Having read so many recommendations on this board, we will probably buy a Plan de Paris par Arrondissement the minute we hit the ground. But...having already bought the Knopf Mapguide to Paris (which divides the city into eight sections and has a foldout map of each), I'm wondering if anyone out there has used it and, if so, what you think of it? Just curious. Thanks.

ttt

I just used it last week. We've bought them for a number of different cities because we like their format. What I really like is that you are not struggling with a huge map blowing around in the wind. My only complaint is that some of the teenier streets were not identified. But, there weren't really that many that made it a problem. the convenience factor overweights this. The only other comment I have is tht if you move out of the areas covered by the book, which you might rarely do, you will need another map.

I have the Paris Knopf map and it is the last knofmap I would buy. Hated using it for the reasons outlined above. Now carry the lonely planet condensed booklet that has an adequate map that is easy to use.

Hello kagoo,

you get town plans of Paris (city inside the peripherique, or arrondissements 01-20, size approx. A 4 when unfolded) for free at your hotelīs desk. These are issued by Galeries Lafayette or Le Printemps department stores. They indicate streets, major sights and metro stations, and provide in addition a little Metro and RER plan. Very useful, as they can be folded to a quite small size. Those town maps also make good souvenirs, btw.

If you find out, that they wontīt fit to your wishes, you can get a town map at every newsstand. You will have to look for a newsstand anyway, just to get Pariscope and Nouvel Observateur (Pariscope is a weekly list of all events, Nouvel Observateuer a weekly newsmagazine with an additional listing of tv programs and listing of cultural events.

We use the Plan de Paris. It shows every street and fits in your pocket. We use the Indespensible Bus Guide for the bus routes because it shows the streets the buses run on. While the Galeries maps are OK for getting oriented, they are totally useless in actually finding a street address.
When we go to Paris and choose some restaurants to try or places to visit, I print out maps from maporama. Put in a notebook and on the day we go to a place, pull it out to get there.