Electronic vs paper Rick Steves handbook

My last trip I had both and found the paper version much more useful especially regarding walking tours, museum tours, maps etc. That said I ripped out and only took the portions that were relevant for my trip (Rome, Florence, Venice). Also I like to tape in extra's like a restaurant/bistro/bar review or a post extolling XYZ (like Gromn gellato in Florence). In addition I like not having to worry about walking around with anything of real value except one item - my camera. My electronics stay in my hotel for the most part.

After getting 3 different electronic RS guidebooks for my Kindle, I went back to paper for my next trip. I found the electronic versions just too cumbersome to use, especially considering that they seem to lack the capabilities that one would expect of an electronic version.

As to your devices, I find the Kindle too small for them, so the iPhone is bound to be. They would likely be better on your iPad, if you're going to carry it around all the time for some reason. As far as weight goes, the book probably weighs about the same as the iPad, in a slightly different and perhaps more convenient shape. And after you're done with some areas, you can rip out the pages to make it lighter.

Either version will work for planning, but I'm finding the paper copy I have now faster and easier to use for that, too. I don't think I will go back to the electronic versions until they are truly electronic with all the bells and whistles.

Laminated Streetwise maps of the major cities we are visiting are the most useful things we take on our trips. We plan with them and walk around with them. They are very detailed yet still readable and they have a street index. You can get them here from the Travel Store, from Amazon and in many bookstores.

For smaller locations that lack a Streetwise map, I search for images of maps on Google and print them. And I often print pictures of what the place I'm going looks like so that I recognize it when I get there. This is especially useful when a few 2 dimensional lines turn into 3D locations with trees, and cars, and shops, and signs, and all the other visual input you get when you arrive in a new place.

Finally, I got Maps with Me Pro, Offline Maps for our trip last April. It is resident on the Kindle and I found myself using it far more than the Michelin road map I got. I was surprised at that. However, just like any kind of map, once you get into the bowels of a city or town, it's best to look up instead of at a screen because the distances are way shorter than they appear on a screen. When I get lost around the corner from where I'm going, even a little paper map is often better than any electronic one.

I also tore out the relevent sections of the books and found them very useful for finding restaurants on the fly and the walking tours. I did carry my phone which had Rick's audio tours downloaded along with some other useful apps but I wouldn't want to carry an Ipad or tablet around during the day.

Deb T,

ive been bringing RS and others books with me on my trips. I also send them back home when im done with them, so by the end of my trip, they arent an issue.

tomorrow im going to get a Galaxy Note 3 for my trip this year and will probably put as much info into the Note 3 where possible. I may bring my books too, but i will have to evaluate that before my trip. Im going to get the one with cellular service too just in case wi-fi isnt to be had.

happy trails.

Deb, you have a duplicate posting that you might want to delete before people start posting answers on it.

If you are taking your ipad, just take photos of the guidebook pages you want, as well as maps. You can expand the map to find those tiny streets. This gives you the best of both worlds, you have the info from the book, you don't have to destroy it, and you have the capability to make your maps larger.

Ray, You should consider getting it from T-Mobile because of their new International policy.

Deb T,

I've tried a few of the E-book versions of Guidebooks on my iPhone but find the paper versions are far more functional and "user friendly". The E-books are good for quick reference when out touring, but somewhat cumbersome to use for trip planning or other extended use. The maps especially are more awkward with E-books. The situation may be easier with the larger screen on an iPad but I haven't tried as I don't own an iPad.

I really dislike tearing books apart but on my last trip and for the very first time, I tore pages out of a Guidebook and only took the parts that were relevant to the places I was visiting. That method really worked well and it's something I'll consider for future trips.

Another alternative method I tried on my last trip, was using the "Pocket" or "Snapshot" versions of the Guidebooks. They're much smaller and lighter than the full-sized Guidebooks, so much easier to travel with. For example, I used the Pocket Paris this time, and it was small enough to easily fit into my Travel Vest and carry around while touring. I much prefer leafing through a paper book rather than trying to find something in an E-book.

Happy travels!

I have an iPhone 4s, a couple of NC10 netbooks, and a Galaxy Tab 3 8 inch. I also have a Nook. I've used the Guidebooks for years and when we drive in our car from the UK to Europe each year we have always had a large heavy crate of guidebooks in the boot - Michelin Green, Lonely Planet, Touring Club Italia and RS city and/or country books.

Frankly, I'm tired of hauling them all, and the great pile means less goodies from the European markets to take home which is a bummer.

Now that we have started taking more shorter holidays and flying more to Italy I find that I am very limited in how many books I can take on the plane.

When we first got the Nook we loved it for reading novels but I find that it simply is too small, the e-ink is too slow, and maps are nearly impossible on it for guidebooks. It did save my bacon last year as I realized we had overshot our destination on Lake Come - so it is usable for research and in a pinch.

Now we have the Galaxy Tab and loaded the same copy onto the Nook reader on the Tab and we love it. It is like day and night. The 8 inch screen has fabulous resolution, maps are easy to see and in colour, bookmarks are easy, using the table of contents is easy, using the index less so, but we can also click on links in the text and go right to the hotel without effort.

We have been using it to plan next month's trip to Rome and it even works well in the car because the backlight adjusts automatically to the ambient light levels. Reading it at night in the car is easy and causes no distraction to the driver.

After decades of using the printed books - never tore one up - we are now converting to e-book as much as we can for trips.

The Kindle app works well on the Tab, too, but we do really prefer the Nook app, maybe because we are more used to it.

I've never owned an iPad so I don't know about them.

I've used the iPhone Nook app and that works fine for books with a story like a novel, but I haven't tried it with the guidebooks. I imagine it would be quite small, but the retina screen may compensate a bit. I'm used to squinting at my iPhone, especially after iOS 7 came on the scene.

The netbooks are way too slow, and other than writing here and on blogs may not make the cut this next time, after many years' long service.

It wasn't a Rick Steves guide, but just my experience with an e-guide...I had downloaded for my iPad mini from Inkling...a Frommers California guide...I was able to highlight sections and easily find them when needed. I would be a little apprehensive about flashing my ipad around in Europe tho (we had a car rental in Cali, so the iPad was usually in the trunk when not in our day bag). With wi-fi, links were also very helpful that were in the guidebook to take me to websites to show hours and admission fees and whatnot, instead of having to do it separately. I have yet to download a RS guide (prob because I have so many paper guides from previous years) so not sure what you can and can't do with his. But for me, if the guide had some great features, I would prob leave the paper book at home. (our last trip to Europe in 2012, before I had my mini, I had guides for Paris, Venice, Florence, Provence and the Riviera and prob took a London guide...if I could have those all on one device, would have did it in a heartbeat).

We did really enjoy using his tour/walks downloads on our ipod when we were in Venice and Florence - you notice a lot of things that you wouldn't otherwise. I have also downloaded some guides from tripwolf for future trips, but haven't looked into them too much. I much prefer using the mini over the ipod...I also downloaded City Maps 2 Go Pro app -great for city maps, pinpointing places you want to see to help with planning sights. But for wandering around cities, I do still like to have a good paper map, so I wouldn't be standing there looking lost with a $500 electronic gadget in my hands.

@ Richard,

i have a cheap phone that i use T moblle for my local use. I was planning on trying out their new plan anyway. Thanks

Happy trails.

Lots of people in Europe have i-pads. It isn't like they are rare and only tourists have them. In fact, you will probably blend better with an i-pad in your hand, rather than a guide book or a map.

I did enjoy having the paper copies (with some sections removed) of our RS book's last summer in Italy. Despite the weight of the 3 books when backpacking, they were worth it. It was nice to read about where were were going the next day before bed to brush up on some of history/details before being in the crowded museums. I enjoyed having Rick's podcast app on my Ipod and having per-downloaded the podcasts for the areas we were visiting. Though I didn't enjoy listening when visiting sites (the pacing didn't match my own) they were great when killing time waiting in line, etc. I also purchased some digital RS books, but don't find them as easy to flip through when planning/researching for the trip.
We plan to travel again to Europe this summer and I will have my RS books with me again!

VERY DIFINATELY PAPER! I HAD AN ELECTRONIC RICK STEVES GUIDE AND A LONELY PLANET GUIDE TO SPAIN LAST +YEAR AND I HATED IT. I WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING FOR A PAPER VERSION...