alainr

we are spending 6 days in puglia. i have been reading how difficult it is to find the hotels/bnbs even w/gps.
we plan tol buy a sim card in europe for our verizon iphones so that we will still have access to imessage,e tc.

It costs $90 to update our gramont gps for italy. is that the way to go?
or buy extra data time for the phone?
or rent it w/our car?

any suggestions?

kja

I used public transportation and pre-printed maps. No GPS, no smart phone, no stupid phone, and no problems.

It really depends on what you plan to do.

Good luck!

bilboburgler

1 do you know where you are going, Ie pre booked etc, then print out google map
2 I'd buy the local paper map (you remember them) Touring Club Italiano is a good range once you get to a town with a good book store, I can't remember your trip but Lecce has a good book store, for E10 you get most of the heel.

bilboburgler

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apulia-tci-R...=map+of+puglia for example of the Michelin equiv..

bilboburgler

"or"

brdcollie

About a year ago I used a Garmin GPS (sorry don't know which model, but one preloaded with western euro maps)in Veneto, Umbria, Emilia-Romagna, and Dolomites and it worked fine.

isabel

We were just there in July. We had the data plan for the iphone and used the iphone and google maps features on that. I would say it works about as well in Pulia as it does anywhere. Meaning it's wrong a good percentage of the time. (If I had a nickle for every person who stops at my house after seeing the 'no through traffic sign' but their gps is telling them to keep going......) But we rarely got lost, signage is good for finding towns. We always got close to the centro storicos but never drove into a TLZ. We booked hotels outside of the historic centers just because we didn't want to deal with trying to find them and risk driving in places we didn't want to. We were very glad we did. The centers of towns in Pulia are just like those in other Italian towns - you don't want to drive in them. Having a decent paper map for an overview was very helpful

ekscrunchy

During three week-long trips to the region, we relied only on paper maps and had no problem driving. We got confused a couple of times, and just stopped to ask directions.

aprillilacs

I have used all these methods at one time or another on various trips to Italy, except the phone data plan. You can certainly rely on a good map, but it is easier if you have a gps. On my trip to Puglia in May (report coming!) we forgot to bring our gps so we rented one from Hertz when we picked up the car in Naples. We had the car for 9 days, so at 18 euros a day it was pricey but saved a lot of hassles so we considered it worthwhile. Had one crazy adventure in central Ostuni, which gps seem to want to route you through (we were heading to Rome from the countryside near Ostuni at the end of our week) but otherwise it was really helpful. I think you should balance your comfort level with navigation by map against the cost of the gps and decide what works best for you. I have rarely regretted spending an extra chunk of money for a smoother trip (same holds true for prearranged transport from the airport to a villa or hotel rather than using public transport--sometimes it's just worth that extra cost!). And remember, if you pay to download the Italy map on your own gps, you can use it again on your next trip--if you remember to bring it.

ParisAmsterdam

Have maps but take your own Garmin. You'll know how to use it rather than a strange unit in the rented car. 90 dollars may sound a lot but the cost for GPS rental is often 15-20 dollars a day. You can use the European Garmin maps for other countries for trips in the future too.

greg

If you followed responses you got in your other thread, http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ingroaming.cfm and bought a TIM SIM with data as recommended, then you can use your iPhone for navigation. No need to bring or update your dedicated GPS unit. You need a way to mount and power your iPhone as GPS is a prodigious consumer of the phone battery.