About two years ago, classmates Simon Robain and Hugo Bazin realized that they had both experienced the same problem: spending too much money traveling from their homes in Paris to neighboring European destinations. Whether they wanted to explore London or ski in the Alps, round-trip tickets strained their wallets more than they would’ve liked.

It wasn’t long before they founded tictactrip.

Photo by tictactrip

Tictactrip is a price comparison tool that finds all routes between Point A and Point B in Europe. The startup’s partners include bus, train, and carpooling companies, so its algorithms can mix and match transportation methods to come up with the lowest price on the market. (The mix-and-match option works by letting users leave home in a carpool and arrive at their destination in a bus, depart on a train and arrive by a bus, set out via bus and arrive in a carpool — or use any other combination available through tictactrip’s partners.) The tool also makes it possible for users to customize their trips based on time of departure, location of transfers, and length of stops.

Through tictactrip, taking a bus from city to city often costs as little as five euro; long-haul trips that require transfers are more expensive, but virtually every ticket is cheaper than any option travelers could find on their own. Tictactrip frequently launches partnerships with new transportation companies, so the price comparison tool has become more powerful over time — carpooling is a recent addition, and so is the mix-and-match option.

The best part about tictactrip? The startup takes its commission directly from its partners, so users are never slammed with hidden fees when they book their tickets.

Design by tictactrip

Students and young professionals are tictactrip’s most reliable clients, since they often travel around Europe to visit friends or explore new places. But Simon and Hugo were pleasantly surprised when they realized that many retired people use the price comparison tool to travel and visit their family members in faraway cities. After all, the more, the merrier!

For travelers visiting Europe from abroad, tictactrip provides a good way to save money while moving between cities or even countries. Although the website is only available in French, it’s intuitive and user-friendly — all you really need to know is how to spell your departure point and destination in English. The startup’s algorithms connect more than 3,700 cities in 31 countries, creating a dense network of buses, trains, and carpools all across the continent. Even Ireland and the United Kingdom are accessible, as well as destinations in Romania, Croatia, and additional, less-traveled countries in Eastern Europe.

With transportation prices so low, we’ll see you on a bus or train in Europe soon!

Cover photo by Sugden Guy