eSIM SatNav Cape Town

[WirralRed]

I’m going to buy an eSIM for my iPhone. Will google maps be ok for driving or is it best to rent a SatNav? Staying in Fish Hoek.

[can2]

As long as you have cell reception you’ll be okay.

You can also download a map for offline use as a back up (map search wouldn’t work in that case).

Easy to test: download your local map on Google maps, and put your phone to flight mode to see how it works.

[strickers]

I’d try to find an app that allows you to download offline maps. It was a few years ago but TomTom worked well for us.

[mzb]

Google Maps allows you to download offline maps, and you can absolutely search them – just won’t be coming up with additional details (reviews, live traffic, etc), but basic directions should work. FWIW I had an Airalo eSIM in South Africa and the combination of offline maps and connectivity worked fine for our trips around the Western Cape region.

[qc]

Google maps is the one you should use as it is now updated to take you away from areas you shouldn’t drive through.

https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/technology/article/google-maps-to-remove-dodgy-routes-after-tourist-attacks-f8sbblzq7

[Alex G]

I did a three week road trip around the US in 2017 using downloaded Google Maps with no live data.

On a recent trip, I downloaded Google Maps which I supplemented with live data. I used less than 5GB of data in three weeks.

[Harry T]

FlexiroamX worked well for me in South Africa.

[davefl]

esim review for SA from travel dealz https://travel-dealz.com/esim/region/southafrica/#filter%5Bcapacity_min%5D=1000&filter%5Bperiod_min%5D=1&filter%5Bsubscription%5D=false

[WirralRed]

Thanks everyone

[tiriavpo]

Depends on how many times and places you intend to use satnav but TomTom is a good solution. For £19.99 per year you get satnav worldwide, just download the maps you need before you go and delete when you get back. You don’t need a local data connection other than for traffic updates. but that is small amounts of data, but otherwise everything is standalone. With most modern rental cars now having some form of CarPlay or Android auto you can usually have it displayed on the car’s own screen.

[strickers]

Just to add that TomTom has a website, plan.tomtom.com, if you have an account you can create routes/paces and send them to the app.

[vzzbuckz]

As you have an iPhone, Apple Maps supports downloadable maps on latest version of iOS. Go to area you are interested (Cape Town Airport for example), click ‘More’ then ‘Download Map’ and you can set the area of the map you want to download. I’ve only used Apple Maps for driving around the US though. Online use provides traffic details too and works well with an eSIM.