Driving with GPS- Tuscany

Connie,

YES, you certainly can bring a GPS unit from home. The MOST important criteria is to choose a unit that has European maps installed. Both the Garmin Nuvi and Tom Tom portable GPS units seem to be very popular with many of the group here (I use a Garmin Nuvi 370). I'd suggest taking both the GPS as well as a Michelin Map (always good to have a "backup" in case the high tech solution crashes). The larger book stores usually have a good selection of Maps - I've used the Chapters in the vicinity of Granville & Georgia in the past.

I've found that the smaller "shirt pocket size" GPS units are also quite useful for finding the way around cities. The battery life is one limiting factor, but for automotive use this isn't a problem (the Garmin unit was provided with both a bracket to mount the unit on a windshield, as well as a Car Charger cord).

Be sure to check various units to find the one you're most comfortable with. Your local Future Shop, Best Buy, London Drugs or Source stores should have lots of selection. You could also have a look at This site or This Site for a description of the various models. Both of the mail order outlets have toll free numbers AFAIK.

Good luck and happy travels!

most rental car companies now offer renting a GPS with the car. If you don't want to buy one you can just rent one. or better yet borrow one from a friend. Like the previous post said, you'll need at a mimumn an italian map. We have a TomTom. It has really great updated maps for mainland Europe (ireland was another story). Italy is especially great because it marks speed traps, ATMs and a zillion other things.

We just came back from 5 weeks in France and took our own Garmin and it worked very well. We used it in Italy, also. We have the kind that you have to buy the map chips for the European country. We used to get a GPS in our rental car, but it is now an added expense - often quite expensive.

Prior to our trip in 2007 we had always used maps and did not feel like a gps would be worth the expense. We were wrong. We took our tomtom 910 model, which had Europe maps preloaded and has since been replaced by the tomtom 920 and 930 models. I think most of the Garmins that end with the last two digits of 70 also have Europe maps preloaded when you purchase them. The gps was well worh the investment and I will never go again without one. It is great for country driving but I think it is even better in city driving where road signs can sometimes be confusing. If you miss a turn with the gps it will recalculate a route to get you back on the correct road. The good thing about purcahsing one before you leave is that it gives you time to become familiar with it so that you don't have a learning curve when you get there as you would with a rental. Plus, you can use it for future trips as well as at home. In addition to the gps I would take a map to give you a broader perspective of your location.

Since I did research before I bought my Garmin GPS, I can advise you. Buy yours here before you go and you can then use it forever traveling in the US. Having one will save the European rental fee which may be half the cost of your unit.

Be sure you add the program for maps of Europe if it does not come with the model you buy. You will find it both worth the expense and accurate.

I like using mine because it warns me in advance when I should change lanes on an expressway to navigate a 'Y' or make an exit.

Being in the right lane is a safety factor-- especially on the high speed expressways of Los Angeles or other large cities.

You will find countless uses here for one if you buy it now and learn how to use it before you go to Italy.

Wow! Thanks for all the useful and detailed info. Since we are renting the car for 3 weeks - the GPS cost was another 100 euros. With exchange rates it will be worth it to buy one here and keep it. Thanks again to all of you for the help!

Definitely get a GPS for driving in Italy and definitely buy one before you go rather than renting one.

I had driven multiple times in Europe, Asia (Asia has some similar issues if you plan to drive there) and Australia without the aid of a GPS so assumed Italy would be no problem.

Streets in Italy have names but no signs. Buildings occasionally have a tile above the door with the address on it. The autostrada never says, 'Next exit A7 West'. Rather the sign has an arrow and lists some random towns on that route. They aren't the logical big towns so you're scrambling for your map to see if this is where you want to go.

If you know you want to go West pretty soon and this looks like it's going West, invariably the exit swings around and sends you East so you lose 10-20 minutes getting off at the next exit, paying your toll and getting back on going the correct direction. Because of the toll booths, exits are pretty spread out.

Bringing your own GPS allows you to learn how to use it at home. I have a TomTom 920. I like that I can preload a series of points of interest along my route including hotels or sites. I also like that I can ask it to get me to parking and it will guide me to a public parking lot. If the lot is full, I can ask it to take me to the next closest parking. If you need gas, it will tell you where the nearest gas stations are.

Connie,

A bit of additional information that I forgot in the first Post. As someone else mentioned, the Garmin x70 units are equipped with European maps. The less expensive models such as the x50 series usually only have North American maps.

A GPS unit will likely cost more than the Eu$100 plus exchange that you referred to, however since you'll be able to use this anywhere it's a good long term investment. Note that firms such as Garmin regularly offer Map updates, at additional cost which makes the units far more useful as they can always be kept "current". A car rental firm may not update their GPS units frequently, so you could be provided with a unit that lacks up-to-date data.

Whichever unit you decide on, be sure that the Charger is capable of "world" operation from 100-240 VAC. A Plug Adapter will be needed though (the Euro style has two round pins).

Cheers!

Hi Connie,
We took a GPS with us for our time in Tuscany and consider it the best thing we did for ourselves. It was absolutely amazing how it helped us find our little out-of-the-way B&Bs and other remote sites that we wanted to visit. I know we would have been hopelessly lost without it. Instead, we were free to enjoy the beauty of the scenery without having our heads buried in a map, and also were able to relax and not worry that we were wasting our precious time in Tuscany getting lost. We rented ours in advance from Auto Europe; they mailed it to our home about 10 days before we left and then we mailed it back to them upon our return. Easy ! Have fun !

On our trip to Italy this summer, we brought our GPS. If we didn't have it, we would probably still be in Tuscany. I don't see how we would have found our way with out it, especially in the Amalfi Coast. I would definitely suggest getting or renting one.

Yes, get a GPS and as someone suggested, program all of your points of interest before you go and save them in your favorites. This will take you a little bit of time, but it will not only help you get there easier and quicker, but also remind you of all the places you'd like to visit while you're there. I found out that some of the Italian addresses I wanted to visit confused my Garmin, so what I did was spend time on websites and googlemaps and manually placed POIs visually on the Garmin map using the 'set location' option. Don't forget, many GPS devices can be used in pedestrian mode when you are walking around town, so get one that is slim and pocketable, such as the nuvi series. The batteries in mine lasted about 5 hours walking around.

Sasha,

Telling Connie you might still be in Tuscany without a GPS might actually discourage her from taking one. LOL

Thanks for the great advice/info to all of you.... but I am now re-thinking getting a GPS.... based on what Brad said above ! :)

Another consideration is your tolerance for getting lost. It can be fun if you're in the right mood!

We were in Italy for three weeks, but only going to have a car for the middle week, so we chose not to lug around the GPS unit for two non-auto weeks. It would have been great to have had one.

If a companion is a good navigator you can get by with just maps. But you'll still get lost!

Re autostrada exit signs (and other directional signs) listing seemingly random places--we just looked at our map for a couple of big towns in the general direction we were headed. That worked about 80% of the time!

But were I to return, I'd go for the GPS unit.

The only problem with using a GPS unit is that you will not get lost. Some of our greatest adventures have been because we were lost. We plan on wandering into towns we have never heard of and they are usually more interesting than the famous ones. Of course, we travel without a schedule. Tuscany is a great place to be lost in.

I would highly recommend a GPS. We spent 25 days in Northern Italy, Tuscany and Umbria and found it indespensible.

We purchased one in Canada, TomTom 920 which has maps of North America and Europe. Friends who also travelled this summer used a Garmin and purchased the additional maps.

I believe that the GPS helped save time, but also signficantly reduced the stress of travel.

They are easy to use and will be a great help. Remember to take maps as well.

Good luck and have a great trip.

I am planning to take my GPS with me next year in order to visit many hill towns & small towns in Tuscany but don't you need to program an exact address in order for the GPS to get you to your deestination? How did you all get exact addresses for the small Tuscan towns? Please advise. Thanks for any information you can give.

You don't have to program an exact address. On my TomTom 920 you can put in the name of a town, it asks for an address but has a choice for town center. I've used that and I've used the option for a point of interest near the town center and ask it to take me to parking.

Brad - I have done the same thing with my Garmin Nuvi - just give it a city and it will get you there - then look for parking or some other attraction once you get there. A GPS is awesome. Buy it here first, play with it before you go and it solves a lot of headaches. I also agree - bring along a map too - so you know where you are going.

I agree with the recommendation to bring maps in addition to the GPS.

Also, before you set out, try to look at the route that the GPS has laid out for you and make your best guess as to whether or not she's making any sense at all!

Maybe it is just my model (Garmin 270) but the proposed routes are often times complete nonsense for Italy. More often than not, we'll have to force a waypoint in at an intersection to get her to go a reasonable route to the destination.

Using the GPS here is kind of an art. Sometimes it is alright to follow the instructions, sometimes you have to fanangle a waypoint to get better instructions, and sometimes it is best to just follow the map to the city signs.

But like someone else said, getting lost can be fun too :)

Tamara has raised another good point!

"Maybe it is just my model (Garmin 270) but the proposed routes are often times complete nonsense for Italy"

I've also found that GPS units are not infallible, and sometimes they suggest a route that is either much longer than it needs to be or in some cases completely wrong! I'm not sure why that occurs, but sometimes the units seem to go into "brain lock"? It may have something to do with the "preferences" settings, where either the most direct route can be specified or the fastest route. The unit will only be as good as it's programming instructions.

One example that I recall was driving in the Cotswolds on the way to Stow-on-the-Wold. The GPS was directing me to turn onto a small side road through a farmer's field, however I could see the town and the road signs that I had just passed indicated the town was only one mile away. I'm sure I would have reached the same point by following the GPS directions, but it would have been a more circuitious route and probably would have taken longer.

There have also been a few times when the GPS has suggested a route to a totally different destination than the one I specified (perhaps a town with similar spelling in the name). I often just start the whole process from the beginning and try using a different city name (and making sure I have the spelling correct).

I find that it's a really good idea to always double-check GPS directions and use a bit of common sense!

Cheers!

Oh by all means, use a GPS. I can honestly say that our rented GPS that we used for a week of driving throughout Tuscany saved us from divorce!!!