A good map for Paris, Belgium, Amsterdam

Most bookstores have a good selection of maps for most locations. However, we tend to use the cheap paper maps provided by the hotels.

I like the Streetwise series of maps, but they probably don't publish one for Brugge and Ghent. For Brugge, my hotel provided a good one. I forget where I found a map for Ghent... I may have used the one in the Eyewitness Guide. Their maps look pretty, but aren't very useful as navigation aids.

I've love the Top 10 guidebooks and have found their maps to be the best, IMO. If there is an out of the way place not marked on the map I often use Google Maps and make a printout. Rick's map of Ghent in his newest edition guidebook (currently only for sale at this website) is also excellent.

"Rick's map of Ghent in his newest edition guidebook (currently only for sale at this website) is also excellent." Ghent has finally made the Blue Book? I was wondering why so many people on this website were suddenly asking about it, whereas it was ignored for years. I didn't think it was because Nigel from the UK and I had been enthusiastically recommending it for so long (although that would have been flattering....)

The new edition just went on-sale last week(I may have been the first one to buy it), so probably just a coincidence. It's not available at Amazon until the May 10th. Full chapters for both Ghent and Antwerp are now included. Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges are still only featured on the cover, one wouldn't know about the additions unless you looked through the table of contents.

Wonderful royal wedding on Friday, Bin Ladin finally gets taken out this morning, now Ghent AND Antwerp make the Blue Book? What next, Mr. Steves reconsiders Heidelberg, drops Reutte, adds northern Germany and the Bodensee, and the dollar starts gaining ground on the Euro again?

Tom, dream on!

For Paris and Amsterdam, I have the Knopf Mapguides books. They have fold-out sections of the city center and some surrounding neighborhoods and are excellent street-by-street references. They also recommend a good number of restaurants, shops, and things to do and see. The big maps that I have of Paris and Brussels, I bought when I was in Paris and a small town in Belgium.

Tom, will your royalty checks from Rick come in dollars or euros? Just put it in the "Belgian Beer" account.