Via Michelin
Web www.viamichelin.co.uk
This was one of the few route finders to offer a caravan option. Sadly, the option was a red herring. On our Snowdonia test route, it took us down a road that was not suitable for a van.
Still, we could zoom in on sections of map along our route. After all, a picture is worth 1000 words, especially when the route involves lots of roundabouts or several turns in quick succession. However, if you print the instructions in black, it's difficult to see the highlighted route. Print it out in colour or you'll need to raid the kids' school bags for crayons. At first, the instructions were vague, with such guidance as, "Leave (1.9 miles). Take A316 for 3 miles." It would have helped to know how we were supposed to get to the A316. However, it could be argued that most people know how to reach an A-road in their area.
Directions were indicated by symbols that could be seen at a glance. What made them particularly good was the way in which the road signs were boxed out and printed in bold. You'll know exactly which sign to look for.
The route summary included how long our journey would take, barring unforeseen delays, and how many miles were along motorways. What we liked a lot was the way the route took into account scheduled roadworks, and it even included a rough calculation of the fuel cost.
Verdict The misleading caravan route was a major flaw. Otherwise, this site was easy to use and gives most information that you'll need.
Rating * * * *

Maporama
Web www.maporama.com
The directions here were concise and very clear. Just eight steps took us to the New Forest, as with the Michelin site. Arrows alerted us to the direction of our next turn, and the distance between turns was calculated to the nearest metre. The road signs were printed in bold, but so were the road names, so differentiating between them was difficult.
Symbols indicated motorways or smaller roads.
At the end of each step was a selection of symbols. One looked like a football, another resembled a bed and a third hinted at a knife and fork. It took us a while to work out that these stood for 'entertainment', 'food' and 'hotels', respectively. To find any of those facilities, we just clicked on the icon and got a blown-up section of map showing where the facilities we needed were on that section of route. Of course, as caravanners, we didn't need hotels, and eateries not located in service stations were out of bounds because of parking difficulties.
Among the more useful options were the fastest and shortest routes, and the choice of general speed, whether 'moderate', 'fast' or 'slow'. For example, with a caravan, we set our speed to 'moderate' so the timings would be realistic. It even gave weather forecasts for our destination a week in advance.
Verdict This provides all the data you need, but it takes time to work out how to make the most of all the functions it has to offer.
Rating * * * * *

Mappy
Web www18.mappy.com
This planner could not find the street where we started. Realistically, most people know their home areas and how to get to major routes from there, so it might not always matter, but it didn't really inspire confidence.
However, it does offer a caravan option, which gave us a very good route, avoiding all the nasty bits of our Snowdonia journey.
There were nine stages to our New Forest trip. The road signs appeared in boxes, so they were easily distinguished from the directions. But much of that was superfluous. At one point, it said: "In Staines take the M3 in the direction of Southampton… passing near West Molesey, passing near Bracknell, passing near…" Another annoying feature was the way it told us only once whether to turn left or right, and even then it was in the middle of a baffling sentence: "Go through a place and then turn left on [160m]. In Hounslow…" We could not make out what that meant.
We used the large map, zooming in on it for details, and checked out other data, including fuel cost, distance, how much was along motorways, and the location of service stations. There was also an option of a reverse itinerary. Mappy had a weather option, but it was only for France and in French. It might be useful if you have O-level/GCSE French.
Verdict Once we'd figured out the wording, the site was useful. The caravan route was good, as was the other information it provided.
Rating * * *

Multimap
Web www.multimap.com
The 12 stages to the written instructions for the New Forest were clear and concise, with road names highlighted in bold. Each step was well-defined and logical, but we found that the 'distance so far' section, showing the miles you had actually travelled, could be confused with the section telling you how far you had to proceed on a certain road. This potential mix-up was further complicated by having the 'distance so far' in both miles and kilometres. The estimated times for each step, based on when we planned to depart, was included. It was all useful information, but it got confusing because of the way it was displayed.
The estimated starting times for each leg were not all that helpful. Also, we specified that we would be travelling during rush hour, but the site did not re-route us to take that into consideration. But at least 'real time' gave us a rough arrival time. There was a map that showed the overall route, and we liked the very detailed map sections for each stage of the journey. The map sections even showed the various roads leading into the New Forest campsite.
The quickest and shortest routes were available as options.
We were able to set the starting time for the journey, which let us view the potential 'real time' it would take. This was not much help, since one unscheduled stop or road hold-up would put have put us behind. If that had happened, we would have been confused by the gap between actual travel time and the site's predictions for each stage of the route that followed.
The itinerary got us to our campsite in Snowdonia by using major routes, so no problems there.
On the whole, it chose good routes to both destinations, and the instructions for each fitted on one sheet of paper.
Verdict Good instructions, but they were not well presented. Nevertheless, the route it chose was good for caravanners.
Rating * * * *

Map 24
Web www.uk.map24.com
With 37 stages, this was by far the longest itinerary, and that was just to the New Forest using the site's 'compact' setting. It gave us a bad case of info overload. Navigators would have got fed up even before leaving Teddington. Some of the instructions were confusing, for example referring to roundabouts by their names, which is something most people don't know. It also relies heavily on street names as a guide, but few drivers doing 30mph will notice any such signs, which are hard enough to read from a moving vehicle, even if you're watching for them.
As for the instructions' clarity, try this: "Leave the Street (...) and head straight forward onto the street Brockworth By Pass (A417)." Any guesses?
The itinerary took us through Salisbury and on lots of A-roads. Precisely the sort of thing you want to avoid when towing. Even solo, it took us 20 minutes longer than the other itineraries and was 14 miles longer. When we tested our route to Snowdonia it would have taken us down the B4407, which we feel is best avoided when towing.
But symbols indicating whether to turn left or right were helpful and the text, mileage and time details were all set out clearly.
We could get a detailed map of each stage of the journey by double clicking on the box with the text instructions for that stage. But we discovered this ourselves; there were no hints about using this feature on the website. Other options were a reverse route and camping grounds.
Verdict This one gave word-heavy, confusing and poorly chosen routes to both destinations.
Rating * *

AA Route Planner
Web www.theaa.com
This route finder gave us comprehensive guidance. The roads you should take are clearly indicated at the end of each instruction and are highlighted in blue for motorways and red for A roads. Even if you print the instructions out in black and white the roads are still clearly defined, so you will know which route you are looking for next.
Another plus point is that the guidance lists service stations en route. This is especially useful when travelling long distances to places like the North of Scotland where service stations are few and far between.
In busier areas, it warns of traffic black spots, which enables you to plan your journey at times when those areas should be less congested. It also includes a number to call for traffic news. A return route is also an option for the drive home again.
We could zoom in on sections of the map of our entire route, but it was very time-consuming. This was, in fact, the only place where the AA route planner fell down.
Overall, it provided clear instructions. The routes it selected were sensible for caravans, avoiding narrow roads, and its timings were realistic.
The website was easy to use except for the part where you type in your address and destination. We had to verify both of the addresses several times, which made it slower to use.
Verdict The route was excellent. Useful bits of information included in the itinerary, such as where service stations are, made this one of the most informative itineraries. However, it would have been nice if each section of the route had its own map that could be enlarged to aid clarity.
Rating * * * *

RAC Route Planner
Web http://rp.rac.co.uk/routeplanner
This route planner alerted us to traffic hot spots, but did not provide alternative routes for bypassing them. Still, it was worth knowing about imminent delays, and a phone number was provided for if further details were call for further information.
The route map uses symbols, so you can see at a glance what your next move is, which is good for navigators who get carsick when reading maps. Less good were the 18 stages of the trip to the New Forest. The RAC itinerary was one of the most long-winded and unwieldy in our test. However, the instructions were clear and the route was good for caravans.
Particularly good were the map sections, which had good detail and helped clarify the route every step of the way. All road signs were in bold, but so were the names of all the roads, place names and warnings of traffic hot spots. It became a little confusing.
The distance we had travelled and the remaining distance along a certain section of road were displayed in kilometres as well as in miles.
One advantage the RAC route planner had over the others was the ease of typing in our destination. All it required was the postcode. This saved a lot of time.
Verdict This is a good navigational aid, but printing out the lengthy instructions could jeopardise the world's rainforests!
Rating * * * *

MSN
Web www.mappoint.msn.com
What made this route guidance different from the others was its inclusion of compass bearings in the instructions. For example it said: "Bear left (west) on to M27." This was really useful as we were checking the route against a road atlas, enabling us to orientate the map.
There was an overview map of the itinerary and an option that allowed us to get a section of map corresponding with each step of the 15-stage itinerary. The maps were enough to give you some idea of where to go, but we would have liked a little more detail, such as more road names and larger scale map sections. Mini-roundabouts looked just like road junctions, which proved confusing. At least the highlighted route was more visible when printed out in black than that provided by Via Michelin.
It was a good job there were map sections for each stage, as the directions were not as clear as they might have been. The English was straightforward enough, but road signs were not highlighted.
There were options for getting the reverse itinerary for our journey home and we had the choice of either the quickest or the shortest route.
On our Snowdonia route, we were kept to the larger roads that are more suitable for caravans. Verdict This website does the job, even if the maps are a little hard to read, and it can provide a good caravan route as well.
Rating * * *

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