Navigating a new city

corblimey

I was just wondering, in this day and age, how people generally navigate new cities they're visiting, particularly when you want to see a good few things in one day? I use satnav when driving from place to place, but in the larger cities, that's generally useless. So I can see options like

a) proper paper maps you unfold and then spend 20 minutes refolding
b) small maps in your guidebook
c) google maps, hang the data expense
d) some other small satnav, but more as an on-screen map than any sort of turn by turn directions
e) just ask people

Is there something else I haven't considered? I generally use google maps when I'm still in my hotel and try and get some idea of how to get to my first sight, but after that, I'm working on memory more than anything, which I think is tricky in old European cities like Lisbon with all its narrow back streets.

munchkin_utd

why would you want to drive in a city?

Anyhow, when visiting a small city I'd abandon the car somewhere central (and if its a paid carpark then thats just a holiday expense that is worth it for the saving of time from farting about with park and rides or whatever) and get a free map off the local tourist office and just potter about following signs or my instinct.
About the only time I'd use a smartphone would be to find the tourist office to get the paper map.
The advantage of a paper map is that you have the entire area in one go and no caching or buffering or other messing, and you can mark in a pen then whats interesting or whatever as a reminder of where to go.

But often id live without any map as any city with a bit of a decent local council will have an orientation map at important landmarks.
(although again, larger cities mightnt bother with that at the same time)

corblimey

munchkin, yeah, I wasn't talking about driving around, more walking around or catching public transport (although that has its own problems). I didn't think about the orientation maps, although I've not seen them in a lot of small towns or really big cities. The tourist office is a good idea, and if I can memorise the way there from my hotel, that might work. But for both of these, you're relying on the fact that the thing you want to see is 'important'. That's not always the case for tourist sights, and definitely not the case for shops, restaurants, bars, etc.

zagmund

I normally get a feel for the distances involved in moving between a couple of the things I want to see. If they are walkable in 20-30 minutes then I build the walk into my schedule and get an idea in my head of the main junctions/roads I need to take as well as the direction. If I get lost and spend another couple of minutes getting back on track then there's no harm done in my books. If they are too far apart then I look at public transport options. The internet is great these days for giving out timetables, etc . . . I'm not the biggest fan of taxis, but I have been known to resort to them on occasion when I'm wrecked and the last 30-40 minutes walk of the day just isn't going to add anything to my experience other than blisters.

For example, if I was a tourist in Dublin I would be likely (in a days sight seeing) to walk from Westland Row, along Pearse Street, College Green, Temple Bar (I'm a tourist, remember), the quays, Smithfield, Guinness. Walking back after a days sight seeing . . . perhaps, depending on whether I had diverted off to Merrion Square, St Stephens Green, Grafton Street, Smithfield, Dublin Castle, etc . . . along the way. I would be doing this because I'd looked at the route and figured that the distances between interesting things along the way wasn't too great.

I would never use a GPS. I remember seeing a guy in Venice one day following his GPS around. I'm not sure that's a great idea. Venice is a special case in a number of ways. For one, if you're looking at your GPS then you're missing the action on the streets. And also, GPS is accurate, but not that accurate especially when operating in narrow streets with tall buildings around, which is just exactly what Venice is like. You could easily have two "streets" side by side with less than a meter between them - one going down to someones garden, one leading you to the main street you were looking for and no way to tell which is which.

I might occasionally use smart phone mapping, but I don't think I have done that so far. Normally when I check in to a hotel I ask them for a local area map at the desk. This typically has the location of the hotel and the interesting things nearby.

I would buy an OS or equivalent map when spending a week somewhere non-city. It's amazing the interesting things that are marked in on an OS map.

z

corblimey

zagmund wrote: »

If they are walkable in 20-30 minutes then I build the walk into my schedule and get an idea in my head of the main junctions/roads I need to take as well as the direction

Which is the way I generally try to do it, but my memory is... what you call it... shot these days, so trying to remember 17 junctions/roads for your day of sight seeing just isn't feasible any more. I'd write it all down, but then I'm spending the journey looking down at a piece of paper.

For example, I've got a plan to visit Porto next year. I've got a day where I'm visiting up to 5 tourist sights, 1 shop and 1 restaurant. For that day, there is less than an hour of actual walking between all the places, but there are at a rough count, about 30 streets and junctions involved (for example between sight A and sight B, it's a 10 minute walk, but you go down 5 different streets). There's no way I'll remember all that.

Columbia

I just use Google maps and cache whatever I need each day. Once the maps are cached then the cost of data is very low, or you can just turn data completely off. You can also mark important sights, hotels, restaurants, etc. on the map itself. I don't actually pay any attention to GPS positioning (which can be hit or miss), I just use it like a paper map to follow the streets. To get your bearings (for example, after getting out of the metro) find the intersection of two streets, then it's pretty clear.

If I need to follow directions then I email the directions to myself and again access them from my smartphone.

I don't take any backpack with me while I'm out exploring a city, just a camera and whatever I have in my pockets. For me those paper maps are just a hassle.

corblimey

Thanks Columbia, tis a good idea, but are you then walking along a street with your iphone in front of your face, trying to work out where to go?

grimm2005

Columbia wrote: »

I just use Google maps and cache whatever I need each day. Once the maps are cached then the cost of data is very low, or you can just turn data completely off. You can also mark important sights, hotels, restaurants, etc. on the map itself.

This is what I do, I cache the city to my phone before I leave and also "star" all the places of interest on my computer at home and the just use GPS which doesn't incur data charges to see where I am and find where I'm looking for using the pinned stars on the map. It's been a life saver and has saved me a lot of time as well. The GPS indicator also points in the direction you are standing so there's no chance of getting confused with directions on the map.

Don't get me wrong, I also like to explore the city randomly but if I'm going somewhere specific and I've no idea how to get there, google maps is a godsend.

fricatus

I generally pick up the maps for the various tour buses, e.g. CitySightseeing or Big Bus, then check out how their itinerary compares to the places I want to visit.

Once I've marked everything on their map, I get the ticket and then spend the next 24 hours doing the hop-on hop-off thing, getting off at stops near where I want to go. That's normally enough to give you a good degree of familiarity with the place and I would go with public transport after that.

Evenstevens

I usually do a bus tour of the city when I arrive to get a feel for it and then you usually hear or see things you think you might come back to that way.

corblimey

Tks both, but I'd be of the opinion that bus tours make things a little more complicated, they might go the long way around due to road or traffic restrictions; they might not visit places you want to go, etc. Also they're not available in every city, or when they are, are not always a quality service. However, the HOHO aspect is very handy, and one I'll consider.

munchkin_utd

corblimey wrote: »

Which is the way I generally try to do it, but my memory is... what you call it... shot these days, so trying to remember 17 junctions/roads for your day of sight seeing just isn't feasible any more. I'd write it all down, but then I'm spending the journey looking down at a piece of paper.

For example, I've got a plan to visit Porto next year. I've got a day where I'm visiting up to 5 tourist sights, 1 shop and 1 restaurant. For that day, there is less than an hour of actual walking between all the places, but there are at a rough count, about 30 streets and junctions involved (for example between sight A and sight B, it's a 10 minute walk, but you go down 5 different streets). There's no way I'll remember all that.

i think you are thinking too much like a motorist when acting as a pedestrian.
When walking exact directions arent really needed as you arent dealing with 1 way networks and potential u turns and whatnot like you are as a motorist.

if you're walking you just need a few landmarks and an idea of where you roughly are, and where roughly you need to go and more often than not you'll find your way round.
And add a map, online or on a phone, and you can reestablish your bearings if you stray off course - which in itsself is often no harm as you find random stuff you didnt intend on seeing in the first place.
Also, if you arent so strict on your directions you can spend more time admiring where you are rather than concentrating in trying to get to where you want to be.

about bus tours, they are really good especially for spread out cities, but for some cities with large pedestrian areas or with really narrow streets, they miss out on a large amount of the important part of town.

Slunk

Normally use a paper map from the hotel or tourist office as these will have the main attractions highlighted.
I also use citymaps2go. Download the map info and optional wiki data about attractions,places if interest and then it can be used offline while out and about. The paid version (approximately €3) is searchable e.g find street names, hotels, restaurants etc. Map downloads are about 20-30mb with wiki info.

Wyldwood

Any decent hotel will have small city maps at reception, these usually have all the big attractions marked and can be folded into your pocket. Very useful for quick reference if you're lost. I find hotel staff great for pointing you in the right direction and marking maps. Alternatively, as already mentioned, the local tourist office is the best bet - ask at hotel reception for directions there.

If you're visiting a city you don't want to run straight from A to B to C and ignore all the area in between. Take your time and stroll around,soak up the atmosphere, you'll get a much better picture of the city and enjoy your visit far more.

corblimey

munchkin_utd wrote: »

if you're walking you just need a few landmarks and an idea of where you roughly are, and where roughly you need to go and more often than not you'll find your way round.

Well landmarks are another problem. On my first holiday in 2009, I tried that method, putting down things like 'turn left at red shop and head towards cranes in background', but of course by the time I got there, the red shop was yellow and the cranes had gone

Wyldwood wrote: »

Any decent hotel will have small city maps at reception, these usually have all the big attractions marked and can be folded into your pocket.

Slunk wrote: »

Normally use a paper map from the hotel or tourist office as these will have the main attractions highlighted.
I also use citymaps2go. Download the map info and optional wiki data about attractions,places if interest and then it can be used offline while out and about. The paid version (approximately €3) is searchable e.g find street names, hotels, restaurants etc. Map downloads are about 20-30mb with wiki info.

Ok, so maybe the hotel is my first option to see what they can do. In terms of tourist offices, I did once visit the Sligo tourist office, but they spent more time talking about sights that were outside of town than ones I could get to by walking (I had a car that time, so it wasn't an issue). But maybe that's just Sligo

citymaps2go sounds interesting, definitely cheaper and easier to use than a folding map, must take a look

zagmund

corblimey wrote: »

Well landmarks are another problem. On my first holiday in 2009, I tried that method, putting down things like 'turn left at red shop and head towards cranes in background', but of course by the time I got there, the red shop was yellow and the cranes had gone

Aha, a youngster are you. Much to learn about the ways of travel you have.

I've a hunch that you are over-engineering the solution here. Unless you have serious directional issues you don't need to write down loads of detail like that. If you do have serious directional issues then this is more than just a general "how to get about places" thread. Using Google street view can be great and I've certainly used it to get an idea of what the streetscape looks like when I'm arriving somewhere by train for example, but I don't think I would try to memorise a route using it. As you have noticed, things change over time.

I got "lost" when coming out of Augsburg train station once, looking for a hotel that was no more than 150m from the station. And the station itself is pretty compact - you can pretty much only exit from one side, yet I still got lost. In the end it came down to telling the rest of the family to sit down and have a coffee while I spent 20-30 minutes exploring all the streets in the immediate vicinity. I found it at the end. It might have been quicker if I did it right to left instead of left to right. The hotel was on the last street on the right.

z

Louche Lad

I'm continually visiting new cities, and I usually do a few of these:

1. Print out maps beforehand
2. Download an offline map app onto my tablet (often available free for major tourist cities)
3. Cache a map on my smartphone (and just use GPS on it to track where I am for free)
4. On the first day in a city, pay for roaming data (some mobile companies offer a daily rate of just a few euro)
5. Buy a map in book form, not large sheet form
6. Get a free bus map (often has useful street layout details)
7. Free map from the tourist office

I sometimes just deliberately walk around randomly to see where I end up. You can do this in a planned way, such as a zigzag walk (taking the first left, then the first right, then the next first left, and so on). Often you end up in uninteresting places, but sometimes you find unexpected delights.

corblimey

Actually, I hadn't considered the book form of maps. Long ago, I used to use an A-Z of London to get around, and it was much less unwieldy than a foldy map. Plus you could bookmark relevant pages. A quick search of Amazon hasn't revealed anything suitable yet for Porto, but I'll keep looking!

Gatica

We've used those small A-Z guide books with maps, found them handy to get your bearings. Asking locals if you're able to pronounce and read local words, wouldn't bother in Asia for example, unless they speak English.
Caching maps on your phone is a good idea and also getting a larger map from your hotel or a tourist office. Look up the names of a couple of main streets and check for them as you're walking to your destination. It's a good way to check if you're still on track. Many foreign cities are much better than Ireland at signposting street name signs.

Shaque attack

Asking people has worked 9/10 for me. You should obv have a basic idea of the direction you're heading with landmarks etc but yeah I think asking people when it doesn't work out for you has the best results.

keithclancy

When walking around I just mark the stuff on a free pocket map with an X.

You can sometimes get a Tripadvisor offline version for cities also.

Whenever I do go somewhere though I usually pickup a local sim for data, I have a Moto G Dual sim so its easy to just use the second SIM only for data and keep my normal sim in use for calls and so on