Studying abroad in Vienna, being a centrally located country I was able to take advantage of this location to hit 13 countries in 4 months while balancing classes (well 22 days of them). The key that I found is to use buses to travel through the more central locations because they are often cheaper, have more amenities, and not as strict on luggage. The many methods of transportation that I used though were trains, buses, and flights.
Trains
I used trains through Italy since buses aren’t found as easily/are the same price. I even did overnight trains to and from Milan, which was an adventure in and of itself. Basically, make sure you get an Vorsitail card to get 50% off trains in Austria and even with that, trains in Austria were on the more expensive side. Trenitalia and italo for booking Italian trains and OBB for trains in Austria.
Flights
I know often students that study abroad swear by Ryanair, but I only ended up using them three times. A nice thing to note is that although Vienna doesn’t have a Ryanair airport, Bratislava does and is only a 7 Euro bus ride away. I never had any problems with Ryanair although I just checked my bag to avoid any problems. You must follow the rules perfectly such as printing out your boarding pass in advance, luggage size, and checking in online or else face the 60 euro additional fees.
Buses
I love buses to travel across Europe and what I would primarily recommend. My favorite was going to Prague getting free hot chocolate, TV the whole way, bathroom on board, and since it wasn’t full I had like 4 seats to myself. Some of the bus companies I used are below
Studentbusagency- My all time favorite as mentioned above for getting to Prauge
Orangewaysbuses- Getting to and from Budapest for as low as 20 euros
Eurolines- I somehow snagged a 9 euro ticket from Amsterdam to London. Still don’t know how I managed to do that
Flixbus- they typically have free wifi which is a mega bonus and have buses all across Europe that I used several times
Meinfernbus- Again used frequently through my time in different European cities
Megabus- used to travel from Paris to Brussels and then to Amsterdam. They are quite popular for London and the surrounding area. Was able to kind of charge my phone on here through outlets which was nice.
Hope the website links and the advice helps so you know where to look to find the best deals to make traveling through Europe happen and relieve any headaches.
❤ Melanie
Smiles from Miles Away 