Road maps can be obtained at
bookshops and kiosks in all big
towns and cities or at
service-stations but are quite hard
to find anywhere else. Many maps
aren't up to date or contain a
surprising number of errors: road
numbers are sometimes wrong; barely
passable tracks may be depicted as
sealed roads or vice versa; and
roads that have been there for years
are missed out while routes that
nobody has ever heard of are clearly
marked. It's often a good idea to
buy a couple of maps and compare
them as you go along, always
checking with the locals to see
whether a given road does exist and
is passable, especially with the
vehicle you intend to use.
The really good news is that the
clearest and most accurate map of
the whole country is the one you can
get free from the national tourist
office in Buenos Aires; it's called
Rutas de la Argentina and has
small but clear inset maps of twenty
towns and cities as well as a
1:2,500,000 national map, the ideal
scale for most travellers. Slightly
more detailed but a tad less
accurate is the mini atlas (
Atlas Vial ) published by YPF
, the national petrol company and
sold for $10 at their service
stations. The ACA (Automóvil
Club) produces individual maps for
each province which vary enormously
in detail and accuracy; the regional
maps or route planners the club
publishes may be enough for most
travellers, especially since the
provincial maps cost $5 each.
Glossy and fairly clear - but
equally erratic - regional road maps
(Cuyo, Northwest, Lake District,
etc) are produced by Línea Azul
under the generic name of
AutoMapa and are often available
at petrol stations and bookshops, as
are the similar Argenguide
series of maps, published by
Argentum. These all cost around $8.
Outside Argentina you can get hold
of the user-friendly Kevin
Healey's Travel Map of Argentina
(though at 1:4,000,000 the scale's a
bit small), and the World's End
Maps of different areas of
Patagonia, published by Zagier and
Urruty ( zagiel@ciudad.com.ar
). Finally, there's a brilliant map
of Buenos Aires, the Insight
Fleximap , which is clear,
reliable, easy to fold and
waterproof.
The street plans
istributed free of charge at tourist
offices also range from the highly
detailed to the impressionistic, and
some of them are dominated by their
private sponsors rather than
designed to steer you easily around
a given town or city. Luckily, most
urban areas, with their convenient
grid-systems and publicly displayed
maps, are difficult to get lost in
and many locals are only too happy
to give directions. Some cities
produce directories of services
hat include detailed maps, with
transport routes.
For 1:100,000 ordnance-survey
style maps he Instituto
Geográfico Militar at Av. Cabildo
381, Casilla 1426, in Buenos Aires,
is the place to go (Mon-Fri 8am-1pm;
tel 011/4576-5545, fax
011/4576-5509). The maps cost around
$15 each but you might be able to
get a photocopy for less; although
these topographical maps - and the
colour satellite maps sold here at
similar prices - are great to look
at and very detailed, they're not
really very practical unless you're
used to maps of this type.
