Writer Rick Steves has made a career of sharing travel tips and tricks. Now he recommends travelers steer clear of the U.S.

“To be honest, if somebody asked me, ‘Should I go to America?’ I’d say no,” he said in a discussion with The Wall Street Journal ’s Ryan Knutson at the 2025 Cascade PBS Ideas Festival on Saturday. “We should pay the price for our policies.”

In the discussion, recorded as a live episode of the podcast The Journal , Steves talked about his latest book, travel philosophy and the role of exploration in combating American isolationism.

Steves first visited Europe in 1969 at 14. Now as the host of PBS travel show Rick Steves’ Europe and the author of a line of popular travel books, his philosophy encourages readers not just to vacation, but to explore.

Earlier t

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