8. Useful train travel and transport apps
Here is a short post describing the most useful long distance travel and transport apps and websites that I have found.
On my phone I have saved these to a home screen for quick and easy access. I have set up separate home screens dealing with tourist information and city travel, and these will be shown in the next two blog posts.
Bounce
This app gives suggestions on where to store luggage during the day. Useful on your last day in a city when you may have to leave your accommodation early, but have a late train departure.
Citymapper
Useful for checking live public transport options in a wide range of cities
Eurostar
The official Eurostar app.
FindPenguins
Great app for automatically recording your journey and arranging your photos.
Flixbus
Intercity coach service covering much of Europe for locations with inadequate rail coverage.
LeoExpress
Useful for booking seat reservations on trains in Czechia.
LuxExpress
Intercity coach service covering much of eastern Europe for locations with inadequate rail coverage.
Google Maps
What's not to like! Really indispensable. You can save all your accommodation details, train stations, bus stations, and attractions in advance.
Seat 61
Not actually an app, but you can save the The Man in Seat 61 website to your homescreen. Utterly indispensable and possibly the most useful rail-travel site of all, including all apps. A goldmine of information - https://www.seat61.com/european-train-travel.htm.
My only negative about the site is that visually the layout is cluttered and not that user-friendly, and the information could be classified better. SMTJ (below) does a much better job.
MAV
Booking app for trains in Hungary and surrounding countries.
OBB
Booking app for trains in Austria and surrounding countries.
Omio
Extremely useful multi-purpose travel planning app for bus and rail travel.
PKP Intercity
Booking app for trains in Poland.
PolarSteps
Similar to FindPenguins, allows you to automatically record your journey and save / arrange photos.
Rail Planner
The official Interrail app which helps you plan your trip, save all your rail trips and gives the relevant links to make any necessary seat reservations. Also allows you to load an electronic version of your Interail ticket and activate all journeys.
Rick Steves Audio Europe
Useful app for self-guided audio guides of various European cities, some in the style of podcasts. Some paid content.
Rome2Rio
A really simple interface and one of my favourite apps for planning all types of rail and bus journeys. Links to booking websites also.
SMTJ
Show Me The Journey would be extremely useful in the early stages of planning a trip, however I didn't discover it until two weeks before departure. It is not as well known as Seat 61, but in my opinion is equally as useful, and has a much better user interface and layout.
Like Seat 61, it is not an app, but you can still save a link to your phone's homescreen. It has guides to over 1000 trips, guides to travelling in most of mainland Europe and guides to all the main train stations.
SNCB International
Booking app for trains in Belgium, but it also covers the Netherlands, given the common linguistic background of both countries.
TravelBoast
A bit gimmicky, but a way of visualizing an interrail journey with clever graphics. Also allows you to upload photos from each destination.
In the next post, I look at the best apps and websites that I have found for city travel in the cities I will be visiting.
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