Moovit, Citymapper, Google Maps and Renfe Cercanías compared for Spain — live metro, bus and cercanías routes, city coverage and offline limits.
An unfamiliar metro entrance, a bus that may or may not still run and a cercanías connection with five minutes to change: this is where a transit app either earns its place or loses your morning. The useful ones combine every available mode into a door-to-door route, show live departures and tell you exactly which stop is yours. The differences come down to city coverage, data quality and whether the app is built on official operator feeds. The four apps in this guide cover the global aggregator, the polished city specialist, the navigation incumbent and Renfe's official commuter-rail app, chosen for how they fit a journey across Spain.
Moovit has the widest transit coverage of any app, combining metro, bus, commuter rail, tram and bikes into door-to-door routes with live departures.
In Spain it handles Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia and many more cities, merging every mode and adding alerts so you get off at the right stop. That breadth is its decisive advantage over city-limited rivals, especially outside the two biggest markets. Live information depends on what each city publishes, the app shows advertising, and its average rating reflects occasional data glitches when local feeds fail.
Citymapper is the highest-rated urban transit app at 4.9 stars, combining metro, bus, rail, bike and walking with live data in Madrid and Barcelona.
Its design and accuracy set the standard: real-time timetables, departures for every line and sensible alternatives the moment disruption appears, all in one route. In Spain it covers only Madrid and Barcelona, choosing a selected list of larger cities rather than the breadth Moovit offers, and some features depend on each network's open data, so smaller cities are simply not part of the product.
Google Maps mixes public transport with driving, cycling and walking in one app, backed by the largest map and business coverage anywhere.
Beyond transit routes, it offers real-time voice navigation, live traffic with automatic rerouting, Street View and offline maps, which makes it the most versatile single tool when a journey mixes modes or ends with a walk through unfamiliar streets. Navigation consumes notable battery and data, Google collects a lot of location information to power it, and offline maps take storage space and need regular updates.
Renfe Cercanías is the official commuter-rail app: timetables, arrivals and live service status for every Spanish regional network.
It plans journeys between stations on the Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Bilbao networks and the rest of the country's cercanías systems, straight from Renfe's official data, which makes it essential if you take commuter trains daily. Its scope is deliberately limited to cercanías — medium and long distance live elsewhere — information quality depends entirely on Renfe's own feeds, and some interface sections feel dated.
Pros
Official app for Renfe's commuter trains
Timetables and times for every Spanish network
Journey planner between stations
Cons
Commuter trains only, not medium or long distance
Information depends on Renfe's official data
Some interface sections could be better
Download price only. In-app purchases and subscriptions may cost extra.
Questions & answers
Which is the best public transport app in Spain?
Moovit is the most complete on coverage: it works in most cities and combines metro, bus, rail and tram in one route. Citymapper is the best rated and most polished, but it covers only a selection of larger cities — Madrid and Barcelona in Spain. For commuter rail specifically, the official Renfe Cercanías app is the one to have installed.
Moovit or Google Maps for public transport?
Google Maps is more versatile because it combines transit with driving, cycling and walking and its coverage is enormous. Moovit is more specialised, with more line detail, get-off alerts and data from more local operators. For daily city travel many people favour Moovit or Citymapper; for journeys that mix modes, Google Maps keeps everything in a single app.
Do these apps work without an internet connection?
Most need a connection for timetables and real-time service status. Some, including Moovit and Citymapper, let you download maps or lines to consult offline, but live information such as delays and next arrivals still requires internet. The practical move is planning the route on Wi-Fi before leaving if you expect poor signal, especially on an underground line.
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