dugi_otok

Having said this I used Lady Garmin on my last two trips. She guided me to bike path only in the Dordogne, a cemetery in Gordes,a one way street in Siena, and a get off the motorway in Italy when the accident was in the on coming direction. But she helped me find my hotels while I was walking in the old cities of Salzburg and Dubrovnik. Also found me gas stations in cities-Munich and Avignon. I programed her from home for hotels like a gite in Sarlat foothills and Kevins B&B in the Luberon. It was great when she told me you have arrived at Le Mas Perreal.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Stu - Excellent point about Michelin's love of designating any road that goes through a forest or along a river as scenic. I might add that there are many roads I consider scenic which Michelin does not. Overall I think they do a pretty good job though.

StCirq

<<Use a GPS. Been there, got lost more than once, using maps. Details are hard to read on a map. What FrenchMystiqueTours said. Gps tells you when to turn, etc. We now use maps as a backup. When you are in a town, the Michelin maps do not work. They do not list local streets, etc. GPS does and can get you out of town, down one way streets, etc. a lot faster than gustimating.>>

The only time I have ever been seriously lost in France was the one time I rented a car that came with a GPS. It was absolutely useless, and I ended up in a farmer's barnyard driveway.

Michelin maps almost always have major city maps included on them, on the side folds. They are excellent. And you can always get a detailed city map ahead of time anyway. I wonder how many of those people who got whopping fines in the ZTLs in Italy were using GPs - I'd bet a lot of them.

Anyway, use what you want, but I use maps. And it's a rare day when I get lost or don't know exactly where I am.

rhon

For our first two trips to France, we used the Michelin road atlas. DH drove and I navigated, and yes, we are still happily married. We found it detailed enough, and we like to get off the major roads. For our next two trips, we also had a GPS. They are useful for navigating through larger towns and finding parking. But, as others have said, they are not infallible. We are still using our battered map book. We like to still plan our trips from A to B ourselves as we often want to detour. The maps have so much information - green scenic roads, chateaux etc. The GPS is an aid we use sometimes.

Besides, you could do worse than be lost in France!!! Well, I think so anyway.

isabel

I have the Michelin "France" Atlas - spiral bound, 1:200. I am kind of disappointed with it. As StCirq says, in several places the area I want to look at is split between two or more pages - you can't just fold it to cover the area you want, you have to keep flipping back and forth and don't get a good 'picture' of what you want to look at. It's also not detailed enough for some areas.

I found that the online Michelin maps are giving me more what I want. You can print out an area, then zoom in on a more detailed area, then zoom in again on a specific town. Then since I'm only printing one side I'm making notes on the back. So I'm kind of putting together my own 'atlas'. I think this might only work if you have an apple computer though, you need to do 'screen shots' before you print.

Also when the atlas I purchased came and I realized how heavy it was I knew there was no way I was going to take the whole thing with me, so I would have to be tearing out pages.

I have not used GPS in Europe (actually I have managed to get around quite well with just cheap or free local maps so I don't why I'm going to so much work for my upcoming trip other than I enjoy playing with maps) - but - I know GPS is constantly sending people past my house up a dirt road that is unpassable most of the year and then they have to stop and ask me how to get where they are going. God know what happens to them if someone isn't around to help them.

annhig

Problem is, I always seem to be headed to someplace where the pages of the atlas intersect, and it gets hard to read.>>

ain't that the truth.

and not just in France.

I agree about the Michelin Red guide - they are excellent in cities and large towns.

We have the advantage that if we are in France, we will always have driven there, so there are no limits [within reason] on what we can carry with us. I realise that if you are flying, the situation may be somewhat different.

loveyblue

Thanks so very much for all of the wonderful information you have shared about using GPS & a variety of maps!
I know this will make our trip much easier.
loveyblue