Search for "city guide app" and you get Komoot, Google Maps, GetYourGuide and izi.travel on a single results page. Those four are built for four different jobs, and only one of them is what most people mean when they look for a walking tour.
A lot has moved since the first version of this piece in May. Google Maps answers questions about the neighbourhood while you walk, ChatGPT shows day trips on a map, and hardly a new travel app launches without AI. So for this update we also checked what the apps can do once you’re already out walking. Whether they change the plan when you run short of time. Whether you can wander a neighbourhood without directions for a while. And who gets you back to the car at the end.
Stubbs is our own product. What it cannot do is listed further down, in the same format as for the other four.
Which app suits a self-guided walking tour in 2026/2027? That depends on what you mean by walking tour. Someone who wants a finished loop past the best-known places, right now and without booking, needs a different app than someone booking a guided tour or planning a hike. Stubbs is built for the first case: it puts the loop together from real places, changes it when you ask along the way, lets you walk without directions for a while and takes you back to your starting point at the end. None of the other four apps in this comparison does that in one flow. The sample loop for Bamberg has 11 stops over 3.1 kilometres, 49 minutes of pure walking. Compared here: Stubbs, Komoot, Google Maps, GetYourGuide and izi.travel, as of October 2026.
At a glance: 5 apps side by side
| App | Curated route | No booking | Worldwide | Instant in browser | Built for cities | 3D route preview | Planned breaks | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stubbs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (PWA) | Yes | Yes (flyover) | Yes (café, restaurant, bar · start, middle or end) | Free |
| Komoot | Partly | Yes | Yes | App required | Outdoor focus | Terrain only (Premium) | Manual only (waypoint) | Freemium |
| Google Maps | No | Yes | Yes | Browser works | Maps, no curation | Some major cities | Manual only (add stop) | Free |
| GetYourGuide | Yes (guided) | Booking required | Yes | Browser works | Yes | No | Depends on the tour | €15–60 per tour |
| izi.travel | Fixed routes | Yes | Limited | App required | Yes | No | No | Free / paid |
On the way: what the apps do once you’re walking
A city rarely goes the way you planned it. Of 40 navigation starts we looked at in early October, 17 were more than five kilometres from the planned loop. Stops get skipped, and now and then someone gets stuck in a lane that wasn’t on any list. That’s why there is a second table.
| App | Change the loop on the way | Walk without directions, rejoin later | Back to the starting point | Find a break on the way |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stubbs | Yes, with a tile or in your own words: shorten, add a stop, skip a stop, go somewhere else first | Yes (“On my own”, your route keeps recording) | Yes, one tap on “Back to start” | Yes, up to three places nearby, one becomes the next stop |
| Komoot | Replan the route by hand | Recording yes, the route is up to you | Set it as a destination by hand | Search by hand |
| Google Maps | Destinations by hand, questions to Gemini while walking | It’s a map; there is no tour to rejoin | Yes, if you save your parking spot first | Yes, nearby search |
| GetYourGuide | No, the tour sets route and pace | Only by leaving the group | No, the end point depends on the tour | Depends on the tour |
| izi.travel | No, fixed route | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
As of October 2026, based on the features the apps describe themselves. In Google Maps, the Gemini feature depends on whether Gemini is available in your country and language.
Google Maps does better on the way than at the planning stage, and that’s no accident. It’s a tool for the moment: where’s the next café, where did I park. What it lacks is the thread the loop hangs on. Stubbs has both, because the companion that helps you plan is the same one that walks with you. What that looks like in a real city is two sections further down.
What AI changes in 2026/2027
At the end of January 2026, Google brought Gemini into Google Maps navigation, including for people on foot. You ask what’s going on in the neighbourhood or where to eat along your route, and you get an answer (Google, January 2026). Maps still doesn’t build a loop for you, though. You set the destinations and their order yourself.
Since August 2026, ChatGPT has been rolling out its own map in Europe step by step, starting on the web, with places, opening hours and photos (iFun, August 2026). You can ask it to suggest a walk. As far as we can tell, it can’t take you there once you set off.
People want this. In a Bitkom survey of 1,004 people in Germany published in August 2026, 17 per cent said they had already used AI on holiday to find trips and sights, and another 40 per cent could imagine doing so. In the same release, the association advises checking routes and opening hours against reliable sources (Bitkom, 7 August 2026).
There’s a reason for that advice. In October we read the newest App Store reviews of thirteen travel and tour apps. About one of the AI trip planners, a reviewer writes that it keeps recommending places that are permanently closed. With the audio tour apps, people complain about texts that sound machine-made, a computer voice reading out an encyclopedia entry, and guidance that stops as soon as the screen goes off. What AI is worth for walking tours in 2027 depends less on the model than on where the places come from and whether the app actually gets you there.
Where the information comes from: does the AI in Stubbs make up places?
No. The AI in Stubbs only picks from a list of real places taken from open map data (OpenStreetMap), and it picks them by their ID, not by a name it writes out itself. If it suggests a landmark that isn’t on the list, it stays only if it can be found in the data. Otherwise it’s dropped.
The short texts on each stop come from sources such as freely available encyclopedia entries. Every number and every name in such a text has to be in the source. If it isn’t, the sentence goes, and if there’s no source at all, there’s no text. The small “i” on each stop shows where the details come from.
It isn’t flawless. A café the map data still lists as open may have shut last week. And what Stubbs says to you in the chat along the way is phrased freely by the AI. It isn’t allowed to claim opening hours, prices or addresses it doesn’t know, but the chat isn’t an encyclopedia.
Guided, and still free: a loop through Bamberg
This is what an afternoon looks like if you use everything Stubbs can do today. The stops come from our Bamberg loop.
- Getting there. You drive in from the countryside. If your start is more than two kilometres from the loop, it begins at a car park, and Stubbs hands the drive over to Google Maps. Coming by train, you just enter the station as your starting point.
- Being led in. Stubbs takes you to the first stops, Geyerswörth Palace and then the Old Town Hall, which stands in the middle of the river Regnitz. It announces the turns and notices on its own when you’ve arrived. Your phone can go in your pocket; in the Android app the directions keep coming with the screen off.
- A neighbourhood to yourself. On the other side of the bridge, the Sand quarter begins: narrow lanes, taverns, plenty going on. This is not where you want to hear every minute which way to go. You tap “On my own”, Stubbs goes quiet and still records where you walk.
- Back into the tour. After a coffee you tap “Back to the tour”. Stubbs works out the way from wherever you’re standing to the next open stop. In Bamberg that’s the climb up to the cathedral and the New Residence with its rose garden.
- Changing the plan. Running short of time? You tap “Less time” or tell Stubbs you only have an hour left. It suggests which stops to drop and keeps the ones that are on the way anyway. For the evening you ask for a bar and get up to three nearby.
- Back to the car. When you’re done, you tap “Back to start”. Stubbs takes you back to your starting point, however many lanes you wandered through before. The whole route ends up in your summary.
That’s the idea behind “On my own”: let yourself be led a few stops, notice where the good corners are, and walk the rest yourself. It works in your own city too, on a Sunday with no plan.
Who is Stubbs for?
Stubbs is a digital city guide that builds a loop for your city out of open place data such as OpenStreetMap. In about 30 seconds, without booking, without signing up. You enter a city and a starting point; the app handles selection and order.
Strengths: It picks, instead of showing everything. Before you set off, a 3D flyover shows the whole route, and at every stop you decide whether it stays in. Stubbs plans with you: if the tour is too long, a restaurant is missing or you’d rather walk it the other way round, you tell it with a tile or in your own words. The same works during navigation, plus “On my own” and “Back to start”. Breaks are part of the plan from the outset: café, restaurant or bar, each at the start, in the middle or at the end of the loop, with two alternatives to swipe through. You can add your own stops by searching for them. Live navigation in the free Android app, even with the screen off. On iPhone, Stubbs runs in the browser. We earn nothing from any recommendation.
Weaknesses: No recorded audio commentary. The short stop texts are read aloud, but nobody narrates them. There’s no offline mode, and without a connection no new tour is created either. There’s no iPhone app yet. And anyone who wants a live explanation from a person is in the wrong place.
Who is Komoot for?
Komoot is built for hiking and cycling, and it is good at that: elevation profiles, surface details, offline maps, plus a community that shares and rates its routes.
It is not built for an old town. You can plan an urban route there, but Komoot plans paths between points you have already set yourself. Which places are worth visiting, and why, is a question the app does not answer. That choice stays your job, and in an unfamiliar city it is the hard part.
Premium costs €4.99 a month or €59.99 a year, and in the newest critical App Store reviews we read in October, a good quarter are about the subscription, the price or cancelling. For city walks you don’t need a premium account, you need a different kind of app.
Strengths: Elevation and surface data at a level of detail no city guide app offers. Reliable offline maps, a large community route library.
Weaknesses for city walks: No selection of sights, no context about the places, not optimised for urban walking. A routing tool, not a city guide.
Who is Google Maps for?
For navigation, opening hours and the nearest restaurant, Google Maps is the standard tool, and the place database behind it is the most complete there is. It belongs on your phone for any city trip. Since 2026, Gemini also answers questions about what you’re looking at while you walk, and if you save your parking spot, you’ll find your way back in the evening.
As a city guide it still does not work. Google Maps shows you a thousand pins and leaves you to decide which ones are worth it. There is no suggestion of the kind "these three places, in this order"; you add several destinations by hand and in your own order. On top of that, sponsored listings influence what appears at the top.
Who is GetYourGuide for?
GetYourGuide is a booking platform. You book guided tours with real human guides there, along with entry tickets. A different product from everything else on this list.
If you want a person who tells the story and answers your questions, this is the right place. Two caveats: quality depends on the individual operator and varies a lot. And the order of recommendations is not neutral, since GetYourGuide takes a cut of every booking. Spontaneity is out too, because popular tours are often gone days in advance.
The overall App Store rating is very good. Read only the newest critical reviews, though, and a good third are about cancelled tours, refunds or customer service. Whoever books carries that risk. A loop without a booked slot has nothing to cancel.
Strengths: A human leads. Tours on specific themes, from architecture to food. Entry tickets bookable in the same step.
Weaknesses: Booking required, cost per person, group pace, the platform's commission interest.
Who is izi.travel for?
The principle is simple: cities, museums and tourist boards produce audio tours and publish them on the platform. Where someone has done that, you get narrated commentary at every stop, and it is usually decently produced. For museums this model is the best solution in this comparison. New: trip planning with AI.
The catch is coverage, and you need to check it before you travel. Major destinations have plenty; a mid-sized city off the tourist trail often has nothing at all, because nobody recorded a tour there. Check it for your specific destination rather than relying on the app. And when something does exist, you walk the route as given, not your own. You also have to install the app.
Which city guide app plans breaks into the route?
In short: Of the five apps, only Stubbs builds breaks into the route itself. You pick café, restaurant or bar and say when: at the start, in the middle or at the end of the loop. The app puts the place where it costs the shortest detour. In Komoot and Google Maps you add stops by hand.
Two hours through an old town, and at some point you want to sit down. In most apps that means leaving the route, searching for a place and finding your way back. Stubbs asks before you start. Once the tour is planned, you choose one or more kinds of break and, for each, the timing. The break lands in the right third of the loop, wherever it costs the shortest detour, and the other stops are arranged around it. Forgot to add one? Ask Stubbs on the way.
Every break comes with two alternatives of the same kind. In the 3D flyover you swipe sideways on the place’s card to see the next one, with the detour in minutes. “Instead” swaps it in, “Add too” adds a second break. The app does not suggest chains such as McDonald’s or Starbucks. The places come mainly from OpenStreetMap, and if you set off today, the app leaves out places listed as closed at the time you will walk past.
It is not a replacement for a guided food tour. The choice depends on what is mapped in OpenStreetMap, and small places without an entry are missing. For “where do I get a coffee after an hour in the old town without turning back?” it does the job. What that looks like in eleven German old towns: coffee and beer stops on 11 walking tours.
Planning and sharing with friends
Stubbs’ suggestion is a starting point, not a finished plan. You throw out stops that don’t appeal and add your own, one as a guest, up to three per tour with a free account. A restaurant goes in the middle, a bar at the end. Then you send the loop to your friends on WhatsApp.
Whoever opens the link sees the tour without signing up, can fly over it in 3D and take it into their own app. The link doesn’t give away your starting point; for the person you send it to, the loop begins at the first stop. We’re building Stubbs so people get outside and meet up. The phone comes out when you don’t know which way to go and stays in your pocket the rest of the time.
What’s coming in 2027
Here’s what we’re working on. None of it is in the app yet, which is why there are no dates.
One tour, two phones
Today you send a finished loop on. Next, you’ll edit it together: one of you wants two bars, the other insists on the rose garden, and Stubbs turns that into one loop you then walk together.
Sunset in the right place
You say you want the tour to end at sunset, and Stubbs picks the viewpoint for it. The time from the calendar isn’t enough for that. At the Scheffel Terrace in Heidelberg, by our own calculation with elevation data, the sun disappears behind the terrain 43 minutes early in June and 61 minutes early in December. That calculation doesn’t know about trees and buildings yet.
An iPhone app
On iPhone, Stubbs runs in the browser today, with limitations once the screen goes off. The app is in the works.
Apps that surface when you search for a walking tour fall into five categories. (1) Curated city guide apps such as Stubbs or SmartGuide assemble routes from selected sights. (2) Outdoor routing apps such as Komoot or AllTrails are built for hiking and cycling, not for old towns. (3) Universal maps such as Google Maps or Apple Maps show everything and select nothing. (4) Booking marketplaces such as GetYourGuide or Viator broker guided tours with human guides. (5) AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini plan in conversation but (as of October 2026) don’t walk you from stop to stop. For a self-guided walking tour without booking, category 1 is the main fit. Technically it runs on global place data (for example from OpenStreetMap), a language model for the selection and pedestrian routing on open map data.
Which app is right for you?
We would run two of them side by side: Stubbs for the loop through the old town, breaks included, Google Maps for the drive and anything outside the loop. Stubbs hands the drive to Google Maps anyway if your start is far away. In Bamberg you can try that straight away, since the walking tour there is already curated.