How we score routes
A search on TripOrTrip builds whole journeys from rail and coach timetables across Europe and from flights, transfers included. Each journey then gets a score out of 100 and a word for it: Excellent, Great, Good or Fair. The best scores come first.
The score compares a route with the other routes found in the same search, for the same day. It does not say a route is good in general: it says how it stands against the other ways to make that trip.
What goes into the score
- Travel time. How much longer the whole trip takes than the fastest route found.
- Price. How much more it costs than the cheapest route found. Price counts only when every route in the search has a price in the same currency; otherwise it is left out rather than guessed.
- How safe the changes are. For every change we check the time between arriving and leaving against the time that change really needs. Getting to another station takes longer than staying on one platform. Reaching a flight needs time for check-in and security, and leaving the airport after landing takes time too. Two flights on separate tickets need much more, because you collect your bags and check in again. Every change counts, not only the tightest one: two comfortable changes are still two chances to miss a connection.
- Comfort. Fewer changes is better. Leaving or arriving in the middle of the night, in local time, costs points, and so does a very long overnight coach ride.
What you see on each route
- The score and its word, and the total price where we have it.
- Labels for the route that stands out: Recommended, Fastest and Cheapest.
- A short note on what is good about the route and what is risky, in plain words. Opening the route shows each part of the score with its own note, for example how long you have at each change.
Before a route is shown
Where the carrier lets us, we check each leg with it at search time: that the train, coach or flight runs that day, and its price. If a carrier tells us a leg does not run, the whole route is left out rather than shown with a warning. Prices are the ones the carriers give at search time and can change before you book.
Booking
TripOrTrip does not sell tickets. Every leg links to the carrier's own site, where you buy it. You do not need an account to search.