FlixBus is THE way to travel Europe cheaply and sometimes pretty quickly. You’ll hear some people only say bad things about this company, but if you’re prepared to travel on a budget and know what you’re in for, you’ll be absolutely fine. During our 6 months in Europe, we had 25 FlixBus journeys, so we’re definitely equipped to let you know how it is! For the few journeys where FlixBus wasn’t our best option, we used a variety of train companies in different countries, which you can read more about here.

This blog post is going to take you through everything you’ll need to know, including our best money saving tip for booking tickets, so read on if you’re thinking of using FlixBus for your travels.

Firstly, you book online and then if you download the app (which you should), you can load all your trips into your account to easily access the QR code ticket, as well as see what seats you’re in, where the bus goes from, gets into, and any stop overs. The QR tickets are very easy to use, as all people on the booking come under just one QR code. This means only one person in your party needs the app, and the driver only needs to scan it once.

Like any transport, FlixBus prices vary depending on the journey length, the time of day, and the day of the week. We had some luck saving money by adjusting our journey dates several times, but if you don’t have the luxury of extra time, it’s worth comparing the FlixBus price with other transport options. We found that they almost always came out significantly cheaper than planes or trains for equivalent journeys.

Here are some prices from some of our FlixBus journeys to give you an idea:

• Oslo to Malmö (7 hours, 45 minutes): £22.99 per person
• Budapest to Zagreb (4 hours, 55 minutes): £14.99 per person
• Brussels to Bruges (1 hour, 35 minutes): £7.99 per person
• Florence to Bologna (1 hours, 40 minutes): £2.99 per person

Included in the price is a seat on the bus, one 22kg luggage for the hold, and one 7kg hand luggage that you can take on the bus.

In terms of the actual buses, they vary in style. Sometimes they’re double decker, and sometimes they’re not the green buses you see everywhere but are local buses that have a sign saying they’re running for FlixBus. The seats change depending on the day, sometimes we’ve had lots of room and sometimes they’re more squishy, but mostly there’s enough room to be comfortable for a while. There’s under bus storage and overhead storage, toilets on the bus and SOMETIMES the wifi works (don’t count on this).

Loading the bus is pretty chaotic, and is rarely the same on more than one journey. People will line up but when the bus arrives, they’ll crowd around. There’s almost never a system from our experience. Sometimes the bus driver loads the suitcases first then gets your QR codes and lets you on, sometimes they load suitcases and get your QR code at the same time, sometimes they expect you to load your own suitcase. Sometimes they ask for your passport or ID and sometimes they don’t. It has happened multiple times that we have gotten on a bus with allocated seats, and the bus layout had changed so our seats no longer exist (we literally got on a bus the other day that skipped from row 7 to 12 haha) so even if you have a seat allocated, you may not be able to sit in it. Don’t worry though, there have always been enough seats on the bus in our experience, so you will still get a seat.

During the journey, they might stop for multiple toilet breaks, they might stop for a dinner break, and they might not stop at all. There is almost no way to tell what will happen so take lots of food and if you’re not a fan of using bus toilets (we sure aren’t), don’t drink anything.

They’re sort of on time. We have had many turn up anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour late and one memorable time our 5:45am bus turned up at 7am with no explanation why. If you have a bus with a connection and you miss the connection, FlixBus will assign you a new bus. If they cancel the bus, they’ll also assign you a new bus and if you’re not happy with the new time, you can ask for a refund. This happened to us once or twice and their live chat was very quick and easy.

They run in almost all of mainland Europe so are an amazing way to get around if you’ve got the time. They go to and from so many different destinations, but do be aware they sometimes leave from or go to very random bus stops outside the city or multiple different bus stops in the same city so do make sure you have a look at the bus stop locations before you book! We also had most of our late or cancelled FlixBuses in Italy, not sure if that’s a coincidence but something to keep in mind if you’re using it there.

Our biggest FlixBus tip is DO NOT book seats while you’re booking your tickets! You are often allocated seats automatically, and free of charge, once you’ve completed the booking (we’ve always been allocated seats together). If you’re not allocated seats, still do not worry because as you get closer to the departure date you might get allocated seats without having to pay. If this happens, you will be notified by email (this has happened to us 3 or 4 times).

Lastly, if it’s a couple of days before your departure date and you haven’t been allocated seats, you can purchase them easily online through the “manage my booking” link in your confirmation email. And the best part is it doesn’t cost any more than if you’d done it as part of booking so it’s definitely in your interest to wait!

Overall, as long as you know what you’re in for, they’re a great, cheap, easy way to get around Europe and we would definitely recommend them!

We share a bit about one of our FlixBus journeys in our vlog from Zagreb:

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