Rick Steves Recommends Avoiding This Dining Option When Booking Hotels In Europe

As one of the foremost experts in European travel and a man with a deep and abiding love for food, Rick Steves is a fantastic resource for dining advice when traveling in Europe. Whether you are exploring one of Europe's gorgeous cities, riding the rails on a spectacular sleeper train to your next ski getaway, or getting off the beaten track in a tiny, picturesque village in the middle of nowhere, Steves will have some tips and tricks on how to eat well.

However, while most of Rick Steves' suggestions are great restaurants, local markets, or ways to make your vacation budget go further, he's also a treasure trove of advice on how to avoid the biggest dining traps that tourists often fall into. One specific option that Rick Steves is not a fan of is room-and-board deals in European hotels. "Some hotels offer room rates that include dinner in their dining room," Steves writes on his blog post "Budget Tips for Booking Hotels in Europe." "[A] few places (often resorts) even require it, especially in peak season." While paying for a package offer might seem like a good way to save money, in reality, this option is often limiting and offers lower-quality food than you can easily find elsewhere.

These room-and-board packages, often called half-board or half-pension according to Steves, tend to be affordable, but mean that you are tied to eating in one place, which may not be the best or most interesting option.

Rick Steves loves shoestring travel and discovering new experiences when exploring Europe, but he does prefer to pay a bit extra for quality ingredients. He is particularly passionate about eating seasonally and locally, and he loves to seek out unusual ingredients in local markets or dishes at small restaurants that he's never tried before. As a result, this is the main thing that puts him off a room-and-board package deal: "While it might not be that expensive, it does limit when and where you eat," Steves says. "I prefer the freedom to explore and sample local restaurants or shop for picnics."

Half-board means you feel the pressure to eat your dinner every night in the hotel, rather than sampling the joys of the local trattoria, taverna, or tapas tasca. You might be saving money (although not always, as eating out in Europe can be surprisingly inexpensive), but you'll be missing out on the experience of culinary exploration that is such a huge part of traveling around countries like France, Spain, and Italy.

Steves isn't completely opposed to the idea of room-and-board deals. There are times when it can be a good idea, particularly if you are staying somewhere very remote or arriving at a time that makes finding another dining option complicated. Steves says, "On the other hand, if half-pension is required, but the charge is less per meal than you'd pay for an average restaurant meal, it can be worth considering — especially if the chef is good or if you're in a village with no convenient alternatives."

As well as suggesting that travelers avoid room-and-board deals, Rick Steves has plenty of other suggestions for how to save money on hotels when traveling around Europe. He's also, perhaps surprisingly, not a fan of hotel breakfasts! He suggests skipping the hotel breakfast, even if it is included in the room rate, saying, "ask for the rate without breakfast when you book. You can buy a thriftier breakfast at the supermarket or corner bakery." He admits that in some countries, particularly in northern Europe, "hotel breakfasts can be a great value and a fun chance to sample some regional treats," but that in plenty of hotels they are skimpy and not worth it.

As well as asking for a rate without breakfast, even if the normal price includes it, Steves is a huge advocate of negotiating with hotels. He says it is always worth asking about discounts and seeing if you can wrangle a better price by staying for longer, paying in cash, or even just by haggling! He also says that it is worth it to "ask for the best price and cheapest room" rather than just booking whatever is available on the website or booking platform. You might find that there are small differences between rooms, like having a shower instead of a bathtub, that can end up saving you money.