Has anyone used either the Garmin nuvi 270 or the Tomtom 910 for Croatia. I'm not even sure if Tomtom has one that covers this area. We're trying to decide if a GPS will be important for our trip. I know that it would be fun, but I don't know if I could justify the expense. We are driving from Dubrovnik to Hvar, then to Split, Plitvice and around Istria but we usually do well navigating with maps. Unfortunately our MIO GPS doesn't have maps for this area.Do most of the travelers to Croatia use a GPS? Thanks for your input.
Best GPS for Croatia?
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We just used the map from the rental car company (until we lost it and had to buy another), but it worked great. I had also mapped the routes on ViaMichelin, but they use road names/numbers and we found that the road signs in Croatia (and Bosnia) usually always just reference destinations instead of road names/numbers. We drove all thru Croatia and Bosnia and didn't find a need for GPS at all (until we got lost in Sarajevo).
I don't think I would buy a new GPS for this trip. The places you are going to are on main routes or the ONLY route until you get to Istria, then, if you are just roaming around the back roads, maps will be more than fine.
I just bought a TomTom 920, primarily because it comes with US,Canada and Europe maps. It's made in Europe and is supposed to mangle town and street names less than the Garmin. TomTom is coming out with the 930 later this month so there are pretty good deals on the 920 right now.
I'm normally this website's biggest proponent for Garmin's Nuvi series, but the maps used in the Nuvi (City Navigator Europe v9) do not include full coverage of some of the ex-Yugolavian states or Greece. From the Garmin website:
"Croatia: Detailed coverage of Zagreb, Rijeka and Pula, Split, Selin, Zadar, Dubrovnik and the Island of Krk"
You'll get all the goodies for the above-mentioned cities, but elsewhere the map will only show you the main arteries and probably none of the points of interest that are displayed for the rest of Europe.
See this site for more info:
http://tinyurl.com/33aclh
I definitely would not purchase a new GPS, either. We have never used one in Croatia - we've just relied on local maps from the TI offices. We always email TI offices in advance to request free maps. We've been to really off-the-beaten-path areas in Croatia and sometimes found ourselves "misplaced" (especially in Istria) but it is so much fun. We discover so many spots we otherwise would not have.
welovetravel,
As several people have said, there's no need to use a GPS for where you're going in Croatia. The roads are very well marked. We love our tomtom at home in the US, but maps are fine in Croatia. My guess would be that most travelers do not use a GPS in Croatia.
Have fun!
On my last trip to Croatia I visited Plitvice, Dubrovnik, the Velebit mountains, Split, Zagreb, Paklenica and even explored Hvar. I was by myself most of the time so I relied on my GPS to find my way around. I used this Croatia GPS map - http://www.gpstravelmaps.com/croatia.php Maybe I am not a good traveler as some of the others on this board but I found it extremely useful. I also found a few geocaches along the way. If you have never tried geocaching then I highly recommend it. It helps one to explore areas that you would never think of adventuring too. Again, this is why I used the my Garmin 60cSX to explore. I highly recommend Croatia to anyone thinking about planning a holiday. I spent three weeks here, I can't wait to go back again!