Rick Steves France 2019

by Rick Steves

Wander the lavender fields of Provence, climb the Eiffel Tower, and bite into a perfect with Rick Steves on your side, France can be yours!

Inside Rick Steves France 2019 you'll
Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves France 2019.

Planning a one- to two-week trip? Check out Rick Steves Best of France.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, France, Reference, Guidebook

1897 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Rick Steves is an American travel writer, television personality, and activist known for encouraging meaningful travel that emphasizes cultural immersion and thoughtful global citizenship. Born in California and raised in Edmonds, Washington, he began traveling in his teens, inspired by a family trip to Europe. After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in European history and business, Steves started teaching travel classes, which led to his first guidebook, Europe Through the Back Door, self-published in 1980.
Steves built his Edmonds-based travel company on the idea that travelers should explore less-touristy areas and engage with local cultures. He gained national prominence as host and producer of Rick Steves' Europe, which has aired on public television since 2000. He also hosts a weekly public radio show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored dozens of popular guidebooks, including bestselling titles on Italy and Europe at large.
Beyond travel, Steves is an outspoken advocate for drug policy reform, environmental sustainability, and social justice. He supports marijuana legalization and chairs the board of NORML. He has funded housing for homeless families and donates to anti-hunger and arts organizations. In 2019, he pledged $1 million annually to offset the carbon emissions of his tour groups.
Steves is a practicing Lutheran with Norwegian ancestry and continues to live in Edmonds. He has two adult children and is in a relationship with Reverend Shelley Bryan Wee. Despite health challenges, including a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2024, Steves remains committed to his mission of helping Americans travel with greater purpose, empathy, and understanding of the world. His work reflects a belief that travel, done right, can be both transformative and a force for peace.

Reviews

[da AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've used Rick Steve's books for France & England - both have been extremely helpful! Also his philosophy is spot on when it comes to how, if everyone traveled more, the world would be a better place!

[Ruthie Larson]

Perfect for my trip to Paris! Loved it!

[LaTonya Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading a Rick Steves Travel Guide and I must say it is amazing! It is very detailed in places to go and things to do, along with some of his experiences in those places in France. The guide was not boring and well written, and it included beautiful pictures that lets you experience a little bit of France. This guide definitely makes me want to go and experience France, ASAP.

[Paula Gagnon Houwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steves always gives the most practical advice for a traveler. I don't bother with any other travel author, because I've found the best!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rick Steve's books are great. Great tips on where to eat, sleep, sight see. We have planned both of our trips to Europe using his books!

He has trip plans for the number of days you plan to stay - for every attraction he tells you how long you should expect it to take. He tells you exactly where the highlights of a museum are located so you can skip the stuff you don't want to see. Around every attraction, he lists a perfect place to grab lunch or a cup of coffee. He suggests great places to stay that are in local neighborhoods vs. tourist areas - they are usually cheaper and you get to experience a more local setting. We stayed at a hotel in Paris that Rick recommended - it was on a street that had a daily market where the locals shopped. It was great to see everyone walking home from work picking up everything they needed for dinner - meat and cheese at one vendor, fresh bread at another, and wine at another. Great local experience!

[Donna Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this very helpful while traveling through France. I put it on my kindle and as we approached the city, I could relook it up and remind myself what the major highlights were to the place. The only complaints I have are: 1) a map of a city is not on just one page, so it wreaks havoc to have to keep consulting 3-4 pages in the book of one city, and 2) the table of contents didn't translate well on the kindle; i.e., it didn't have page numbers so unless the city was a headline in the book, I couldn't find it very easily at all. Otherwise, very well done. I tried to get in one of his recommended restaurants, but i was full, so maybe I warn future readers that if they are looking for restaurants in his books, you probably need reservations because there are a lot of us evidently taking advice from the great Rick Steves.

[J.R. Dodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good guide by Rick Steves. Thus far, I've only used it for Paris, and although there were some things that were already dated (for example, a restaurant special wasn't honored), it still provides an in-depth guide to many of the top sights in the city.

One of the best things about Rick Steves' guides are that they help the traveler be their own tour guide. In terms of locations and things to do, they're very succinct and typically throw out the noise (the places and activities that aren't top-notch). This guide doesn't seem to do that as well as the others and is a little more bloated. One example is reading through the Burgundy chapter, where it has numerous wineries and little villas but not a lot of reason to go to any one of them in particular.

It is a very handy guide nonetheless, and I'm looking forward to using it to explore more of France.

[J.S. Graustein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read RICK STEVES' FRANCE 2011 cover to cover, but I managed to plan my trip and find everything I needed in order to do it. The websites I checked out (based on the book) were all valid. Rick Steves has such a great way of making even dry entries humorous or thought-provoking. For instance, describing a starving-artist style hotel as "questionably clean" or saying that you could "sleep like a monk (with about the same level of comfort)" at an abbey. Can't wait to see these things he's described in such style.

One caveat, there did seem to be some major cities missing from the book. I'm sure this is because they're not built for his kind of touring. It just seemed a little strange.

Overall, though, c'est magnifique!

[Jack Hrkach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll confess I've only read his section on Alsace-Lorraine, as one of the places I traveled to lately was Strasbourg. I like Steves a lot in general, but don't agree with all of his choices. In Strasbourg I visited the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Alsatian Museum. He rates the latter top among museums in the city, whereas I found it mediocre. He found the former not very interesting, I loved it.

So we differ on occasion. In general his accounts present a unique ("Back Door") approach to the places he discusses, and it's refreshing - as I've already written many times, I use The Rough Guide to a certain place along with Rick Steves, and feel like I'm better prepared for a journey than I'd be with any other guide books, and I've perused quite a few.

[Chanele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rick is the master of travel, and what sets his books apart is not just the usefulness (because it's undeniably useful!), but the entertainment. It is truly pleasurable to read Rick's guides. His playful personality often comes through, and that is my favorite part. Guide books can be dry, but not a Rick Steves guide book. Need proof? Let's take his description of the Eiffel Tower:

"However impressive it may be by day, the tower is an awesome thing to see at twilight, when it becomes engorged with light, and virile Paris lies back and lets night be on top. When darkness fully envelops the city, the tower seems to climax with a spectacular light show at the top of each hour...for five minutes."

Mais oui, Monsieur Steves!

[Beth Cato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, to travel vicariously, courtesy of Rick Steves! I do enjoy reading through these books and imagining potential adventures. This brand new edition (out November 2019) is updated to reflect things such as the fire and closure of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It covers Paris in detail, as well as other regions, major cities, and tourist spots throughout France, plus general travel advice that encompasses everything from basic French phrases to what plug converters to buy. Several fold out maps are included in the back.

The book is right about 1200 pages and squeezes a lot in there. I did find myself craving more information on World War I sites, though I realize that time in history isn't quite so popular these days.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

We bought the ebook version of this travel guide to plan our trip to France. Even though we'd read Rick's Paris book, our travel plans included Normandy, so we wanted this edition for the additional outside Paris information.

As with the Paris book, this travel guide includes more information than any one person really needs, but it's great to have for both planning and while you're traveling. We used it as a reference every day of our trip. I have even enjoyed re-reading sections of the book after the trip - now that I have a different perspective of being there and experiencing what he is talking about.

I would recommend this book to anyone planning a trip to France!

[Terri Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the current version of this each year and enjoy it so much. Rick always covers literally everything you need to know including all of the practical stuff. I find his descriptions of the artwork in this country's excellent museums to fill me with almost orgasmic pleasure (art lover here!). As with all of his guides, be skeptical of the cheap dumps, um I mean, hotels and hostels he recommends. You couldn't pay me to stay in them.

This book differs from the Paris guide because it covers all of France which is a great place to visit. If you are going, do carry this along.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and I are pretty much Rick Steve's groupies. This is the second time we have taken a trip using Rick as our guide and he has (almost) never let us down. This book is full of a lot of useful advice on how to maximize your time/money on a trip to France. Since this book covers the whole country, we also used the Provence book and the Paris book for when we were in those parts of the country.

[J.L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for traveling in France. Got safely into Paris from the airport using the guide's suggestions. Found my wonderful little hotel in their guide and many suggestions on getting head of the line tickets to museums. Took the suggestion to try the buses instead of the Metro and had wonderful experiences chatting with people, finding my way around the town through the ancient streets.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standard Rick Steves

We do rely on Rick Steves’ books extensively when we travel, although he does cover some areas rather selectively. For the returning traveler it is useful to also consult another source to get a broader picture of the country or city. Rick does encourage self discovery and learning some travel skills through his books has given us the confidence to go off on our own.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not cool. I'm glad I purchased another, better travel guide before I went. There's some good recommendations for budget lodging in most of the cities (outside of Paris), but steer clear of ANY of Mr. Steve's recommendations for restaurants. Seriously.
If you want to travel, eat and generally live like an old, white person in France, this is totally your book.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is not a reference book--for example, there is no mentioning about 6 of the top 10 largest cities. Is there really nothing in them? At least some travelers may find them in their route and want to conveniently check them out instead of just rushing though. But no, for those who want to have a look beyond the author's selection, this book refuses to help.

[Suzanne Reymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Rick Steves. One of the things I liked most about this was the audio tours that were included. Many of the walking tours were also helpful, although I find I can get lost from those. And really nice on a Kindle app on a phone. So I could listen and follow along without toting a guidebook and screaming out, "I'm a tourist!" :)

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rick Steves's guide books are the best I've found for planning ahead and for consulting while on a trip. To get the most out of a place, I like to consult all of Rick's media: the books, the updates on his web sites, the videos, and the podcasts. The books have guided me through many places and saved me a lot of time and money. Thank you, Rick Steves!

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

His book on France was better than Italy. Probably b/c we used it for recommendations in large cities, not his so called out of the way locations. It had a great recommendation for a hotel in Paris. So 2 stars it is!

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Rick Steve's books are indispensable if you are traveling in Europe. He was my primary source for time and money management while traveling abroad. I wish he wrote books about traveling in the United States, too!

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this had some great info and ideas it lacked in some crucial specifics. For example, the walk from the train stop before Monaco to Monaco had no clearly defined trail. We almost got lost and ended up not along the beaches and on the main road instead.
But overall, inspiring!

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource for our vacation in France over the summer. Used it for both big picture and day trips in Normandy. Did not use hotel or restaurant recommendations, but loved the sight-seeing information.

[Bud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invaluable companion on our trip to France. It does not cover all areas of France in detail but had much of Normandy and Burgundy (and of course Paris). The recommendations for food and places to stay were all accurately described. Thank you, Rick!

[Tori Stegle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an awesome tour guide! I bought it because I'm taking a trip though Southern France in March. There are so many amazing tips & cool places Rick describes in here. I can't wait to visit them. And I won't get lost cause there is a map!

[Martha☀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this guide slightly less useful than his Paris guide, mostly because the city I was visiting (Hendaye) was neither mentioned, reviewed nor shown on his maps. But the guide was somewhat helpful for some of my side-trips.

[John Legge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in preparation for a trip. Found it better than the Frommers, though at times, they complimented each other.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

While in France my intimate relationship with Rick Steves may have resulted in my traveling companion feeling like a third wheel.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Invaluable guide to travelling in France and, in particular, Paris. Rick Steves is usually spot on with his recommendations and helps you discover the true charm of France.