Eurail or bus????? ?

Question

ok so me and a few friends are planning to take a trip to europe after we graduate high school.

anyways, we've decided that we would like to take either a train or a bus.

we want to try to visit as many places as possible.

i would love to hear any experiances people had for either way of travel.

what did you like, which would you recomend?

thanks!

Answer 1

I'd defiantly have to say eurail passes... you can go to many countries and you don't have to worry about tickets and you can sleep on them if you don't have the money for a room ^_^ here's a couple really great links about backpacking europe and eurail passes:

http://backpackeurope.com/

http://www.eurail.com/

Answer 2

If you want to travel as many towns as possible the train is likely a better option. Bus travel between towns takes more time and there are fewer options.

International trains run often several times a day, hourly is not rare, with the bus you will have a choice of five a day at most, often just one a day. Many of the longer trips will be overnight trips, forcing you to try and sleep on the bus. Not good for sleep.

With the train you can also do overnight trips, but sitting arrangements in the train allow you a little more space and a lot more comfort, and if you are willing to pay for it, you can often book a couchette, a kind of bunk in the train.

I never take a bus when I can take a train, but the bus system is quite extensive. But even the people who often travel on the bus will only recommend it for its price, not for comfort or speed.

Here are some links for info on train travel and the one site I know for international bus travel. There are more bus sites, but I have never found them.

http://www.eurail.com/1_global_pass?curr... (rail pass site)

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/passes... (rail pass site)

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/index.shtml (German rail planner in English, works for all of Europe)

http://www.seat61.com/ (a site with a lot of train info, if set up different from the others.)

http://www.eurolines.com/index.php?id=11... (the international bus lines site)

Answer 3

The best is EURAIL. Start with Dublin,Ireland people are friendlier than any european country. Visit the Guinness house and get a free guinnes staight from the brewer,Jameson Distillery and be certified whiskey taster (they give u a certificate if u join the whiskey tasting),Christ chuch,TEmple bar and enjoy Irish/Traditional music and u can easily meet people from different places.Or option is go to the west of Ireland very very nice scenery n historic sight. From Dublin take a bus or train or fly to Uk.

By bus-take euro bus but the journey is longer(the bus will go in the ferry  5 hours in the boatto holy head)from there the bus will drive 8 hrsor more to london.. We usually do by train/fly.Train-from dublin port a boat or ferry will take u to holyhead about 2 hours  (Wales) then train connect straight to Pancreas in London.

Or by flying-Book a flight to Ryan air its very cheap, sometimes u can have a flight just for 10 euro return or even less.Book in advance . London is nice,lots to see but the people are not that friendly compared to the irish. From london take a train to Paris (in Pacreas) i think its 1.5 or 2 hours the train is pretty fast.Then from France u can decide which way u wanna go 1st. because theres train that goes to Belguim,amsterdam,germany,spain,italy,au... etc.Train is cheap if ur travelling more EU countries. Enjoy..

Answer 4

Eurail passes are very good value if you're doing lots of long trips ie from one country to another, or right across a country.  Otherwise point-to-point train fares could be cheaper.  Whether you take the train or bus depends on the country you visit.  For instance, France has no long distance buses, just local ones between small towns, but Spain has a terrific bus system.  And both countries also have good train systems.