Train, Bus & Multi-Modal

For urban transit (subways, city buses), see Urban Public Transit. For flights, see Flight Search. For driving, see Car Rental & Rideshare.

For overland or short-hop travel — especially in Europe and Asia — trains often beat flying once you account for airport transfers. The booking landscape is fragmented: each rail operator runs its own platform, and the resellers add convenience fees.

Multi-modal "how do I get from A to B"

• ★ ★ Rome2Rio — free; ★ ★ the default "how do I get from a Tuscan village to Lake Como" — surfaces train + bus + ferry + flight + drive options with rough costs. Owned by Booking Holdings; no actual booking, mostly a discovery tool.
• ★ Omio (was GoEuro) — paid + free; books trains, buses, flights across most of Europe in one place. Adds a small fee per booking but the convenience is real for cross-operator trips.
• Wanderu — free; ★ for US bus + train aggregation (Greyhound, Megabus, Amtrak, Peter Pan, BoltBus); no fee on most routes.
• Trainline — paid + free; ★ for EU + UK rail; sells across most national operators in one app, including UK split-ticketing. Adds a small booking fee.

Europe (rail)

Direct from operator is usually cheapest — resellers charge 2–10% on top.

• ★ DB Navigator — free; ★ for Germany + reaches into Austria/Switzerland/Czech. The €49/month Deutschlandticket lives here.
• ★ SNCF Connect — free; ★ for France + TGV / OUIGO. Replaced Oui.sncf in 2022.
• Trenitalia + Italo — Italian high-speed; both have apps.
• Renfe — Spain; AVE high-speed; supports e-tickets through Renfe app.
• ÖBB Tickets — Austria; ★ also runs the Nightjet sleeper trains.
• NS International (Netherlands), SBB Mobile (Switzerland), VR Matkalla (Finland), NSB / Vy (Norway), SJ (Sweden), DSB (Denmark) — national operators.
• Eurostar — direct app; books London ↔ Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam.

Rail passes

• ★ Eurail Pass (non-EU residents) / Interrail Pass (EU residents) — paid (~€250–€800 depending on length / class). ★ for flexible multi-country trips; reservations still required on most high-speed and night trains and cost extra.
• Britrail Pass (UK), Japan Rail Pass (priced up significantly Oct 2023 — recalculate before buying), Eurostar Snap (cheap unflexible Eurostar fares).

UK

• Trainline — the default consumer reseller.
• National Rail — official; tells you who runs each train but sends you to operators to book.
• LNER, Avanti West Coast, GWR, CrossCountry — operator apps; sometimes cheaper than Trainline.
• Split-ticketing: Trainline does this automatically; Split My Fare is a dedicated tool.

US

• Amtrak app — official; the only operator that matters for US passenger rail.
• Greyhound (now FlixBus-owned), Megabus, FlixBus — intercity bus apps.
• Wanderu — aggregator across all of the above.

Asia

• ★ 12Go (was 12Go Asia) — free; ★ for SE Asia trains, buses, ferries — Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos. Books with confirmation.
• Klook — paid + free; covers SE Asia + Japan/Korea/Taiwan; activities + transport bundle.
• KKday — Klook competitor; strong in Taiwan / Japan.
• Japan: HyperDia (legacy), Navitime, Smart EX (for Shinkansen).
• China: Trip.com (was Ctrip) for high-speed rail and domestic flights.
• India: IRCTC official; ConfirmTkt for prediction; MakeMyTrip / Cleartrip aggregators.

Sleeper trains (resurgent in Europe 2023–26)

• Nightjet (ÖBB) — Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Zürich, Paris, Rome, Venice routes; book via ÖBB.
• European Sleeper — Brussels–Berlin–Prague.
• Snälltåget — Stockholm–Berlin.
• Caledonian Sleeper — London–Scotland.
• Trenitalia Intercity Notte — within Italy and to Sicily.

Ferries

• Direct Ferries — pan-European aggregator.
• AFerry, FerryHopper (★ Greek islands).
• Stena Line, DFDS, Brittany Ferries, CalMac (Scottish islands) — operators.
• Asia / SE Asia ferries: 12Go covers most.

Practical rules (2026)

• Book direct with the operator — resellers add 2–10% and you call the reseller's support, not the railway, when something goes wrong.
• Open at sale time: French TGV opens 4 months out; Eurostar 6 months; Italo / Trenitalia ~4 months. Cheap fares vanish in the first 24 hours.
• Print-or-app: most EU rail accepts e-tickets; Trenitalia still expects a printout in some stations; bring both.
• Reservations on rail passes: high-speed and night trains require a paid reservation (€10–€50) even with Eurail.
• Don't trust ferries to be on time in the Mediterranean; build slack.

Pick this if…

• "How do I get from A to B with anything overland": Rome2Rio.
• Default EU rail booking, single app: Trainline (convenience) or DB Navigator / SNCF Connect (cheapest).
• Multi-country pass: Eurail / Interrail.
• Asia surface transport: 12Go.
• US bus / train aggregator: Wanderu.
• Night train across Europe: Nightjet via ÖBB.