Why Rick Steves Says You Shouldn't Swear Off McDonald's While Traveling

Trying the local cuisine is one of the most exciting and rewarding parts of traveling (especially when you protect your nose from bland vacation meals). However, as exhilarating as it is to dine at local spots and sample new foods, not every vacation meal has to be novel or life-changing. In fact, according to European travel expert Rick Steves, there's no reason not to enjoy a burger (or a few) at McDonald's while traveling. There's an all-too-common idea that dining at McDonald's while traveling is a foodie failure. How could you go all the way to Italy just to eat fast food? The horror. However, as Steves points out, there are actually several very good reasons to stop at McDonald's in a foreign country.

First of all, McDonald's has expanded to over 100 countries across the globe for a reason. The burger chain is quick, consistent, crowd-pleasing, and relatively cheap; qualities that are often exactly what you need in a meal after a long day of sightseeing. What's more, Steves notes that whether you like it or not, McDonald's operates locations in prime zones of many major cities. Stopping at McDonald's can be a fun way to dine in a great location with fabulous views without paying tourist trap prices. Plus, after days of parsing menus in a foreign language and trying new foods at every meal, sometimes you're simply craving the comfort of a good old burger and fries — there's nothing wrong with that. 

Eating at McDonald's (and other fast food joints) while traveling can be a practical option to save precious time and money during a long day of sightseeing, and McDonald's' international locations are often destination-worthy attractions in themselves. Many of McDonald's unique locations around the globe are worth a stop just for the architecture — how could you go to Paris without visiting the world's narrowest McDonald's? As for the food, it's not just boring old Big Macs and fries. McDonald's offers many unique dishes around the world, from the Spanish McExtreme Pulled Pork to the elusive Dutch Stroopwafel McFlurry. 

Sampling a country's unique McDonald's offerings is not only delicious, it can actually tell you quite a lot about its culinary culture. For example, Rick Steves notes that Portugal's passion for soup has leaked into the country's McDonald's menu (in other words, your trip to Porto should include a stop for Portuguese soup at one of the world's most beautiful fast food restaurants). Obviously, Steves isn't recommending eating at McDonald's every day while traveling, but occasionally embracing the comforting convenience of the Golden Arches while on vacation is nothing to be ashamed of and can be a tasty and fascinating experience in itself. If you're hungry for more of Steves' genius travel dining tips, don't miss his advice for avoiding Italian tourist trap restaurants.