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Welcome, teachers. For many years, I’ve enjoyed hearing from educators about how they use my TV shows in their classrooms. I have huge respect for educators and have long wanted to make my shows easier to use and more valuable in the classroom by breaking them down into searchable clips.
For Rick Steves Classroom Europe®, I’ve reviewed all 120 full-length episodes of Rick Steves’ Europe and selected over 590 of the most teachable moments. These short video clips cover a vast range of topics: You’ll take a tour of the ancient Roman Forum; learn why people in Barcelona speak Catalan; ponder why pilgrims trek 30 days across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela; see how and why Switzerland designed its major bridges and tunnels so they could be destroyed at the push of a button; and visit a vibrant market in the south of France. This site contains hundreds of such teachable clips, and we're adding more all the time.
As a student and a parent, I am forever thankful for the dedicated teachers that have been huge figures in my life. I appreciate the challenges educators have, especially these days, and the passion they have for inspiring their students to learn. And this project is a joy for me to offer. It’s a small way of saying thank you.
I hope this program can be of use to you in the classroom. We designed it to be simple and intuitive. All of us at Rick Steves’ Europe thank you for your work. We wish you all the best in your teaching…and happy travels.
Browse the Collection. You can survey the videos in this program by scanning the thumbnails of each, or switch to List View (which gives a short description and lets you click open the script for that clip).
Search for Videos. The videos are fully searchable. Just enter a word or phrase at the top of the page to search the full text of each clip. Using the filters on the left, you can then limit your search results by city, country, historical era, and theme. Videos with mature content can also be filtered out of your search results.
Create a Playlist. A playlist is a collection of one or more videos. You can create a playlist by simply clicking on “Add to playlist” next to the video or videos of your choice. A title and description can be added to a playlist, and you can rearrange the videos in any order you desire.
Share Playlists. When you're ready to use your playlist, you can play it directly in your web browser. Want your students to view the playlist outside of the classroom? You can send them a link that they can use to view the playlist contents from home. And you also can add a playlist to the collection of Public Playlists, an archive of playlists that other teachers can access and use.
Explore Public Playlists. Many playlists have already been created by Rick Steves’ Europe staff and fellow educators. These playlists are available in the collection of Public Playlists. You can filter playlists by theme, country, or historical era. Playlists made by others can also be sent to students.
Save your Work. You don't need an account to create a single-use playlist. But if you log in with a free Rick Steves account, you can save your playlist, share it with others, and create multiple playlists.
This service is limited to short, teachable video clips. However, all of Rick’s shows (and their scripts) are also available for free, and we encourage teachers needing more substantial programming to stream them on YouTube or at ricksteves.com.
While the half-hour episodes are variations on the same travelogue theme, there are also several one-hour specials (ranging from European Easter to Luther to Iran to Fascism), as well as an extensive library of travel lectures by Rick and his traveling staff. (Rick's "Travel as a Political Act" talk will be of particular interest to many teachers).
Rick’s three-part, five-hour lecture on European history and art from 500 to 2000 is available at ricksteves.com.
We plan to add to this collection with the debut of each new season of Rick Steves’ Europe (released in the fall of even-numbered years).
For press releases, program descriptions, high-resolution images, and social media information, please view our Classroom Europe Media Kit.
Be in Touch. We’d love to get your feedback so Rick Steves Classroom Europe can evolve to better help you in your teaching. Please send suggestions, critiques, requests, and comments to [email protected].