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Buy roadmap before leaving

For those of you that have driven around the Peloponnese region, would you recommend buying a roadmap in the United States before leaving? Any favorite maps?

Posted by
1117 posts

I haven't used a paper map for 15 years, but when I did, I always got a Michelin map here before going over.

Since then, I've used a combination of GPS and offline Google Maps.

Posted by
3397 posts

One of the problems with using GPS Only is ... GPS Is dumb. Each of the sections, on mainland or on large islands like crete, may have a town with same name -- Episkopi, for example is in several different areas in Crete. Thus, dumb old GPS may send you zooming off in wrong direction. Having paper map (hopefully, in the hands of a traveling companion sitting shotgun) will allow a reality check. Oh, another thing ... GPS sometimes doesn't understand slightly different spellings. For instance, in Crete, most sources translate the word foro a famous Minoan Ruin as PHaistos -- but others spell it as Festos (that's because Greek/Roman alphabets don't have all the same characters). GPS doesn't know that.

On the first Greek trip where we were planning a Pelopoonnese drive, luckily we picked up a Road Edition map right in the Airport at the newsstand... it worked fine, and I still have it, lovingly marked up in memories. But you can't count on it.. numerous maps are sold on internet.

Posted by
10599 posts

If I’m going to be driving I always bring a paper map so I have a good idea of the direction I need to go. I’m partial to Michelin maps. I use my phone, and prior to that a Garmin, but they are not foolproof.

Posted by
339 posts

I'm a big map guy!! I like to visualize where I am going before I go. We bought the Michelin Greece map #737 before our trip. Not sure if they have on just for Peloponnese. I was able to highlight towns and routes beforehand so I had a better idea of the roads when we got there. Once in the car, we used Google maps and/or Waze. Both of those apps worked well enough to get us to final destinations.