Rick Steves shares his formula for eating like a local across Europe

The travel icon has spent five decades finding the most delicious meals that offer a taste of place. Here’s exactly how he does it.

Rick Steves should be exhausted. He just spent the last few months traveling to every corner of Europe to update his guidebooks, all in the name of helping you have your best vacation ever. Yet somehow the 71-year-old travel icon is totally energized. He excitedly shares pages upon pages of his handwritten notes from the research trip to the continent and some of his most important lessons on how to find the best meals on your next trip to Europe. The philosophy behind five decades of guidebooks is rather simple: Find the food that could only exist in that exact place, at that time of year, and eat like a local.

“My general philosophy: accessibility, cultural experience, affordability, going local,” Steves says. “Fundamentally, from a food point of view, the idea is that a good eater can go into a good restaurant and know where they are and what month it is according to what’s on the menu.”

Here are Steves’ other key ingredients to finding excellent travel meals no matter where you go.

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Follow the “zero kilometer” rule

Steves lives by the “zero kilometer meal rule,” which means that travelers should only eat food that has come from the place they’re visiting, ideally harvested nearby within the last few days or weeks. “You take the regional stuff, and you take the seasonal stuff, and you put it together,” he says. Think zucchini blossoms and fava beans in summer in Rome, or drinking local wine. “It just feels right to look out the window and see the vineyards the wine came from.” 

His best tip for experiencing both is to look for the plate of the day. “I used to think that the daily specials were what was on the push list,” he says. “But not at all. That’s what the chef wants you to eat, because that’s seasonal.”

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Order off a handwritten menu

Steves’ quickest way of finding a good local restaurant comes down to two things: a small menu that’s handwritten, preferably in the local language. “One language because they’re catering to locals,” he says. “Handwritten because it’s shaped by what’s fresh in the market this week.” And if you don’t speak the language, do as Steves does and simply ask the waiter for help, rather than reaching for a translation app. “I talk to the waiter, and I have a spirit of adventure,” he says of ordering off a menu he sometimes can’t read. “The proof in the pudding, literally.”

Try to avoid a restaurant too close to any major landmarks, which are often the calling card of tourist traps. “I like a low-rent place rather than a place on Piazza Navona,” he says with a laugh, which often means traveling a few blocks off the well-trodden tourist paths. “A place three blocks away, a no-name spot that’s mom-and-pop run. They love what they’re doing. They’re gonna be here next year. Grandma’s in the back peeling potatoes.”

Steves’ Italy for Food Lovers will be published as a coffee table-style book in early 2027.

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Go almost Michelin, but skip the star

Steves still loves a splurge like the rest of us, but rather than chasing down hard-to-get reservations at the hottest Michelin-starred spots, he goes after the Bib Gourmand, the Michelin Guide’s designation for good food at a fair price, instead. “That’s my price range, that’s my quality range,” he says. “You get good quality cuisine, and you don’t get the pretense. And remarkably, it’s not that much more expensive than a mediocre place on a high-rent square.”

Those on a budget can also find what Steves calls one of the best meals in Europe in an unexpected spot: the mall. Specifically the cafeterias in European department stores, which often cater to office workers rather than tourists. “There are really good cafeterias in department stores that sell by the weight,” he says. “In fact, there’s a chain in Switzerland called Tibits. It’s gourmet vegetarian food in a wonderful department store cafeteria setting.” Here, he says, you can forgo the often “brutally expensive” meals at Swiss restaurants and find an equally delicious lunch at Tibit’s for about $15 instead.

He also swears by bakeries for lunch, best split between travel companions, for the ultimate bargain. “Two people can get a $20 lunch,” he says. “That’s $10 each. It’s nutritious, and it’s elegant, and you’re sitting next to the little old lady and her dog who’s been going to this place since she was a girl.”

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Try a second city stay

Steves wants people to go out and see more of Europe beyond the big-name destinations by visiting a second city instead. Go to Lyon instead of Paris, Porto instead of Lisbon, Bristol instead of Bath. “You’re into more vibrant, edgy, hardworking one-offs that are thriving with a local reputation instead of tourism,” he says of the spots that inhabit these second cities. The same logic applies at the neighborhood level if you’re determined to visit the larger cities. Try to find the up-and-coming block before it becomes the neighborhood everyone already knows about. As for how to get there, do as Steves does, and simply ask a friendly waiter where these neighborhoods are at your next meal.

Steves took his own advice on his recent trip to Santorini, where he heard about a little spot that was a cab ride out of town called Mataxi Mas. “Everything about it was right,” he says. “The clientele, the ambiance, the light. The menu was accessible, the service was great, and the price was nice.” So nice that he’s adding it to his new guide. “This little listing alone will make somebody very happy that they have this book.”

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Time your meal right

Want to really experience a place as it’s meant to be experienced? Eat when the locals do. In Europe, that’s often far later than the average American dinner time.

“At 7 o’clock, it’s filled with tourists. At 9 o’clock, it’s filled with locals,” he says of restaurants across the continent. “And that doesn’t mean it’s bad at 7. It just changes the personality.”

Steves is partial to arriving even later, for the last call, when a fully booked room starts to empty out, with just the staff left lingering. “If you sit at the bar, you can get a place that’s booked out and have a wonderful experience,” he says. “I like being there at the end, and then I like to talk to the chefs.” And that’s where you may get many of those real-deal inside neighborhood tips you’re after so you can travel more like Steves.

To uncover the best food and drink experiences for travelers, Food & Wine polled over 400 chefs, travel experts, food and travel writers, and wine pros from across the globe for their top culinary travel experiences. We then turned the results over to our Global Advisory Board, who ranked the top nominees in each category. For the full list of winners, visit foodandwine.com/globaltastemakers2026.

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