How to open a GPX file in Komoot

Steps

1. Open viewmygpx and drop the GPX onto the viewer. Visit viewmygpx.com and drag the .gpx into the drop zone. Verify the route looks right — start and end points, plausible distance.
2. Click Open in: Komoot. Komoot's upload page opens in a new tab. If you prefer the manual flow, click Download .gpx and select the file in Komoot's upload dialog.
3. Sign in to Komoot. Free Komoot account is fine; the upload doesn't require Premium. Drop the file onto the upload area, or click to browse.
4. Choose the sport type. Hike, Bike Touring, Road Cycling, Mountain Biking, Running, Trail Running, etc. Komoot uses the sport type to choose the right routing graph for surface classification and to compute the difficulty rating. Pick the closest match; for a mixed-surface gravel ride, Bike Touring is usually the safest default.
5. Find the tour under Profile → Tours. Komoot saves the tour automatically. Edit the title and description if needed. To use it offline on the mobile app, open the tour there, tap the menu, and choose Save Offline (offline region or Premium required).

What Komoot does with the GPX

Komoot is a route-following platform first, an activity-recording platform second. The GPX import is processed accordingly:

• Polyline preserved exactly as the basis of the tour, but the displayed route is sometimes snapped to Komoot's routing graph for cleaner turn-by-turn instructions. The original line is what you'll follow; the snapped line is what generates the spoken cues.
• Named waypoints become Highlights — labelled markers along the tour visible on the map and in the voice navigation. Custom symbol metadata may be flattened to a generic Highlight type, but the name and position survive.
• Elevation is recomputed against Komoot's digital elevation model. The displayed gain/loss may differ from the values your GPX file contains; both are valid for different definitions of "elevation gain."
• Sport type drives surface classification. Komoot overlays the route with paved / gravel / trail sections based on its road and trail database, useful for picking the right tires or footwear.
• Turn-by-turn voice navigation works on the mobile app for following the tour. Off-piste sections without mapped trails generate "follow GPS" cues rather than specific turn instructions.

Why Komoot is good for GPX imports — and where it isn't

Komoot's strengths for an imported route are the sport-aware difficulty rating, the surface classification overlay, the Highlight integration, and the turn-by-turn voice navigation. For a route you intend to follow on a phone in the field — and you don't have a dedicated head unit — Komoot is often the best destination.

Where it's weaker: routes that depart from mapped roads or trails (true backcountry, bushwhacking, cross-country) get patchy turn-by-turn cues because Komoot can't infer a turn at an unmapped junction. For those routes, Gaia GPS or a paper map with a compass is more reliable than any voice-navigation app.

Komoot Premium — what changes for GPX users

The free tier is fully usable for GPX imports. Premium adds a handful of features that are useful for travel-heavy users but not strictly required:

• Worldwide offline maps. Without Premium, one free region is included and additional regions are purchasable individually. Premium unlocks offline use everywhere.
• Multi-day route planner. Lets you split a long imported tour into daily stages with overnight points — useful if your GPX is a thru-hike and you want to plan accommodation.
• Weather forecast on tour. A weather overlay along the imported route, with hourly forecast tied to your expected pace and timing.
• Sport-specific maps. Different rendering for cycling vs hiking vs MTB; visible on tour pages.

For a single ride or hike where you have cell service most of the way, the free tier is plenty. For a long-distance trip without cell coverage, the offline-maps unlock is the deciding factor.

Common pitfalls

Tour rendered with strange detours

Komoot snapped your polyline to its routing graph and the snap went to the wrong path. This usually happens when a GPX has a long straight segment that crosses several parallel trails or roads — Komoot picks one but it might not be the one you intended. Open the tour in Komoot's editor and drag the anchor points back onto the correct path.

"The file could not be processed"

Komoot's parser is strict about GPX validity. The most common cause: a converter wrote a GPX 2.0 namespace, which has no published schema and isn't supported. Open the file in the viewmygpx viewer first; if it parses there, downloading the re-saved GPX from viewmygpx's editor often fixes the issue.

Turn-by-turn instructions feel unreliable

Off-trail and cross-country sections generate fewer specific cues. Komoot inserts "follow GPS" for unmapped stretches; that's not a defect, it's the platform being honest about the limits of its routing graph. For backcountry navigation, supplement with a paper map and a compass — the GPX is a guide, not a guarantee.

Sport type seems wrong after upload

Editable on the tour page after import. Open the tour, click the sport-type label, and pick a different one. Komoot will recompute the difficulty rating and refresh the surface overlay.

Alternatives

• Strava if you primarily care about activity logging. Strava's social-feed model is unlike Komoot's; for tracking workouts and seeing followers' routes, Strava is the better fit.
• Garmin Connect if you ride a Garmin device. Native push-to-device for Edge / Forerunner / fenix; turn-by-turn cues are managed on the head unit instead of the phone.
• Gaia GPS for backcountry navigation. Off-trail routes are first-class citizens; the route stays where you drew it without snapping. Best for thru-hikes and unmarked terrain. (Spoke guide pending.)
• The viewmygpx viewer for a quick preview. If you only want to see the route on a map and don't need turn-by-turn navigation in the field, the viewer on viewmygpx.com renders the file without uploading anything.