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GPS for Europe?

P

PClapham

TUG Review Crew: Expert
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Location
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Foxrun
We are going to be driving in Portugal and Spain in May. How can we get a gps program for these areas for our gps?

Does anyone have experiences in these areas to share? We land in Lisbon and will be in northern and southern Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

Thanks

Anitak
 
You might check on just renting the GPS with the car. Otherwise, go to your GPS's site and download the Europe maps, but beware, they may cost almost as much as a whole new unit. For instance, Spain/Portugal maps for my Garmin are $69.99 either to download or on SD card. I DO see these on eBay for $25, but haven't tried them.

We really enjoyed our trips to that area. We rented the car from Carjet in Lisbon. It came from the Budget desk at the airport and had enough dings and nicks that we didn't worry about getting a few more while parking. There is a great tollway N.& S. in Portugal, just remember to get a ticket at the first toll booth.

Prices in both Port. and Spain are reasonable. We stayed at a TS in Albufeira, Pt. and W. of Barcelona. They had a bottle of local wine on the counter and had more in the office for 1 Euro/bottle! Are you taking the car to Morocco or just day-tripping to Tangier? There is a good Rick Steves episode that will give you a good overview if day-tripping. You can view it online. Different trip, but we spent 3 weeks in Morocco, including tent camping on the Sahara with the desert people. Wonderful experience.

I don't know what details you are looking for, but if you ask, I'll try to find an answer.

Jim
 
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Garmin has European maps that you can purchase. I assume the other manufacturers have them too. Also, Garmin sells some GPS models with both US and European maps. These models usually end in 70. I purchased a Garmin with both maps a few years ago, but I haven't updated the European maps. Newer models offer the lifetime update.
 
We just bought a new Garmin for this trip to Spain. We purchased the chip with maps of Spain, and it was very inexpensive. A person we met last night made almost the same trip we are doing last year and he said his Garmin functioned beautifully and got him to addresses in very small towns as well as Madrid/Barcelona/etc. Our new Garmin was last year's model and was just on sale for about $125.00 from Amazon. The chip was extra, but it was inexpensive---maybe $25.00. My husband isn't around right now or I'd ask, but I know it wasn't much. (I think Portugal is on the same chip, but I'm not sure of that either.)
 
I just used Google maps on my unlocked Android phone with a Euro SIM. Of course this was for walking around Madrid and Lisbon and not in a car or outside the city.

I also have a GPS app on my iPhone called GPS Drive that works great in the USA. No clue it also works overseas but if you have an unlocked Smart Phone, it is something to look into since data SIMs are relatively cheap in Europe.

Cheers
 
We had similar issue few years back. I looked into purchasing maps for Hubby's Tom Tom - it was close to $100. As I knew there was good chance we'd take trips to other countries, that didn't seem like a good option. Instead I went online and found Garmin model on Amazon in $129 range that came with Europe maps. I'd suggest checking that out
 
We are renting one with our Hertz Car rental when we go to Great Britain in June. If we knew we were going to be traveling overseas a lot, we might purchase one, but I don't think that will be the case with us.
 
When we were in Costa del sol, Spain we rented a car with GPS. BIG mistake. The first one didn't work but we had to go back. The problem is since we don't have a functioning GPS we were in a big soup. We followed a nice cabbie who helped a lot. The second one we got was not a superstar either. but we managed. Please get your own good and fresh GPS (Things are changing all the time).
 
We've got 2 Garmins and 1 TomTom. For all we have European maps and for the Garmin also USA maps. Easy and handy. I wouldn't know what to day without a GPS. It's also very handy when you are walking in cities or in the country side.

The European maps are up to date. You can buy them at home, might be cheaper, or download them. Renting is always more expensive if you are planning to travel for a long time. Use them for the cameras as well to avoid speed ticketing.
 
We've got 2 Garmins and 1 TomTom. For both sytems we have European maps and for the Garmin also USA maps. Easy and handy. I wouldn't know what to day without a GPS. It's also very handy when you are walking in cities or in the country side.

The European maps are up to date. You can buy them at home, might be cheaper, or download them. Renting is always more expensive if you are planning to travel for a long time. Use them for the cameras as well to avoid speed ticketing.
 
I second that. Garmin or Tomtom are not expensive. Get one with European maps and you are good to go. As the above poster mentioned rental is not cheap.
 
Buy ,not rent

We are in Sicily for two weeks with a car rental and purchasing a Garmin with maps and traffic is cheaper than a two week GPS rental. We plan to use it then sell it as we have no future plans to return to Europe. Might look on Ebay for purchase but want to have a warranty of some sort.Will buy a couple months in advance then sell it when we get back. Plan to use ti in several other countries we are taking a cruise to after Sicily.
 
Update on previous post:

We just got back from two weeks of driving in Spain. We bought a new Garmin (even though the old one wasn't all that old) for the trip so that we would have one that takes chips--it was about $130.00. We bought a chip for Spain and one for Mexico. One was $25.00 and the other was $30.00. The car we rented (from SIXT for 125 euros, including 3rd person liability insurance--we used American Express for a total charge of $25.00 for the insurance on the vehicle itself) had a GPS, too.

We were really glad we had our own GPS. Ours functioned faultlessly--the one in the car didn't--and the language was American English. The maps were wonderful. The GPS had maps for even the tiny towns, for even the most tiny streets that were unbelievably close to other tiny streets. For peace of mind, it may have been one of the best investments we've made.

The maps for Portugal are included with the Spain chip.
 
Yes, they are extremely handy. Also if you go out walking. I always carry my GPS because you might get lost in a strange place. And all the restaurants and shops and important sightseeing points and gas stations! I really wouldn't know what to do without them. I'm quite addicted I guess!
 
Margariet said:
Yes, they are extremely handy. Also if you go out walking. I always carry my GPS because you might get lost in a strange place. And all the restaurants and shops and important sightseeing points and gas stations! I really wouldn't know what to do without them. I'm quite addicted I guess!
Click to expand...

Using the GPS while walking in an unfamiliar place is a good suggestion. We used our Garmin while touring Dublin on foot earlier this month and it was very helpful.
 
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I made good use of a GPS while noodling around Scotland, but got a few 'make a U-turn' instructions.
Wait-a-minute, making a U-turn by turning to the right simply didn't compute for me. ;)
 
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Talent312 said:
I made good use of a GPS while noodling around Scotland, but got a few 'make a U-turn' instructions.
Wait-a-minute, making a U-turn by turning to the right simply didn't compute for me. ;)
Click to expand...

Our favorite Garmin instruction in Ireland was "Go 1.5km and board ferry."

LMAO - it came out of left field as we had no idea Toots (our nickname for the Garmin) was going to take us in a direction that required a ferry. We assumed we'd be taken the more common route through a big city about 50km to the NE so the ferry was an interesting development.

I immediately had to get out an atlas to figure out where we actually were in Ireland . . . and where Toots was taking us. It was only €18 to cross and included the car + all passengers, which seemed better than backtracking away from the ferry.

The other "incident" we had was her continuing to direct us up one-way streets in the wrong direction in the town of Cobh. We finally had to turn her off until we got out of town or else we'd be hearing "recalculating" for more than 15 minutes.
 
We used ours afoot in Rome. It would tell us which bus or metro line to use and the stop to get off. Worked well.

Jim
 
I bought a $7 gps app for my iPhone when I was last in italy, and it worked great.
 
Passepartout said:
We used ours afoot in Rome. It would tell us which bus or metro line to use and the stop to get off. Worked well.

Jim
Click to expand...

Which GPS model did you purchase for the City of Rome? Thanks for the information in advance.
 
It is a Nuvi 1250 iirc. Fairly small 3X4 screen. It has a 'pedestrian' mode and I got the appropriate city guide. You do have to turn it off when not actively needed to conserve battery. It takes a minute to acquire satellites- and seems longer if you are in a hurry. You can often get the city guides on eBay for much less than from Garmin.

Jim
 
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