Road maps

Mine's the Michelin 733. Beat to heck over the years, and although it's only 1:400k, it does the job.

The last couple years I've just copied maps off of Mapquest.com and haven't needed to buy any. You can size them, get directions, etc. They have all the western Europe countries.

I usually buy the best road atlas once I get to the country. It's frustrating not to have enough detailed map when driving in unknown environment.

I won't leave home without my GPS, and a fold-out Michelin map of the country where I will be. I love the Michelin road atlas's, but the weight is horrible. Better to use your GPS and a small map. And having a GPS that warns you when you are near one of the fixed radar units is really helpful! BTW, the freeways in Portugal are awesome.The tolls are based on the time that you spend on the road; not on distance. When I found that out I kept "my pedal to the metal"! When you pull off the freeway, to get gas at a self-service gas station, hit "enter" twice, and it will accept your US credit card. The machines are automatically programmed to accept the EU "chip and pin" cards, and the double "enter" allows them to accept our older technology. Have fun!

There's a Michelin Spain & Portugal map for $11.95 right here on Rick's website under the "Travel Store". He also sells a travel planning map.

The problem with the RS Spain and Portugal map is that it's the Michelin 734, I think. The scale on that series is 1:1,000,000. If I'm correct that's okay for general planning, but useless for trying to get around since it will be lacking in significant detail. (Picture a US map that shows just the freeways - - it's not close to that bad, but you get the idea. Lots of roads, landforms, and many small towns will be missing.).