Rave Reviews: Tour Guides

The quality of your tour guide can make — or break — your travel experience. You want a guide who is 100%-focused on bringing you the best of Europe.

The common way for a tour company to have a low "sticker price" is to pay guides little or nothing, and encourage them to pull in kickbacks and tips as personal income. We pay our guides full salaries, and prohibit them from accepting kickbacks and tips. This means your guide is motivated to give you the best travel experience possible — not to earn extra income through shopping and "optional" excursions.

Rick is adamant about hiring guides he personally knows and trusts, and who share his love for Europe and passion for teaching. It's the biggest reason why one-third of our tour members are repeat customers. Here are some "raves" about just a few of the fine guides who lead our tours.

Ben "Ben continually amazed us. When I first met him, I thought 'I wish he was from Europe.' I soon realized that even if he wasn't born there, he's as much European as he is American. Our bus driver said he constantly learns new things from Ben. We couldn't have asked for a better guide." — Nathaniel in Silverdale, WA Kristen "Kristen was an outstanding guide who demonstrated great knowledge, passion and professionalism throughout the tour. She sparkles with enthusiasm as she shares her stories...yet she is always planning and scheduling and attending to all those tedious details that made our trip carefree. She is a gem and we admire Rick Steves' Tours even more for having such a delightful young woman on the staff." — Linda in Edmonds, WA Heidi "Heidi is a perfect guide in every way. Her bright, shining smile and enthusiastic appreciation for every aspect of Italian life, culture, food, and language are stunning. As Heidi said, 'In Italy, it's who you know...' Clearly, Heidi has successfully nurtured loving relationships along the path of the Village Italy tour that benefit tour members significantly." — Ellie in La Crescenta, CA Stephen "Stephen made this tour an unforgettable memory. The singing and laughing are the two most memorable things I have that I will cherish forever. My abdominal muscles actually hurt from laughing so much. I can't imagine going back to Ireland without seeing him. He is the perfect Irish gentleman!" — Katrina in Eagle, ID Declan "Declan was the best tour guide I have ever had or likely will ever have. He was exceptionally informative, articulate, and showed a real enthusiasm for his native land. He sang to us on the bus (much better than anyone I heard in the pubs), he read poetry, and actually made me want to read Joyce's Ulysses." — Robert in Charlotte, NC Nina "I think we all fell in love with Nina. One of the things I liked was, she would tell us some Italian term for something, and then a few days later, (like a teacher) ask us to recall what she had told us. She was truly an extraordinarily wonderful person who gave us a remarkable experience." — Marian in Placerville, CA Gillian "Gillian was phenomenal. By the end of our tour, her sense of humor was almost legendary. This was my fifth trip to Europe, and Gillian was by far the very best guide I've ever had. I'd do a tour with her again in a heartbeat." — John in Norcross, GA Read more Tour Member Feedback for uncensored opinions about our tours

Learn more about our guides Tour Member Feedback Read uncensored opinions about our guides from recent tour members. Guide Interviews Get to know the 'inside' story from our guides as they answer questions about working for Rick Steves' tours. Tour Guide Radio Listen to our guides as they chat with Rick on his radio show about the art, culture, food, politics and customs of where they live and work. Tour Guide Videos Watch clips from our 2009 'Test Drive a Tour Guide' event and learn more about our guides and the tours they lead.