AA Road Atlas New Zealand

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A Travel Guide as well as an Atlas - Rated
I won't go into too much detail of the content of the atlas as the previous review has done that excellently. What I would like to say though is that having used this atlas it is actually much more than just a road map. It has so many places of interest and things to do in it that it could be the only book you need to plan your trip. I would really recommend finding places to go from this atlas and avoiding the large crowds at the places listed in travel guides. Obviously this is also an ideal road map for if you driving on your holiday and has plans of many major cities (and smaller ones). Get yourself this Atlas and save the trouble os getting a travel guide too. You won't be disappointed by this.

Excellent for planning your trip - Rated
The AA Road Atlas of New Zealand is an excellent resource for planning your trip and the routes you will take. The scale and detail are superb. With 4.75 miles to the inch, and terrain relief shown in detail, you can almost be there: want to swoop down a twisty road along a valley floor? No problem, this'll help you find one. For us geeks, it will also help you find Lord of the Rings film locations! At the front there are sections for things to do and see, campsite locations, travel times/distances etc., and at the back there is an encyclopaedic index of places and 'things' (e.g. the Mangatepopo Hut near the start of the Tongariro crossing, or the penguin colony in Oamaru). There are also detailed street maps for twenty of the main town and city centres, with additional maps for the suburbs of Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
Negative points: very few. The index doesn't list street names, so finding specific roads on the town/city maps requires patience (or the internet!), and some of the minor suburban roads around Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington aren't labelled (although it doesn't set out to be an A-Z). Given NZ's very British weather, printing it on waterproof paper might have been a good idea: this could get very soggy very quickly. Also, being an atlas rather than a map, it's not exactly pocket sized (about an inch wider and an inch-and-a-half taller than A4 size, but less than half-an-inch thick). For these last two reasons, I recommend backing it up with the waterproof, rip-proof foldout Rough Guide Map.