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Destination: Spain

Granada’s alhambra.

For me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art and architecture — which I’ve collected in a book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces . Here’s one of my favorites:   

Nowhere else does the splendor of Moorish civilization shine so beautifully than at the Alhambra — this last and greatest Moorish palace in Europe.  

For seven centuries (711–1492), much of Spain was Muslim, ruled by the Islamic Moors from North Africa. While the rest of Europe was slumbering through the Dark Ages, Spain blossomed under Moorish rule. The culmination was the Alhambra — a sprawling complex of palaces and gardens atop a hill in Granada. And the highlight is the exquisite Palacios Nazaríes, where the sultans and their families lived, worked, and held court.   

You enter through the fragrant Court of the Myrtles, into a world of ornately decorated rooms, stucco “stalactites,” filigreed windows, and bubbling fountains. Water — so rare and precious in the Islamic world — was the purest symbol of life. The Alhambra is decorated with water, water everywhere: standing still, cascading, masking secret conversations, and drip-dropping playfully.  

As you explore the labyrinth of rooms, you can easily imagine sultans smoking hookahs, lounging on pillows and Persian carpets, with heavy curtains on the windows and incense burning from the lamps. Walls and ceilings are covered with intricate patterns carved in wood and stucco. (If the Alhambra’s interweaving patterns look Escheresque, you’ve got it backward: The artist M. C. Escher was inspired by the Alhambra.) Because Muslim artists avoided making images of living creatures, they ornamented with calligraphy — by carving swoopy letters in Arabic, quoting poetry and verses from the Quran. One phrase — “only Allah is victorious” — is repeated 9,000 times.   

The Generalife gardens — with manicured hedges, reflecting pools, playful fountains, and a breezy summer palace — is where sultans took a break from palace life. Its architect, in a way, was the Quran, which says that heaven is like a lush oasis, and that “those who believe and do good, will enter gardens through which rivers flow” (Quran 22.23).  

The Alhambra’s much-photographed Courtyard of the Lions is named for its fountain of 12 marble lions. Four channels carry water outward — figuratively to the corners of the earth and literally to the sultan’s private apartments. As a poem carved onto the Alhambra wall says, the fountain gushes “crystal-clear water” like “the full moon pouring light from an unclouded sky.”   

The palace’s largest room is the ornate throne room — the Grand Hall of the Ambassadors. Here the sultan, seated on his throne beneath a domed ceiling of stars, received visitors. The ceiling, made from 8,017 inlaid pieces of wood (like a giant jigsaw puzzle), suggests the complexity of Allah’s infinite universe.   

The throne room represents the passing of the torch in Spanish history. It was here in the year 1492 that the last Moorish king surrendered to the Christians. And it was here that the new monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, said “Sí, señor” to Christopher Columbus, launching his voyage to the New World that would make Spain rich. But the glory of the Alhambra lived on, adding an elegance and grace to Spanish art for centuries to come.   

Today, the Alhambra stands as a thought-provoking reminder of a graceful Moorish world that might have flowered throughout all of Europe — but didn’t.  

Daily Dose of Europe: El Greco’s “Burial of Count Orgaz”

As our passports gather dust, our leaders bicker over conspiracy theories, and people struggle to arrange a vaccination, I believe a daily dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. And for me, one of the great joys of travel is having in-person encounters with great art — which I’ve collected in my book called Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces . And “Burial of Count Orgaz” is one of my favorites.  

It just feels right to see a painting in the same church where the artist placed it 400 years ago. This 15-foot-tall masterpiece, painted at the height of El Greco’s powers, is the culmination of his unique style.   

The year is 1323. Count Don Gonzalo Ruiz of Orgaz, the mayor of Toledo, has died. You’re at his funeral, where he’s being buried right here in the chapel that he himself had ordered built. The good count was so holy, even saints Augustine and Stephen have come down from heaven to be here. Toledo’s most distinguished citizens are also in attendance. The two saints, wearing rich robes, bend over to place Count Orgaz, dressed in his knight’s armor, into the tomb. (Count Orgaz’s actual granite tombstone was just below the painting.) Meanwhile, above, the saints in heaven wait to receive his blessed soul.  

The detail work is El Greco at his best. Each nobleman’s face is a distinct portrait, capturing a different aspect of sorrow or contemplation. The saints’ robes are intricately brocaded and have portraits of saints on them. Orgaz’s body is perfectly foreshortened, sticking out toward us. The officiating priest wears a wispy, transparent white robe. Look closely. Orgaz’s armor is so shiny, you can actually see St. Stephen’s reflection on his chest.  

The serene line of noble faces divides the painting into two realms: heaven above and earth below. Above the faces, the count’s soul, symbolized by a little baby, rises up through a mystical birth canal to be reborn in heaven, where he’s greeted by Jesus, Mary, and all the saints. A spiritual wind blows through as colors change and shapes stretch. With its metallic colors, wavelike clouds, embryonic cherubs, and elongated forms, heaven is as surreal as the earth is sober. But the two realms are united by the cross at right.  

El Greco considered this to be one of his greatest works. It’s a virtual catalog of his trademark techniques: elongated bodies, elegant hand gestures, realistic faces, voluminous robes, and an ethereal mix of heaven and earth. He captures a moment of epiphany with bright, almost fluorescent colors that give these otherwise ordinary humans a heavenly aura.  

The boy in the foreground points to the two saints as if to say, “One’s from the first century, the other’s from the fourth…it’s a miracle!” The boy is El Greco’s own son. On the handkerchief in the boy’s pocket is El Greco’s signature, written in Greek. One guy (seventh from the l eft) in this whole scene doesn’t seem to be completely engaged in the burial. Looking directly out at the viewer is the painter, El Greco himself.  

This little moment from Europe — a sampling of how we share our love of art and history in our tours — is an excerpt from the full-color coffee-table book I wrote with Gene Openshaw, Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces . Please support local businesses in your community by picking up a copy from your favorite bookstore, or you can find it in my online Travel Store .

P.S. – Be sure to check out Rick Steves Classroom Europe — my free collection of 500+ teachable video clips. Search “El Greco” for a closer look at the Greek-born artist who painted for a Spanish king, adopted Toledo as his hometown, and conveyed religious themes in a memorable, mystical way.  

Daily Dose of Europe: Gaudí’s Sagrada Família

Antoni Gaudí’s most awe-inspiring work is this unfinished, super-sized basilica. With its cake-in-the-rain facade and otherworldly spires, the basilica has become the icon of Barcelona.

As America continues to suffer crisis upon crisis, it has never been more important to broaden our perspectives and learn about the people and places that shape our world. And for me, one of the great joys of travel is seeing art masterpieces in person. Learning the stories behind great art can shed new light on our lives today. Here’s one of my favorites.

Construction on the Sagrada Família began over a century ago (1883) and is still ongoing. The only section finished by Gaudí himself is the Nativity Facade. The four 330-foot towers soar upward, morph into round honeycomb spires, and taper to a point, tipped with colorful ceramic “stars.”

Gaudí’s Nativity Facade gives a glimpse at how grand this structure will be. The four spires are just a fraction of this mega-church. When finished, the church will have four similar towers on each side, plus five taller towers dedicated to the Evangelists and Mary. And in the very center will stand the 560-foot Jesus tower — the tallest in the world — topped with an electric cross shining like a spiritual lighthouse. The grand Nativity Facade (where tourists enter today) will become a mere side entrance. The huge church will accommodate 8,000 worshippers surrounded by a forest of sequoia-sized columns. With light filtering in, dappling the nave with stained-glass color, a thousand choristers will sing.

The Nativity Facade exemplifies Gaudí’s unmistakable style. It’s incredibly ornate, made from stone that ripples like frosting, blurring the architectural lines. The sculpted surface is crawling with life: people, animals, birds, trees, and weird bugs. Two massive columns flanking the entrance playfully rest on the backs of two cute little turtles. Gaudí’s religious vision was infused with a love of nature. “Nothing is invented,” he said, “it’s written in nature.” The church grows organically from the ground, blossoming to heaven.

As a deeply religious man, Gaudí’s architectural starting point was Gothic: spires, “flamboyant” ornamentation, pointed arches, and Christian themes.

The Nativity Facade, dedicated to Christ’s birth, features statues of Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus — the “Holy Family” (or Sagrada Família) for whom the church is named.

Gaudí mixed in his trademark “Modernist” (or Art Nouveau) elements: color, curves, and a clip-art collage of fanciful symbols celebrating Barcelona’s glorious history. He pioneered many of the latest high-tech construction techniques, including parabolic arches, like those spanning the facade’s midsection. He molded concrete to ripple like waves and enlivened it with glass and tile. His vision: a church that would be both practical and beautiful.

Gaudí labored over Sagrada Família for 43 years. As with Gothic cathedrals of old, he knew it would require many generations to complete. The Nativity Facade was Gaudí’s template to guide future architects. But he also encouraged his successors to follow their own muses. After Gaudí’s death, construction continued in fits and starts, halted by war and stagnation.

Today, the project enjoys renewed life. The site — funded in part by admissions from daily hordes of visitors — bristles with cranking cranes, prickly rebar, scaffolding, and engineers from around the world, trained in the latest technology. More than a century after Gaudí began, they’re still at it. It’s a testament to the generations of architects, sculptors, stonecutters, fundraisers, and donors who became captivated by Gaudí’s astonishing vision, and are determined to incarnate it in stone.

The hoped-for date of completion? The centenary of Gaudí’s death: 2026. I’ll be there.

This art moment — a sampling of how we share our love of art in our tours — is an excerpt from the new, full-color coffee-table book Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces by Rick Steves and Gene Openshaw. Please support local businesses in your community by picking up a copy from your favorite bookstore, or you can find it at my online Travel Store . To enhance your art experience, you can find a clip related to this artwork at Rick Steves Classroom Europe ; just search for Gaudi.

Daily Dose of Europe: Velázquez’s Las Meninas

Diego Velázquez spent 30 years painting formal portraits of the Spanish king. Then, deciding to switch things up, he painted his most famous and greatest painting. Instead of showing the king, Las Meninas captures the behind-the-scenes action as the king’s portrait is being painted.

Velázquez stands at his easel, flicks his Dalí moustache, raises his brush, and looks directly out toward the people he’s painting — the king and queen. They’d be standing right where the viewer stands. In fact, you can even see the royal couple reflected in the mirror on the back wall. We’re seeing what the king and queen would have seen: their little blonde-haired daughter Margarita and her “maids,” or meninas , who’ve gathered to watch the sitting.

Velázquez (1599–1660) was a master of candid snapshots. Trained in the unflinching realism of his hometown of Seville, he’d made his name painting wrinkled old men and grimy workers in blue-collar bars.

Here, he catches the maids in an unguarded moment. Margarita is eyeing her parents, while a maid kneels to offer her a drink and another curtsies. To the right is one of the court dwarves, and a little boy playfully pokes the family dog. Just at that moment, in the background, a man pauses at a doorway to look in on the scene. The moment is frozen, but you can easily imagine what these people were doing 30 seconds before or 30 seconds later.

This seemingly simple painting was revolutionary in many ways. Velázquez enjoyed capturing light, and capturing the moment, just as the Impressionists would two centuries later. Also, if you look close, you’ll see that the girls’ seemingly detailed dresses are nothing but a few messy splotches of paint — the proto-Impressionist use of paints that Velázquez helped pioneer.

Velázquez creates a kind of 3-D dollhouse world and induces you to step inside. The figures are almost life-size, and the frame extends the viewer’s reality. The eye unconsciously follows the receding lines of the wall on the right to the far wall, and the painting’s vanishing point — the lighted doorway. The painting’s world stretches from there all the way back to the imaginary space where the king and queen (and the viewer) would be standing. And you are part of the scene, seemingly able to walk around, behind, and among the characters. Considered by many to be the greatest painting ever, this is art come to life.

This art moment — a sampling of how we share our love of art in our tours — is an excerpt from the new, full-color coffee-table book Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces by Rick Steves and Gene Openshaw. Please support local businesses in your community by picking up a copy from your favorite bookstore, or you can find it at our online Travel Store . To enhance your art experience, you can find clips related to this artwork at Rick Steves Classroom Europe ; just search for Prado.

Daily Dose of Europe: Pamplona — Feeling the Breath of the Bull on Your Pants

This summer, every big European festival is cancelled — including Pamplona’s famous Running of the Bulls, which was slated to begin today. Instead, I’m reliving my memories of the time I had a front-row view of the action.

Even though we’re not visiting Europe right now, I believe a daily dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. I just published a collection of my favorite stories from a lifetime of European travels. My new book is called “For the Love of Europe” — and this story is just one of its 100 travel tales.

Perched on the top timber of the inner of two fences (in the prime area reserved for press), I wait for the 8:00 rocket. I’m thinking this is early…but for the mob scene craning their necks for the view behind me, it’s late. They’ve been up all night.

Cameras are everywhere — on remote-controlled robotic arms, vice-gripped to windowsills, hovering overhead on cranes, and in the hands of nearly every spectator that makes up the wall of bodies pressed against the thick timber fence behind me.

The street fills with runners. While you can wear anything, nearly everyone is wearing the traditional white pants, white shirt, and red bandana. The scene evokes some kind of cultish clan and a ritual sacrifice. This is the Festival of San Fermín. Fermín was beheaded by the Romans 2,000 years ago, martyred for his faith. The red bandanas evoke his bloody end.

It’s three minutes to eight, and the energy surges. The street is so full that if everyone suddenly ran, you’d think they’d simply trip over each other and all stack up, waiting to be minced by angry bulls. The energy continues to build. There are frat-boy runners — courage stoked by booze and by the girls they’re determined to impress. And there are serious mozos — famous locally for their runs, who’ve made this scene annually for as long as people can remember. They’ve surveyed the photos and stats (printed in yesterday’s paper) of the six bulls about to be turned loose. They know the quirks of the bulls and have chosen their favorite stretch of the half-mile run. While others are hung over, these mozos got a good, solid night’s sleep, and are now stretching and prepping mentally.

For serious runners, this is like surfing…you hope to catch a good wave and ride it. A good run lasts only 15 or 20 seconds. You know you’re really running with the bull when you feel its breath on your pants.

Mozos respect the bull. It represents power, life, and the great wild. Hemingway, who first came to the festival in 1923, understood. He wrote that he enjoyed watching two wild animals run together — one on two legs, the other on four.

It’s 8:00 and the sound of the rocket indicates that the bulls are running. The entire scramble takes about two and a half minutes. The adrenaline surges in the crowded street. Everyone wants to run — but not too early. Suddenly, it’s as if I’m standing before hundreds of red-and-white human pogo sticks. The sea of people spontaneously begins jumping up and down — trying to see the rampaging bulls to time their flight.

We’ve chosen to be near the end of the run — 200 yards from the arena, where, later today, these bulls will meet their matador. One advantage of a spot near the end is that the bulls should be more spread out, so we can see six go by individually rather than as a herd. But today, they stay together and make the fastest run of the nine-day festival: 2 minutes and 11 seconds.

The bulls rush through, creating pandemonium — a freak wave of humanity pummels the barrier. Panicky boys — no longer macho men — press against my stretch of fence. It’s a red-and-white cauldron of desperation: big eyes, scrambling bodies, the ground quaking, someone oozing under the bottom rail.

Then, suddenly, the bulls are gone. People pick themselves up, and it’s over. Boarded-up shops reopen, and the timber fences are taken down and stacked. As is the ritual, participants drop into a bar immediately after the running, have breakfast, and together watch the rerun of the entire spectacle on TV — all 131 seconds of it.

While only 15 runners have been killed by bulls over the last century, each year, dozens of people are gored, trampled, or otherwise injured during the event. A mozo who falls knows to stay down — it’s better to be trampled by six bulls than to be gored by one.

A bull becomes most dangerous when separated from the herd. For this reason, a few steer — castrated bulls that are calmer and slower — are released with the bulls. (There’s no greater embarrassment in this machismo culture than to think you’ve run with a bull, only to realize later that you actually ran with a steer.)

After the last bulls run, the rollicking festival concludes at midnight on July 14. Pamplona’s townspeople congregate in front of City Hall, light candles, and sing their sad song, “Pobre de Mí”: “Poor me, the Fiesta de San Fermín has ended.” They tuck away their red bandanas…until next year on July 6.

(This story appears in my newest book, For the Love of Europe — collecting 100 of my favorite memories from a lifetime of European travel. Please support local businesses in your community by picking up a copy from your favorite bookstore tomorrow, July 7th. Or you can pre-order For the Love of Europe online .  You can also find clips related to this story at Rick Steves Classroom Europe ; just search for Pamplona.)

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• Transportation

Train use in Spain

My wife and I will be going to Madrid in November. From there we would like to travel by train to Toledo, then Barcelona, and gradually get back to Madrid 9 days after our arrival. The Steeve's guidebook says there is an AVE train to Toledo (30 min) and to Barcelona (this latter AVE trip I cannot verify online!?) After Barcelona, would it just be better to rent a car and drive back to Madrid, or should we continue to use the train? Anyone who could help me with this....I would be forever grateful.

You could also consider the buses especially for Madrid to Teledo. A train strike a few years ago forced us to use the buses -- it was great. Spain does not have as extensive train system as other parts of Europe so the buses are a good option. Often times the bus will be in the center of town while the train station is on the edge. Obviously the buses will be a liittle slower but can be more convenient. And, of course, for longer trips the train is better/

This may be dated information but I was studying in Madrid in 04' and my class used the Renfe lines to travel all over the place! We had an issue where the train broke down and they put us on a bus to our arrival city. Very little trouble actually, and the delay only set us back minimal time. We used their transit system for different lectures in different cities on an almost daily basis. That was the only problem we had.

My vote: Use the train. The auto drivers over there are a bit scary. I wouldn't want to be on the road with them.

My wife and I were in Spain last December and used both trains and buses in Spain. We found that the convenience of the 40 minute madrid-toledo train on the AVE was well worth the price. We also did several long haul bus trips (Madrid-Granada, Granada-Tarifa and Tarifa-Sevilla) and found that the buses were much cheaper and often faster than the same trips if we had taken the trains!

Thank you all for your postings. Good info. However, I have a major need-to-know as regards the AVE train from Madrid to Barcelona.....does it exist? Also, is driving in the north of Spain that problematic? Thanks.

Yes, the AVE runs from Madrid to Barcelona...8 trains a day....but it's not a high speed run all the way yet, so the travel time is about 4.5 hours. The entire system is set to go all high speed just before Christmas, with travel times of about 2:45, so you'll just miss it! Even the current times are faster than driving....it's about 400 miles...so about 6 hours at least. With fuel and toll costs, never mind the cost of renting a car, the train is still the best way to go.

How much is the train from Madrid to Barcelona? Is a reservation in advance required?

Sharon...Six trains a day between the two cities...five daily on weekends....about 65 Euro each way. If you're going to be in Madrid a couple of days before travelling to Barcelona, then buy the tickets at that time. Fridays and Sundays are the busiest as people return from weekends, but you shouldn't have any problem getting tickets in Madrid (unless you're travelling during summer/08)

Ted, I'm not sure what you'd call problematic, but I spent a week in Asturias. on the northern coast of Spain, and we drove all over. City traffic is city traffic, but in the rural areas the roads are great, ranging from highways similar to our state highways to tollways similar to our interstates. In the mountains of Asturias there are lots of tunnels, which are well-lit, with frequent emergency phones along the way. The tunnels even have a system for telling you what weather you will be encountering on the other end of the tunnel.

I just came back from Spain, and yes there is a high speed train from Madrid to Barcelona. As far as the train vs. auto, it's really up to you. Do you want to get out and see the smaller towns, and take your time or just get from point A to B? I drove through Spain and can tell you that the big cities are confusing and can be frustrating to drive in and around. Madrid and Barcelona being the two largest- I would not. But between the two, the distance is not that far, and there is much to see and do. Consider dropping off and picking up the car outside of the city, or at the airport. There is a blue bus that takes you into Barcelona center- Placa de Catyluna at the top of the Rambla, for $3.90/person. Also, if you want to see more in a short amount of time consider flying between cities. I flew on Vueling airlines from Barcelona to Seville. It cost $30 Euros and took 2 hours. November shouldn't be a time to be concerned about full trains either way.

Does anyone know the website for AVE trains in Spain? I am looking for one way train tickets from Madrid to Barcelona.

Also, someone on this board mentioned that the AVE train from Madrid to Barcelona was scheduled to become faster (2hr 45mins) by Christmas 2007. Has that happened yet? How much time does it currently take to get from Madrid to Barcelona on the AVE? Thanks and appreciate any feedback!

Go to the RENFE web site and look up itineraries for Madrid-Barcelona. I think it has a different name thatn AVE, but it is, I believe, 3 hours, which is fantastic!

I realize this advice comes too late, but may be of use for future readers. This is what I learned from my trip in May '08.

Madrid->Barcelona on AVE: To get to the AVE trains in Madrid Atocha, don't go to the same section where the commuter trains are departing. Instead, you go upstairs to the section which is pretending to be an airport gate.

General Advice: If you're going to get a Spanish railpass, make sure you make any necessary railpass reservations before you leave. You do NOT want to deal with RENFE directly. I found this out the hard way - I made the mistake of planning a connection from Algeciras to Madrid early on in my trip. For some reason, the reservations were reserved for sale inside Spain, so I had to take care of this on the first groggy day of my vacation and wound up missing 2 days in Madrid (for all the gory details, email me directly).

I agree with Frank below. Take the bus. Many tourists like the speed and the advantage of seeing the countryside.

If your time is limited, the train MAY be faster; there is now way to know. But the bus is usually cheaper.

Renting a car is far more expensive when you consider cost of fuel, parking and rental fee. In some towns such as Madrid and Barcelona you will find NO PARKING most of the time.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.

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Rick Steves Spain (Travel Guide) Paperback – Folded Map, October 11, 2022

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• Fully updated, comprehensive coverage for planning a multi-week trip to Spain
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• Over 1,000 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down
• Coverage of Barcelona, Basque Country, Bilbao, Santiago de Compostela, León, Salamanca, Madrid, El Escorial, the Valley of the Fallen, Segovia, Toledo, Granada, Sevilla, Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain's Southern Coast, Gibraltar, Morocco, and more
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rick Steves; 18th edition (October 11, 2022)
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Guidebook author and travel TV host Rick Steves is America's most respected authority on European travel. Rick took his first trip to Europe in 1969, visiting piano factories with his father, a piano importer. As an 18-year-old, Rick began traveling on his own, funding his trips by teaching piano lessons. In 1976, he started his business, Rick Steves' Europe, which has grown from a one-man operation to a company with a staff of 100 full-time, well-travelled employees at his headquarters in Washington state. There he produces more than 50 guidebooks on European travel, America's most popular travel series on public television, a weekly hour-long national public radio show, a weekly syndicated column, and free travel information available through his travel center and ricksteves.com. Rick Steves' Europe also runs a successful European tour program. Rick Steves lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington. His office window overlooks his old junior high school.

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Travel Expert Rick Steves' Top Tier Travel Tips

F or decades, travel writer, activist, and TV/radio personality Rick Steves has carried his love of travel through homes all over the world. Having fallen in love with travel as a child, Steves' tenacity for the world is up there with that of the late, great Anthony Bourdain. In that time, Steves has doled out quite a few pieces of golden travel advice .

Some of these pieces of advice may seem obvious or simple, but often, those are the tried and true bits of learned experience. Making travel more efficient, easy-going, and simpler isn't always an action-packed endeavor, after all. Now, thanks to the beauty of the internet, a lot of things like booking tours in advance are easily done. Alas, some tasks like packing light take finesse and experience — and oftentimes a bunch of handy luggage cubes. Either way, here are our favorite travel tips from traveler extraordinaire Rick Steves.

Read more: The Complete Guide To Packing Light

This advice isn't unique to Rick Steves, though it is no less important — especially if you aren't a frequent traveler, the art of packing light is one that needs practice. If you're able to bring only a carry-on bag, you won't have to wait for your checked luggage, which means you can start your trip even sooner once you land.

"You'll never meet a traveler who, after five trips, brags, 'Every year, I pack heavier,'" Steves told Business Insider. "You can't travel heavy, happy, and cheap. Pick two." Steves' advice is even more prevalent if you go somewhere like many cities in Europe that are loaded with stairs around every corner. That's probably one of the myriad reasons why Steves' European tours only allow travelers to have a carry-on bag.

Also, if you pack light and leave room in your bag, it gives you some parameters for spending money at your destination. If you have a ton of room between a carry-on and a checked bag, you're more likely to overspend because you can. When you don't have a lot of luggage space, you don't have much choice unless you pay to ship it home.

Remember That Time Is Money

Budget travelers often butt up against the notion that saving a few dollars might cost them more time than spending the money. That's why Rick Steves encourages you to consider how much your time is worth in those scenarios. "Shrink and tame big European cities by hopping into the occasional taxi or using a ride-sharing service," Steves explains. "By knowing when a private ride is the best way to get somewhere, you'll save time, money, and energy."

There are a lot of times when a $15, 10-minute cab ride will save you ample time compared to the few dollars you'd save by taking a train or bus for 45 minutes. It's important to acknowledge that the more time you spend trying to get places on your trip, the less time you can spend doing things you wanted to on your vacation. You can help offset that sticker shock by setting money aside ahead of your trip for unexpected travel fees.

Plan To Avoid Needless Lines

Avoiding lines is a two-fold scenario. The easiest way to free up your excursion time is by reserving tickets or entry times online ahead of your visit to a place like The Louvre or the Vatican Museums. When these kinds of tourist-heavy locations suggest getting tickets ahead of time, they mean it. Even with those recommendations in mind, you may be surprised how few people actually buy their tickets ahead of time or make attendance reservations.

"It's not uncommon to find hour-or-more waits in ticket-buying lines and rooms packed shoulder-to-shoulder with visitors and intercontinental B.O," Rick Steves explains. "So it's up to smart tourists to do whatever is possible to minimize hassles and maximize their experience." Even if you purchase tickets ahead of time, you may have to wait in a short advanced reservations line, though it's nothing in comparison to the line of people who didn't buy ahead of time.

Try Local Accommodations Over Familiar Chains

Opting for hostels or micro hotels isn't the only way to save money on accommodations when traveling. If you decide to stay somewhere local over a major hotel chain you're familiar with, you may save some money and get a better experience in the process. Non-American hotels outside of the United States are frequently more expensive than their local counterparts because a lot of American tourists would rather have familiarity than save money.

Going local over national is highly recommended by Rick Steves. "I look for places that are clean, central, relatively quiet at night, reasonably priced, friendly, small enough to have a hands-on owner and stable staff, run with a respect for local traditions, and not listed in other guidebooks," Steves says. "If I can find a place with, say, six of these eight criteria, it's a keeper." Staying in a place that is more connected to the local culture and community is going to give you a more genuine experience of that location anyway, so you're bound to leave with a deeper understanding of the place you've visited.

Look Into Less Visited Cities

There are cities that people wait their entire lives to visit, like Paris, London, or Rome. However, there are so many other cities in those countries that can showcase other sides of the place that could save you money and bumping elbows with millions of other tourists. Why not save some money seeing a gorgeous place like Oberammergau instead of just Berlin in Germany?

"One thing I would remind people of is that, a lot of times, second cities are a good idea," Steves argued to the Seattle Times. "Everybody goes to 'the first city' of Seattle. Why not check out Tacoma? Everybody goes to Lisbon, why not check out Porto? Everybody goes to Madrid; why not check out Cordoba?" Steves' point is that the larger cities aren't more worthy of a visit than smaller ones. These "second cities" aren't lesser than their larger counterparts; they're simply either smaller, less heavily populated, or less touristed than the others.

Prioritize What You Need To See Or Do

Particularly if you are visiting a massive metropolis, you are not going to be able to see everything the city has to offer in a single trip. Even if you plan out every single second of every day (which you shouldn't do), you'll run yourself ragged before you visit every museum, site, or restaurant on your list. Once you accept that fact and prioritize what you absolutely need to see or do, you can enjoy the adventure without regret — so says Rick Steves.

"You can't see it all, especially in one trip, and that's a blessing," Steves told Business Insider. "Enjoy seeing what you can and be thankful you have important experiences left over to enjoy on your next adventure." When you free up time in your schedule, you open yourself up to the idea that you can come back. If a place truly captures your heart, having a list of things you want to return to do will make the pain of saying goodbye for now a little less painful. Plus, it'll encourage you to plan your next trip right away.

Embrace Local Cuisine

From dining where the locals eat to understanding seasonal cuisine in your destination, eating well in any given destination takes several factors into consideration. One way to do that is by visiting restaurants that don't translate the menu back to English, meaning they don't specifically cater to mostly tourists. Another way is to see what's on the menu itself beyond the text. Though specifically talking about Italy, Rick Steves' cuisine advice works on a larger travel scale as well.

"I always like to say a good traveler can go to a good restaurant and look at the menu and know where they are and what month it is by what's being served," Steves told Eater. "They will eat the local specialties and they will eat them in season." If a seasonal menu in Italy is full of root vegetables and tubers seasonally appropriate, you have a hint that the place will give you a more authentic experience.

When Eating, Make It A Family Affair

It can be difficult to decide what to eat when you're trying to sample as much local cuisine as possible. That can be difficult at a restaurant, especially if you don't eat a lot at meals or all at once. One workaround that Rick Steves suggests is eating family style and sharing food with your travel companion(s).

"Whenever possible, I order family style so I can eat my way through more of the menu," Steves told USA Today . "Sometimes, rather than getting two main courses, my travel partner and I share a little buffet of appetizers or first courses — they're filling, less expensive, and more typically local than entrees." This tapas style of eating might be uncouth in some circumstances, but who cares? If you and your travel companion share similar tastes, it only makes sense to try a little of a lot rather than attempt to eat through a ton of food on your own. Besides, it's also less wasteful since you aren't ordering more than you can eat.

Don't Get Distracted

This advice goes beyond not getting too distracted by your phone or social media-worthy photos to experience a place truly. This is about safety. Even some of the best-traveled people, like Rick Steves, are not immune to the occasional pickpocket. Whether successful or not, pickpockets target heavily touristed areas in part because of the constant chaos, crowd, and easily distracted travelers.

"Tourist attractions (especially ones that are free to see and are out in the open) and places for transportation tend to be targeted more," Steves told Inc. "Places like parks and national monuments, subways/metros or train stations, and even churches may be targets. Once, one person who was traveling in my group had her stuff stolen during Palm Sunday mass in Germany." Do yourself a favor, keep your phone close to your body, don't constantly look down, and be aware of your surroundings at all times.

Allow Room For Spontaneity

Even for the most rigid travel planners, you need to give yourself a little room for joyful surprises. If you don't over-plan your entire trip, you won't be stressed out, and you'll have time for spontaneity — which could lead to your favorite memories of the adventure. That's why one of Rick Steves' biggest pieces of advice is to leave space in your trip open for the unexpected.

"If a serendipitous opportunity presents itself, the answer has always got to be 'yes,'" he stated to Travel+Leisure . "...[Overplanning] takes away some of the joy of travel, which is letting things unfold in an unpredictable way." Without planned breaks in your itinerary, you're closing yourself off from random happenstances that could completely change your life. Take this writer's advice on this one, having been forgotten by a tour company in Ireland. Instead of going back to the hotel, they hopped onto a different bus tour that offered their two available spots. That ended up being one of the best memories of that Ireland trip.

Read the original article on Explore .