I’ve been using Rome2Rio for years and never had a problem but lately I keep seeing posts about how unreliable it is. I use this for initial trip planning for timing. I always go the the actual train app to confirm and book.
Am I missing a better app for gauging time between cities? Google maps better?
DB has most trains in Europe in their database, use their website www.bahn.de or the app DB Navigator. A much better option in my opinion.
Rome2Rio is great, and I find it very useful for most things.
But it's just a technology, driven by massive databases, and it can not (and will not ever) be able to account for everything: eg you get a flat tire or take a wrong turn, there's a strike, bad weather, last-minute construction along the way, or a thousand other potential "surprises" you might encounter. Just like a map app on your phone, or so-called "artificial intelligence." There's nothing "intelligent" about it, technology is stupid, and all of it (Rome2Rio, AI, Google, GPS, whatever) requires anyone using it to have at least a drop of common sense, do occasional reality-checks, and don't blindly rely on it completely, or you might end up driving into an ocean.
All that said, I like Rome2Rio, use it a lot, but apply some sanity-checks when I do. Google maps is usually another good tool, but I find its time estimates from driving to be highly (sometimes wildly) optimistic. When I look at drive times on Google, I will increase estimates by some factor (up to 25-50%, depending on the circumstances; point-to-point on major highways with no surprises it can be very accurate, but the smaller the roads, the more I build in some buffer). YMMV.
Rome2Rio can be handy for letting you know what type of transportation is available from Point A to Point B and where you might need to transfer (especially useful if you need to use more than one mode of transportation), but it definitely sometimes overlooks useful intercity buses, and I'm not sure it has all the info on commuter rail lines, either.
I don't use it for driving times (preferring ViaMichelin) or air travel (preferring Google Flights or Skyscanner). Specialty websites are just going to be more reliable, normally.
I find Rome2Rio extremely unreliable as to fares, frequencies and travel times for public ground transportation--trains and buses. I have the impression it used to be better, but it may just be that I know more now than I did when I first consulted Rome2Rio back around 2014.
If you know you need to take a train or a bus, it's safer and usually more efficient to go straight to the website of the rail or bus company. Knowing there are trains every 4 hours (What does that even mean? It's just some sort of average.) isn't helpful to me; I want to know the times of trains when I want to travel (mid-morning, usually). For buses I sometimes just Google bus City A to City B and go directly to the operating company's website, because that can be faster than drilling down through Rome2Rio to find the name of the bus company.
I wouldn't use Google for intercity travel times unless I was driving and wanted a second opinion, beyond what ViaMichelin says.
Within a city, Google can be helpful for public-transportation routing, but the website of the local public-transit authority will probably be more complete. I've never paid attention to how accurate Google is on travel time by bus and subway, and I noticed in Istanbul that it seemed to ignore the very handy funiculars. (I think CityMapper does, too.) Google usually calculates walking times at 20 minutes per mile, which is accurate enough for me unless footing is challenging or the terrain is hilly or full of steps in lieu of sidewalks. But I don't expect to make Google's walking times if I'm pulling my suitcase or am making photos along the way.
Thank you for your replies. We are excellent map readers so never rely on an app or GPS as the end all. Rome2Rio is so easy to use when I’m sitting here with a calendar and map trying to get an idea how long it could take to go from Madrid to Granada for example. We like to keep travel days under 4 hours so I like to be able to get an idea as we plan our itinerary.
Sounds like it’s still the best as long as I’m not using it to actually find transportation options. Thanks!
As much as I like Rome2rio for giving transportation options and rough estimates on travel times, I've never depended on it for route planning and more precise time intervals when driving. For that I will go to Google Maps or Via Michelin, and/or the in car GPS. Paper maps have become the back up.
For anything other than car travel, I ALWAYS go from R2R to the specific website for up to date information.
Hi Andrea,
I typically travel by train and an occasional bus. So, country-specific, I’m starting with Trenitalia for Italy, for instance. When I’m in the planning stages in my office at home for the much smaller cities in Europe, I pull up Rome2rio to see bus option - mainly to see what bus company goes in that region. Then I pull up the bus company website.
I don’t rely on Rome2rio to give me the actual number of hours/minutes, and the bus option can be very deceiving because some of the buses are only running one morning and one afternoon route to take workers and kids to school. I don’t rely on any transportation that doesn’t have another one running at least two hours apart, just in case.
I do like using Rome2rio to give me train station names. For instance, I will put in the address of my hotel, and it will give me the actual name of the train station which is very helpful.
i just use Google Maps to find all distances, time driving and public transportation on the same route.
I've got to where if the train is over 3-4 hours, I'm flying a budget European airline.
Just one of many places to find good info.
If driving another good app to use is ViaMichelin.com. Some people feel the time estimates are more realistic than Google Maps. It also affords more route customization as well as providing Michelin recommendations..
