Most people never find out how Google Maps offline actually works. They find out at a bus stop in Lisbon, or on a trail above the treeline, when the app says routing is unavailable. Five offline map apps tested across Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and East Africa between November 2025 and April 2026 confirmed what the small print has always said: Google Maps offline gives you driving directions only. Walking, cycling and public transport are out. The maps expire after up to 30 days, and Google tries to auto-update them over Wi-Fi within 15 days of expiry. Miss that window and you download again. In some countries you cannot save offline maps at all, because of contractual limits. That is a lot to manage for something most travellers treat as a backup they will never need.
The four apps below are not workarounds. They are better than Google Maps offline for specific kinds of travel, and each has a limitation worth knowing before you board.
Organic Maps is the one for multi-country backpacking. It is free, open-source, and carries no ads, no tracking, and no data collection. Maps come from OpenStreetMap, cover whole countries rather than tiles, and have no expiry date and no download limit. That matters when you are crossing six countries in two months without reliable Wi-Fi. The data refreshes every two weeks, so freshness is not a concern. It does more than walking directions too: turn-by-turn voice navigation for driving and cycling, plus contour lines, elevation profiles and hiking layers. Where it loses to OsmAnd is depth and configurability, not features on paper. For a backpacker who wants dependable navigation without fuss, it is the easy pick.
OsmAnd is the one for hiking, off-road travel, and anywhere you need the map to show what the terrain actually does. Topographic maps, contour lines, slope visualisation, nautical charts, ski overlays, GPX import: no other app here matches the list, and OsmAnd’s control over routing and map layers goes well beyond Organic Maps. The free version caps map downloads, a real problem on a long trip. OsmAnd+ removes the cap for a one-time payment of about $9.99. That is fair for what amounts to a full offline mapping system in your pocket. The catch is the interface, which rewards patience.
HERE WeGo is the only app here that takes offline public transit seriously. It carries offline schedules for a reported 1,900-plus cities across more than 50 countries, covering metro, bus, tram and commuter rail, all readable without a signal in any downloaded region. It handles driving, walking, cycling and transit in one app, free to users, funded by HERE Technologies through automotive partnerships rather than subscriptions. The limitation is serious and belongs up front, not buried: HERE WeGo has major data gaps in Japan, South Korea and China. Download it for Tokyo expecting offline transit and you will find it unreliable. For those places, pair Organic Maps for navigation with a local transit app.
Sygic GPS Navigation is the closest this category gets to a dedicated sat-nav unit. It runs offline 3D maps sourced from TomTom and others, updated several times a year, with a Real View AR overlay and lane-level guidance. The free Basic World version includes offline maps, search and route planning, but voice-guided turn-by-turn needs the paid Premium+ subscription, from $19.99 a year. For driving unfamiliar roads in the dark, worth it. Note that Sygic shares HERE WeGo’s data gaps in Japan, South Korea and China.
The Lisbon-to-Porto road trip in testing, and the hiking in Serra da Estrela, make the choice obvious. Sygic takes the motorway. OsmAnd takes the mountain.
