Rick Steves

and this is driven to a certain degree by social media and bucket list travel, and everybody has to do this and has to do that. I like to say in my lectures, there's two IQs of European travelers, those who wait in lines and those who don't wait in lines. I've seen people walk by something and they see a line and they get in it before they know what the line's for.

and this is driven to a certain degree by social media and bucket list travel, and everybody has to do this and has to do that. I like to say in my lectures, there's two IQs of European travelers, those who wait in lines and those who don't wait in lines. I've seen people walk by something and they see a line and they get in it before they know what the line's for.

I go the other direction when I see a line like that. Or I realize that I don't need to put up with this line. There's a lot of less trendy places that are never crowded. The Colosseum in Rome is chaos. You've got to book in advance or you're not going to get in there. 10-minute, 15-minute walk away, the Baths of Caracalla are just as impressive an example of Roman engineering.

I go the other direction when I see a line like that. Or I realize that I don't need to put up with this line. There's a lot of less trendy places that are never crowded. The Colosseum in Rome is chaos. You've got to book in advance or you're not going to get in there. 10-minute, 15-minute walk away, the Baths of Caracalla are just as impressive an example of Roman engineering.

Beautiful, beautiful, peaceful place, never crowded at all. So one thing we're doing in our guidebooks now is recognizing that these crowd problems are going to get worse and worse as more and more people travel and more and more people travel with agendas driven by crowdsourcing and social media. And they're all going to be going to the same places, essentially ignoring the other places.

Beautiful, beautiful, peaceful place, never crowded at all. So one thing we're doing in our guidebooks now is recognizing that these crowd problems are going to get worse and worse as more and more people travel and more and more people travel with agendas driven by crowdsourcing and social media. And they're all going to be going to the same places, essentially ignoring the other places.

And Europe is wide open if you can just break yourself free from the need to see the place that everybody wants to see a photograph of and immerse yourself in other dimensions of the culture.

And Europe is wide open if you can just break yourself free from the need to see the place that everybody wants to see a photograph of and immerse yourself in other dimensions of the culture.

That's a very interesting question. First of all, I have a big impact on a few places that I've really made my marquee places, what I call back doors. And the Italian Riviera, the Cinque Terre is a good example of that. And when I first went there, it was one of the poorest parts of Italy. And you could hardly get there by car. And it was just forgotten.

That's a very interesting question. First of all, I have a big impact on a few places that I've really made my marquee places, what I call back doors. And the Italian Riviera, the Cinque Terre is a good example of that. And when I first went there, it was one of the poorest parts of Italy. And you could hardly get there by car. And it was just forgotten.

These amazing little villages surrounded by vineyards on the Italian Riviera. And you walked to each of them. Each one had a castle. Each one had beautiful zero-kilometer eating opportunities. You know, that's the thing in Italy where you'd eat zero-kilometer, everything grown right there.

These amazing little villages surrounded by vineyards on the Italian Riviera. And you walked to each of them. Each one had a castle. Each one had beautiful zero-kilometer eating opportunities. You know, that's the thing in Italy where you'd eat zero-kilometer, everything grown right there.

Um, and, uh, I discovered it for American travelers and I raved about it and I made a TV show and I sent everybody there with my books and suddenly people are wearing t-shirts that says, I've seen, you know, Rome, Venice, Florence, and the Cinque Terre. It's right up there with those guys. And, uh, I go there and it's crowded, admittedly. It's commercial. It's greedy.

Um, and, uh, I discovered it for American travelers and I raved about it and I made a TV show and I sent everybody there with my books and suddenly people are wearing t-shirts that says, I've seen, you know, Rome, Venice, Florence, and the Cinque Terre. It's right up there with those guys. And, uh, I go there and it's crowded, admittedly. It's commercial. It's greedy.

Now the local people are retired in the big city and they've hired younger people, often from other countries, to run their little B&Bs. And you've got all sorts of cute little boutique shops and experiences on the Riviera. But the magic is still there. It's morphed and now they are affluent towns instead of poor towns. And now the new generation doesn't even want to work in the fields.

Now the local people are retired in the big city and they've hired younger people, often from other countries, to run their little B&Bs. And you've got all sorts of cute little boutique shops and experiences on the Riviera. But the magic is still there. It's morphed and now they are affluent towns instead of poor towns. And now the new generation doesn't even want to work in the fields.

They turn their back on their vineyards that they inherit from their parents. They used to be beloved.

They turn their back on their vineyards that they inherit from their parents. They used to be beloved.

Yeah.

Yeah.