Rick Steves guidebooks on Kindle Paperwhite?

I'd be interested in knowing that too. I use my kindle very little and still prefer the feel and look of real books but sometimes it is convenient to be able to pull up something quickly. I love those maps in the RS guidebooks!

I have a 3-year old Kindle and I love it! (It's not a Paperwhite.)
I enjoy the Kindle, text is very clear, but there are just limitations (including screen size) to what they can do with displaying graphics such as maps, which Rick's books are full of.
My rule of thumb is: if I want a book mainly for the text I buy it on Kindle; but if it's a travel guide where maps and other graphics are important, I buy the hard copy on Amazon.

I put Europe Through The Backdoor on my Nook. Very clear and easy to read but I would not do it again. Bought hardcopies of 2015 Paris and a couple others. Just like the books better. Much easier to use as a reference and make notes on. I find that I read something and then go back several pages or chapters to look at something else. Hard copy is much better for my use.

I have a regular Kindle I use for travel and a Kindle Paperwhite I use for reading at home. To plan my trips (to Europe) I really like the RS guidebooks and read them at home in paperback. However, I have not tried a RS guidebook on them while I travel, but I have used other guidebooks on the regular Kindle. When I read something on the Paperwhite it is almost impossible for me to see illustrations. So the maps etc., would be pretty useless and I would not take a Paperwhite for travel. On the regular Kindle illustrations are a little better but the issue of size, battery life, ease of seeing, etc., keeps it from being optimal. What works for me is to buy a map (I prefer the Streetwise maps which are laminated and focused on the main areas of cities) and use the guidebooks on the Kindle for restaurant, hotel and site information. For reading, I much prefer the Paperwhite, but if you are buying a Kindle for travel, think about a regular one. You can read on it, plus there are apps that serve as a flashlight, alarm clock, currency converter, internet connection, translator, notepad, etc. etc.

I do it a different way.

I like the Nook and the Nook apps on both my iPhone 4s and my tablet, an 8 inch Samsung Tab 3. I find it really easy to read the Nook versions on both the iPhone and the tab.

The maps are decent on the little iPhone screen because they are easy to pinch closer and further but on the tab I don't have to pinch - I just drag and double tap. It works well for me, and I really enjoy being able to click on Rick's links and then right back to where I was in the ebook.

Because I'm using the app on the tab I have all that android power at my fingertips and all the other apps that I also use, instead of being limited to just an ereader.

If considering tabs, the one I mentioned above has really good backlighting so it is easy for my wife to use at night when I am driving.

My experience is similar to that described by Nigel. I have the Kindle app's on both my iPhone and Netbook and they seem to work fine. It takes a bit of practice to use the maps, but they're functional and by pinching and scrolling, navigation is fairly easy. One huge benefit of having the E-books is that I can carry several guidebooks in my shirt pocket, so they're much more accessible while I'm out day touring.

I have to agree about the Kindle App being far better than the Paperwhite - where maps, charts, and graphs are concerned, and specifically concerning Rick Steves' books. You can see maps (and everything else) in color, and expand and pinch them to your heart's desire. On the Kindles, you can enlarge the maps, but only once or twice, and in quadrants or so (1/2, 1/4, 1/6 of the map at a time) - when zoomed in, you may only see the top left quarter of the map, then the next page is the top right quarter, etc. This makes it difficult, continuity-wise. As far as reading the book, it's fine with me. I know the format of his books inside and out, so it's really easy for me to navigate them. If I had never read a Rick Steves' book, I think it would be far clearer to buy the physical book instead.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe that all of his e-books are available in color by now; that makes a huge difference to me! So much easier to read those maps ;-) (And color is one more thing not available on a Paperwhite. ) Color goes a long way when reading something small.

If you learn how, you can make notes, bookmarks, etc., and they're easy enough to access. (Restaurants, museum opening hours, maps, etc.)

If you are truly concerned about the maps/charts, I have to recommend the Kindle App on a phone, tablet, or laptop...or a book.

Sorry. And I own a Paperwhite and a 'Keyboard' Kindle and love them...for reading.

But definitely get the Paperwhite anyway ;-)

I have the opposite view from Kent: if it's a book I want to keep, I buy the hard copy; for a guidebook, I use the iBooks app on my tablet. Guidebooks go out of date pretty fast. I haven't traveled with a paper-copy guidebook in several years. I also use paper maps, which I tend to keep.

I take a different approach: I buy the paper books, do my research with them, then scan the chapters I need to PDF format, which I then put on both my laptop and my phone. I usually take one guidebook with me as well, but if I'm going to multiple countries I may be using several books as reference so don't want to bring paper copies of all of them.

Aren't you glad we've all reached the same conclusion ;-)

Zurich2008, I completely forgot to tell you/warn you that if you get a free sample of the first chapter of one of the guidebooks, the 'map zoom function' won't work the same as in a purchased copy. If I recall, you can only slightly enlarge the maps, not a true zoom (which only slightly more increases the size). But as I stated above, there isn't a great amount of zooming on the Kindle reader version anyway. On the Kindle app, you can zoom to your heart's content.

Also note that on any free first chapter from Kindle books, if there is a link to a map section or a list of restaurants in the back of the book, you can't click through since you only have the first chapter available to read.

If you don't have a kindle device, you can turn your laptop computer into a free kindle with Amazon's free kindle for PC (or MAC) app. You just go to Amazon and download it then you can load kindle books right to it and use your PC (or MAC) as a kindle. I always carry my laptop anyway.

I've had Europe Through the Back Door and a different guide book to a US city on my Kindle Paperwhite. It's fine for just reading, but later referencing is clunky. It's also problematic because when you are just tapping for the next page, you're likely to hit a link that takes you elsewhere in the book.

As noted, the Paperwhite is not in color, but that's what I love about it. It truly is easy to read in any light, from full dark to full sun.

I'd suggest using the Kindle version if you're just doing some preliminary planning, but a hard copy if you want to use it as a reference while traveling.