Cameron

I've read about red, green and yellow Michelin maps/atlases. I want a good map for driving in France. I don't have local access to these maps, I will have to order it/them, so I want to be sure I'm ordering what I need. Thanks for your help.

Iregeo

Hi Cameron. Red guides tell about restaurants/lodging. Green guides tell about cities/sites. Sorry, never heard of yellow. Look at Michelin's website -- that should help you decide.

Underhill

About the maps: the Michelin maps are red for the whole country, yellow for regions (such as Provence, Normandy, etc.), and blue for large cities. The red Michelin guide has city plans and is very useful; the green guides also have maps and suggested itineraries.

laverendrye

In addition to the red, orange and blue maps, yellow maps are local maps covering all of France (1:150,000 to 1:200,000 or so), and green maps are so-called zoom maps, covering the surroundings of several large cities and tourist areas, e.g. Paris, Lyons, Côte d'Azur.

laverendrye

I should have mentioned that orange maps are regional maps and are available for many countries, not just France. They cover larger areas than the yellow maps.

Christina

I think there are redish/orange, yellow and green Michelin maps -- red or orange are larger areas, and yellow is sort of in-between local/regional. I think Michelin calls yellow local. Green ones are also local but only in regions that have some large urban areas. For Provence, you can buy both a yellow or green map because there are a lot of cities so they have a green map.

The scale is different, green maps cover a smaller area so the map is bigger, so to speak. I prefer green maps, although I think most folks get yellow ones. The scale on green ones is about 1:100,000 to 1:150,000 or so and on yellow ones about 1:200,000 so it is not a detailed.

I find Michelin yellow maps difficult to read and use, myself, but in France they sort of have a monopoly. I think it would depend where you are going as to which map might suit you best, unfortunately. I bought the green one for Provence because I preferred it to the yellow one, but I could only tell that upon looking at it at a store.

Cameron

Thank you all, very much!!

Cameron

Underhill, I have just printed several of your trip reports from the Bonjour Paris site and will enjoy reading them this afternoon. They look wonderful!!

Underhill

Thanks, Cameron. I hope you have an excellent time in France! Where all are you going? If you'll be in Paris, be sure to buy a Plan de Paris, which comes in various sizes and is indispensable for finding your way around. It has listings of all the major sights.

Cameron

Underhill, the tentative plan is a week each in Beaune, St Remy and Sarlat. Sound ok? I've been doing a lot of reading and highlighting a lot of places on the map. Will try to connect the dots without rushing around too much.

Underhill

Cameron,

You are giving yourself a nice amount of time in each place and will be able to really enjoy your time there. Each town puts you centrally in a good sightseeing area, which is ideal, and the drive from one to another won't be punishing. You might, though, cut Beaune to 6 nights and tack on an extra one for the trip from the St.-Rémy area up to Sarlat, spending a night along the way so that you can better enjoy the very scenic route.

SalB

We use the Michelin Green Guides for information about tourist sites.

We drive a lot and always get a new copy of the yellow Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas. The latest one is a smaller format (although thicker) and easier to pack. It is a spiral bound book 9"X 12" and it contains every tiny little road in France and is invaluable if you manage to get lost (as we often do).

The nice thing about it is that you don't need to carry a bunch of different maps with you. It's all in one book and very comprehensive. There are city maps in the back that will get you parked and then you can pick up a free map of the city at the local tourist offices.

We usually get our Atlas at Borders and I'm sure it's available on their web site.

Have a great trip.

cmt

My maps are orange. They cover various chunks of Italy: Sicily, south, central, northeast, northwest. I have a French one of a different color that's not very useful because it lacks an index. I bought it through mail order. Who would ever guess that a detailed map would lack an index?

My guide books are green. I've also looked at the red guides to hotels and restaurants.

Underhill

I second the suggestion about getting the Michelin atlas, especially if you can pick one up at a hypermarché at a good price. The atlas is great when you want to find a particular location and aren't quite sure where it might be found on a map.

AJPeabody

If you are going into more than a very few areas, get the yellow "Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas France," a spiral bound collection of about 180 1 to 200,000 scale maps covering all of France. That way, no matter where you go, you don't fall off the edge of the map. There is also a full atlas of place names and what appears to be most or all of the city maps from the red guide. It's about $20 and well worth it.

icithecat

Isn't 'the colour of my michelin' rather a personal question to be asking on a forum?
Sorry it is Friday night.

In France we bought five yellow maps for the Normandy, Britany, Loire Valley areas we visited.

We bought them at a store in Paris for much less than our local bookstores were offering.

They were soo detailed that they showed roads narrower than our driveway.

Cameron

icithecat, Too personal? Perhaps, but it got your attention, didn't it?

Thanks, everyone, for your help!