Does anyone know what is the best road map for Ireland?

The Michelin (#923) Motoring Map of Ireland 2003 is without doubt the best general map of the country. It covers the Island of Ireland to a scale of 1:400,000 (1cm = 4km).

The ordinance survey map is very detailed and requires a lot of page turning, but if you are going off the beaten path, you should have it. I'd get the Michelin one too. You can get it in atlas format (which I prefer) and it includes the UK. I hate folding out the big maps and my wife hates them more.

Bill

I'll also be in the market for a good road map. Should I buy one ahead of time or will I be able to get one quickly once I land at Shannon? The Michelin website has been very helpful but I've heard the detail of the ordinance survey is better when you're out on the road. Any idea of where to get one or the other in the US?

We used the Michelin Atlas (the one Bill mentioned) when we were in Ireland in March. And we were very happy with it. Very good detail and, as Bill pointed out, no folding problems! We bought ours at Borders shortly after we found out we were going and used it in planning the trip.

We borrowed a friend's osi atlas for our 2002 trip and got one of our own for our trip later this month (yay!).

Bill is right...lots of page turning on the OSI map, but we liked the details for wandering (either by choice or when lost). I print out aaroadwatch directions for base to base directions. On those, I write down the correspnding atlas page numbers. This avoids some of the page turning, but allows me to find us on the map quickly if we choose to change our route.

I ordered the OSI map from Amazon UK.

oopsy

you can order the ordnance survey maps online direct from Ordnance Survey in Ireland. I did this, and got them in about 10 days.

http://irishmaps.ie/

In the Shannon Arrivals Hall (opposite the Car Hire Desks) is a Tops Shop, a multi-purpose convenience store. They have racks full of the OSI Discovery Series Atlases, which were priced at 12 Euro 90 when I was there the begining of April. Considering that the individual OSI maps run about 8 - 9 Euro EACH, that's a pretty good deal. There is also a Tourist Information Office that sells maps and guide books, as well.

Bob

Perfect-thanks!