I carry a CAT phone with KaiOS that has Google Maps but not much more. That being said, I've never felt the urge to use it yet since it's a serious pita and I'm on a cash card which means data traffic is REALLY expensive.

You could buy a standalone GPS device, I know Garmin make ones for hiking, I'm sure there are other probably cheaper options out there.

For all the people up and down this thread saying “just buy a dedicated GPS”, realize that Google Maps is not a GPS device. It has restaurant reviews and information about parks and bike paths and parking lots and busy hours and traffic data and street closures and pictures/menus and so much more.

If the question is “what restaurant do we want to go to after we leave the theater, within walking distance or public transport, that’s open right now and accepts credit cards but also has vegetarian options”, a simple GPS isn’t going to answer that question in a way even remotely similar to Google Maps.

Did you consider simply asking a local on the street?

From my experience you'll get better information that way, and as an added bonus you get to interact with a real live human being.

I traveled through most of Italy by bus last autumn, with an ancient Nokia phone. As a result I was completely dependent on real humans, which turned out to be a blessing.

The thing is, most people are more than happy to help once they get over the hump of suspecting you for whatever. A friendly smile goes a long way.

You could also look this up at home on a dedicated computing terminal before going out.

I actuallly did, even drew nice street maps in my notebook.

But once I was there, simply asking someone in the street turned out to be a much better idea.

If maps is the only thing, you could easily replace it with a cheap dedicated GPS device?