Cheapest way to travel through Europe

Stockholm, Sweden

Europe is the best place for me when it comes to traveling, countries are basically a few hours from each other, borders are pretty much non-existent and there’s just so much history behind. Ok, I’m not a history guy (as a matter of fact I almost flunked high school because of it) but just being there, the streets, the architecture, it sort of takes you back in time, and if this is coming from a guy who doesn’t like history much I am sure for people who are really into history Europe as a full plate. I have been two Europe twice, always during summer and that place is just awesome, I still have to see it during other seasons but the whole vibe, and atmosphere is quite unique, you KNOW you are in Europe. My first time in Europe I backpacked by train and the second time I found a way cheaper way to travel which is by bus.

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, Germany. My first train ever in Europe heading to Switzerland.

Trains

Trains can be cheap if you are a student, under 26 or if you are not traveling for a long period of time, the cheapest way of backpacking Europe by train is by getting a train pass instead of buying single tickets which can really add up. I bought my pass from Eurail, the ticket was valid for 21 days and it cost me about 600 Canadian dollars. The price is not bad considering you get unlimited trips within the Eurail railway (a few countries are not part of this railway, such as England, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia) but the down side is once you activate the ticket it starts running so even if you are not using it for a couple of days those days are lost, which is annoying since it rushes you to not spend too much time in the same place, not to mention you still have to pay a fee for some trains (on busier routes) and basically you need to pay a fee as well to be able to take any of the night trains. The con of this pass is that for most day trains no booking is necessary and you just hop on and off trains like the world is yours. European trains are quite punctual and reliable, I haven’t really had any bad experiences when taking them but you must think during summer those trains are jam packed which I did too but not really, I haven’t been to those crazy touristy spots like Rome, Paris or Barcelona, mostly central Europe but I’ve always had a seat. Unless you have a reservation trains always work on a first come first serve basis. Also, when trains run through the mountains you get pretty spectacular views.

So traveling by train can be worth it if you are not spending too much time in the same location in my opinion, if you like spending longer periods of time at the same place an really exploring it than bus might be for you.

Buses

The first time I have been to Europe back in 2013 I don’t even think buses were a big thing, when I was planning my second trip to Europe I wanted to travel to Russia and the Baltic countries which are not part of this railway pass system, I talked to friends from the area and found out buses would be way cheaper. My second time in Europe I also stayed longer, for a month and a half which would require me to buy a two-month train pass and that was going to cost me an arm and a leg so I started looking for buses and yes, they are very cheap even during the busy summer season.

Buying tickets before hand will always give you even cheaper tickets but I have bought a couple of tickets very last minute and they were still pretty cheap. Traveling through Poland was the cheapest place hands down, I got a bus ticket going from Warsaw to Krakow which is a 4 hour bus ride for mere US$5! Still the best thing about traveling by bus is really being able to take my time when seeing a city and even I do decide to stay longer I can just modify dates in most companies even for free! And to save even more there are buses running overnight which are not even that much more expensive than day buses, still cheaper than a night at a hostel/hotel. Had I bought a train pass for 2 months I would have spent about US$1,500 but I ended up buying 15 bus tickets to travel though the Baltic countries, eastern Europe and Germany and only spent about US$160.

So that’s 3,500 km (2175 miles) traveled for about US$160.

Besides, all of the buses I was on had free wifi, power supply and one of the bus companies even had complimentary coffee/tea. There’s a few companies out there running through Europe which is great since there’s enough competition to keep prices low. Here are the companies I bought tickets from for traveling around Central and Eastern Europe.

Lux Express

Lux Express had one of the best services I have ever had on a bus. Wifi, power supplies, tv for every passenger on the bus and free hot drinks too. They run mostly in the Baltic States, Finland, Russia and some countries in Central Europe.

RegioJet

Czech company with really good prices and the service was not bad either.

Polski Bus

This Polish bus company was hands down the cheapest I had in Europe. They run all over Poland and to some of its neighbor countries.

Eurolines

Eurolines is Belgian but they are all over Europe, great service and their wifi was blazing fast.

FlixBus

Germany had to have a bus company of its own. Like everything in Germany FlixBus runs smoothly as well with buses to all over Germany and well known cities in Europe too. They even have a media center you can access on the bus via wifi and watch movies and tv shows.

Plan ahead of time and wisely and you’ll save quite a lot by travelling by bus in Europe.

I didn’t use to travel much but once I started, I just can’t stop travelling. On Can I Pack? I try to share how I make my travels work out because travelling shouldn’t be hard.