I am leaving fr my trip in weeks time. Should I carry city maps? Where can I get them? Are they free? I dont plan to drive around. Plan to visit Paris, Rome, Venice Florence. Please advice!

Hi<BR>I'm sure you already suspect that you will want some maps. Some tourist offices and even front counters at hotels, McDonald's, etc, offer pretty good maps for free. I am a compulsive planner so I like to have them in advance so I can try to orient myself a bit. I also like a lot of detail, especially for cities like Paris and Rome which are large and which have old sections with very tiny streets that are not labeled on some maps.<BR><BR>These are my recommendations if you want to buy them in advance from Amazon.com or your bookstore:<BR>Paris--the Streetwise Map is 90% complete for my purposes, but I supplement it with the more detailed Paris Map Guide which is a little booklet that also contains some info good for visitors.<BR><BR>Rome: Streetwise wasn't complete enough for me, it left out too many small streets. I liked Michelin's<BR>Roma Tascibile (I think I spelled it correctly) booklet for the detail, but I still used the Streetwise for a city-wide orientation.You can find the Michelin map mentioned above if you do a search in Amazon on Rome Map.<BR><BR>Venice--Streetwise Venice has everything you will need I think.<BR><BR>Florence--ditto, Streetwise.<BR><BR>Good luck.<BR>

Also, National Geographic makes a pretty decent map for most European cities. They're available the same places Michelin & Streetwise. The Nat'l Geographice (& I think Streetwise) are laminated with a slick surface (&still easy to fold). The slick surface is really nice because you can write all over it & then wipe it away later!

about writing on the laminated maps ... use a felt tip pen, of course!

ttt

Second the recommendation for the Paris Map Guide; bought mine through Amazon. I don't think it misses a street! Has the metro and bus lines on each page also.

I also like the Paris Mapguide (and the London Mapguide). They are in booklet form - easier to carry and read on the street. If you are looking for them online it is important to note that Mapguide is one word, not two - otherwise they won't come up in your search. You can also find them at many large bookstores, like Borders and Barnes and Noble.