Sicily Driving Map
 

We will be doing a lot of driving and would like your recommendations for your favorite paper maps for Sicily. We will also be downloading some smaller maps for walking around and if you have used things you liked, I would love to hear about it. Thanks. We probably won't use a GPS.

One of Michelin's maps -- preferably with as much detail as possible.
For local maps, I like the ones in the Rough Guide.

Hi tuscanlifeedit,

I took a Tom Tom GPS loaded with the current Western European maps, a Michelin Sicily map, and a off-line Sicily map for my smart phone. This was my second trip using a GPS and I was very happy that it worked nearly perfectly for me. Only the usual and expected exceptions of it having some difficulties in the ancient towns. After you have used one a couple times you know when to ignore it and rely more on your common sense. My main reason for the GPS was to have verbal directions as a solo driver. For a solo driver, I think GPS is the best option.

I like the paper map for an overall understanding of where places are and the towns enroute and I'm a very good paper map reader. Other than that I only used the paper map once when the GPS guided me off my preferred route between Agrigento and Piazza Armerina.

Never did use the off-line Sicily cell phone map.

Anyway the Michelin maps are what I use for all my trips.

I haven't ever used a paper map in Europe. Went from Garmin to smart phones.

I have printed out Google Map directions before but even that simple map, you have to find your current approximate location in relation to your destination. That often means pulling off the side of the road to unfold maps, look at it and then refold it.

Why not use GPS?

I generally like Michelin maps b/c they are very detailed and show scenic routes, etc., however, I never once used the Michelin map I bought for Sicily. I had a Touring Club Italiano map, also very detailed, which I also never used. Instead, I used a very basic map that someone gave me in Sicily, and it was more than sufficient.

The autostrada and the secondary highways are very well marked and it's pretty easy to find your way around. I studied a couple of online maps before I left for specific places I knew I wanted to visit and that was helpful. I also like to get directions from hotels where I'll be staying, which is also very helpful.

I guess it all depends on one's route and what one hopes to see. I visited Sicily without a GPS, and found a number of occasions upon which having a detailed map was invaluable -- and I only had a car for 3 days of my 2+ weeks on the island.

Michelin map no. 365 Local is very detailed, excellent for driving the small roads to non-touristy places.

Would those maps have roads that are not in Google Maps? Or places (hotels, restaurants, attractions, etc.) that Google Maps wouldn't have?

I'm not saying Google Maps is more up to date but it has the potential to be updated far more often than maps which must be published.

Get a good charger cord and mount for the phone.

And Google Maps is also useful when you're walking around an unfamiliar town, BTW. I remember there were some side streets in Taormina that I couldn't follow without GPS actually showing my location relative to a restaurant I was trying to find.

Why no Sat Nav? I guess because we never use one and we don't own one. Sometimes at home we use our phones, but aren't planning on streaming data in Sicily. There are two of us, and we've traveled many places with paper maps. I am going to double check but I think the data plan we're buying doesn't give us much.

Micheline and Auto Touring Club are the maps we generally use for the rest of Italy. I have a Micheline Italy Atlas I'll drag out to see how it looks in Sicily. It's super heavy and I actually had to but up the French one (even heavier because of more detail) but it may come in handy.

Any particular ratio that people like best?

If you have an unlocked phone, you can buy a SIM for it, maybe 20-30 Euros or a lot less if you don't plan to use much data at all.

But if you're not used to using GPS, it may take some adjusting to.

One thing with Google Maps is that you can preplan a lot of locations into it, like your hotels, maybe some restaurants or places you plan to drive to. Do this all on a computer.

Then log into the same Google account on Google Maps app. on your phone and all those saved locations are available, though it doesn't take much to tap in their names and find them in the phone app. that way either.

One good thing about saving locations like that is that you won't forget them later or you save places you may or may not visit but it's there if you decide to go to them.

scrb, I like the idea of saving places in Google maps. I don't have an unlocked phone, so the SIM plan is out. However, I will be weighing my options of data usage through Verizon. Last year in England we used a plan that worked well for us but we were only there for a short week. This time, we are gone for two weeks so I'm not sure which of their plans I'm going to use. I guess I do want the GPS for the hell of it, but I'm a map person at heart.

Yeah I hear the Verizon plans aren't that good.

However, if it's a recent Verizon plan like the iPhone, it would be unlocked on a GSM network.

You can confirm with Verizon but any recent phones should be that way, since CDMA is used on few networks, manufacturers make phones with at least GSM frequencies. So you should be able to get SIMs, though I'm not sure if it's easy to get SIMs in Sicily. Definitely in Rome and other big cities. I would expect Palermo and Catania should be okay, with actual TIM and Vodafone shops.

But I'm actually going to Sicily myself in early May, flying in from Malta to PMO. However, my plan is to get a rental car out of the airport and drive to Trapani. So I'll have to search if I can find TIM shops without having to go into Palermo, which I plan to avoid driving into.

If you decide to use the phone for GPS, you may find you'll use other apps. for travel. For instance, you can get TripAdvisor and it will show you restaurants and other attractions nearby, sorted either by distance from your current location or by rankings.

You can purchase Fodor's apps. of different cities and countries which will have similar content -- hotel and restaurant listings as well as some editorial describing the place. Or for free apps, check out Triposo. I've downloaded TimeOut apps. when they were free. Again the content isn't any better than what you'd get in a guidebook or websites like fodors.com or frommers.com. But there may be times when it's handy to look up that info. if you're not near a computer or carrying a guidebook -- I've stopped doing so myself years ago.

I'm always intrigued by how differently people approach planning travel and actual travel! I use maps extensively when I plan my trips -- large ones, small ones, paper and on-line, etc. When I drive abroad, I want my own GPS system -- one that I purchased some years ago specifically for traveling abroad (I don't even own a car IRL) -- but GPS or not, I want a good paper map with me for back-up. For the time I spend in a city or at a specific location, I want the map I studied when planning, usually from a guidebook, but sometimes from google maps, and either way, marked up with places of relevance to my plans. The one thing I do NOT want is to find myself using a phone to navigate! I know I'm an outlier on this issue, but I don't ever want to be looking at a phone when I travel -- I want to be sure to be looking around me wherever I am, seeing everything I can possibly see with each and every step. I'd actually rather get a bit lost than use a phone -- and yes, I have gotten a bit lost now and again, but never so much that I regret not having instant navigation at my fingertips. But that's just me, and vive la difference!

If you have a photographic memory that you can look at the paper maps for a couple of minutes and then never have to see it again until you get to where you want, then more power to you.

But for me, I'd have to consult it, which means pulling over and unfolding the thing.

Or as is often the case, on my way to a destination, I may look for gas stations nearby or parking garages or restaurants. Ideally you decide on these stopovers BEFORE you depart. But that isn't always the case so you can make course adjustments much more easily with a GPS than with paper maps.

Google Maps doesn't tell you when or where to turn. It gives directions like exit this ramp but stay on the left lanes so that you can turn left into this street. Paper maps don't give you lane guidance.

I don't understand the resistance to this aspect of technology. Twenty five years ago, we wouldn't even have a forum like this one to exchange travel advice. Or use the web to get travel information, book flights and hotels, etc.

Most travelers were able to stop using travel agents or depending on guide books which were at least a couple of years old to find hotels in distant places because of technology. Does anyone here still depend on calling the airlines to see what flights are available or do they search on the web?

So while most people here and on other web forums are using technology to research, book and plan their trips, there are some who don't trust using GPS? And arguing for dedicated GPS versus smart phone GPS is also nonsensical too but I won't get into that for now.

I can understand if they were complete luddites or really didn't use ANY technology but why is the web okay and the phone okay for certain types of uses (texting, checking weather or currency exchange rates) but not phone GPS?

@ scrb11: ??? I think my willingness to use a GPS covers the intercity issues.... I'm not at all resistant to technological advances -- I just choose when and how to use them to suit my particular purposes. I choose not to use a phone to navigate when on foot in a city. As already mentioned, I want to focus my attention upward and outward, and it isn't all that difficult to remember a route from one place to the next. And in honesty, I actually like getting a bit lost in the cities to which I travel -- I see some things I would never otherwise see, and often learn enough about the neighborhoods around my hotel or other places that matter to me to allow me to get around just by recognizing places. That's MY choice, and one that I think I rather clearly stated is just MY preference. I'm not sure why my comments warranted such a screed.... Of course, if these technologies serve you well, use them! As I said, vive la difference!

OK, I thought you meant you didn't use GPS when driving.

I was just trying to understand why an aversion to use it for driving, which is clearly an improvement over paper maps while driving

That's why I said, "When I drive abroad, I want my own GPS system -- one that I purchased some years ago specifically for traveling abroad (I don't even own a car IRL)."

Maybe we can now return to the OP's preferences and needs? And maybe assume that the OP might have reasons for a particular choice? And that the OP doesn't owe us an explanation? I suspect that you are doing your best to offer the advice that you think best, but I remember that when I first joined Fodor's, so many people told me what I MUST do, with demands to justify my choices, that it took me years to actually participate at all, let alone with honesty. I think it's well worth remembering that people travel with all sorts of interests and preferences and reasons, and while we can suggest options for consideration, arguing about MUSTS is not necessarily a good idea. Again, JMO.

@ scrb11: Re-reading, I can understand that my last message might have come across much more critically than I intended. My first forays onto Fodor’s were met with such criticism that I remain sensitive to some of the issues, even these many years later. I offer my apologies for the ways in which my defense of my own position ended up seeming a criticism of yours.

Well, as I said, I have an iPhone 6 that isn't unlocked. As much as I would like an unlocked phone that I can drop a SIM into, to get personal here for a moment, I scrimp in order to subsidize my very young grandchildren who are in a tough situation. I still want to travel, but on a shoe string budget is the way that I'm comfortable. At home we use GPS on our phones for navigation. Not on the cards for Sicily. We are taking an iPad, and will have wifi in most of our accommodations.

So back to one of my original questions: what ratio do people prefer for driving with paper maps?

No problems.