As far as I understand it the Shortlist feature is only to allow us to "save" accommodation options.

Even so, they do not remain highlighted on the map if I reopen a saved copy. 

You could add an appropriate viapoint and "write a note" to yourself such as "turn right here to campsite, X km". Viapoints with notes are a different colour and are visible after reloading. The written notes appear in turn by turn directions on a GPS unit and PDF notes.

Osmand has a large base of POIs and allows me to highlight existing ones and save my own. I often use it in conjunction with CT. Import the CT GPX file into Osmand and I can see what is along, or close to the route. If necessary, I can use Osmand to create a route to get me there.

Thank you for your comments. I’m gonna give that osmand app a try.

I’m aware of the note function, pretty good but i would love the ability to se my own poi’s when I’m planning a route in ct. maybe some day 😀

Be warned! Osmand is not the easiest app to get a hang of - but I find it incredibly useful and worth the effort. The amount of information within it and the ways it can be used - most importantly offline - is impressive.

I know diddly squat about how these things work but I don't believe that CT is designed to allow us add our own POIs. The fact that it does one thing really well (plan routes) is more than enough for me. 

POIs are something I’d like to look at in the future (in conjunction with the mobile apps) but indeed, they’re not something c.t really supports at the moment. The shortlist is really just a convenience for bookmarking accommodation for a tour!

I would prefer to stay in ct because of how good the planning is, but also I really like the standard map shows water sources plus churches/graveyards (free water and wc).

But the ability to place non-route specific poi’s would be great. 

Thank you both for your time.

OK, am a c.t noob so bear with me if this has already been discussed, but...

Having to create a route so that I can get the hotels/hostels/campgrounds near it to show up so I can add them to my shortlist, feels very much like putting the cart before the horse! I'd like to find accommodations by, say, clicking a "find in current map page" button and then be able to use them to create my route. The workaround I've found so far has been to create a dummy route and then ask for campgrounds near it. A kludge but it sort of works, with frequent hits on F5 (reload page) and on the (Find hotels and campsites) "Near route" button.

And a final question on this topic: How has the shutdown of the Archie's site affected c.t? Is the database still available through some API? For how long?

Having to create a route so that I can get the hotels/hostels/campgrounds near it to show up so I can add them to my shortlist, feels very much like putting the cart before the horse!

It's always interesting to see how we all use CT differently. I struggle to imagine the scenario where I would want to do what you do! For me, I pick a place I want to go, then look for a place to stay, not a place to stay and then look for a route there. 

Perhaps you could let us know where you are and a typical example of what you are describing? For example, campsites are normally rarer than hotels. 

Perhaps, another way of doing this is to look at a different map, say Google for example, find a hotel/campsite where you want to go then return to CT and enter the name/address in the "to" box?

As outlined above, Osmand may be useful too for finding your hotel/campsite and plotting a gpx route there. (Or even just finding the coordinates) That route can then be imported into CT and refined there.

As regards Archie's, my understanding is that CT is still using Archie's data but when that becomes unreliable a switch will be made to OpenStreetMap data which has improved significantly lately (although not everywhere).

In any case, my experience is that any data on a map should be treated as a guideline only. A listed site may be closed, may not be suitable (kid's camp, for example in some places) and there may well be others not listed. Your location is important for this.