There are a couple of apps that I use, no matter which country I travel to. They are also very useful in advance, while you’re at home planning your trip. For example, I use them to plan my own walking tours. And the best part: they make organized bus tours obsolete.

With these apps, you don’t have to pay a lot of money for a group tour and you can explore all the best attractions the cities have to offer on your own. Which gives you all the time you need at every location. You don’t have to hurry because you have to be at the bus at a certain time. And if you find a sight to be disappointing, you don’t have to lose time waiting for the rest of the group to move on to the next stop on your day tour.

So the advantages of going by yourself, with the help of these offline map apps, are that it will make your travel cheaper and customized to your own desires, interests and pace.

1. CityMaps2Go (by Ulmon)

CityMaps2Go is one of the best travel apps in my opinion. It offers great offline maps of more than 150 countries, 60000 destinations and 50 million places. So where ever you want to go, CityMaps2Go will most likely have an offline (detailed) map for you. You can also plan trips, save the places you would like to visit and share them with friends.

Citymaps2Go is available for Apple and for Android

2. Triposo

Triposo is a smart travel guide, which is free and works offline! You can use Triposo for picking your favorite hotel, sights and activities. But I mostly use it for the city maps and the local tips. Which is available offline, so you can use it without the need for a mobile data plan.

Triposo is available for Apple and Android.

3. GPSmyCity (City Walks)

This app brings you thousands of self-guided walking tours, travel articles and offline city maps in a lot of cities around the world. You can discover which sights are interesting and you want to see. And then create your own walking tour. You are your own guide.

The city maps work offline, so there’s no need for a cellular plan or internet connection. This app is really a must have if you ask me, it really helped me a lot navigating through cities and just walking around on our own, without the fear of getting lost.

This app is available for Apple and Android.

4. Google Maps

Don’t underestimate Google Maps. It can be very useful for a lot of things! Even when you’re offline. Here are some tips on how to fully utilize the Google Maps app.

When you’re taking a taxi or riksja
I use Google Maps while I’m in the hotel on the wifi, to look up how far it is where we want to go. So I at least know the route a little bit and how long the ride will be. This also gives me an idea on how much we have to pay the driver, which price is acceptable. When we have to agree on a price beforehand.
If you take a taxi on a meter, I use Google Maps offline while I’m in the taxi. This gives me an idea on where we’re going and if the driver doesn’t take us on a ‘tourist’ route, which means a lot more miles and a higher taxi fare.

Extra tip: take a screenshot of the route (in Google Maps) when you’ve looked it up in your hotel room. And show this to the driver. He will understand where you want to go and also knows that you know how far it is. So he’s more likely not to scam you and take a longer route.

When you’re walking around
Google Maps works offline, so when you’re walking around, I always use it to figure out where I am. In advance, I’ve planned out different places I want to go to and how to get there. So when we’re walking around, Google Maps is very useful to see where you are exactly and which way you have to go. I’ve used it in a lot of major cities and I’ve always been able to find my way on my own.

Google Maps is available for Apple and Android.

Most big cities have their own apps

The major cities around the world, and sometimes also smaller ones, often have their own apps. These contain information about sightseeing, historical sights, museums, public transportation, hotels, restaurants, nightlife venues etc. Just go to the App Store or Play Store and type in the name of the country or city. You’ll find a lot of interesting and useful apps. A lot of these apps also allow you to save interesting places you want to see and create your own itinerary.

Especially apps about navigation and public transportation are really helpful and I recommend to download these in advance.

For example, when we were in Hong Kong, I used this app to move around in the city: Hong Kong Metro MTRC. This app is really useful when you want to explore Hong Kong on your own. And the metro system is really well organized in Hong Kong and will get you to all the interesting places. No need to book an organized tour, just go by yourself!