Why Rick Steves Never Orders Continental Breakfast In Europe

Since the 1970s, Rick Steves has been dishing out travel advice to eager explorers. Whether encouraging travelers to take advantage of off-season deals or suggesting rooms booked in bed and breakfasts, Steves has maintained a voice of authority within the travel community. Through lectures, guidebooks, radio shows, and travel columns, Steves has offered tips to help holiday-seekers maximize vacation time while finding quality experiences around the world. 

For those interested in culinary tourism, Steves suggests on his blog, Rick Steves' Europe, Inc., that travelers skip out on breakfasts offered by hotels and venture outside, instead. Though many hotels include breakfasts as part of an overall room charge, Steves insists the first meal of the day is better spent off of the hotel's premises. By meandering down the street to the coffee shop on the corner, travelers can better see how locals start their day and learn more about the community. Plus, local specialties — whether it be a plate of beans and toast, a full English breakfast, or a freshly baked croissant — might be a diamond of a find, providing a kind of reward for such renegade exploration. 

Without the confines of a hotel-provided breakfast, travelers can explore local markets to pick up food items that appeal to individual palates. Steves is quick to point out that depending on where you are in Europe, breakfasts can range from heartier occasions with plates loaded up with bone-sticking meat, eggs, and fried vegetables and tables stacked with herring and waffles, to lighter options of jam-topped rolls, bowls of yogurt, and creamy coffee drinks. 

Though dinner is often regarded as a chance to explore local fare, breakfasts offer a particularly unique window into a place. The way in which workers grab and go or sit and savor can offer insight into the lifestyle and culture of a community, and unique dishes like breakfast soup might be a departure from your normal breakfast spread. Tables and chairs along sidewalk streets offer the ideal viewpoint to watch passersby and glimpse a day in the life of local people, an idyllic way to kick off a day of sightseeing and discovery.