Where to buy a really GOOD roadmap of France
 

I will be arriving at CDG early November, pick up a leased car, and then head directly to Loire Valley. I'll be driving for over six weeks, so I really want a quality map, not just depend on GPS. I was hoping to avoid going into central Paris - I would REALLY like not to have to go inside the peripherique, but I will if I must. I was hoping to go A86 all the way around the SE of Paris to the A10. Any suggestions? Or any specific maps that ARE available online. There doesn't seem to be a very large selection available online or at any of the typical outlets (Barnes & Noble, etc.) I don't mind having a large-ish atlas because I'll be using it for such a long time. The trip will be through France and Italy.

Please don't drive a long distance straight after a long flight. I assume you are crossing the Atlantic. You will be a danger to yourself and others, it is the equivalent of driving drunk.
Familiarise yourself with the rules of the road in France, speed limits, road signs. Make sure your car has a Critair sticker.
Amazon has road atlases of France.
There is currently a fuel strike in France and real shortages of petrol and diesel. You need to keep an eye on that as there doesn't seem to be an end in sight at the moment.

We just returned from a three week road trip of Puglia and Sicily. Believe it or not, our google maps app led us correctly the whole way! Because we have Sprint/TMobile, we also had full use of free data (slowish) and unlimited text messages. The GPS rarely failed us (tunnels!). So even though we brought our maps, we did not use them. By the way, we had a Michelin map of Italy and picked up a AAA map which included four countries. We were surprised: the AAA map was more current, listed more towns and roads than the dedicated Michelin map.
Happy navigating!

The service stations along the autoroute always have a good selection of local Michelin or IGN maps.

Our last trip to France, just before the covid outbreak, I had plenty of maps. The rental car had GPS, so I didn't use a map the whole trip, except for walking within a city center. Now I would just use Google maps from my mobile phone. I got used to it driving to new addresses locally at home.

Nothing can beat a paper map for spreading it across the hotel bed to examine all of the possibilities for the next day. Looking at a tiny phone screen is pathetic in comparison.

I think there are map people, then everyone else. Map people find a thrill in just what you describe. You all know who you are.

I forgot that part, which is what we did. I was thinking about only the driving part.

RE: driving immediately after flight: Thanks for your concern. As my handle indicates, I did "World Wide Wine Tours" before retiring. I traveled to France or Italy at least twice per year for about a decade. I am familiar with road signs, traffic laws, etc. I speak both French and Italian. Renault, Citroen, and virtually all vehicles they provide in their lease/buyback programs have the Crit'air stickers. And we are traveling 1st class, so I can assure you we WILL be well rested upon arrival.
And I keep tabs on the fuel situation weekly. I know that neither the price of gas, nor its availability are going to be easy pills to swallow, but as with so many other possible issues, it's part of what one expects when traveling.

Not only is this one of the primary considerations for having good maps, but EN ROUTE decisions can be made MUCH more effectively (in my opinion) than dealing with a 5-inch screen (6-in, 8-in, whatever) and scrolling up/down, zooming in/out. You get the big picture at a glance. But yes, GPS is a fundamental necessity for going directly to a new address.

hetismij2: Thus far I have been unable to find suitable maps on Amazon or any other online marketplace. The scale is too large for them to be effective, plus at least the ones I'm finding are outdated. Hence, this thread.
joan: I have the AAA maps as well. I am just hoping to find something with a better scale so it doesn't look so "BUSY". But they will do in a pinch.

But don't tell the younger generation that doesn't know about paper maps. Let them miss all of the side trips and hidden gems.

Or not going to the address as happens often enough. I regularly had to figure out where GPS had sent guests when I had an Airbnb. And never the same wrong place twice. I'm not a believer.

If you stop in any medium sized (or larger) city, try to stop in a FNAC store, which carries a full selection of all possible maps.

I still use paper maps for planning and then take them with me. I have to see the "big" picture to understand and choose routes that include sightseeing points (which I sometimes hear about after I get there). I love GPS in the car/phone for turn-by-turn directions, arrival time calculation, etc., but make sure your GPS search is for the correct town. There are often towns with the same or a nearly identical name... another reason to confirm routing on a paper map.

For France, I prefer Michelin maps at regional scale and a map for every region I'm driving through. For some areas (Loire Valley may be one of them), you need two maps for complete coverage. A single map that covers the entire country wouldn't be helpful to me.

Like Jean and Kerouac, I use paper maps for planning at home and take them with me, and I also have to see the "big picture". I annotate them and choose routes that include scenic stopovers and circle them.

Jean makes an excellent point about the GPS search, making sure you're searching for the correct town, since there can be towns with the same name (this has happened to us on more than one occasion).

I use the Michelin yellow departmental/local maps for most regions and the green, very detailed zoom maps (for the Landes, Côte Basque, Pyrénées). For our Brittany trip, I needed two, 308 and 309, for complete coverage. For Normandy, I also needed two, the 303 and 302 for the entire region. For the Loire I used 317 and 318.
I purchased them either on Amazon, at a French bookstore or tabac or at a FNAC.

I love printed maps! As Mme Perdu says, you're either a map person or you're not.

I do just as Jean

A few years ago we invested in a ?Michelin map book of France with a spiral binding. Absolutely invaluable and so easy to use. No folding and unfolding of maps, no fiddling around trying to find the right one, and really easy to find the right page. It might weigh a bit heavy in the luggage but worth every penny.

We just returned from a four-week road trip in France. Picked up our car in Lyon and dropped it in Tours. We used this road atlas - the scale is very good, and it can lie flat because of the spiral binding. Easy ordering on Amazon.
We had a GPS in our rental car - this was the first rental we've had in France that the speed limit was NOT shown on the GPS in our rental car. The speed cameras are everywhere, and while there are signs warning that they are in use, often the actual speed limit is not posted for a few km afterwards. We got a speeding ticket for going 74 in a 70kph zone.

We had a Michelin road atlas that we used several years back but it looks like they aren't publishing them anymore. :unsure:

scdreamer,
That's a good reminder about speed limits. The Sat Nav in our rental car didn't alert us to the upcoming speed traps, while "the voice" on my I-phone mapping did. That's why I do use both.

That is because it is illegal in Fance for any GPS system to give you locations of speed cameras. Been that way for many many years.

If the scale is too large then what is your ideal?
Maps will be out of date. In the past by around two years. AC (after Covid) who knows how long it takes for them to be revised. The revision time is due to amount of time adding new details to existing information. Then checks to ensure it is correct, publishing and distribution.
Seeing as you are not proposing to fly and drive perhaps you should look for a bookshop near where you are staying.
Personally, never liked spiral bound road atlas. The holes always were placed at a point I needed to see the details.;)

Actually, in my OP, I stated that I AM intending to fly and drive immediately upon picking up the auto @CDG.
As for the scale, using the AAA maps that I have now, the "Planning map of Europe" is 1: 4 000 000 That equates to (approx - I did this the old-fashioned way; with a ruler) 1" = 75 miles. The regional maps (Italy/Austria/Switzerland) and (France/Benelux) indicate 1" = 20 miles, and the detail maps of larger cities on these two regional maps is 1" = 12 miles. This latter scale would be perfect for all of my en route needs.
scdreamer: Thanks! I will definitely take a look at those. Sounds like just the ticket. I like being able to lay it flat, and for me the spiral-bound is not an issue. My wife is always the navigator, and she is adept at integrating map/GPS/smartphone info. It's a team effort and after 30+ years, we're still married :)

Thank you Maribel & kerouac for the same advise; I believe my best bet is to wait until I arrive because fnac are everywhere, and I will be able to physically determine the map's value at point of sale. I did look at the Philip's - scdreamer - but the scale is even greater than the maps I currently have. So, I'll wait until I arrive. Once again, thanks Fodor world!

It was nothing to do with the location of the traffic cameras - it was that our GPS did not alert us to the speed limits. Every other GPS we've had in France (and anywhere else, including mine at home in California) shows the speed limit on the screen while one is driving.

A small side issue is I had quoted Maribel. I responded to the highlighted text in Red.

Depending on where you want to go in the Loire Valley, this map (#317) might cover the majority of your driving. Scale is 1" = 2.37 miles. Note Amazon has only 2 in stock.


FWIW, according to the Barnes & Noble website, an updated Michelin Loire Valley Map #517 will be published March 1, 2023. Scale is the same, but coverage area slightly different.

In case no one suggested the Michelin Road Atlas, it is bulky but comprehensive:

Wow, the Amazon map prices are impressive. In France they are less than 6 euros.

I believe a combination of GPS and paper maps is the way to go. If you're not using GPS then you must not be using a cell phone, microwaves, computers or any of those other silly newfangled inventions. :)

I love paper maps for trip planning, verifying what my GPS is telling me and just because knowing how to read a maps feels right.

But if you don't see the benefit of using GPS then you're making life harder than it needs to be. Once again, both in moderation is best in my opinion.

BTW...if you use Google Maps make sure to use the Offline Maps option and simply download all the areas you'll need, which will likely take multiple downloads. This takes away the "no signal" issue.

<<We had a Michelin road atlas that we used several years back but it looks like they aren't publishing them anymore. [img]images/smilies/emojis/1f615.png[/img]>>

KTTravel I was going to reply that in that case I will treat mine with even more care that usual but I see that they can still be obtained, if for a price.

Vanaarle - i like to use maps to see what is near where I am and to get a sense of the area which you can't get from GPS. Now I am a solo traveller they are no use whatsoever for working out a route as one is going along, but they are invaluable for telling you why you might want to go there and what there may be to see along the way. And if I've ever missed anything because it was obliterated by the spiral binding, I never missed it.

I just looked in my old France Michelin spiral map book. The spiral goes through a white border around the map, so it doesn't obliterate anything. However, the edge of a map can cut a word in half, with the other half on the next map.

That road atlas from Amazon is from 2018.

How many roads and towns were moved since then?

We fall into the use both maps and GPS camp. Most people seem recommend the Michelin road maps. We have a Michelin Road atlas - this is our second but not sure what year. We travel for longer than most people - our last three trips have been for ten weeks. The atlas suits us because if we were to take all the individual maps we would have excess baggage!! and I would have screwed it up in frustration because it never folds back easily. The spiral does not bother us, and for our first two trips, we relied solely on the atlas and my navigating skills (maybe). Anyway we are still married. I also find the atlas good when we are researching our trips. I open it up to the area we will be staying in and look up everything around it - towns, villages, natural features such as rivers, gorges, etc, chateaux. You can find out a lot more stuff than just relying on guides or even the departmental website.

We use the GPS to get through larger centres, show the speed limit ( hopefully ), give an approximate arrival time etc. But we like to do our planning with a map and I, as the passenger, have the book handy. We like to detour off on a scenic road or to a village which has a star and find this easier with a map. For that reason we like to have some control over where we go rather than just punching in A to B and following directions. This has always worked well for us in the past.

I was interested by your comment that Peugeot etc lease cars come with a crit air sticker. We leased a Peugeot in 2018 and it did not come with one. We hope to lease again next year - the cars are not up yet - , so I will be interested to see if it comes with one.

If possible, I always buy a spiral bound map book for all countries I visit, with the greatest detail possible. They are invaluable for really understanding where you are and what is around you. At one glance, you can see monuments, vistas, ruins, churches, and many other highlights . Of course I use GPS, but it is like driving with blinders on. You may have just passed something wonderful (if obscure) without knowing it. I have discovered so much treasure this way.

If a book is not available, then I have ordered maps on ye olde internet. A used map can be dirt cheap,

Yeah I haven't paper map in at least a decade.

May help you plan the trip better, to lay it out all the way.

You can do trip planning on a computer with Google Maps in the browser. It will actually calculate route that are at least 95% accurate now. Years ago, I've had Garmin lead me to these narrow back roads winding through hills, where there was really room for one car in either direction. Things have improved a lot since.

Here's the problem with the paper maps. You have to pull over, unfold the map and then locate your destination again as well as your current location. Then memorize the turns coming up. I remember doing that years ago, driving out of Florence and there were few places to pull over to make sure you were on the right path.

Great if you have photographic memory but otherwise, GPS is way better.

BTW, most people I think have a general idea of the places they are going to visit before they arrive at their destination, instead of looking at paper maps and making an impromptu trip. I can see browsing the web the night before or during breakfast and finding new information which would make you alter your plans. But doing some kind of map roulette?

This is true, as we who are paper-map-people know well. Those are places I think of as tourist magnets, sucking up most of the bodies so we who love our maps & study them in detail can plan to go to less-known sights and have them nearly to ourselves. I applaud all the non-map-users for their consistency & allowing us the benefit of this phenomenon.

I doubt paper maps show places which digital maps don't show.

There are few if any "off the beaten track" places left which hasn't been discovered by anyone and everyone, especially through online sources. In fact there are whole travel books written about these lesser known places.

That's another thing, some have moved on from travel guide books, able to find comparable info. online.