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Central Europe By Bus

Posted by on

Hi,

I am planning to travel to Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, Czech, Poland, Slovakia) for 15 days.
I have already travelled Western Europe using Eurail and was considering to travel via bus this time.
Would really appreciate if someone can help with some of the doubts:

  1. Seat Availability - What is the seat availability on Euroline buses (is it really a hop on and off or the seats get booked well in advance). Need to know this as I will be buying tickets on the go
  2. Time – i have heard buses take more time as compared to trains. Can someone pls tell me what is the typical difference in the duration
  3. Time Table – can anyone pls direct me to timetable / schedule for intercity buses
  4. Frequency – how frequent are the bus services? Is it same as trains where there are trains after every hour for most major routes
  5. Comfort – i know buses are not same as trains. But are they comfortable enough for short journeys ?

Any other thing that may help me decide. Any help would be appreciated

Thanks,
DJ

Posted by
19651 posts

There are some connections that are more convenient by bus; like Krakow to Budapest for instance. But other than need, I can’t imagine why you would try and use a bus. The trains in central Europe are convenient, clean and cheap. I would look real hard at the rates for individual routes before I considered a Eurail pass. All of the tickets can be purchased in country giving you more flexibility.I haven’t been to Poland yet but I have been through the rest of your list; and on several occasions. You chose well. This is a great part of the world. Let me know if I can help.

I am not going to advocate riding the busses but I have been on the trains in the region and "Fast" isn't a word I would use. Then the term "slow" isn't universal between say Hungary and France either. It all depends on the route. I always check the train times against Google Maps for the same destinations. The best train Prague to Budapest is about 7 hours while you can drive it in about 5 hours. Even at that I would rather be on a train where I can move around then on a bus; even the nice busses like Orangeways.

Posted by
33556 posts

DJ 2309 (by the way, how do you get dlpesh2309 out of DJ?)

Many of your questions, especially 1, 2, 3, and 4, can be answered on the Eurolines Website

You can go to the bottom of the page for country by country information.

question number 2.. From your Eurail experiences (of course you are aware that Eurail do not run any trains, it is down to the individual countries) you will be aware that trains go very fast. Slow trains tend to go at up to 160 kph or even faster, fast trains go at up to 300 kph. Buses have to get out of city centres before picking up speed and then are limited to considerably slower than cars - the maximum will be no more than 80 or 100 kph, with the average lower than that.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks James and Nigel.

I think I will buy point tickets (bus and train depending on the route).

Nigel – DJ is from my initials (Dipesh Jain) :) . And yes, you are right..i know that Eurail do not run any trains. Just used that term to describe travel using a train pass…

Cheers.
DJ

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