How to Import a KML File Into Google My Maps for a Trip

To import a KML file into Google My Maps, open My Maps in a browser on a computer, create a map, click Import under a layer and upload the file. Your pins appear on the map, and the same map then shows up in the Google Maps app on your phone. For a trip, the part that matters comes after the upload: one layer per day, a quick check of every pin, and a plan for when you have no signal.

Google's help pages cover the import itself. This guide adds the travel side, with the limits, the phone view and the offline gaps that catch people out once they're on the road.

What a KML file is, and why trip planners use it

KML is a plain-text map format. Each place in it is a placemark with a name, a description and coordinates, and placemarks can be grouped into folders. A KMZ file is the same thing compressed: Google's KML documentation describes it as a main KML file plus any supporting files, packaged with a zip utility.

For a trip, that makes KML a convenient handoff. One small file can carry every stop with its notes, and many planning tools, GPS apps and Google Earth export it. A three-day city plan with 15 pinned stops is only a few kilobytes.

Check the file against My Maps' limits

Google's page on importing map features and its page on map layers set these limits:

Google also lists KML content that may not import: info balloons with HTML or JavaScript, KML tours, time-based elements, image and screen overlays, MultiGeometries, 3D models and folders. A trip file is mostly simple pins with text notes, which is what My Maps handles best. Folders are the item to watch, and the layers section below covers what to do if your days don't arrive the way you expect.

How to import a KML file into Google My Maps

The steps follow Google's help page. They work on a computer; Google says My Maps works best in Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

1. Sign in to My Maps with the Google account you use in the Google Maps app on your phone. Using the same account is what makes the map show up there later.
2. Create a new map. Click "Untitled map" at the top left and name it after the trip, such as "Tokyo, April."
3. Pick a layer. A new map starts with one empty layer. To add another, click Add layer in the legend and name it.
4. Click Import under the layer, upload the file from your computer or Drive, then click Select.
5. Look at the legend and the map. Count the pins, check the layer names, and open two or three pins to see that the notes came through.

If the import won't start, Google's troubleshooting list suggests checking the file format and allowing mymaps.google.com to open your Drive in Chrome's site settings.

Set it up as one layer per day

A layer per day is what turns a cloud of pins into an itinerary. Google's layers page explains the three tools you need:

• Hide and show. Unchecking a layer hides it, so on the morning of Day 2 you can switch everything else off.
• Number the stops. Under Style, a layer can use a sequence of numbers instead of one icon, which shows the order of the day at a glance.
• Move pins. You can drag places from one layer to another, or open a layer's data table to edit names and notes.

If your file groups places by day in folders, import it into the empty layer of a new map. Google lists folders among the KML content that may not import, so we tested it on October 24, 2026: a file with one folder per day, imported into a new map's empty layer, came in as one layer per folder, each named after its folder, and the empty layer disappeared. Check the legend after your own import all the same. If every pin lands in a single layer, add layers named Day 1, Day 2 and so on, then drag each stop into its day. The pin names usually make this quick, especially when stops are numbered.

The 10-layer cap matters on long trips, and it fails quietly. In the same test, a file with 12 day folders imported only Days 1 to 10. The last two days were dropped without a warning, so count your layers against your days. For a trip longer than 10 days, combine days into shared layers before you import (two days per layer covers a 20-day trip), or build one map per city or region. Our guide to mapping your itinerary in Google Maps covers colors, routes and the one-map-per-region approach in more detail.

Check every pin before you rely on the map

KML places each pin at the coordinates in the file, so it avoids the guesswork of importing a spreadsheet of place names. A few things are still worth a two-minute check:

• Pins in the wrong country or the sea. KML stores coordinates as longitude, then latitude. A file that swaps them puts pins far from where they belong.
• The right branch. For chains and big sites with several entrances, compare the pin with the address in your notes.
• Notes that read cleanly. Plain-text descriptions import well. Descriptions built with HTML may not, so open a few pins and read them.
• Nothing missing. Compare the pin count with your plan. Stops without coordinates, such as "lunch near the market," often aren't in the file at all.

Seeing all the pins together is also a good moment to spot days that jump across town. Our guide to planning your itinerary by neighborhood shows how to regroup them.

Open the map on your phone

My Maps itself has no phone app. Google's My Maps help says it isn't available for iPhone, iPad or Android, and its page on viewing My Maps in Google Maps gives the path on a phone instead:

1. Open the Google Maps app, signed in with the account you used in My Maps.
2. Tap You, then Maps.
3. Tap your map.

On a computer, the same list is under Saved, then Maps in Google Maps, with Open in My Maps for editing. To take a custom map off your Google Maps view, Google's steps are to tap a pin, tap the My Maps icon, choose View Map Legend and tap Close.

Editing happens in My Maps in a browser, so make layer changes on a computer before the trip. To give travel companions the same map, use Share in My Maps; Google's Drive help for My Maps lists "Can view" and "Can edit" as the access levels. People who can only view still get the map viewer, where they can show or hide layers. Our guide to sharing a trip itinerary with family and friends compares this with sending a PDF or a link in the group chat.

Plan for offline: what works without signal

This is where My Maps falls short for travel. Google's Drive help for My Maps says plainly that your maps "are available only in Google Drive on the web" and that "you can't get to them offline." In Google's Maps community, a Diamond Product Expert gave the same answer to a traveler asking how to use a custom map offline: My Maps needs a connection, and only Google Maps can download an area for offline use.

Google Maps' own offline maps help covers downloaded areas, and notes that transit, walking and cycling directions are unavailable offline. So plan for your pins not being there when you need them:

• Download offline areas in Google Maps for the base map and your location.
• Screenshot each day's layer while you're online, with only that day switched on.
• Save a PDF of the plan with addresses, so every stop can be found without the custom map. Our guide to turning a travel vlog into an itinerary PDF covers the layout.
• Use an offline map app for the pins. Organic Maps, a free offline map app, says it imports bookmarks from KML and KMZ files on Android and iPhone.
• Test in airplane mode before you leave home.

Our guide to keeping an offline copy of your itinerary covers what else to save before you fly. If you plan on an iPhone and would rather stay in Apple's apps, planning a trip in Apple Maps builds a similar day-by-day setup with Guides.

Common import problems

Where a trip planner speeds this up

If your list of stops comes from a travel video, you can skip building the file by hand. Vidtrip turns one YouTube travel video into a day-by-day plan, and the full plan includes a KML download with a folder for each day, named like "Day 1: Old Tokyo, Anime Glow & Skytree Sunset," and numbered stops. Trips longer than 10 days share folders between consecutive days ("Days 1–2"), so every stop survives the 10-layer limit. Each pin carries its planned time, duration, description, the creator's tip and the address.

To try the steps above before you commit to anything, download the Tokyo example KML, which holds 15 stops over three days, or the Rome example KML, and import it into a new map. You can paste your own video link to preview a plan for free, and the same plan also opens each day as a Google Maps route and exports a printable PDF for the offline gaps My Maps leaves.