How to Travel around Europe on a Budget – Trains vs Buses!

With so many places to visit and each having its own unique, beautiful culture, Europe is still one of the go-to destinations for backpackers and travellers far and wide. This is why we are starting a series on our blog explaining how to travel around Europe on a budget.

Now that the global community is (hopefully) starting to learn to live with Covid-19, Europe is once again opening up its doors to foreign tourists. But for any wannabe traveller to Europe, the question remains – how best to travel between each of your destinations, by train or by bus? 

Having travelled around Europe using both, we delve into the pros and cons of each so you can pick the best mode of transport for yourself! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links included on our website may contain affiliate links. We may receive some commission from purchases made via these but it will NOT affect the price you pay. This is to allow this site to stay online and ensure that readers use, what we believe, is the best products possible whilst travelling.

Our Trip

If you want to check out our exact route and how we got to each place, check out our 2 months in Europe Itinerary!

In summary, from London to Paris, we ended up taking one plane, one ferry, 10 trains and 13 buses on our way to visit 21 places in 12 different countries. So, we like to think we’ve pretty much got the gist of how to travel around Europe on a budget.

Factors in deciding what transport to take:

Price

The overriding factor in dictating what method of transport we chose was the price. For the most part, it didn’t really matter how long to journey was (we’d be able to hack it), just as long as the price was cheap. But if you are time-limited it may be worth paying the extra to get to your location in good time.

 Accessibility 

The next factor in our decision-making was accessibility and by this, we mean how easy the bus or train station was to get to. 

Planning for this starts earlier than you think. For each hostel we booked, we’d factor in how we were getting to the city, how we were getting our and the hostel’s location. This helped us narrow down all the potential hostels to stay at whilst also taking into account each hostel’s review. Check out our top 10 hostels in Europe for the best options!

Admittedly, it is a long process but that 30 minutes you spend Googling everything will help you massively when it comes to travel days and your stress levels. 

For example, we chose this Generator in Hamburg because it was literally opposite the bus station we would be arriving at and departing from, it was centrally located and the reviews of the hostel were good. Understandably, this is not always possible as you often need to take the local metro or take a short walk (sometimes both) in order to get to your accommodation. 

In the end, you have to decide what you want to prioritise more, accessibility in and out or the location of your hostel. Our advice – we’d tip the balance in favour of the hostel location as it can really make or break how much you like your visiting city. 

Journey Time

The last thing we take into consideration is the journey time. Whilst some journey’s can be an absolute slog (see our trip from Malmö to Antwerp in Our Worst Travelling Mistakes) – coming soon, as your bum becomes numb from sitting in the same spot for too long and you’re squished in next to a stranger, the price may be too good not to do, especially considering other options available. 

However, city-hopping around Europe doesn’t really result in extensive journey times (unless you’re doing a big jump) which is why it was our last, and often non-existent, factor when deciding what transport to take. 

Pros and Cons of Trains & Buses 

Bus

• In the vast majority of our experiences, taking the bus was normally the cheaper option.
• Most, but not all, bus stations are found as an extension, or in the vicinity of, train stations. Easily located and often quite central.
• Generally, bus stations are manned (should you need help) and digital timetables are everywhere. 
• Hold storage for your backpacks/suitcases
• Easy connection to other cities.

HOWEVER

• Travel times can be longer, but sometimes this is only marginally.
• Can be quite uncomfortable journeys so little snoozing.

Trains 

• Can work out cheaper if you buy an Interrailing Pass and go to numerous destinations.
• The travel time is often shorter. 
• A lot of train stations are centrally located.
• Easy connections to other cities.
• Overheard storage for your luggage so you can keep an eye on it.

HOWEVER

• The initial cost of an Interrailing Pass is expensive.
• Pass is only worthwhile for an extensive European trip.

So, Trains vs Buses.. one or both? 

Being the budget travellers that we are, we’d recommend just going for the cheapest option, whatever that may be. For us, this was mainly relying on buses as they were easily accessible, often the cheaper option and not much longer in journey time. However, on a lot of occasions, train stations were just easier to access, not any more expensive and quicker.

Sort of a cop-out I know, but we thought this approach (whilst taking into account the factors above) enabled us to mix and match what we thought was best. 

Our go-to tool in deciding what mode of transport to take was Omio.

Omio was great as it is so easy to compare the prices of buses and trains as well as listing the various times each was going, where from and whether you had to change or not. Absolute must-have for travelling around Europe. 

Check out our top tips for travelling Europe on a budget if you are planning a Europe trip soon and please leave any other tips you might have in the comments.

Disclaimer: Some of the links included on our website may contain affiliate links. We may receive some commission from purchases made via these but it will NOT affect the price you pay. This is to allow this site to stay online and ensure that readers use, what we believe, is the best products possible whilst travelling.