After a week in Paris, we will be taking the train to Dijon and will rent car to drive 3 days through Burgandy and end up in Aix-en-Provence for 7 nights - using it as our base to explore Provence. I'm told the Michelin maps are the best, but which ones? Can we buy them in Paris before we leave so we have some time to study them? Will they be detailed enough to find most of the small hill towns in Provence? Thanks

You'll probably want the yellow maps with a scale 1" to 3 miles appx. #s 243, 244, and 245 will cover your turf. Also, a series of #70, 74, 76, 77, 80, and 83 would serve the same purpose with a smaller handful. There is no index on these maps so you might prefer a general atlas, which would best be purchased in France. There are plenty of bookstores on Blvd. St. Michel.

YOu can buy Michelin maps all over France very easily, they are everywhere.

I really don't like them, but it's about all there is for those areas in France. One reason I don't like them is because there is no index, and I also find them hard to read and with complicated markings. LUckily, I knew fairly well the places where I wanted to visit so could find them on the map (I have the 245 yellow), but that wasn't much good for trying to find small places by name when you weren't quite sure where they were.

I think they have now replaced the yellow maps with orange ones - anyone know for sure?

A word of caution: buy the maps BEFORE you get to the area where you'll need them. Our experience has been that maps for local areas are often sold out. Since you'll be driving, look for large supermarkets that have a book section--good places to buy an atlas at a discount, along with the red Michelin Guide. That is particularly useful for town maps as they show the various routes into and out of large towns.

There are two excellent bookstores along the Cours Mirabeau in Aix where you will find all the local Michelin maps which you'll need. Using them, you can explore to your heart's content - tiny villages included.

-Kevin

I advise getting maps before you go, to aid in your research of where to go and how to get there.

So do I , Ron, you can buy them on line if you live in an area that doesn't sell maps. Recently someone on another forum couldn't find an indexed Michelin for the Dordogne and I referred her to our travel book store here in Cambridge who sells it.

We use the Michelin France Tourist and Motoring Atlas. It's a spiral bound book with every roady and byway in France in it. It has an index and separate city maps of larger cities.

You can get detailed city maps at the city tourist info office.

I ordered a few maps from the following store on June 5, just rceived two, and am waiting for one on back order:
http://www.globecorner.com/welcome.html These are "local" French maps, and each has an INDEX. I'd been searching for a Dordogne map with an index, and I hate maps that lack an index. The maps I just got are a golden yellow, with a yellowish orange band. There's no date, so I don't know whether it's an old or a new series. There was an old series of yellow (a cooler lighter yellow, more lemony) regional maps that did not have an index. There was also an old series of blue departmental maps, but I have no idea whether they had an index. Other blue French road maps are published by IGN rather than Michelin.

INDEXES: I repeat "Michelin France Tourist and Motoring Atlas. It's a spiral bound book with every road and byway in France in it. It has an index and separate city maps of larger cities."

If you want an index, get the atlas. It's easily available from Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon.com.

Yes, the orange maps have replaced the yellow ones, now with different numbers.
I really think studying the maps before going there is a good idea, and helps tremendously with planning. I recently returned from a 2-week driving trip to Provence, and being familiar with the names of towns really helped alot. Same in Burgundy last year. This is especially important because the road signs in France mostly have names instead of route numbers, so it's extremely helpful to know the names of towns up ahead.

A great website for ordering maps is:
www.languagequest.com. I have ordered from them twice, and they seem to have everything in stock. I received my orders in just a few days.

The new orange ones are "regional," while the current deep yellow ones are "local," i.e. cover a smaller area than the orange. (They are completely different from the old lemon yellow ones.0

I like Michelin's spiral bound book. It has an index and it is easier to use than spreading a large map out in the car.