“You can’t use an old map to explore a new world.” –Albert Einstein
We all know how crucial Google Maps can be for traveling! While messing around on the app prior to our recent trip to Rome, we discovered some very helpful features that we are happily passing along for those who may not be aware of the full functionality at your fingertips. We will also be sharing some of our other favorite apps that we use to plan our trips, so read on!
Google Maps Travel Hacks:
Saving your must-see places:
This hack has served us the most, so we’re just going to dive in with it! It can be hard to determine which spots are the best to lump together during your trip to a big city. Luckily, Google Maps allows you to SAVE points in Google Maps for easy viewing later. This makes it so much easier to plan your day when you want to make the most of your time.
Here’s how to do it (on your phone or computer as long as you use the same account):
1. Pull up Google Maps and search for the city you are visiting
2. Search for each of your must-see places and click on the white information bar at the bottom of the screen
3. Click the “save” button. A menu will show up with some options, and which list you add to is personal preference. We usually choose to save to “starred places.”
4. Your starred locations will now show up under “Your Places” in Google Maps. Even better, your starred locations will show up on the map of the city at all times. This helps because sometimes while wandering, we’ll notice we happen to be near one of our starred locations!
Extra Tip: Add your hotel or Airbnb to your “favorites” on Google Maps so that it shows up as a pink heart on your map. This makes it easy to get back even if there's no internet available.
Download the map of the city you will be in for offline use:
It’s a great idea to download the map of the city you are visiting for when your phone is on airplane mode or when that Wi-Fi is being elusive!
Note: You must be on your phone and connected to Wi-Fi to download a map. Once downloaded, you can see your offline areas under the "Offline Areas" tab in Google Maps. Keep in mind that actual directions only work while driving and this feature isn’t available everywhere.
Other notable apps to try for your travel planning:
1. TripAdvisor – Not much explanation needed since most people know about this one by now. It's our go-to app for finding the best restaurants and fun activities.
2. Hopper – A great app for finding the best airfare deals! You can put in your preferred travel dates and it will alert you if the price drops. It also gives you predictions on whether the price will go up or down.
3. Hotel Tonight – We have used this app for last minute hotel deals and gotten a great price! If hotels have empty rooms, they often offer large discounts.
4. Visit a City Offline Guides – We LOVE this app because you put in where you are traveling to, and it gives you itineraries based on how much time you have, what you are interested in, etc. The best part is the guides are available offline.
We hope that these tips will be helpful to everyone once we get back to traveling the world! Stay tuned for more travel tips and let us know if there’s anything you’d like to see in a future post in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
-Nikki + Pam
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