late-May)...

Good looking British towns are not rare, but few combine beauty and hospitality as well as Bath. The entire city is built of creamy limestone called "Bath stone" and beams in its cover-girl complexion. Visitors are attracted by the flower-bedecked pedestrian streets and architectural gems from many eras that fill the town. Ancient Romans enjoyed Bath's healing waters and founded a spa from where t...

Hagia Sophia has served over the centuries as one of the greatest houses of worship in both the Christian and Muslim worlds. It was built as a church in the Byzantine style in A.D. 537 when Europe was on the eve of its Dark Ages. For four centuries after that, Christians in Europe looked to Constantinople (today's Istanbul) as the leading city in Christendom and this was its centerpiece. In 1453 t...

You can't get a complete picture of modern Croatia without a visit to the lively and livable city that is home to one out of every six Croatians — Zagreb. You'll find historic neighborhoods, a thriving café culture, fun people-watching, great parks and virtually no tourists. The city is also boasts Croatia's best museums including a wonderful collection highlighting the Naïve Art movement and its...

Lively León is a sizeable city with a delightfully compact Old Town full of small-town atmosphere. A key stopping place for centuries on the Camino de Santiago, León has a pair of sights that serve as a textbook for medieval European art styles: Romanesque (the San Isidoro Monastery, with astonishingly well-preserved frescoes) and Gothic (the cathedral, with the best stained glass outside of Franc...

Rick visits the home of his friend and Slovenian tour guide, Tina Hiti, to learn about family life in Slovenia, and how things have changed since living under Yugoslavia's "Third Way." Slovenia was the first Yugoslav republic to hold free elections and became independent in 1991. Thanks to its long-standing ties to the West and can-do spirit, Slovenia feels quite "Western", yet Slovenes proudly re...

Aix-en-Provence is famous for its elegant streets and squares, markets, beautiful people, and ability to embrace the good life. For a tourist, Aix is happily free of any obligatory turnstiles — there's not a single ancient site to see. It's just an attractive, prosperous town filled with 140,000 people — most of whom, it seems, know how to live well and look good. Experience Aix by strolling the C...

Edinburgh Castle is the fortified birthplace of the city. Used as both a fort and a royal residence since the 11th century, most of the castle buildings today are from its more recent function as a military garrison. This fascinating and multifaceted sight deserves several hours of your time, and admission comes with a fine guided tour. After the tour other sights of the castle beckon — including...

Tallinn, like many parts of the Baltic states, has modernized at an astounding rate since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Yet the Old World ambience within its walled town center has been beautifully preserved. In the 15th century, Tallinn consisted of two feuding medieval towns: The hill-topping upper town — called Toompea — is from where the country of Estonia has long been ruled. The lowe...

Potsdamer Platz, once the busiest square in Europe, was sliced in two by the Wall in 1961, leaving a deserted no-man's-land. Today, this immense commercial/residential/entertainment center, perched atop a futuristic transportation hub, is home to several companies' European corporate headquarters. Nearby, the Reichstag — Germany's historically charged parliament building — is a great example of st...

One hour north of Dublin in the Boyne River valley, evocative 5000-year-old (older than the pyramids!) burial mounds sprout from the lush Irish countryside. The best place for a glimpse of prehistoric Ireland is Brú na Bóinne, an archaeological site with two amazing ancient passage tombs — Newgrange and Knowth. Upon arrival, visitors receive appointments to tour the tombs, spend waiting time in th...

Barcelona's once-seedy waterfront was completely transformed when the Olympics were held here in 1992. The man-made beaches — a series of golden crescents that stretch for miles along the Mediterranean — are a huge hit. Each comes with lively cafes and bars and all are laced together by inviting promenades frequented by strollers, joggers and bikers. Surprisingly nearby is Barcelona's old center —...

Mycenae, a hilltop fortress located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula SW of Athens was the hub of a mighty civilization that dominated the Greek world between 1600 and 1200 B.C., a thousand years before Athens' Golden Age. The Mycenaeans were as distant and mysterious to the Golden Age Greeks as Plato and Socrates are to us today. Mycenae lay unappreciated until the 19th century when a treasure trove...

Lake Como — lined with palm trees and elegant pastel-colored villas, crowned by snowcapped mountains, and criss-crossed by a fleet of ferries and hydrofoils — is a great place to take a break from the intensity of Italy that one finds further south. Just an hour northeast of bustling Milan, Lake Como's ambiance seems to whisper luna di mele (honeymoon). Half the travelers you'll meet here have tos...

Perched high above vineyards and a truffle-filled forest, Motovun on the Istrian peninsula is the best-known and most-visited hill town in the region. And for good reason: Its Old Town is particularly evocative, with a colorful old church and a rampart walk with spine-tingling vistas of the rugged Istrian interior. As you wander through Motovun you may hear the beautiful a cappella sounds of local...

After London, York is hands-down the best sightseeing city in England. Everything that's great about Britain finds its best expression in this manageable walled town. York delights with its cobbled lanes lined with half-timbered buildings, a towering cathedral, bevy of excellent museums, and lively streets full of welcoming locals. In or out of its museums, York's fascinating history is on full di...

The land where Spain and France meet the Atlantic is Basque Country. Compared to their more stridently Basque neighbors across the border in Spain, Basques living in France seem more integrated into French culture. Nestled in the Pyrenees, St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port has an endearing energy, with its mix of day tripping families and determined pilgrims using the town as a springboard for the time honore...

Finland's leading city, with over half a million people, is the only European capital with no medieval past. Founded in the 16th century by the Swedes, the Russians took over Finland in 1809 and modeled the city after their capital, St. Petersburg with handsome architecture and grand boulevards. The daily arrival of cruise ships from around the Baltic Sea energizes Helsinki. Visitors and locals he...

Brussels is the capital of a united Europe — only Washington DC has more lobbyists. While tourists munch tasty treats in the historic town center, on the outskirts of this bilingual city are the bustling modern headquarters of the European Parliament. Inside this glassy Tower of Babel, hundreds of politicians are hard at work shaping Europe's future. For centuries, Europe's cultural and political...

Centuries of wind and warriors have rounded the corners of Harrans' fortress. Here, 500 miles SE of Istanbul near the Syrian border it seems the people and their ways of life have changed little. Many locals live in conical mud brick dwellings and women don colorful scarves. According to the Bible, Abraham settled here on his way to the promised land in Canaan about 1900 BC, making Harran one of t...

The Isle of Capri, a short boat ride from Sorrento or Naples is well worth a visit. The main town of Capri sits in a saddle above the port. The main square of this cute and touristy shopping mecca has steep prices but the window shopping is free. Up the hill lies Anacapri, the island’s second town with fewer tourists, a little more character, and a passion for colorful Majolica tiles. Ride the cha...

For a taste of Norway's romanticism, visit the mellow town of Solvorn with its dramatic setting on the Lustrafjord, an arm of the majestic Sognefjord. This sleepy village, with colorful boathouses lining its waterfront, seems contentedly trapped in the past. The historic Hotel Walaker offers tasty local cuisine and views to drool over. For more information on the Rick Steves' Europe TV series — in...

Bayeux, a town 140 miles west of Paris in the Normandy region, is famous for the Bayeux Tapestry. This 230 foot long embroidery, housed in an excellent museum, tells the story of arguably the most memorable event of the Middle Ages — the pivotal Battle of Hastings in 1066 where the Norman leader William the Conqueror defeated Harold to claim the throne of England. For more information on the Rick...

Lake Bled — nestled in NW Slovenia's Julian Alps — comes complete with a sweeping mountain panorama, a cliff-hanging castle, a lazy lakeside promenade, and the country's most sought-after desserts. While Bled has all the modern resort-town amenities, its most endearing quality is its stunning romantic setting. Fun-loving wedding parties flock to the church perched upon the lake's fairy-tale island...