Advice for best type of Michelin maps

you might try some maps from the Auto Club, or go to a larger Barnes & Noble and browse. My issue with Michelin maps (and their guidebooks as well) is they are just too densely packed with info. Tourists generally just need the overview, obvious ways to get to the obvious places. Those are the types of maps that Rick puts in his books.

wow! That was fast! I have tried a large book store but they were out. ...lots of travelers this summer. Great idea about auto club. I'll try AAA tomorrow. Thank you.

Michelin offer all types. Country, regions, cities etc. I bought most of them at Barnes and Noble.,For Italy I often have bought their Touring Co, like AAA in US but not connected. Check google and Amazon. The regional ones are better as you get more detail.

The Michelin maps are extremely easy to buy locally. Just stop at the first rest stop out of Paris on the A13 (Morainvilliers) and you'll find them.
You basically have the choice between country maps (red), regional maps (orange) and local maps (yellow). The country maps are good to plot a cross-country route but useless for touring a region - they became much less useful since the advent of online mapping. The local maps are basically a zoomed-in version of regional maps: if a local map covers the entire area you want to your, then go for it, otherwise pick the regional one. The regional ones can be huge, some are even 2-sided.

Balso and Periscope, I really appreciate your detailed thoughts. I'm going to make my purchase today! Thank you!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the spiral-bound maps Michelin publishes for the entire country. They're laid out similar to the ones in the U.S. (which are often on a state-wide basis) and are specifically designed for auto drivers and truckers.

It's the kind of map where, as you approach the edge of the map, you just flip the page to get to a continuation (or a few pages for north-south directions).

You can buy them at pretty much any aire (rest stop) along the autoroute. Much more practical inside a car than a large flat map, which is difficult to re-fold properly.

Visiting France almost every year I look for places off-the-beaten-path, that means most of time exploring the countryside. For this the yellow Michelin “Departemental” maps are for me perfect with star ratings for places of interest and suggestions for scenic itineraries. This way I have discovered many hidden gem. But if you only visit the main tourist hotspots most of the time the red Michelin “National” maps have enough detail to get where you want as in most cases these places are well signposted from the main roads. So have an idea where to go before buying maps. And as already said the maps are very easy to get not only along the freeways/toll roads but also in larger supermarkets like E.Leclerc, Hypermarché and so on you can decide on the spot. Prices around €6.-

Last June the yellow Lot, Tarn-et-Garonne map (number 337) was all I needed for the Dordogne region. If you want to explore off-the-beaten-path areas a map for planning and a GPS is a good combination for navigating around. A GPS is convenient especially for finding those places with complicated names you have so many in France.

For driving around densily populated areas like Paris I have a green Michelin “Zoom” / Environs de Paris map with even more detail. Just an example.

Im having trouble finding the maps I want so I am going to wait until we are on the road. Such detailed tips have been very helpful

In the meantime, this link to ViaMichelin will take you to 5-10 year-old digitized copies of the paper maps. The link won't be valid forever, but for now it should work. It points to northern Spain, but you can pan and zoom to get to Normandy (easier on a laptop, but works on a smartphone in a pinch).

Did you check Amazon? I was able to purchase Southern France (725 National) but it was too big. I then purchased Provence Alps French Riviera (527 Regional) and Rhone Alps (523 Regional). All came next day from Amazon. I used them for general planning, but I used Google maps and Waze when going point to point..

Balso, thanks for the link. Zooming in at a certain level the star ratings of places of interest start to appear, you will get the level of detail well comparable with the yellow maps. So you can already looking for further information at home without having the yellow maps. For instance using Google Streetview for getting an impression of places you intend to visit.

Personally, I like the IGN maps. But they are hard to find in the states. I have a whole collection of their maps for Normandy that accompany me on my regular trips there. One is even framed next to my desk to tempt me between trips.