If you're looking for the cheapest ways to travel around Europe,
then this video is going to break down all the tips and strategies that I use to score
epic deals like Paris to London for two euros, first-class Swiss trains for 30 euros and
countless other trips for less than 50.
Be sure to stick around until the end because I'll also be giving you a free checklist with
a step by step breakdown on how I find those deals.
If you're new here, welcome.
My name is Christina.
I help travelers like you travel Europe smarter, cheaper, and we're off the beaten path, so
if you want more videos with insider tips like this one, be sure to hit the subscribe
button now. Without any further ado, let's get to it. Hit that cheesy intro.
What's up Smarties?
Today we are going to be talking about transportation in Europe and how to get from point a to point
B in the smartest, cheapest possible way.
I have been traveling extensively around Europe over the past five ish years and sometimes
I'm even able to get to my destination for less than the price of lunch.
If you want to learn how to do that, here are some of my best tips on how to save big.
Tip number one is to know your options.
So oftentimes when visitors from overseas think about Europe, they think about train
travel and they think about getting a rail pass, and while rail passes are great, there's
actually so many other options out there that tend to be cheaper and so are better for you
if you're planning on traveling Europe on a budget, for example, there are a lot of
budget airlines out there, there are extensive bus networks.
There's things like Blabacar, which I'll explain later, so be sure to keep that in mind and
know that you actually have so many different options at your disposal.
Tip number two is to know the transportation triangle.
So when I talk about transportation in Europe, I like to think of it in terms of a triangle.
You've got budget friendliness, comfort, and flexibility.
And you can usually only pick two.
But the sooner you realize that the more you're able to kind of make peace with it and understand
that there's going to be certain choices that you have to make.
So in terms of finding something that's highly affordable, very comfortable, and also very
flexible, it's honestly probably not gonna happen.
So be sure to keep that in mind and get ready to make some tough choices.
Tip number three is to know all the different tools at your disposal.
So one really great tool that I always recommend to people is called Omio.
Full disclosure, I am an Instagram ambassador for them, but they are not paying me to say
this.
I've actually been using Omio for years back when they were known as GoEuro.
And they're essentially a free search engine that allows you to compare and book different
trains, buses and flights.
So what's really cool about that is you can just punch in your point a and your point
B and it'll show you the different options, allow you to sort it by what's cheapest, what's
quickest.
And that way you have an overview of all your different options in one place at a glance.
All right, and with those tips out of the way, let's jump into each mode of transportation
I discussed earlier and show you how to get the best deals on each one.
If you want a full video on any of these modes of transportation, please be sure to let me
know in the comments because clearly I can talk about this stuff all day.
All right, let's first talk about trains.
Train travel is probably my favourite way of getting around Europe but unfortunately
in terms of the transportation triangle you lose out on budget friendliness and if you
book a cheap train you often miss out on flexibility but nonetheless, here's some of my top tips
for riding European trains on the cheap.
So tip number one is to book early.
This is by far the best way to ensure you get the best fares possible.
But of course the unfortunate truth is when you book early you're committing yourself
to one specific fare.
Usually the cheap fares are non flexible tickets, meaning you are booking it for that time and
that date and if you miss it or if you have to change anything, then you're not going
to get that money back.
But that's a pretty fair tradeoff considering if you book early enough oftentimes the fares
will be literally one eighth of what they are the day of.
So you really can save a significant amount if you're able to just decide early on when
you're going to take that trip and you can commit to that trip in advance.
Train tip number two is to know your discounts.
So virtually every country in Europe likes to reward people for being young.
So a lot of the time countries will offer a special youth rate for people that are usually
under 25 or 26 years old.
So for example, in Belgium they have something really cool called the Go Pass One and with
the Go Pass One you can travel one way literally anywhere in the country for six euros and
60 cents, which is incredibly cheap.
I've also gotten youth discounts in Portugal and a lot of other countries, so it's very
much worth into whether or not you can get a discount for your age.
They also tend to have discounts for seniors and students as well.
Tip number three is to ride regional trains.
So in most European countries they tend to make a distinction between regional trains
and high-speed ones.
So the high speed ones usually are nicer.
Of course they're faster, they're a little bit swankier but regional trains, while they're
a little bit slower, maybe not as nice.
Oftentimes they're way cheaper than their fast counterparts.
So if you want to get the best possible deal on trains in Europe, be sure to check whether
or not you're getting on a regional train or a high speed train.
Usually regional is much cheaper.
Lastly, Train tip number four is to know when rail passes are worth it.
So for a lot of people, when they think of train travel, they think that rail passes
are the cheapest way to get around.
This is actually not the case.
And if you book point-to-point tickets really far in advance, like I mentioned earlier,
often this is much cheaper than a rail pass would ever be but there are a lot of perks
to using a rail pass, especially in certain countries and during certain times of the
year.
So for example, if you are under 27 you're eligible for youth pass, which is much cheaper
so you're more likely to get your value back in addition to that Eurail and Interrail often
has discounts during the off season and shoulder season because they want to incentivize more
people to buy the passes.
This past year, for example, I purchased a 10 day in two month global Eurail youth pass,
which was only 307 euros and at the same time they were also running a really cool promo
where if you bought a second class pass, you've got a first class upgrade for free.
So basically what I got for myself was 10 travel days in two months for 307 year olds
in first class.
And what I did was I took this rail pass to Switzerland and with that I was basically
able to ride first-class in all these incredible scenic panoramic trains including big names
like the bringing express and glacier express and all I did was pay 30 euros for the entire
day, which is literally like a fraction of the cost of what it normally would be.
So there are certain ways to make sure that you get value out of your rail pass.
However, on the other hand there are certain countries where a rail pass like this simply
isn't worth it.
So countries that you should avoid with a rail pass include Italy, France and Portugal
because these are countries where you really need to make reservations in advance, which
you have to pay for
and of course that negates any savings that you actually get from the rail pass.
If you're interested in the Eurail pass, please be sure to subscribe because next week I'll
be doing a full review and guide on the past.
All right, next let's talk about bus travel.
So buses are a very, very good way to get around Europe if budget is your number one
priority.
On the flip side, there are a number of cons when it comes to riding buses around Europe,
mainly that they can be a little gross, they're not necessarily the nicest experience, you
can get stuck in traffic, et cetera, et cetera.
But in terms of prices, buses can often be very tough to beat.
Once upon a time I scored a bus ride from Paris to London for two euros, which is absolutely
crazy.
So if you are looking for very cheap deals, buses are a great option.
In addition to that, there are certain parts of Europe where bus travel is actually way
better than taking trains for instance.
And the Balkans is a really great example of this.
They have extremely extensive bus networks that travel around the Balkans and it's a
really great way to get around.
So definitely don't discount bus travel.
The number one player in budget bus travel in Europe is definitely Flixbus.
It's actually kind of scary, but they're slowly but surely acquiring all their competition.
But don't worry, Flixbus is fine.
You will eventually get there.
It's just not the most glamorous way to travel.
But there are other bus companies as well, like Eurolines and a number of smaller regional
bus companies that service different countries.
The most enticing offer that Flixbus has is something called the Interflix ticket.
The Interflix ticket is 99 euros and gets you five one way trips all over Europe with
any of the routes that they do.
So that's a really good option if you're a backpacker or if you want some flexibility
and spontaneity like with a rail pass, but a little bit cheaper.
I do have a very brutally honest review of Flixbus if you want to know what you're getting
into and I'll link that down below.
So number three, let's talk a little bit about budget airlines.
So without a doubt, budget airlines are the lifeblood of budget travel in Europe.
But the thing is a lot of these no frills airlines kind of have a bad reputation.
Some of the more popular ones include RyanAir from Ireland, easyjet from the UK Wizzair
in Hungary and tons of others across the map.
So in my opinion, there is no better way to hop long distances for cheap than budget airlines.
Really, budget airlines, if you catch them during a fare sale, sometimes you can find
Ryanair deals for less than 10 euros and on very special occasions less than one Euro.
So really in terms of frugality, that's quite impossible to beat.
But, and there's a big butt here...
With these budget airlines, a lot of the time where they get you is with hidden costs.
So be aware that all those base fares that you're paying for less than 10 euros, less
than euro, all that really entitles you to is that little square where you put your butt
on the plane.
Anything else will probably come at an extra cost, including choosing where to sit on the
plane, bringing bags on board, even getting a glass of water is going to cost extra.
In addition to that, you should also be aware that many of these budget airlines fly into
smaller airports outside of the city.
So oftentimes you're going to have to commute a little bit farther to get to these airports,
which also kind of cuts away at those savings as well.
So that's the key to flying with these low cost airlines.
For them to truly be low cost, you have to read the fine print and you have to beat them
at their own game.
Next, let's talk about Blabacar.
So Blabacar is a mode of transportation in Europe that a lot of overseas visitors probably
haven't heard of, but basically it's a carpooling service that matches up drivers and passengers
who are headed in the same direction and allows them to kind of pool their funds to have a
cheaper trip.
So think of it as essentially you're paying for gas and for other expenses in exchange
for a seat in the car.
And I know this might sound a little bit sketchy, but the thing is Blabacar also operates very
similarly to Couchsurfing and Airbnb in the sense that it's regulated by reviews.
So so long as you're able to vet your driver beforehand, look at their reviews, maybe chat
with them a bit before you'll be completely safe.
A lot of my friends have been using Blabacar religiously to get around cheaply around Europe
and so you really have nothing to worry about if budget is your number one priority, this
is a very good option because you can kind of think of Blabacar as a more regulated version
of hitchhiking, which brings us to the next mode of transportation that we'll be discussing.
Full disclosure, I have not hitchhiked a lot in my life because mainly I am a paranoid
hot mess, but you should know that hitchhiking is actually a very common mode of transportation
in certain parts of Europe like in the Balkans, which is actually the only place I've ever
hitchhiked.
He was very nice.
He was a lavender farmer...
The car smelled great, but regardless there are a few rules of thumb (ha get it?)
That you need to keep in mind when you are hitchhiking around Europe.
Really if you need to be somewhere at a certain time, if you are on a time crunch or if you're
not like a go with the flow kind of traveler, hitchhiking is probably not for you.
In my opinion.
Hitchhiking is every bit about the experience as much as it is about saving money.
So if you're kind of like one of those carefree types that really just wants to do it for
fun, for the experience and for meeting new cool people, then by all means do it.
But I would not recommend it as just a way to save money, especially because there are
so many other options that I've outlined in this video that I think might be better suited
for most.
So tell me, what was the cheapest transport deal you've ever scored in Europe?
Feel free to brag it out in the comments below and if you're looking for that checklist that
I promised at the beginning of this video, just hit that link down there to download
it.
So thanks for watching Smarties.
I hope you enjoyed the tips in this video.
If you did be sure to give me a thumbs up comment, give me a virtual hug, virtual pug
and be sure to subscribe in the future for more videos just like this one.
Until then I'll see you guys around.
Byeeee!