What are the best road maps for Turkey and Iran and where can I buy them?

Many thanks

Hello simonrjames,

For TURKEY we used the maps of the Kartografischer Verlag R. Ryborsch, scale 1/500.000. Total territory is on 7 maps. All our maps are dated between 94 and 96. For an unknown reason (to us), it seems no new editions have been made since (but I'm not entirely sure).
According to Google you can still find them here http://www.mapsworldwide.com/mwwlive...p?subsecid=450

We have used these maps 3 times extensively, and they are very good and detailed.
Besides: signage in Turkey is also very good: roads are numbered and you can trace the numbers on the maps; heights and even population of towns and villages are mentioned. A pleasure.

Note: for Nemrut Dagi, make A3 colour copies of the 2 parts of the two maps needed - else you'll end up with changing maps every 20 kms, as the through road is right on the edge of two maps.

Locally we never saw a good map apart from some large scale tourist maps, though maybe in Ankara or Istanbul you might find one. We actually suspect detailed maps are for army use only, especially the ones of the east.

Town maps can sometimes be found locally. We used enlarged copies of the town maps in the Footprint (or LP) guide which worked fine.

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For IRAN, we used the country map of Geo Center/World Map series (RV Reise- und Verkehrverlag, Stuttgart), scale 1/2.000.000. Date is 1993-94.
Can't quickly Google the item. I suggest you try either at the shop above or at the best mapstore in the whole of Europe: http://www.stanfords.co.uk
I believe we bought it there some 5 years ago.

This map has also served well 3 times so far. Some towns have changed names but this was never a problem. Also some roads have been turned into two lane (litterally 500 m - 1 km apart from one another !), and some new roads aren't on it. We managed fine, with some asking aroudn at times, sure.
Signage in Iran is generaly in Latin script (below the Arabian script), but not always. If you travel with the Lonely Planet, it shows the town names in Arabic script so you can compare. Or you ask to a few people. Try to get the pronounciation right for they do not always sound like they're written. Yazd for instance takes a very long flattish "a". But people are so friendly it won't be a big problem.

In Iran we found one country map which is o.k. (but the map above is more detailed, more acurate and easier to read because of obvious differences between bigger and smaller roads).
They have a Latin script and an Arabian script edition.
We found them in Tabriz, in a good bookshop on the corner of Emam Khomeini Street and Ferdozi Street.
Edited by Gitashenasi Geographical and Cartographic Institute. scale 1/2,500,000.
Latin version is printed on thick, glossy paper which makes it quite fragile for folding in tankbags; Arabian version is on offset paper, equally fragile.

Town maps can sometimes be found locally. VERY useful for Tabriz (second biggest town in Iran and very big indeed !). We used enlarged copies of the town maps in the LP guide which worked fine. One map is (frustratingly) lacking: Ardabil. There is however a good town map for sale right at the entrance of the Sheikh Safi-od-Din Mausoleum.

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Happy travels in these beautiful and friendly countries.
Trui

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Iris and Trui
2 belgian women, often travelling on motorbikes (now on DR650SE's)
2nd overland from home to Northern India and back, April-October 2002

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Iris and Trui
2 belgian women, often travelling on motorbikes (now on DR650SE\'s)
2nd overland from home to Northern India and back, April-October 2002

Many thanks for the comprehensive response.

Hi Simon.

I just left Turkey after spending a month there. I only had some parts of Turkey in my European mapbook and trying to find a decent map in Turkey is to say the least difficult. Very strange. Even in poorer countries one finds decent maps at gas stations. Not in Turkey. There is one map that all different gas stations and bookshops has and it is crap (if you take a look at it you'll think it's a joke). So my advice is to get one before you go.

There is more information on good maps (and other stuff) in the Turkey guide on this site somewhere...

You could perhaps find some decent maps in Istanbul, Ankara or Antalya. I didn't stop in any of these places.

/Spakur