What's a good free software for making Hex Grid Maps?

[Windrammer]

I want to make my world map in hex grid. Because that's what world maps should be and also because this particular project is inspired by Civ5. Unfortunately I have no hex grid paper lying around and don't have the tenacity to draw it out or go through the various strange programs I've found on google.

[mr_odd]

http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/hexagonal/

This is what I use. You can mess with the settings to find the right size you want.

[Vonwalt]

Hexographer is very good and has a free version http://www.hexographer.com

[Octopusapult]

Just use the Civ V SDK. Assuming you have Civ V since you mentioned it, you can get the map editor for free from the "Tools" section in your Steam Library (Sid Meyer's Civilization V SDK).

I generally use that and place cities, borders, and everything myself. Each hex constitutes a day of travel, roads allow for 3 hexes per-day, or whatever works for you. Someone was recently talking about world economies and mentioned using the resource generator to determine trade goods and export costs from cities, so almost every aspect of Civ can be turned into a resource for map making.