Rick Steves' Great Britain 2008

by Rick Steves

Who but Rick Steves can tell travelers how to promenade down Edinburgh's Royal Mile or visit the ancient home of the Holy Grail? With Rick Steves€™ Great Britain 2008, travelers can experience Steves' favorite destinations in London, Bath, York, the Cotswolds, the Lake District, Edinburgh, and North Wales €” economically and hassle-free. Completely revised and updated, this guide includes opinionated coverage of both famous and lesser-known sights, friendly places to eat and sleep, suggested day plans, walking tours and trip itineraries, and clear instructions for smooth travel anywhere by car, train, or foot. America€™s number one authority on travel to Europe, Steves' time-tested recommendations for safe and enjoyable travel in Europe have been used by millions of Americans in search of their own unique European travel experience.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, British Literature

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

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

[Negin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say? He writes wonderful guide books.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book only served to make me even more euphoric about my upcoming trip to the UK. I have never traveled abroad before, so I really appreciated the format of this book. I read it from cover to cover, but if you're only planning on seeing a few sights in Britain, this book would still be a great investment as he covers everything and goes into great detail. Chapters are divided by city and then lists places to see, with a rating based of their level of touristy interest. For each place he recommends you visit, he posts hours for both on- and off-season along with the price of entry. He has recommended places to eat and sleep, along with their corresponding prices. He also lists the different ways of arriving at each destination via public transportation (which is our sole means of getting around), how many trains depart for that destination each hour, and how long it will take you to get there. I found so much more to see in England than I originally thought and I love how he suggests some non-touristy places to see and in which to dine so you can get a feel for how "the locals" live. This book was very helpful and will definitely be crossing the Atlantic with me (especially since you can get some discounts while there simply by mentioning or showing his book). I highly recommend for any fellow first-timers.

[Barbara Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ladene M. had recommended putting the thick "Rick Steves' Great Britain" travel guide into a binder so pages could be easily removed. Ingenious! I sliced the pages out of the book's binding, then Jack B. drilled holes to fit the prong fasteners in a plastic folder I cut to size. I paperclipped the relevant sections by date and location for my tour, put them in a plastic baggie, and left the rest of the book at home.

During my two-week tour of England and Wales, I inserted only the section with info about that day's destination into my plastic folder and tucked it into my handbag. This made it easy and compact to refer to the wealth of interesting and practical information in the Rick Steves travel guide, without having to lug around the thick book every day!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book with great information, perhaps just not exactly what I was needing for this year's vacation. Of course, my requirements are much more specific and harder to meet. I did wish that he had covered Southeast and Southwest England - they simply weren't even discussed.

As someone who likes to save a dollar, I can appreciate going to places that are cheaper, but Rick definitely wants to get people overseas and spending as little as possible to make that a reality. Of course, the likelihood that I am going to pay for a cot in a hostel that is in a room with 12-15 other people is never happening in my lifetime. College backpackers crossing Europe...definitely. Me...not so much.

But I am ready and feeling awesome about my summer trip. I can not wait!!

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a huge fan of Rick Steves since I was a kid, thanks to PBS. When I knew I would be moving to London and traveling around the UK, the first thing I did was buy this book. It was an invaluable resource to me. Just like his TV shows, the book is easy to follow with tips, tricks, guidelines, and interesting history. It even inspired me to create my own blog, where I recently wrote up a small guide on how to see London in just three days. I plan on purchasing his other guidebooks for any other long trips I will take to Europe in the future.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best guide book for planning a big trip to the UK that will cover a lot of territory. Rick Steves's guidebooks provide you with all of the information that you need to make your transportation, lodging, dining, and entertainment choices, and they offer suggestions to help you plan your itinerary. Also, they provide plenty of cultural, historical, political, and practical background information to help you put your own experience into perspective. Rick offers lots of tips to help you save time and money.

[Miriam · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is definitely some interesting and useful information here, but Steves' attitude gets in the way. He tends to make very sweeping judgements about entire areas of Great Britain (for example, he writes off most of Wales with just a few sentences). To me, he comes off as a guy who wants everybody to know how well-traveled and enlightened he is, when in reality he has some very strong prejudices and opinions.

[DeAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't actually read this version, however I've used his travel books for 8 years now. When we lived in the UK I used his books extensively. Some info would be out of date, however I was also visiting cities more than once and really getting to go to more than just the main attractions. His books would be my first choice for travel anytime!

[Terri Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished the current edition for this and enjoyed it very much. This one covers not only London but other parts of Great Britain (I am fond of Wales too which is also covered.) Rick is thorough in his coverage and while you'll want to avoid the places to stay that he recommends, the rest offers good advice.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed this and will go back when it's closer to my trip and write down more details. I always appreciate the layout that Rick Steves does in his books. This time around I equally liked and didn't like that he skips any sections of the country that he doesn't deem worth visiting, I kind-of wanted just an overview of everything.

[Jennifer N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Rick Steves guidebooks. He gives very practical advice in an entertaining manner. I love that he tells readers when something is not worthwhile or over priced instead of just listing attractions like many guidebooks. He does tend to focus a lot on churches but other than that I really rely on his advice.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Planning a trip there this summer. There a lot of GREAT ideas in this guide. The only problem I see is that some of the B&B's he recommends are not rated very high on Tripadvisor.com. I guess we'll see for ourselves in June!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Steves is very opinionated and focused so it's nice to have another travel book to use in conjunction with it; but his guidance is very helpful and his information is easy to use and reliable.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual. Mr Steves adds some interesting stories and facts to your armchair exploration of foreign destinations. Helped in our online searches for information, even though we have been several times.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! Steves doesn't cover every city or landmark in Britain, but those he chooses, he has great detail about. For example, he tells how to obtain inner circle access to Stonehenge, and provides self-guided walk information for several key cities and towns.

[Therese Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rick Steve's is the travel god! I used this when I took my daughters to London and it was spot on, as the British say. We stayed in a great hotel, at a great location, ate great meals and saw many of the sights we wanted following his recommendations-all excellent. Never travel without Steve!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love Rick Steves' guide books. I enjoy the format, information, and tidbits. I enjoy his humor, and insight he brings to Europe. I am looking forward to putting my book to great use while in Great Britain.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of very interesting background as well as material to help the traveler to plan his/her trip. I used the book for plan a recent trip to Great Britain and found the this book to be extremely helpful.

[Sandra Muir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was our bible in our recent trip to Great Britain. Excellent travel book with everything you need and very entertaining. We got to the point if Rick said to see or skip something we did because he was always right on!

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Rick Steves.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't travel in Europe without Rick Steves!

[Juliet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Quirky and opinionatedv with lots of swell prose, this man gives you a plan. I have his copy of almost every European country, and it is the best, along with Let's Go.

[Candy Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only travel guides we need in Europe are by Rick Steves!

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loooong but a lot of information for our upcoming trip. Been very useful so far. Will definitely be going with us.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

got me to know where to go around the island and gave me the idea of what I would enjoy to do

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for traveling!

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I speed-read through it on the flight to England. Thank goodness I did because I left my Nook on the plane, and no one could "find" it. Damn, damn. Great advice, good humor, up to par, as always.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for the bit on Scotland. The wee bit gave some solid travel tips for a starting point.

[Judge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used this book while traveling through Great Britain in '07

[Mariana Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always the best source for trip planning!