Travel with our Garmin?

We purchased a Garmin before our two week trip through Provence. It was less expensive than renting it from the car rental agency. I don't know how we traveled without it before. It makes life so much easier.

If you have a Garmin, you'll have to purchase the appropriate maps from Garmin. They are available as an SD card or download on the Garmin website. A SIM card is for use in a mobile phone. If you have an unlocked cell phone, you can purchase a SIM which will give you local access so you can use your phone in a foreign country. Then you could use Google Maps, Waze or other mapping software. For more information, go to the Travel Tips section of this website. There is a section under Transportation that discusses Maps and Apps for getting around Europe and cell phone into under the Phones & Tech section.

If you still have questions, just post them.

Thanks, very helpful!

You may find this recent thread helpful:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/garmin-gps-micro-sd-map-cards-for-portugal-and-morocco

Thanks for the thread. I will also research under Transportation on the website the other tips on traveling with iPhone/google. Our Garmin is an older version and seems it might be problematic to update.

Take your own GPS. I found a GPS of great value in our trips

We are leaving for Switzerland and France in a few days. Based on the Garmin website, it appears that downloading the maps for the 2 countries would end up costing me almost $150. Renting one from Kemwell cost me only $50. They sent it to me here in the US and included a return Fed Ex label for me to send it back. It has the European maps already downloaded and is a very slim and lightweight model. Will report further on our return!

I bought a Garmin nuvi last summer with lifetime Europe maps for driving in Europe. It worked well in Italy around the sometimes tricky Amalfi Coast.