google maps?

Personally, I don't think anything - even GPS - can take the place of good detailed regional and departmental maps when driving in France. The route numbers have a tendancy to change without warning and that may not be apparent on Google Maps. There is also the possibility that you won't have wi-fi or a data connection when you most need it.

What I like about paper maps is that it allows me to see what's down the road, so when I'm looking for a turn-off I have some idea what the road signs might have on them. There's also a level of detail, for example, sites of interest, on paper maps that I don't think are shown on GPS or GM.

Whatever you decide, have a great time and bonne chance.

I refer to Google maps and/or www.viamichelin.com when I have Wi-Fi, but also use paper maps on the road, since I have not yet had data roaming. The regional version of Michelin and other paper driving maps includes more country-road detail than the all-France map. I have found Google maps to be very complete in Paris and other big cities, but not in some hill towns or small villages where Google couldn't drive their camera car. Don't forget to read road signs yourself, so that you don't turn down any one-way streets.

The best paper maps in France are Michelin maps.
They have limited availability online: you'll find a selection online, but some of the best maps for an area don't seem to be available on-line.
I like to wait until I get in France, then get on the Auto-Route and find the first rest stop store (at the rest stops, the ones you don't have to exit from the Auto-Route to get to) and peruse the map section and have fun picking out maps, this is where I've found the best selection.

I always go with paper maps. Here is why- Google Maps have uncorrected mistakes and sometimes very odd mistakes. They may well leave out things the locals know about and would warn you about with a color map. We collect more maps than postcards and always get updated ones each year where ever we travel.

If you have a data connection I wouldn't hesitate to use Google. I took a Garmin four years ago and it worked like a champ in France. Google has made leaps and bounds since then so I plan to use it in Italy this year. I also have a Michelin Map as a back up.
IMO the majority of members of this forum do not embrace technology so the answers you get may be a bit skewed against.

There is actually a pretty good assortment of France Michelin maps at Amazon.

I think that for a lot of people it's not so much the non-embrace of tech, but the tactile, 'at a glance' quality that a paper map set out in front of oneself gives. Physical maps don't have to refresh every time your eyes zoom in or out, and they don't head off for a useless page when you accidentally tap them. Doing research before traveling, I use google maps, but I would always have some ability to use a phone with online or offline maps in a pinch, and have many times. However, when trying to get the big and the small picture simultaneously, paper maps, to me, are indispensable. When I add in my wife to the direction finding mission, and we can both easily see a map in front of us, that's even better.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=michelin+maps+france

Thank you all. The combination of paper and digital is clearly the best of both worlds. And I will probably still get lost a time or two. But that's part of the adventure, isn't it?

I discovered Skobbler mapping apps for my iPhone when I was in France in 2012. They work offline and were invaluable to me when I was driving in France and Switzerland (especially when I was by myself - you get spoken directions if you want) in 2013. You'll want to download the maps for the countries you expect to be in when you have a wifi connection. There were a few wrong turns along the way, but, as another person said, that's part of the adventure.

Also Maps with Me work offline. Just download when you have wifi.

I love the Michelin Green books. We use those to plan trips e.g. in the Jura mountains we organized a series of short hikes using the green book and then would set the GPS to get us from one trail head town to another. It worked great. But nothing beats the maps in the book when you are organizing the trip.
Here is that trip:

https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/cows-make-beautiful-music-jura-mountain-hike/

As noted, paper plus computer is the answer. There will always be times when one doesn't work or isn't right, so you have a backup.

Also consider a GPS, I rented one along with my rentacar and boy did it come in handy on a dark, foggy night trying to get from Beaune back to my hotel way the hell out in the countryside.

If you want something to use on your smartphone try Sygic. It is a gps that requires no data connection. It works off the inbuilt gps in your phone and you down load the maps at home before you go.

I currently rock CityMaps2Go (Also called Ulmon). It's an offline maps program and works great! All the maps are free to download and are updated all the time. You can bookmark spots before you go too.

Just got back from two weeks of driving everywhere in Provence. I always use the Michelin maps of France combined with a GPS. The general MIchelin map did not have enough detail for Provence, but it was a great backup. I should have had a more detailed Michelin map of Provence.

Before we left a bought a new GPS from TomTom for $110 that came loaded with EU maps, and maps of the US, Canada, Mexico, etc. It was invaluable, but it is just like all GPS, and will sometimes try to take you down "goat trails".That is when the paper map comes in handy. The TT had turn by turn voice prompts and good screen displays. This is the second one that I have used in the EU, and I thought it was even better than the GPS that came in our rental car

We also down loaded (on our smart phone) a free non-data France map made by Mapfactor Navigigator. My brother turned his on when we were driving and it also had good voice prompts, etc. I like a dedicated unit(TomTom) that is easy to see and can easily be attached to the window. The neat thing about MapNav was that I could use it walking down a street to find my way to a location in a city. My brother really liked it for navigating in Ireland, and preloaded all of his destinations as favorites, so they would come up immediately. I could not find my Paris apartment when we got out of the subway because I did not learn how to use MN before I got there, and I used my TT to walk to the apt (it is not ideal for walking, but worked just the same.)

If someone is going to use Google maps they are really going ot use tons of data: I hope they have a big pocketbook!

I bought a LeBara SIM card at a tobacco store for $7, for my unlocked smart phone. It had the $5 card, and $2 of talk, text, and data. I used it both in France and Amsterdam. I also bought a $5 and $10 top up card, and used up the $5 card when I left my data 'on" one day. This phone was invaluable for calls to home, and had free calls in France. The card that I bought chatrged $.45 for each text, so I mainly used the phone to make and receive calls, and as an emergency data device. I also used Skype to make calls back home, etc., when I had wi-fi.

There is one big negative I realized just yesterday using Google Maps for navigation....there is no option to choose not to take freeways or toll roads. Driving in France I wanted a more scenic route and instructed my GPS to avoid toll roads and had a wonderful drive. I wanted to get off the busy freeways in Los Angeles and see about taking side streets but couldn't find an option for that. Google Maps will always give the shortest route but the latest update doesn't have the options the older version had.

Just returned from driving in France. GPS was indispensable, but not at all perfect. For tricky places (like finding places in cities) we printed out Google maps with photos so that we knew what to look for. We also used ViaMichelin maps and printed out the autoroute signs (Via Michelin does a nice job of showing exactly what the signs look like). In addition to all that we used Michelin maps purchased at the autoroute restaurants (much cheaper than in the U.S.) I also had a great navigator. So short reply: GPS, Google Maps, Via Michelin, paper Michelin maps, and a quick-eyed navigator. And we still got lost, but that's the fun of it. Bonne Chance.

Im writing this from Orvieto after turning in my rental car. My Garmin with a 6 year old europe map sd card worked like a champ driving through Tuscany and finding wineries on small roads in Chianti. I used Google maps on wifi to pinpoint were I wanted to go to and sometimes it was hard to locate on the garmin so i resorted to using gps cordinates provided by the winery websites. I haven't bothered with my michelin map and know it would have been way more stressful since my wife can't look at it while I drive. Google maps is the best when walking in town and once you locate on wifi (or with a data conection) you can switch off the data or wifi and it will still work. Every time I get lost I switch on data long enough to get the map and then it has worked every time. I signed up for att passport for data text and phone and try to use it sparingly.

So in answer to the op...google maps works flawlessly and my garmin is great for driving. Just make sure the roaming charges wont be crazy expensive. An unlocked phone with a €30 tim( an italian phone carrier) sim gets you 4gb Good for 30 days.

We just returned from 2 1/2 weeks driving in rural France. I used Google Maps ahead of time to check distances and driving times and see suggested alternate routes. However, I found their printed directions often confusing and sometimes containing errors. While actually driving, we stuck with printed Michelin maps, which are great. Except that one of them, which I just bought before the trip, started to fall apart where it was folded. Usually we can get several uses out of one before that happens.

Ben -- how do you revert to the classic version? I hate the new version too and find it much less useful than the old one.

Janet - I too hate the new Google maps, and had always reverted to classic. Alas, they took away that option a week or two ago, and now we have no choice but to get used to the new interface. I still dislike it, but I admit that after a week or two, I got used to it. Bonne chance!

Bob