Once you have your items on the map, you can start to categorize and customize them. You can scroll around the map and just click on sites you're interested in, or you can use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for things like the “Copenhagen Opera House” and add them to your My Map, too. So, how do you put all of those pins on the map? Google makes it easy. Here's what that same Copenhagen My Map looks like on my phone. Being able to access your My Map from anywhere is most of why it's such a valuable tool. My Maps isn't just for your web browser – you can use it in the Google Maps mobile app too. This is the My Map I made for my recent visit to Copenhagen, Denmark. For me, the second step of planning a trip (after booking a flight deal), is starting a map with My Maps. We liken it to a visual itinerary – My Maps lets you create, save, and share custom maps for your trip. If you're a visual person like me, having the ability to have everything you want to do and see laid out on a map right in front of you is one of the most helpful things when planning travel – especially if you're trying to decide where to stay.

I use Google Maps as the starting point for planning every trip, and I won't head to the airport before using all six of these features first. Some Google Maps features like driving or walking directions might be obvious for why they're useful for travel, but there are others that if you haven't used them before can help you dial-in facets of your trip better than you wouldn't believe. It's a treasure trove of step-by-step walking directions, live public transit information, hotel data, location photos from street level, and 3D satellite images of nearly every inch of the planet. Google Maps takes all the information from Google and displays it on a map – but it's much more than that. But once those flights are booked, the next tab (or app) you should open is Google Maps. I know, because I use it every single time I travel.Īt Thrifty Traveler, we regularly tout Google Flights as the single best way to search for airfare. While it's known mostly as a navigation app, Google Maps has a bevy of other features that make it one of the most useful tools when planning a trip.

Satellite map street view