The French Government Tourist Office
gives away large quantities of maps and
glossy brochures for every region of
France, including lists of hotels and
campsites. Some of these - like the maps
of the inland waterways or footpaths,
lists of festivals and so on - can be
useful; others are just so much dead
wood.
Tourist offices
In France itself you'll find a
tourist office - usually an Office
du Tourisme (OT) but sometimes a
Syndicat d'Initiative (SI) - in
practically every town and many villages.
For the practical purposes of visitors,
there is little difference between them:
SIs have wider responsibilities for
encouraging business, while Offices du
Tourisme deal exclusively with tourism;
sometimes they share premises and call
themselves an OTSI. In small villages
where there is no OT or SI, the Mairie,
or town hall, will offer a similar
service. Before you go, it's worth
checking out the official French Tourist
Board Web site, www.tourisme.fr .
From all these offices you can get
specific local information, including
listings of hotels and restaurants,
leisure activities, car and bike rental,
bus timetables, laundries and countless
other things; many can also book
accommodation for you. Most offices will
provide a free town plan (though some
places charge a nominal
5-10F/¬0.76-1.53), if asked, and will
have maps and local walking guides on
sale. In mountain regions they display
daily meteorological information and
often share premises with the local
hiking and climbing organizations. In
the big cities you can usually also pick
up free What's On guides. The
regional or departmental tourist offices
also offer useful practical information
(their Web sites can be accessed on the
Net via www.tourist-office.org ).
Maps
In addition to the various free leaflets,
the one extra map you'll probably want
is a reasonable road map of
France. The Michelin map no. 989
(1:1,000,000) is the best for the whole
country. A useful free map for car
drivers, obtainable from filling
stations and traffic information kiosks
in France, is the Bison Futé map,
showing alternative back routes to the
congested main roads, clearly signposted
on the ground by special green Bison
Futé road signs. For more regional
detail, the Michelin yellow series
(1:200,000) is best for the motorist.
You can get the whole series in one
large spiral-bound Atlas Routier
.
If you're planning to walk or
cycle , check the IGN (Institut
Géographique National) maps - either
green (1:100,000 and 1:50,000), or the
more detailed blue (1:25,000) series.
The IGN 1:100,000 series is the smallest
scale available that has the contours
marked - essential for cyclists, who
tend to cycle off 1:25,000 maps in a
couple of hours. Didier Richard maps
(1:50,000) show walking paths in Corsica,
the Alps, Provence and the Southern
Rhône, while routes in the French
Pyrenees are well covered by the twelve
maps in the Randonnées Pyrénées
series (1:50,000).
For those wanting to plan a visit to
the battlefields of northern France
, the two maps of Major and Mrs Holt's
Battle Map Series are available
direct from its English authors (T. & V.
Holt, Oak Housem, Woodnesborough,
Sandwich CT13 0NJ, England; tel & fax
01304/614123).
