What is the best way to see Europe? Is it by bus, traveling by train or by guided tour. Their are many advantages to each kind of travel, and also many disadvantages. Lets take a look at the more favored options and see how they stack up against each other on the pro and cons..
Bus Travel
There are two major companies offering ways to get around Europe; Busabout and Eurolines.
Firstly Busabout. This company runs buses in 3 circular interconnecting loops taking in Central, Northern and Southern Europe. You can travel to most of the major and popular capitol cities of Europe as well as many smaller cities starting at about $580US. The company also has deals with specific hostels and hotels which allows you to make a booking in some cities where accommodation may be hard to find in peak periods. You can also add on extras such as Eastern Europe cities and sailing adventures. Pick up and drop off points are generally at their own accommodation site in a particular city or in a centrally located area.
The main downside to Busabout is not being able to backtrack on your journey and buses only departing every 2nd day. This means you will have to stay a least 2 days in some cities or towns that only warrant a day trip, and there are quite a few of them. This can be avoided if the city or town is on a connecting link of two of the bus route loops, if so you may be lucky and get out the next day! The Busabout timetable operates mostly between 08:00 and 18:00 on the days it runs, and therefore you waste a days sightseeing with a full day traveling. The service operates from May to October only. Therefore you must travel in peak periods and miss out on some awesome winter options and also my favorite time to be in Europe; late March through April when it's not too cold and there are no queues at the museums or sites.
