As a frequent traveller, I’m always on the lookout for the cheapest and most convenient modes of transport. Whilst booking a plane ticket may seem like it will be the fastest option, when you actually take into consideration the travel time to the airport, having to be there a few hours beforehand if travelling internationally, the air travel time itself, not to mention the fact that airports are most commonly located outside the city centre, your total travel time quickly adds up! Besides, I don’t know about you, but when possible, I much prefer travelling overland and watching the landscape slowly change right in front of me. So, when the team at Busbud contacted me a few months ago to tell me about their international bus booking service and asked me to take it for a spin, it coincided perfectly with a trip to Prague I had coming up. I decided to travel by bus from Berlin, book my tickets through Busbud and see what they were all about.
What is Busbud?
Busbud is a booking engine that allows users to easily search, compare and book bus fares online for thousands of travel routes worldwide. Currently, Busbud provides bus travel information and a booking service for 89 countries, connecting over 10,463 cities and offering over a million departures each week.
How Busbud works
I found that Busbud was exceptionally easy to use. When you arrive on the landing page, you simply enter your travel destination, dates and number of travellers.
Your search results will then pop up that will list all the bus options according to your search terms. All of the available bus service providers will be shown with their prices. You can see that a return-trip to Prague from Berlin costs 38 Euros for these dates — not bad!
You can now compare all of the bus travel options available and narrow down your search criteria by searching by time or amenities available on the bus for example.
Once you’ve selected your desired transport option, you will either be able to book directly through the Busbud website or will be directed to the bus provider’s website (with all of your original search criteria already input).
How easy is that? I decided to go with Student Agency, as this bus provider had been recommended to me before. I booked a 7:00 am ticket to Prague from Berlin that was due to arrive into the centre of the city at 11:55 am. I paid online and my electronic tickets were emailed to me instantaneously. All I had to do was print them out before my trip.
My bus travel experience
I was so impressed by the Student Agency bus travel experience! The first thing I noticed as I boarded the bus and found my pre-booked seat was how new and clean the bus was. It had that intoxicating new car smell and the leather seats looked as if they hadn’t ever been used! Much to my delight, I also discovered the entertainment systems on the back of every seat. Great!
The bus departed on time at 7:00 am on the dot. It’s rare that an airplane would depart right on time like this, right? As soon as we were on the road, a steward made his way through the bus offering the passengers headphones and reading material in the form of newspapers and magazines. Shortly after this, he came around a second time taking orders for hot drinks, which was all included in the ticket price. I ordered a lemon tea and took out my book and settled in for the ride.
The trip was relaxing and enjoyable. There was a toilet onboard which was clean and ensured no passenger felt uncomfortable during the trip. The countryside we passed through was beautiful — the roads were lined either side with woods and fields and gazing out into the gentle, green, rolling hills of the Czech Republic made for a lovely morning of travel. We arrived into Prague only 10 minutes behind schedule at 12:05 pm.
What I love about Busbud
My bus travel experience from Berlin to Prague couldn’t have been better and it’s all thanks to Busbud that I was able to so easily search, compare and book my tickets all in the one place. There are so many features of this online booking engine that I love:
♥ The Busbud network is very extensive. You can find bus travel information in a huge number of countries connecting thousands of cities.
♥ You can search for bus routes in your own language and currency, which makes it a lot easier than having to decode bus schedules in foreign countries in languages you don’t understand.
♥ The comparison feature is really handy. I really like the way that all possible bus travel options are displayed. There is a major price difference between some companies so it pays to be able to compare them all in one place!
♥ Busbud also has a brand new app. The app allows you to search and pay for your bus tickets with only a few swipes of the finger. You are then able to simply show the bus driver your smartphone screen with your booking confirmation.
And just because I love infographics…
Here’s one about just how great bus travel is!
Do you enjoy travelling by bus? Share your bus travel experiences in the comments below!
Disclosure: Busbud sponsored my travel to Prague in exchange for this review. As always, my opinions are my own. This post contains some affiliate links which earn me a small commission when bus travel is booked through Busbud at no extra cost to you.
This is a great, informative article Rach. I really enjoyed reading it!
I’m so glad! Maybe Busbud will help you plan some upcoming travel adventures… 😉 x
BUSBUD HAS THE WORST SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I booked a ticket for $70.00 from Toronto to Montreal on their website, which it didn’t show that has stop in Ottawa. When I opened my ticket in PDf it showed that it has transit in Ottawa. However, I got in touch with customer service to refund me for the trip that was MISLEADING and that I won’t be using but, they refused to do anything. Dear users, if you use this crappy transport make sure that you don’t fall into trap the way I did…………………………………..