How to sync Strava routes to your Garmin watch

Syncing Strava routes over to your Garmin watch is a painless way to follow trails from the app and avoid creating them through Garmin's own Courses feature. 

Providing you have a Garmin device that's compatible with Courses, and you've already linked your Strava account with Garmin Connect, syncing routes over is a very quick process.

Learn how to send them to your Garmin watch by following the steps below.

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1. Ensure Courses are enabled 

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Open the Garmin Connect app on your iOS/Android device and open the 'More' tab from the bottom-right.

From here, scroll down to 'Settings' and then find 'Connected Apps'.

Strava should be on that list if you've already linked your accounts (we've linked our separate guide on how to do this above), and all you need to do is tap through and ensure the 'Courses' switch is turned on.

2. Open Strava and save a route

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Once that's done, jump over to Strava and begin searching for routes by opening the 'Maps' tab.

Once you've found one you like the look of, hit the 'Save' option. 

Next, you'll be given a screen to confirm that save - do so by tapping the option in the top-right corner, but ensure 'Sync to supported devices is ticked' before you do.

3. Sync your watch to Garmin Connect

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Jump back over to Garmin Connect and sync by pressing the refresh icon in the top-right corner. 

Now, go to 'Training & Planning' from the 'More' tab and select 'Courses'. 

The route you've just saved in Strava should now be under 'My Courses'. 

4. Load the route on your watch

Once the route is showing on Garmin Connect, it's time to fire it up on your connected watch.

Go to start a workout as normal by selecting your favored activity profile, but hit the 'Up/Menu' button before you begin and tap through on 'Navigate'.

From here, 'Courses' should be in the list of options - select it and then confirm the route you're loading up.