How to Travel Around Europe Wisely

You’re all packed, you’ve sorted your paperwork, and you’re ready to travel the great continent of Europe. Brilliant, but have you researched the best way to travel across the continent. Transport options depending on where you want to go are relatively cheap and easy. Nonetheless, planning how you are going to get there in advance makes a lot of sense in the long run.

With this in mind, this post should help you make better travel decisions.

Know your Rights

If you’re planning to fly, it pays to know your rights as a traveler in the European Union as this will help you should issues occur. The EU has brought into law The EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation. It provides a framework for compensation should your flight be significantly delayed. Valid allies in this can be online compensation calculator softwares that can be found on the internet. Flightright, a German company that provides this service, has a handy search bar on the homepage that lets flyers check their refund in about the time of a coffee (be it an Italian, Continental or Romanian one).

There are also similar rights pertaining to rail travel. Before you start your European adventure, it is a good idea to know where you stand in terms of compensation.

Plan your Mode of Travel

Now you know your rights, it is time to plan how you are going to get to see this amazing selection of countries. Planes are great at covering distance, and if you have a tight deadline, there may be no option but to fly. Trains offer comfort and let you travel from city center to city center easily and quickly. Busses are good for getting to remote places. Both trains and buses let you take in the landscape which, when new, is a highly enjoyable experience.

Where possible it is a good idea to book in advance to leverage better travel deals. That said, winging it gives a greater sense of freedom and adventure. In many ways, this is really down to what makes you feel most comfortable.

With a good plan in place, you can travel from the Râşnov Citadel in Romania to the Eiffel Tower in Paris quite easily.

Flying

Depending on your itinerary you may have no option but to fly. Your flight time in the air is often pretty short but the waiting around for hours in an airport lounge, the hassles of getting to airports which are often on the outskirts of cities, and sitting in a cramped seat truly take the romance out of traveling. That said, the advantages are that you are more of your own boss as you can get to places that don’t really have good rail or bus routes, and if you are savvy flight hunter get flights at competitive prices.

Rail

Rail travel in Europe is arguably a great way to travel both for speed and efficiency and to take in the landscape. Trains run across borders in Europe and the sense of adventure as the landscape changes never leave you.

Trains are normally very comfortable and reasonably priced. The engineering quality is remarkable too as you may well often find you’re traveling through tunnels for miles. Trains are great if you’re hopping from city to city and mostly services are reliable.

Bus

Buses are the cheapest way to travel but often the longest and here lies the rub. Trains tend to make the journey in a third of the time of a bus and are more comfortable. Sometimes, however, the infrastructure simply doesn’t exist to facilitate rail travel. In these cases, the bus is the only option.

Busses are a great economical option, but you’ll have to factor in more traveling time.