Free State Maps & Travel Guides
You know what’s going to be here before we even know it? Travel time! I was reminded by this fact when I saw a California state tourism commercial last night and that got me to wondering what each state offers in the way of free state maps and travel guides. Coupled with our free museum admissions list (which is actually fully completed now!), your summer trips might now be a bit more fun and free!
I linked to the official travel guide for each state below. As a fail-safe, I then provided a link to each state’s DOT page if their travel guide didn’t explicitly say it came with a highway map. Here’s to never getting lost again!
Free Alabama State Map – This is the first .travel website I’ve ever seen. Cool.
Free Alaska State Map – Here’s the first case of “so, does this come with a map?” (dot map)
Free Arizona State Map – What exactly is Old West activities? Like riding around on a horse and shooting pistols in the air? Arizona, here I come!
Free Arkansas State Map – They have a plethora of travel guides and kits, including golfing, hiking, and fishing guides, calendar of events, and even a Living in Arkansas guide for those considering moving there. Wait, where are you going?
Free California State Map – I would have been ticked had they not offered some free maps, considering the fact that I see their freaking tourism commercial every 10 minutes.
Free Colorado State Map – Colorado’s official state slogan: Let’s Talk. Aw crap, they’re breaking up with us!
Free Connecticut State Map – Or not. Their tourism site is a bit gilded. Not only do they not offer a travel guide, but I couldn’t find any official state maps. The best I could come up with was this printable highway map.
Free Delaware State Map – Looks like you might have to call in order for a copy to be sent to you. Their DOT version has three different bicycle maps as well as the official tourism map, so I might just go with that instead. (dot map)
Free Florida State Map – I like the random experts they have on the sidebar. My favorite is the Authentic Florida Expert, who pretty much looks like everyone’s grandma.
Free Georgia State Map – I think the travel guide has one, but I know their DOT will send up to two free state maps. If I know Georgia, they’ll also send you a peach. (dot map)
Free Hawaii State Map – Doesn’t exist. Hiffer Kenny sent in the link for their state tourism guide, which should have a map in it.
Free Idaho State Map – Judging by their governors name alone (C.L. “Butch” Otter), he could probably beat up any other governor out there. You just know he wears a cowboy hat…and checking their website…yep!
Free Illinois State Map – You can request up to 25 free state maps at the DOT site, which is 24 more than I need. I only include that link because the DOT maps come in large print. (dot map)
Free Indiana State Map – They have a ton of different maps and guides available, one being a state museum map that would go deliciously well with our free museum admission list!
Free Iowa State Map – Does anyone get excited about seeing a bunch of corn?
Free Kansas State Map – Quick, can you name three cities in Kansas?! Neither could I.
Free Kentucky State Map – Their state logo is by far the best I’ve seen yet.
Free Louisiana State Map – Their DOT page redirects to this page for a free map, so I assume the travel guide comes with one.
Free Maine State Map – Unfortunately they only have a bunch of printable maps. Come on Maine, get with the program here.
Free Maryland State Map – I can’t tell you the number of times the state of Maryland has screwed me over, so visit with caution.
Free Massachusetts State Map – I’ve still yet to ever correctly spell this state’s name. It’s the only item on my Bucket List I doubt I’ll ever accomplish.
Free Michigan State Map – Who needs the Big 3 when you can get a free state map?
Free Minnesota State Map – Minnesota is the only state that let’s you pre-order future travel guides and maps. Talk about pimp.
Free Mississippi State Map – Mississippi decided to make a page where you can only submit your e-mail. I assume an order form will be mailed to you, but I couldn’t be bothered.
Free Missouri State Map – The “M” states are really starting to tick me off. Missouri only allows you to download and print their free state maps. (dot map)
Free Montana State Map – They offer a free winter guide in addition to the state map, but I can give you said guide right here. Step 1: stay inside. Step 2: come outside once spring arrives. (dot map)
Free Nebraska State Map – We’ll see if their visitor’s guide has a free map in it or not. (dot map)
Free Nevada State Map – Fill out the form then print out this form and you’ll get two free state maps for the price of none!
Free New Hampshire State Map – I must admit, new Hampshire has a pimped out website travel website.
Free New Jersey State Map – My buddy lives in New York and is always ragging on Jersey, so I almost feel like I need to visit here to try and even things out.
Free New Mexico State Map – It’s barely mid-January and they’ve already got their 2009 travel guide up while other states are advertising their 2007 version. Good on ya, NM.
Free New York State Map – I always thought the “I Heart NY” campaign was for the city, not the state. Shows what I know.
Free North Carolina State Map – I like the cleanliness of North Carolina’s site. You can never have too much whitespace.
Free North Dakota State Map – This domain name…confuses me at best. Whatever, a free state map is a free state map.
Free Ohio State Map – I had a look through their travel guide and it was sans maps, so here’s a recent map being given away by their state DOT.
Free Oklahoma State Map – I’m kind of interested in their additional “Agritourism Map.” Is this a tourist industry that Oklahoma just made up?
Free Oregon State Map – I love that they also offer an official kid’s guide to Oregon. Like it’s that complicated.
Free Pennsylvania State Map – Wow. At the bottom of this page, you’ll find a link to PA’s official Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube accounts. I didn’t check them all, but their Twitter account is pretty darn active.
Free Rhode Island State Map – For a state with such a small map, they’re kind of stingy about giving them away for free. I wasn’t sure if the travel guide came with a map, but their DOT doesn’t give any maps away, so fingers crossed.
Free South Carolina State Map – Home state, represent! Don’t be fooled by the domain name, it’s legit. We’re a sneaky bunch, just ask Major Robert Anderson.
Free South Dakota State Map – Ok, wait a minute here. South Carolina’s slogan: Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places. South Dakota’s slogan: Great Faces, Great Places. It’s like South Dakota wasn’t even trying!
Free Tennessee State Map – I got some weird error every time I tried to load one of their pages, but the order form went through, so who knows.
Free Texas State Map – Their travel guide is 272 freaking pages long! That’s not a guide, it’s a book!
Free Utah State Map – Why does Utah have a separate checkbox for German visitors? Is Utah really a vacation mecca for Germans?
Free Vermont State Map – I’m not sure how all the seasonal maps differ from each other, but it’s nice knowing that I have so many options with them.
Free Virginia State Map – I have to admit, I’m getting pretty tired with trying to find something to say with each state. I live in Virginia and there’s honestly not that much going on here. (dot map)
Free Washington State Map – As a Mariners fan and frequent traveler to the Pacific Northwest, I must say I absolutely love this section of the world.
Free West Virginia State Map – Hopefully this tourism guide comes with a free map, because WV is one of the few states that lets their DOT charge for highway maps.
Free Wisconsin State Map – And we have a winner for most available maps! They have tons of outdoorsy maps with trails and whatnot in addition to the typical road maps.
Free Wyoming State Map – And wouldn’t you know it that on the very last state, I had trouble getting their contact form to load. 49 for 49 and then Wyoming had to go mess things up! Let me know if you get it to work though.
Wow, that took a lot longer than I thought it would. I need a vacation.
awwww – whachagot against MD?
This is AWESOME! We collect maps of each state we visit and put them up on the wall in my son’s room…but SC is a pain to get. It’s only available at the welcome centers (the other rest areas don’t seem to have them), and the welcome centers are only open 9-5…we’re always getting there after closing. We visit a good bit (my husband’s family lives there), but haven’t been able to get a map yet…I’m so glad we’ll finally get one. THANKS so much!
Jennah, it’s nothing but bad luck for me! I’ve drank those memories into submission though, so we must leave it at that.
Rydergal, glad I could help.
You know what they say, Goob: Everything’s big in Texas!
I go over to the visitor information center near my home every year and pick up the new Texas travel guide. It’s awesome!
btw, here’s a link to the Hawaii visitor’s guide. I don’t know if it comes with a map or not…
http://www.gohawaii.com/about_hawaii/visitor_guide
Hey I live in Virginia too! And I agree, not much going on.
And Connecticut has a form to order 100 maps for $20…a bit overkill if you ask me, but might be handy if you really like CT and want to wallpaper your house with their highways!
http://www.cultureandtourism.org/cct/cwp/view.asp?a=2128&Q=302636&CCTNAV_GID=1686
Thanks Goob. This is wonderful of you to post this.
Wow, with a description of all of them, too.
Thanks, Goob!
P.S. This is the page for Wyoming: http://www.onefulfillment.com/rack/WyomingTourism/
This is great we are planning a trip to Gatalinburg Tn ths spring. The maps will be great
I LOVE the description about Idaho… Yep we Idahoans are Individuals
This is great.. Thanks for doing all this hard work!
Connecticut does offer a link to order their vacation guide on every page of their site. It is located in the left hand menu, where it says “Get your free Vacation Guide and Culture Guide” A map of the state is included with the guide, as a fold out back cover. http://www.ctvisit.com/ordervacationguide.aspx
Hey Goob,
As for Hawaii, just go to any of the islands for info and the guide comes up on the right hand side of the page. Thanks for all of the info on state maps ! you never know when you might need them.
Just to let you know Goob, Arkansas, although it does have a horrible rep. is actually really cool and BEAUTIFUL in most places. I live in Missouri and we traveled there a couple of years ago and all of my misconceptions went out the window as soon as we hit those cool winding mountain roads.
Goob,
It’s nice to know someone thinks our website is “pimped out”! By the way, we also have an In-State Handbook, which comes with a built-in map and listings of our welcome/information centers. You can access an e-book version of it online at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/milesmedia/08NHI/#/0.
Cheers,
Tai
Communications Manager
NH Travel and Tourism
Iowa has much more than just corn! Ever heard of the Iowa State Fair? It is the top rated fair in the country!
Hey Goob: Want maps, Go to http://www.www.earth.com and download the free google earth program. It is a world-wide map program that you can zoom-in down to street level. You can also tilt and pan the 3-d images.
Kind of scarey the amount of time, money, and effort that was spent gathering the info.
Have a good one (or two), better yet get a six-pack and save some for me.
Doug.
I got my map SOOO quickly! Thanks Goob!
Just got mine today…its great it has a travel guide and a really detailed map…SO nice to have!!! Thanks!
http://www.conndot.ct.gov/mail/maprequest.aspx?dotPNavCtr=%7C#42070
heres an order form for just the connecticut road map
Just FYI when you type in your e-mail for Mississippi & enter it brings up the screen to add your address info to orrder your tourism package
Great! Thanks! Also thanks for saying that the state I live in has the best logo, Kentucky. Can’t wait for Derby this Saturday, I live less than a mile away from Churhill Downs.
These are very informative, thanks for putting it together. I went to the Connecticut site and they NOW OFFER a free guide! Woo hoo! Thanks again!
Just to let you know as well. The Missouri page you just need to click on their map and it will take you straight to the order form for one to be mailed.
re. the CT website:
I was born and still live in Connecticut. I whimsically refer to it as “The rectum of New England”.
This is wonderful-just in time for vacation time-love the museum list as well-THANK YOU!
This site is so helpful! It saved me so much time and I love all of your comments about each state. I only needed maps for a few states but had to read each comment. Thanks!
This site will send you real maps of any state INCLUDING Hawaii!!
http://mapathon.com/foldall.htm
Did I win something??
Kansas Cities: Wichita, Topeka, Hutchison, Newton.
How can any governor beat California’s Governator (unless you look at photos of him in a swim suit)
Maybe it took you a long time, but THANK YOU! I’m on a road trip right now and it’s always such a bitch to find maps for every state. next time I’m going to be stocked up. : )
Heres the site for the Connecticut Vacation Guide!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I had spent hours trying to get free state map from different states. By accident I ran across your site. and in less then 10 minutes i was able to call the last 4 states and get my maps order. My husband and I love traveling the back roads and take our time. Our GPS loves getting us on the freeways and interstates, I have made a favorite of this site, because we want to see all 50 states before we get too old to travel.
thanks again
Dot in Arkansas
http://www.visitmaine.com/guidebook/
you can get a mailed Maine map here!!
Free Hawaii State Visitor Guide @ Hawaii Visitor Guide
Having trouble connecting to the order form site for Idaho. I can click on the brochures I want, but that’s how far I could get.
I went to RI’s website – where you can order their ‘bike maps’, and clicked on “contact us” — I sent an email requesting a road map, and they mailed it right out!!
http://www.dot.ri.gov/customerservice/index.asp
Good luck! ?
missed one
http://www.carlos.emory.edu/
Michael C. Carlos Museum
Atlanta
Thanks for the free state maps! Do you know of any free US or World Maps? Thanks again for compiling this list.
This is where u can find a free hawaii guide that can be sent 2 ur house!
http://www.gohawaii.com/about_hawaii/visitor_guide
I hope i get something in the forums! thanx
Kansas: Topeka, Wichita, Kansas City, Great Bend, Junction City, Meade, Turon, Pretty Prairie, Hutcheson, Pratt, Olathe, Shawnee, … ok, I’m tired of typing now, and no, I didn’t cheat by looking at the map.
(No, I don’t live there, either!)