Apps to Find Bus, Train, and Plane Routes in Europe

Public transportation is so convenient … when you know how to navigate it. But when you have just moved to a new city, state, or country, you likely do not have the knowledge of all the bus lines, train lines, metro stops, and so on. So you will have to depend on the help of an app or two so you can get where you need to go.

But which app(s) should you use? In Europe, and Madrid specifically, there are a number of useful apps. 

Google Maps

I am putting Google Maps first on this list to get it out of the way. It is probably the most known app to foreigners moving to Europe but, in my opinion, the least useful. 

Since moving to Madrid, I have found Google Maps to have inaccurate bus and train schedules. For instance, I often take a bus line from Alcala de Henares to Camarma de Esteruelas. The first time I took this bus, I showed up to the bus stop an hour before the bus arrived, thanks to the directions from Google Maps.

However, Google Maps has incredibly accurate walking directions, which are very useful for walking around Europe. It is so accurate that, when I visited a large park in Madrid called Parque Retiro, it was able to give me walking directions from site to site within the park.

Google Maps also has the strength of being connected with the Google Flights platform, so you can easily compare flight options between European cities. 

Best for: Flights, Walking

Rome 2 Rio

Rome 2 Rio is a lesser known transportation app, but it is the one I most use for planning my transportation between European cities. The strength of this app is that it will show you driving routes, train routes, bus routes, flights, and ridesharing routes between cities. And it is not specific to Europe. It is designed to collect and share transportation options between all cities in the world. 

It is best used to find transportation options for long distance trips. For Spain, I have found it to be accurate in its train routes and flight routes. It will also give estimated prices for traveling certain routes. 

I have also found it to have accurate data regarding ridesharing options in different countries. For instance, Spain has a rideshare service called BlaBlaCar, and that is the service this app displays as the ridesharing option between cities in Spain. 

And it is my go-to app for plotting out trips that have a lot of transfers in the journey. For instance, if you need to take a flight, a train, and then a bus ride to get to a more remote part of a country, then you can see all those transfers together through this app.

Best for: Trains, Ridesharing

Omio

Omio is an app that you can use to easily compare bus, train, and flight options between two cities. It offers a side-by-side price and time comparison. It can be used to compare travel options all over the world, but a majority of its bus and train options are specific to travel within Europe. So, if you are looking up transportation for other parts of the world, it will likely just display flights. 

I prefer to use Omio to compare in-country travel options. For example, if I want to travel from Madrid to Valencia, I know I can travel by bus, train, or plane between these two cities. However, I do not automatically know which one will be the cheapest. I can use this app to find the cheapest option.

Best for: Buses, Trains, Flights

Moovit

Moovit is a lot like Google Maps, but I have found it to have much more accurate schedules for bus, metro, and train arrivals in European cities. The app lists multiple route options in an order that starts with the most direct to the least direct, which is the sort of order the average commuter wants. It also always includes a rideshare estimate. 

The only flaw I have found with Moovit is that the walking instructions are not always clear because the walking path is hard to see on the provided map. 

Best for: Buses, Trains, Metro

CityMapper

CityMapper is a transportation app that is available for many cities, but not every city. For me, it works when I am in Madrid, Spain but it does not work when I am in Boise, Idaho. Essentially, the larger the city you live in, the more likely it is to be available on CityMapper. 

In Madrid, I have found CityMapper to be fairly accurate for bus routes, train routes, and metro routes. However, walking directions are not always useful. But the most useful part of CityMapper is that, once you download the map for a certain city, you can access it offline. So you are not stuck in the middle of an unknown city if you lose internet connection. 

Best for: Buses, Trains, Metro in large cities

Transporte Madrid

As you can tell by the name of this app, this is a Madrid-specific transportation app. It can be used to track bus, train, and metro routes. 

If you live in Madrid and have certain routes you travel often, this app is useful because you can set your favorite bus and train stops and get live estimates on bus and train arrivals. This app will also keep track of your transportation card payments and remind you when your next monthly transportation card payment is due. 

Best for: Buses, Trains, Metro in Madrid