The Incomplete Europe Public Transport Guide – 1.0

 

After so much time spent travelling around Europe by public transport, I thought it was time to share what I’ve learned. So I decided to put together this Europe public transport resource page in the hopes that it helps people out.

Thanks to the quality of European public transport and information online, Europe has to be one of the easiest continents to travel around. All of the below is based on my own experiences and the links I’ve used to plan and arrange getting around Europe. I’ll do my best to continue adding and updating this page as I go.

 

 

Europe Wide

I thought I’d first share some general Europe public transport sites that are useful no matter where you’re travelling:

Rome2Rio – Actually useful globally, this is my first stop when looking to figure out how to get from A to B;

RailEurope – When it comes to rail passes and advanced planning for train travel around Europe, this is a great resource;

Thalys / Eurostar / TGV – You can search across all of these when buying tickets for high-speed trains across Europe;

Flixbus – My personal favourite company for affordable bus travel around Western and Central Europe;

Eurolines – Another of the big cross-continental European bus companies;

Busbud – A newer resource that aggregates bus information, it has a smaller coverage across Western Europe but is very accurate;

 

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Western Europe

Spain

Bus

ALSA – Spain’s main intercity and regional bus service, reasonably affordable and frequent;

Train

Renfe – Spain’s national train network crossing the country, with several high-speed trains;

 

Portugal

Bus

Transdev – Bus service covering the country’s Northern Region;

Rede Expressos – Bus service covering the country’s Central, Alentejo and Algarve Regions;

Rodo Tejo – Bus service covering the country’s Lisboa Region;

EVA – Bus service covering the Algarve Region;

Train

CP – Portugal’s national train network, including both inter-region trains but also urban city ones;

 

France

Bus

Ouibus – French bus company with wide coverage, never used personally;

Flixbus/Eurolines – General European bus companies that service much of France;

Train

SNCF/TGV – French national train network including the TGV, good quality but can be expensive;

 

Germany

Bus

Meinfernbus – Part of the Flixbus family, affordable buses throughout Germany and to neighbouring countries;

Train

Deutsche Bahn – Germany’s National Train Network, efficient and modern as can be expected;

 

Italy

Bus

Italy is covered with many, many regional bus companies, too many to list at this stage;

Train

Trenitalia – Italy’s national train network, pretty standard Western Europe cost and service;

 

Belgium

Bus

De Lijn – Bus company that manages many of the regional networks. Don’t think I’ve ever used them though;

Train

Belgianrail – National train network of Belgium, quality service at pretty standard Western Europe prices;

 

Switzerland

Bus

Postbus – While I can’t recall ever using them, I’ve been reliably told that you can get almost anywhere with them;

Train

SBB – The national train network of Switzerland and one of Europe’s most expensive;

 

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Central Europe

Austria

Bus

Flixbus – Once called Meinfernbus now part of Flixbus, it has plenty of reasonable bus routes also in Austria;

Train

ÖBB – Austria’s National Train network, generally good quality but a little pricey;

Westbahn – A private train company, that runs only between Vienna and Salzburg, slightly more affordable;

 

Czech Republic / Czechia

Bus

RegioJet – Bus company that covers much of Czechia and Slovak;

Train

Ceske Drahy – The Czech National Train Network, with affordable fares and relatively comfortable carriages;

 

Slovakia

Bus

Slovaklines – Bus network throughout Slovakia but also to important international destinations like Vienna Airport;

RegioJet – Bus company that covers much of Czechia and Slovak;

Train

Slovakrail – Slovakia’s National Train Network, covers the whole country and is relatively affordable;

 

Poland

Bus

Flixbus – Polskibus was an extensive bus network that covered Poland, with competitive prices to the nation’s trains. Now part of the Flixbus network;

Train

InterCity – Poland’s national train network, with a distributed set-up and new trains. Not as cheap as you’d expect for Poland;

 

Hungary

Bus

Volanbusz – I have yet to use, no idea about price/quality;

Train

MAV – Hungary’s national train network that while a little Budapest-centric, has good trains at a cheap price;

 

Slovenia

Bus

AP Ljubljana – A large bus company based out of Slovenia’s capital;

Alpetour – Another bus network with considerable reach across Slovenia;

Train

SZ – Slovenia’s national train service, a network centred on the capital Ljubljana, and one that left no real impression on me (good or bad);

 

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Eastern Europe

Romania

Bus

Autogari – widespread bus network, generally faster than trains and affordable but with wide variety in quality;

Train

CFR – Romania’s national train network, was going through a great deal of development (2016) which lead to delays;

 

Bulgaria

Bus

Bgrazpisanie – large network of various bus companies, affordable but fairly modest comfort-wise. Best to check in person at the station;

Balkan Viator – region-wide bus schedules, useful if unable to find information elsewhere;

Train

BDZ – I honestly didn’t hear good things about the country’s train network (major delays) and never used it

 

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Balkans

Serbia

Bus

Serbia is serviced by many small bus companies – I recommend searching through Rome2Rio;

Train

Srbija Voz – Serbia’s national train network, which has decent coverage, especially to the main cities;

 

North Macedonia

Bus

BalkanViator – The only reliable internet information I found for the Rep. of Macedonia, buses are really cheap;

Train

N/A – The status and availability of trains in the Republic of Macedonia is unclear;

 

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Baltic

Latvia

Bus

1188 – A great resource for finding out bus schedules across the various companies that operate in Latvia;

LuxExpress – Bus company that operates throughout the Baltic with very comfortable buses and not too expensive;

Train

PV – The train network that connects much of Latvia, very cheap and decent quality;

 

Estonia

Bus

TPilet – A great resource for finding out bus schedules across the various companies that operate in Estonia;

LuxExpress – Bus company that operate throughout the Baltic with very comfortable buses and not too expensive;

Train

Elron – The national train network for Estonia, which due to my itinerary I never tried;

 

Lithuania

Bus

LuxExpress – Bus company that operates throughout the Baltic with very comfortable buses and not too expensive;

Train

Lithuanian Railways – The national train network of Lithuania, which I didn’t have the chance to use;

 

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What advice do you have for Europe’s public transport? If you have any questions, concerns or other links that you think should be included, please share in the comments below.