I was just cleaning up a little and came across the Rome map we used on our most recent trip. It's the laminated Rough Guide Map and I've got to say it was one of the best maps I've found. It has the major sites along with lots of restaurants, hotels, venues and other businesses located on it with handy little icons. I ended up marking mine up quite a bit with a colored Sharpie (various walking routes, other restaurants, etc.) And it really resists tearing since it's lightly laminated. I'm wondering if other people have come across other maps for cities in Italy that they would recommend.
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2193 posts
I too love the Rough Guide maps, but they don't yet do Milano and Torino. I got the Touring Club Italiano maps to those cities this year and they were fine. Torino's metro is so new it wasn't shown.
Posted by
Piedmont, nc, usa
316 posts
I have B&B maps for both Rome and Florence. They show points of interest as well as smaller insets with nearby towns (the Florence map has Pisa and Fiesole as well as a small map of Tuscany) and bus routes. It has weather info (mean temp, # of days with rain, etc.) and measurement conversion chart. It's laminated so routes, etc. can be marked with a dry erase marker. It's making its fourth trip next month and is still in great shape. Not bad for $6.95.
Posted by
Cartersville, GA, USA
101 posts
For local sightseeing and navigating, I LOVE my StreetWise and StreetSmart laminated, pocket-brochure-size city maps. Each street and landmark is easy to locate and navigate to with this tool. I have one for Rome, Florence, Venice, and Paris (which isn't exactly in Italy ;) . Best 7.95 or 8.95 I ever spent. Also really love my Touring Club Italiano roadmap for Sicily--don't want to rely exclusively on GPS here. I have a nice Hammond International roadmap for Italy which proved itself many times over in the days before GPS. I have a jumbo spiral-bound Michelin map for France that was pretty darn useful several years ago navigating the Perigord, Dordogne, Aquitane and Provence regions, but it must weigh 2 pounds, so I won't be repeating THAT choice again.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32932 posts
I probably have the same spiral bound France that Loretta lugged. My goodness its bulky and heavy. "Forgot" it last month. Needed it though. I have a really great Michelin spiral bound A4 (nearly 8.5x11) atlas of Germany, BeNeLux, Switzerland and Austria. It stops just at the French border and another failing this year it that it is just short enough of scale so that in Luxembourg (country) we really missed a bit of detail - they put the entire country on one page - twice! I still am looking for a France with enough but not too much detail - too much crammed into small pages is just as bad as not enough - that I can both carry and read.
Posted by
San Jose
84 posts
Streetwise maps are great. I have three of them and have used them for years. They still look like new!