Road Maps

carriem837 · Member

Road Maps

lighthousefan · Member

Hi Carrie-

We found a combination to be the best. We liked the Ordinance Surveys for that detail planning and the galic names and our fold out maps for more general in the car. We would sit down each evening and roughly list out the roads we needed for where we planned to go for the next day. THis was really helpful to us. Despite this, we were adventuresome and always took the road sign that said 'scenic drive' (never really knew where we would end up) and we were not disappointed!! We always found our way to where we wanted to go. We did not find a store here that had the map (I even went to a map store!). We just bought the Ordinance Survey map at the airport before we got our rental car.

We also used Michele's book and just chose places as we went-we did travel off season. This allowed us freedom if we liked one area more than another. I would HIGHLY recommend Forest of the Roses near Dingle if going that way. Jimmy is the best!!! No matter what, have a wonderful time in Ireland!!

Lighthouse Fan

yesiree · Guru

Michele's book really does make choosing B&B more interesting doesn't it?

In my area, both Borders and Barnes & Noble carry a variety of maps for Ireland. Instead of the spiral-bound OS map you mentioned, the Frommers version is more commonly available. You are right about flipping back and forth in that book though. I use my OS book all the time, but I never stay on the main roads...in fact, I spend most of my time on very obscure roads.

For the average visitor, the Michelin, OS or Collins map will be fine. The biggest differences between them are the colors and font sizes. I remember one of them had little visual variation between the roads types...knowing which are which is a huge help. The M roads are major "interstate-like" highways - N roads are the main roads - R roads are secondary roads.

I would not recommend the Collins map of the south half of Ireland or its sister for the north half - it is simply too large to use when traveling.

If the maps have a date on them, definitely go for the newer one...Ireland has added a lot of bypasses around major towns in the last five years, and old maps will not reflect this.

-- Edited by yesiree at 16:38, 2007-01-17

Michele Erdvig · Host

Carrie,

The Ireland Michelin map is commonly available on Amazon and can be ordered from your local bookstore. Here is a tip: After you plan your itinerary take the Michelin map to the copy center. For each day's journey do a color copy of that section of the map but increase the size to 150%. This way you do not have to worry about folding the map in the car. The size of 150% will be just about right for the day's travel.

Michele