rick steves europe travel app

Rick Steves Audio Europe‪™‬ 4+

Rick steves, screenshots, description.

This app organizes the vast and varied library of Rick Steves’ audio content into geographic-specific playlists so that travelers can enjoy ready access to the information that relates specifically to their travel plans. Many tracks provide general cultural and sightseeing information gleaned from his public radio program, Travel with Rick Steves. Other tracks are self-guided tours to great sights and historic walks. While we travel there’s lots of down time, and this application can both entertain and teach. Rick Steves Audio Europe will hopefully make your European travels more meaningful and more fun. Features: • The app downloads and stores audio files on your device. No Wi-Fi or cellphone connection is required to listen. (You will need a connection if you choose to add audio tracks later.) • Handy maps (PDF) that complement the self-guided audio tours can be viewed on your device. • The audio content originates from Rick Steves guidebooks and the Travel with Rick Steves public radio program. Self-guided tours are excerpted from Rick Steves country and city guidebooks. • Rick Steves Audio Europe is a work in progress. New audio tracks will be added and existing tracks updated as necessary. Be sure to enable Notifications for this app to get the latest updates.

Version 4.1.6

App Privacy

The developer, Rick Steves , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

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Privacy practices may vary based on, for example, the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

• Developer Website
• App Support
• Privacy Policy

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New content now available on Rick Steves Audio Europe app

I have a lot of fun and rewarding projects on my desk – and one that I am particularly passionate about is our free app, “ Rick Steves Audio Europe™ .”

Why am I so in love with this thing? Because it’s p acked with practical information (both self-guided audio tours of Europe’s greatest cities, galleries, and museums, and the very best of our radio interviews organized in country-specific playlists) that will make people’s trips more meaningful. It’s free. And tens of thousands of travelers are using it. Any time I drop into the Pantheon in Rome, St. Mark’s in Venice, or Versailles outside of Paris, I see travelers using our app. They’re having a great time immersed in the cultural wonder of the sight…and I am literally in their ear (my voice is anyway).

Each year we add to the material already available with Rick Steves Audio Europe, and last week we spliced in 26 new radio interviews.

Learn how to download the app (it’s free and easy) at  www.ricksteves.com/audioeurope . It is such a treat for me to be able to interview such beautiful minds and inspirational travelers and an even bigger treat to be able to share these conversations (so beautifully edited by my radio production team) with you.

New radio interviews spliced into all the existing ones on the Rick Steves Audio Europe app include:

  Britain (Beyond London): Isles of Britain, Scottish Hebrides, Scottish Secession: Before the Vote Eastern Europe: Adriatic Coast, Albania, Prague’s Coronation Way France (Beyond Paris): Discovery of France, French Riviera Highlights France (Paris): French Impressionism, How Paris Became Paris, Paris Day Trips General Europe: Class of 1500, European Education, European Media, Challenges for European Women Germany/Austria: Swiss Mix, Walking Vienna Greece/East Mediterranean: Greek Islands Ireland: Faeries of Ireland Italy: Italian Rails II, Italy – North vs. South II Netherlands/Belgium: Amsterdam by Bike, Amsterdam Update Portugal: Portugal’s Algarve Spain: Live Like a Spaniard Turkey: Cruising the Bosphorus

The European Country Rick Steves Would Be Living In If He Couldn't Live In The US

W hat if you could no longer live in your home country and had to pick another one to call home? It's a fun hypothetical question one might ask of someone at a cocktail party or around the water cooler at work. In the case of legendary longtime travel journalist Rick Steves, he was asked that question at a virtual event held by  KCTS 9 , a PBS station in Washington state, where the guidebook author and television host lives. Without hesitation, Steves said, "I'd live in Norway."

It makes sense that he'd pick a European country since Steves has been helping travelers pick the best places to visit in Europe  since his first guidebook to the continent was published in 1980. But why the Scandinavian country of Norway? "I really like their social sensibilities," Steves told the audience member who asked the question. "And I have Norwegian heritage, so I feel very at home there."

Read more: 22 Gorgeous Islands For Vacationing That Won't Break The Bank, According To Booking Sites

Steves' First Encounters With Europe Began With Family Trips To Norway

Steves' first trip to Europe was a family vacation to Norway when he was 14 years old. He didn't want to go. "I was a gangly 14-year-old, dragged to the old country by a conspiracy of grandparents and parents solely to visit strangers who happened to be Norwegian relatives," he wrote in a 2021 article for the  Chicago Tribune . "It was teen culture shock: No Fanta. No Hamburgers. Far beyond the reach of my favorite radio station."

After the shock wore off, he began enjoying the new music and new soft drinks, among other things. "Noticing stunning women...with hairy armpits...I began to realize that our world is intriguing and exploring it can be endlessly entertaining."

That first youthful trip occurred in 1969. Other family trips to Norway followed in the ensuing years, with Steves more eager to go, learn about his family history, and take in the rich culture and breathtaking scenery. After graduating high school in 1973, he embarked on his first solo trip to Europe and has been back every year since, exploring every corner of the continent.

Norway Stands Out To Steves For A Few Reasons

Aside from Steves' familial roots, Norway stands out to him for a host of other reasons that would make any traveler want to at least visit, if not live there. In his guidebook on Norway via his website, Rick Steves Europe , he calls it "the most mountainous, most scenic, and most prosperous of all the Scandinavian countries ... a land of intense natural beauty." 

Perhaps the most famous of all of Norway's scenic natural attractions are its stunning steep fjords. Carved out by an ancient ice age, the fjords can be explored by car and rail and are also a top cruise destination. In fact, Norway's fjords saw a surge in cruise popularity in 2023, and that trend continues to rise. Plus, Norway is less complicated than other European countries on the language front, especially for English-speaking travelers. "I speak only English," Steves wrote in his Chicago Tribune article. "Of all the places in Europe I've traveled and worked, Norway has been the easiest to communicate." 

Norway sounds like a dream, but is there anything Steves would miss about the United States should he be forced to spend the rest of his life in Scandinavia? "I have to admit I would miss the free-wheeling business atmosphere that entrepreneurs enjoy here in the USA," he told the KCTS 9 crowd at the virtual event in 2020.

Read the original article on Islands