Google Maps

I’ve used it extensively for on foot and metro/city transport as well as pre-trip planning with great success. We make walking routes, plot shops, sites, and restaurants. Love it as a planning tool.

The only thing I’ve found at home pre planning is if taking a train (vs within city subway/metro system) sometimes it doesn’t say all the options and so for that, it’s best to book/research directly on the train line/company you’d be using.

I love google maps for transit systems! It says what line to take, which direction, how many stops, which stop, estimated travel time, and more.

I have used it extensively, most recently in Turkey and Portugal, and before that (of your countries) in Germany. It has always worked well. There are many things you can do offline, with a map you download in advance. For walking directions and live traffic, you need to have a data connection. You can test how that works by turning on/off your own data connection at home.

I use Google Maps to discover transit options. Then, as said above, I go to the transit provider's website to confirm those options and see the details.

Short answer: No.

Try the CityMapper app, for the major cities you will be in. It gives you alternate means (like bus, metro, walking, etc.) and real time info on traffic, closures, etc. We used it on a recent trip to NYC, and it would tell us the arrival times of each subway train, and which entrances ( e.g., NW, SE) to use.

Not exactly related to your question but, we've also used Google Maps for restaurant reviews (more so now than Trip Advisor). The restaurant photos that people post (especially recent ones) help us decide whether or not the food shown is what we were looking for.

Don't leave home without it.

I agree with Stan on CityMapper if it is available in the particular cities you'll be traveling to. I like it better for transit information but will default to googlemaps if a particular city isn't covered by Citymapper. I also like citymapper for walking a bit better than googlemaps.

Use the Citymapper app. I used it this past summer on my first to London and found it to be extremely helpful. It gave me the times of buses and trains. As well as walking directions to the bus stops or tube stations. It even tells you when to start walking if you want to catch the next bus or train. I also used it to navigate through Hyde Park.

CityMapper (free) will do this for you perfectly.

I use Google Maps virtually every day.

When planning a trip, I first figure out what neighborhoods I want to stay in. I'll pull up a Google Map and hit Control ++ to magnify the map. Then I'll hit on Hotels and all available hotels and B&B's will pop up in icons. I'll click on those icons and look at the individual hotels' customer ratings, etc. And I can easily find the less expensive properties.

When I hit the ground, I'll know exactly where the metro stations and restaurants are. Also what street names are around where I'm staying. I impress my wife as I usually know exactly where we're going even though I've never been there.

I also use Google Maps to figure out how far it is between cities and the easiest ways by road, public transport or air how to get from point A to point B.

Another one here who uses Google Maps exclusively through Europe, both for walking, driving and public transportation. I especially love it for public transport as it will not only direct me to the nearest public transport, but give me the bus number, and once I am seated, will tell me what stop to get off at.

People and the OP need to specify if question/advice is for with cellular service or without cellular service.

I use City Mapper in the cities where it's applicable, and I also use Google Maps.

I tap into maps to "pre-visit" a destination town or city once I settle my itinerary. I take the little yellow person icon and put it in the neighborhood and "start walking around"
It becomes familiar enough that it feels like I've been there before - that I've walked those streets before - when I finally take my trip.

I've been using maps.me for years ... download the app and any maps of the area(s) you will be in and it works just like google maps but you don't need any internet connection ... when you're done, just delete the unused maps from your phone.

Do you need an internet connection for citymapper when walking around a city? ... I prefer to stay offline since I don't want to use one of my Verizon international days so I can reallocate the $ to the beer fund :-)

even to navigate inside Charles de Gaulle airport,

Yes to this. Using Google Maps to find the restroom at AMS was easier than the signage.

Google maps are excellent if you're a fan of out of date information.

Otherwise, try something based on OpenStreetMaps. They are updated every month, and have much more detail than Google Maps, sometimes even down to benches and trash can level. At the moment I am using Organic Maps, which works offline on amazingly small map downloads. They are optomised for walking and bike riding, but work perfectly well offline.

They also don't track you and push adverts.

I tried using Google Maps in Germany/Austria in offline mode, but I found the latter frustrating and almost unusable.

I've been a big fan of maps.me, which has been very effective

Simon, thanks for the tip to Organic Maps which looks great. I just exported my custom maps from maps.me over to Organic Maps.

Maps are great, but if you rely on Google maps for navigating public transportation, you are making a mistake. Google maps might give a suggestion, but will it give you the best suggestion? A friend of mine was once sent on a large detour when he trusted Google maps, that didn't show the direct bus route. Also, how up to date is Google's information? Will it show you temporary disruptions?

Use Google maps if you like, but take it with a grain of salt and remember that the official source of information often is a better choice.

All,

This exchange has been very helpful and insightful for me. Many thanks to all that responded.

Tom

When I was in Switzerland and France for business in 2008 I found Google Maps very helpful.

In the time since, however, Google has done everything it can to monetize its map service and I now find it practically unusable. It drops pins for no apparent reason, wants to sell you stuff or inform you about businesses who pay Google a fee, goes from vertical to oblique view for no reason and no clear way to correct it, and almost never labels water bodies (lakes and rivers don't pay fees to Google, I guess).

Frankly, I hate Google Maps nowadays and rarely use it. It's more for advertising than for mapping, in my opinion. Greed over function.

(Comments above are for using it with a mobile phone)

Recently, in Greece at least, we found that Google maps, even when downloaded, are useless for walking directions unless you have an active data connection. You wind up trying to figure things out from driving directions, which don't work when you're in a neighborhood of walking streets (the Plaka in Athens, for example).

I use Google Maps virtually every day for something.

It's great especially for finding a neighborhood--and clicking on the hotel block. Icons pop up all over the place with the price of a room.

And when I hit the ground, I'm already familiar with the layout of the streets and where restaurants, etc. are. Sure beats going into a city and neighborhood blind.

I always use Google Maps around the world to help navigate through public transport, bit it really depends on the country on how accurate Google is. When I traveled Poland, Google Maps was pretty useless for public transport. It was constantly giving me inaccurate and straight wrong information (missing tram routes, wrong bus stop locations, etc) and then a local told me about Jakojade which is the app they use throughout Poland for public transport. So I would say use Google Maps, but when you arrive to your destination, ask a local if there is a better equivalent they use for more accurate information. As far as walking routes through, Google Maps has always been helpful