Travel Maps with charm

While travel maps are something we never thought we’d sell, we found these brilliant foldaway travel guides and had to have them.

It’s easy to check out a destination online, to spend your precious weekend head down in an i-phone finding reviews and places to go…But it’s got no charm.

And that’s something these Herb Lester city maps have in abundance.

They’re illustrated and written by people who’ve investigated and explored, done all the hard work. They bring your attention to the places you wouldn’t even think to search for on Google.

Unfold your masterpiece, such as “The Uncle’s Guide to London” (which could be called “stuff to do with kids in the capital”) but they’ve chosen a jaunty angle, one which makes all of the 29 chosen places seem even more endearing.

Or “Old New York” which reads as "the New York you've always wanted to see but feared might have disappeared for good”.

And as yet the only north of the border guide is the “Glasgow Companion” which even for us natives will throw up things we didn’t know existed or remind us of places to go.

We also have guides to Berlin and Chicago, and “It’s Nice to be alone in Paris”, which takes the opposite view to the rest of the world, that to enjoy Paris you have to be in a wine-sharing, arm linked, baguette breaking twosome. This one urges you to celebrate that great city on your own, giving you advice on how best to do it.

The city maps/travel guides are £3-£4 each, and the illustrations are worthy of wall space if you’re not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.