Putting together a travel map can be a fun and insightful exercise that helps you throughout your journeys. Any seasoned traveler knows that planning and anticipating your trip is an enjoyable part of the process. And they also know that, when it comes to having a positive experience, a little bit of planning and preparation goes a long way.

That’s why we put together this guide on how to make a travel map. We hope that you find this advice useful during your itinerary. You may even find that your travel map is a wonderful way to remember your trip long after the travel dates have come and gone. Without further ado, let’s dive into some FAQs about travel planning maps.

What is a Travel Map?

A travel map is any kind of representation of the places you’re going. It can help you keep track of places you want to go and the information you need to remember. Back in the old days, a travel map would be on paper. While some people may prefer the nostalgia of putting together a paper map, most people in the 21st century prefer a more high-tech solution. You can put together a group travel map on many types of mapping software.

Those who use Google maps or Apple Maps may lean towards their preferred daily navigation tool. However, there is also value in finding a more niche solution to this exciting project of putting together a personal travel map. Before we dive into the specifics of how you can put together your very own travel map, let’s take a look at some of the benefits that a travel itinerary map has to offer.

Benefits of a Travel Map

First and foremost, having a travel map will help you keep your itineraries organized. If you’re hoping to make the most of your trip and see every site that you had on your bucket list, a bit of organization goes a long way. After all, you don’t want to waste precious time and energy on your vacation or travels trying to figure out basic logistics that you could have researched beforehand if you were more diligent.

A travel map can also be a good opportunity to share information and collaborate with your travel partners. Different people have different visions of the ideal journey. Therefore, collaboration and communication are quite important. Some tools (such as Proxi) offer the opportunity to build a travel map together on a single platform from multiple accounts. This can help reduce miscommunications and frustrations over poorly planned Itineraries.

What to Include in Your Travel Map?

Now that we’ve talked about the benefits of putting together a travel map, let’s take a look at a few of the most common elements that you want to consider adding to yours. We’ll start with some basic trip amenities that any traveler will need to consider. From there, we can talk about the specifics of your journey.

Hotels and Accommodations

On your trip, you will obviously need a place to stay. The exact hotel that you choose will depend on your budget and your plans during your stay. But a few things to always look for are location, quality, and price.

You want a hotel that is located close to the attractions you’ll be visiting. It’s also worth considering if the area your hotel is in is walkable and if it has connectivity with local trains, buses, bike shares, and other transit options. Checking Google reviews and other customer feedback can help you decide between the hotel options.

Price is a concern for most travelers to some degree, so you will want to understand the cost of each option as well. Once you have chosen a hotel, your travel map can help you remember key details such as the address, check-in hours, and where you will be heading out to once you leave your hotel

Sights and Attractions

Add attractions your want to see. Now that we’ve taken care of accommodations let’s dive into the attractions! You can find information about the attractions in the area you’re traveling to by creatively scouring the web. Platforms like Yelp, Reddit, and even Quora are good places to start. If you can find a travel blog or YouTube channel with more personal and subjective content from creators you love, that may help even more. Once you’ve chosen the attractions you’d like to visit, you can use your travel map to keep track of information such as the address, the ticket page, the hours, when you will go, and any relevant links to reservations.

Travel Arrangements

A Travel map is also a good place to keep track of your arrangements. There’s nothing worse than arriving at an airport or train station and not being able to find your boarding pass. So why not keep your ticket links directly in a unified and cohesive travel map? You can also note down information such as station location, transit to the airport, and departure times of all your journeys.

When traveling with a large group, these situations can be particularly chaotic or even stressful if not managed well. In order to coordinate your party when heading to the airport, train station, or bus terminal, digital tickets and a readily accessible itinerary are invaluable.

Food, Drinks, and Dining

A key part of experiencing any local culture is finding the food fare. If you do research beforehand, you can take note of the restaurants you would most like to visit. Of course, you can also add information on hours, menu items, reservations, and the address for any dining establishments you will be patronizing.

With a digital travel map, you can start researching (and anticipating) all the amazing food, drinks, and experiences you will have. And all that research can be stored and accessed, making for a wonderfully seamless chain of events.

Additional Tips

By now, your travel vision is really beginning to take shape. The big day is approaching, and soon you will be on your way to experience new things and build memories that will last a lifetime. Here are some final tips to put the finishing touches on your travel map and be fully prepared for everything that life – and your journey – will throw at you.

Take Advantage of the Cloud

Use an online map maker so you can access your map anywhere. There’s nothing worse than putting tons of work into a map that you then leave in the hotel at the most crucial moment. An online map will allow you to access the same information from multiple devices, and it will make it easy to share that information among multiple people.

While there is certainly some nostalgic value in a paper map, we would recommend buying one for a souvenir if you really want one but relying on a more modern and robust digital solution for your day-in and day-out travel necessities.

Get Organized and Create Categories

Group map pins into different categories to help keep things organized. For example, you may wish to group all of the museums you will be visiting into one category and all of the architectural sites you wish to experience in a different one. Things such as accommodations, hotels, and transit can also deserve their own categories.

The exact division of locations into distinct categories is ultimately up to you, but you want to pick a consistent theme that is practical for the purposes of your particular travel experience. Grouping pins in this fashion can also help make sure that everyone on the trip gets to have their own input. Group travel is sometimes challenging, but good communication can help.

Add Photos and Organize Memories

A digital travel map with pins is useful for more than just planning. The great thing is that you can later use the pins to upload photos of your vacation if you are using a proper travel map software such as Proxi. You can upload photos of your vacation to each respective pin, turning your map into a photo album.

With Proxi, you can also embed this on your blog, so others can follow along with your journey. Our platform was made with adventurous and creative travelers like you in mind, so make sure to check us out and see everything that proxy has to offer. It will help you make the most of your trip and will also help you organize and share all the memories and experiences that you take in along the way.

Check Out Our Travel Map Template

Ready to start creating your travel map for your upcoming trip?

Spend some time exploring our free Travel Map Template for group trips.

Just pick the city or region you’ll be traveling to and start marking down the information that is most useful to you. Our design is intended to put powerful map-creation tools into the hands of everyday travelers like you. We hope you’ll enjoy our work. But most importantly…be sure to enjoy your trip!

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