I am going to be traveling in Europe this summer for about a month. I plan on flying into London and then going to Belgium (Brussels and Bruge), Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, Nice, Paris and then back to London to fly home. I would buy at 15 day flexible pass. It looks like Eurolines is cheaper costing $295. Eurail is $695 and it seems like they have a lot of extra costs for reservations and such.
From experience, what is the better way to travel? How comfortable/uncomfortable are trains vs. buses? Do buses take a lot longer to travel between cities than the rail?
I also know that the rail pass doesn’t work traveling to and from Prague. What is the best way to travel there?
I’m open to any advice on traveling throughout Europe. Thanks!
I would be there for a month…I would buy the 15 day pass. It’s 15 days of travel in two months. I would just use 15 days within the month to travel.
go by Euro rail. it’s a much better experience.
buy your tickets here in USA.
it’s cheaper at AAA.
Woah, wait a second, dude. (EDIT: Sorry, Rebbecca. Sister.) 12 cities in 15 days? That’s one itinerary that needs a little changin’. I’d say right in half. Or extend it to 30 days.
Possible in 15 days (and this is at a brisk jaunt, no time for lollygagging): London, Brussles + Bruge, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg (which IMHO you can skip or just stop here for coffee), Munich, fly back to London and byebye
OR
15 days (again, jaunting) London – Paris – Nice – Florence – Rome – Venice – fly back to London and byebye
You can get cheap one-way tickets from a discount air carrier like Ryanair for the hauls from Munich or Venice back to London.
The bus is cheap, yes, but is not nearly as flexible as you need if you have to get so much done in so little time. It also is a b*tch to sleep in – in the train you can stretch your legs out a little bit at least.
Otherwise, you are right, there are some additional fees the train services squeeze out of you for “improved services” (travelling by Intercity train, for example) – those go for about twelve to 24 bucks a pop. The train in the Czech Republic is not covered by Eurail, true, but the prices are not formidable – about ten dollars for the Berlin-Prague route (you only pay the section from the Czech-German border to Prague) or a little over 20 for the Prague-Vienna stretch (again, only from Prague to the border), plus those surcharges … well, yeah, it does sort of add up, huh.
In the Czech Republic and Hungary, travel times by train and bus are about the same. In the other countries you mention, though, the trains are MUCH, much faster. Plus the connections run more often.
So you need to think if the restricted timetables, restricted movement within the bus, slower travel times and endless views of highways are worth saving 400 bucks. If you only have 15 days, you may just need that cash for the next time you come back … because there is no way you can do all those cities by bus, and you’d be hard pressed to do them by train, unless you plan on just being in the train (almost) the whole time.
The only cheaper way I know of travelling in Europe is through Mitfahrzentrale, a sort of organised hitchhiking system. But you have to be incredibly flexible in terms of time, definitely not in a rush. It would make sense if you were on the three month (or longer) plan.
So there you go, less time = pay more.
Good luck!
I also agree..its so incredibly tempting to see all these places in this time BUT you will never enjoy them properly and you will be on your bus or train for 70% of the time.
Trains are very efficient and get you to places quickly but as you pointed out the bus is cheaper. I personally never got any pass, but thats because I was based in the UK and working and then travelling every 6 weeks or so. Apart from flights ( try.) I never pre booked transport..i’m not sure how much cheaper/expensive/same this was as I just did it and bought my ticket the day of or the day prior to travel.
I will say you have chosen a nice group of cities there and some are not huge ( eg Prague, Venice ) but you still need a couple of days for some to really appreciate.
Here is an example of a day I had in Italy…it was among my stressful EVER and a lot was involved with travel.
I was in Venice and travelling to Montepulciano ( story was I was wanting to book in Siena but its pricey so i was looking for nearby towns and found Montepulciano in the siena REGION..70km away)
Train to Florence..4 hours with around an hour prior packing and getting to the train station as well
an hour in florence waiting for the train to Siena….and hour on the train to siena. Get to Siena ( find when the bus is leaving for montepulciano) look around siena for a couple of hours ( lugging my bag as there is nowhere to store it) get on a bus to take me to the train station and it goes the wrong way ( eg right bus but wrong end of the circuit) so by the time it gets back to the bus station and finally to the train station i have missed the last bus to montepulicano…so take a train to a town called chusi which takes a couple of hours ( and forgot to valadate my ticket so got fined 5 euros!!!) get to chusi get a bus ticket to montepulciano which i have to wait for and a 45min ride to my destination which I arrive at 9pm ( I left at 8am that morning), with barely any sightseeing at all and I was hungry and tired.
Imagine that kind of thing every day with only a small proportion of your day sightseeing and the rest getting from A to B….its not always so bad but it can be like that. TRUST ME I KNOW!
Either cut down on places or increase your time.
Trains are much more comfortable than buses, and generally a lot faster. The only advantage of the bus is that it’s cheaper. I would strongly recommend you get the Eurail pass instead of Eurolines unless you are very pressed for cash. Cheap airlines like Ryanair, Easyjet, and Air Berlin can work for some itineraries instead of using trains, but the rail pass makes sense in your case since you seem to want to visit a lot of places in a relatively short time.
Most people never pay any surcharges on Eurail pass trips – the only ones you need to worry about are surcharges for certain high-speed trains. You very rarely need to reserve any train trip in advance, so I wouldn’t bother with any reservations with surcharges.
“I also know that the rail pass doesn’t work traveling to and from Prague. What is the best way to travel there?”
Your rail pass will get you up to the Czech border for free. From there the train ride to Prague is inexpensive.
“I’m open to any advice on traveling throughout Europe. Thanks!”
Your itinerary has a very large number of cities packed into one month. You would be on the train every other day, and would barely have one full day in each city that you visit. Make sure that’s really what you want – you might consider seeing fewer places and spending more time in each of them – that would let you really experience a lot more of the places you visit, and go beyond just a few famous tourist sights in each city.
You already have a lot of good advice, the only thing I miss in their answers is a good link to a good railway planner.
Enter your travel details in this page::& and if there comes up a red R for needed reservation, change the means of transport to without ICE or even to local transport only.
When you prefer to still use the train with the needed reservation you know you will have to pay a surcharge. I think the site can even tell you how much in every case, but I am not even sure about that.
The bus can be a good option, but mostly only if you have plenty of time, most long distance travels are overnight, with only one or two options per day instead of the hourly ones on the railways.
If you are the kind of person who can sleep everywhere and are short on money, the bus pass is certainly an option.
The Eurolines page has a travel planner too, find the times for the bus between each of the towns on your list, (in the order you want to travel them.)
And also remember that the train to and from London is not included in your rail pass, and the reduction you get on the tickets is less than the savings if you make your reservation when the tickets first come for sale (2 or 3 months before travel) and you manage to get the cheapest tickets for the train. (But those do sell out very fast.)
12 cities within one month is still pushing it, I would cut of some of the destinations that are far from the others, giving you more time in the places you have left.
London and Paris need 3 whole days each at least, the other towns on your list 2 full days. (Often that is 3 nights.)
And with just visiting the main towns (mostly capital cities too,) you miss the real Europe, the villages and small towns.
I would rethink your plans and remember that Europe will be here for a long time, plan to come back to see some more.