I grew up with a fascination for maps. They were the only way to navigate, and often at the end of even a short vacation I would have a handful of local and larger maps. Happily there are more options for finding where you are and where you are going, but they come with cautions.
Before heading out be sure to learn how to orient yourself using the sun. The simple ability to estimate the direction of the cardinal points of the compass is helpful pretty much every sunny day, as I emerge from a metro stop, step out a hotel front door, and approach an unmarked trail or road intersection.
My primary navigation aid is Maps.me in both on and offline modes. It has a very clear and clean interface and shows many paths and shortcuts in addition to larger routes. It is not a good tool to find places like restaurants, or services like bike rentals, so is not a complete substitute for the more search engine oriented apps.
In addition I use Google Maps and Apple Maps pretty much every day, and they have made my travels easier. However, none of them are a perfect solution. In recent memory they have led me into completely incorrect areas in Cyprus (extra hour of driving), Martinique (walking on dark rural roads for an hour), and Equatorial Guinea (so far in the wrong direction on the highway that a local woman stopped, admonished me for being in such a dangerous area, and gave me a ride). In short I use them as decent indicators that should used with a a modicum of skepticism.
Sure I use them to find a bar or a monument in a city, when stakes are not very high. But when heading off for a significant distance, or even more importantly, when using the offline feature and unable to course correct, I try to be as redundant as possible. I will check the location of my destination on multiple apps. If they all agree then I have at least a decent level of confidence. If they do not agree then I will try to crosscheck with a hotel address, or a website of the destination, or a picture of a local map on the web.
GPSmyCity is pretty good for street maps and self guided walks for many of the more popular urban places.
For long distance routes I nearly always use Rome2Rio. Good (but far from perfect) point to point bus, train, and car directions, with some links to schedules and transportation companies.
For hiking trails and more rural areas I use Wikiloc, Komoot and AllTrails. Each has different regional strengths, and trails can appear on one but not the others. I cannot say that I love the interface of any of them, and each has quirks that you want to explore and grok out before you head out on your travels. Be sure to download trail maps before heading in to the hills of Andorra, because as the cell signal fades, so does the navigation.
If you travel with a companion for at least some time I would strongly recommend What3words. It was developed in order to give people who live in places that do not have an actual address, a place marker. This beautiful app locates every 3m x 3m square of the earth’s surface using three words. Send the three words of the destination and the app pins it exactly on a map. It unfailingly indicates the precise destination intended. No need to send an address or a name or a link, or a litany of directions. No more of the frustration of arriving at ‘location marked on map’, only to continue to scan around, across a street, etc to actually find the intended place. Get to the marker, and you will be with an arm’s length of the intended location.
Finally, I am trying to recover some of the navigation skills that I have lost over the years. Instead of relying on the web navigation steps I occasionally try to memorize a map, then I keep my head up, and dead reckon, perhaps counting steps, and orient using the sun. I used this recently in Custer National Park, where wild horses have created a confusing woven web of trails on the landscape. It made me feel very pioneeresque, and, when I succeeded in not dying, gave me a sense of personal pride.
