Hey!

I'm spending 20 days traveling throughout Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Amsterdam, and London) I'm not very good with navigation and can get kind of disoriented with directions. Since I won't have my phone (not getting a data plan) my apple maps/google maps are not going to work.

I was looking into getting a GPS but it's not for when I'm driving, rather just walking around and exploring the cities. I wasn't sure if some of the GPS I saw would work for a walker vs driving in a car in terms of updating properly.

Thoughts?

You have bigger problems than which GPS -- you have listed 7 countries and only have 20 days. If that is 20 days total you will only have about 14 days free for seeing/doing (or 16 days free if you actually have 20 days on the ground - a 22 day trip total)

Or two days per country . . .

You can download maps onto your phone BTW.

My Garmin Nuvi is used both for walking and driving. It has a "pedestrian" mode on it. I use it all the time while on vacation in Europe. I would probably be completely lost without it! ;-)

What janisj said. Have you laid this out on a calendar with transport time?

You can download maps to your phone for off-line use. Of course, there are also, gasp, paper maps, which I have always found work fine.

TTT so perhaps somebody can actually answer the OP's question without any scolding as to timing.

joan already did, or did you not understand her answer?

I also did -- the OP can download all the maps he wants on his phone and not have to use data . . .

Dukey -- and what advice do <i>you</i> have for the OP?

None? OK, good.

Get the CityMaps2Go app for your phone. You download a map of Paris (or any city) to your phone when you're connected to wifi. Then when you are out and about the phone's GPS will show your position on the map. You don't need a data plan for GPS.

You must get a runing app because it look likes it will be your main activity in Europe.

Haven't tried using a phone app or downloading maps to a phone but will it only show where you are or will it give the option to enter where you want to go and lead you to that destination without data?

My GPS tells me turn by turn where to go.

Haven't used downloaded maps, but the maps app operates like Google maps. Turn by turn directions, by voice if desired, plus it knows about buses and metro systems. Will tell you when the bus will arrive and exactly where the bus stop is, which is indeed a great improvement over paper maps if you don't want to walk.

Thursdaysd,

But using that app would require using data on your phone, correct?

The app I use requires data, I have a month-by-month account with T-Mobile which includes unlimited low speed data in 120 countries. As I said, I don't know what the capabilities of the downloaded apps are, never needed to use one.

thanks for the info!

I take my phone even without a data plan. Then, at some location with free wifi (like, most cafe's, bars) use Google maps to find the route, or cover the area where I'll be going for the next few hours.

Once you have pulled up that area in Google maps, then even when you are away from free Wifi, your phone will still locate where you are by GPS, and show that as a blue dot on the map you were last looking at. Your GPS location will still appear on your most recently downloaded map, even without active Wifi.

Dfourth, will that help OP find their hotel or other location in a given town?

I use Here Maps on my phone when I don't have a data plan, it has turn by turn walking and driving directions and you can download whole countries to your phone before travelling. The only thing that doesn't work when offline is traffic data (obviously) and point of interest search isn't as good compared to when you're online.

Alternatively, Google Maps supports saving parts of the map onto the phone, but more limited areas than Here. That said, point of interest search probably works better on Google, although I haven't tried it offline yet.

What I am trying to imagine -- I am not being critical, just really curious -- is how people manage a GPS in places like Amsterdam, London, and Venice where there are so many people on the pavements/sidewalks that you actually have to walk single file in some places.

A paper map works so much better for the city. Ain't no shame in using a tourist map to navigate.