Track your train trip on a map
Pebbls draws the line as the train goes and puts your photos on the map where you took them. Make one journey for the whole trip and a chapter for each train or each city, and an Interrail route reads leg by leg. The people at home follow from one link.
A chapter for each train
On an Interrail or Eurail pass you might take a dozen trains in a fortnight. Start a new chapter when you leave each city and the journal reads like your itinerary, with the photos from each stop under it. Pick Train as you get on and change it when you get off and walk into town, so the map shows which bits were by rail.
Tunnels and fast trains
The route is saved on your phone first and sent when you're back in signal, so a long stretch with no signal still ends up on the map. Phones often lose GPS on a fast train. When that happens the map joins the gap into one line and counts it in your distance. Set uploads to wait for wifi and they stay off your roaming data.
Family follow from one link
Send the link before you go. Anyone can open it in a browser and see where you've got to, with your photos and notes, without an app or an account. If they make a free account they get a note when you post, which saves you writing the same update to everyone.
A short film for each chapter
A chapter with a few photos gets a flyby film over its route, with your photos along the way. Pebbls makes it for you and it's free. Greg's ride from Oban to Mallaig is one of the films further down.
Their routes by rail
The lines are what their phones recorded on the train, and the photos sit where they were taken.
How members tracked their train trips
A week of trains in Scotland
Greg set off from Exeter at the end of June 2025. His train from Birmingham to Glasgow was cancelled, so he stayed on to Edinburgh, changed there for Glasgow and still got to Oban that night. From Oban he took the train to Mallaig over the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the ferry across to Skye, then came home by train through Glasgow. That's about 1,500 km by rail, with a chapter for each leg.
Osaka to Tokyo in two weeks
Keith and Frances flew into Osaka in May 2026 and worked their way to Tokyo by train. They took the Haruka Express in from the airport, went out to Nara for a day, then took the Shinkansen to Kyoto. After a day trip to Himeji Castle they got the Shinkansen again to Tokyo. Most of their chapters are named after the train they caught.
A weekend by Eurostar
Wikeli and two friends caught the Eurostar from Paris Gare du Nord to Brussels in July 2026 and took the tram to their hotel. On the Saturday they went out to the Atomium on the metro, and on the Sunday they were in Ghent, which they saw from a canal boat. Their journal is in French.
Train trips on Pebbls
Greg went from Exeter to the west coast of Scotland and back by train. Keith and Frances went from Osaka to Tokyo, with a few days in Kyoto on the way. Wikeli took the Eurostar from Paris for a weekend in Brussels.
- Scotland's west coast by train · Greg · 2 countries · 7 days · by train and on foot
- Japan by train · Keith & Frances · 1 country · 11 days · by train and on foot
- Paris to Brussels by Eurostar · Wikeli · 2 countries · 2 days · by train and on foot
Films made from these routes
Pebbls made each film from one chapter's route and photos. Tap one to watch it with sound.
What it costs
Tracking, photos and notes, your map and journal, flyby films and sharing are free for as long as the trip lasts, with no adverts. Explorer is £20, €20 or $20 a year if you want more: your map keeps up with you faster, journeys can be private, and you get offline maps for four areas at a time, which helps when you step off a train somewhere new with no data.
Questions
Can I track an Interrail trip?
Yes. Make one journey for the trip and start a chapter for each train or each city. Pebbls doesn't know about your pass or your tickets. It records where your phone goes and shows it on the map.
Does it work in tunnels and with no signal?
The route is saved on your phone and sent when you're back in signal. If the phone loses GPS on a fast train, the map joins the gap into one line and counts it in your distance.
Will it use my roaming data?
Set uploads to Wi-Fi only and the app waits for the next wifi to send your route and photos. Nothing is lost while it waits.
What about battery on a long day of trains?
Tracking uses GPS like any map app. Battery saver pauses it while you're stopped, but never on a train, so plug in when there's a socket or carry a small power bank.
Does my family need to sign up to follow?
No. Your link opens in any browser. A free account only matters if they want a note each time you post.
Is it free?
Yes. Tracking, photos, the map, the journal and flyby films are free with no time limit. Explorer is optional.