For many American’s, the idea of taking a trip to Europe and traveling around using public transport can seem very daunting. In the country where public transport is sparse and everyone travels by car, the idea of using buses, trams, subways, and trains in Europe seems too intimating, scary and confusing.
Luckily, traveling around Europe using public transport couldn’t be easier. Europe benefits from an extensive transport network of trains and coaches connecting many of our destinations, with services generally being very efficient, safe and easy to use.
If you travel with Go Real Travel, we will make it easy for you to use the public transportation systems in Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Krakow, Warsaw, Berlin, Munich, and Budapest to your maximum advantage as well as organizing your city to city transport.
We’ll also provide you with detailed step-by-step itinerary directions that make traveling on public transportation simple and stress-free and even provide you with tickets. Travel with us, and you will feel like a local by the end of the trip!
Use our useful guide below to answer some of the most common questions regarding Europe’s public transport.
Is it safe to take taxis?
Your taxi travel should be very limited due to the fact that we provide detailed directions for using public transportation when traveling long distances. You may, however, still encounter a few instances where you will take a taxi.
In Austria or Germany, you should usually not worry about taking a licensed taxi. While certainly more expensive than walking or taking public transportation, you can feel relatively confident you will not get scammed by the driver.
Unfortunately, this is not the case in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. While things are getting better, taxi drivers will still sometimes charge tourists two or three times the fair rate for the trip. They will also return incorrect change, and find other ways to take advantage of you. If you travel with us, the itinerary will include numbers to taxi companies you can trust. This way you can call for a taxi, speak with an English-speaking operator, and get an estimate of the total cost of the trip.
Is UBER available in Europe?
Yes, most of our destinations are already covered by UBER. Exceptions include Salzburg and Cesky Krumlov, as well as the future destinations of Nuremberg and Ljubljana. By the time you travel though, they may also cover these destinations as well.
Should I purchase a Eurail pass?
This is a common question we often get asked. The answer is, that rail passes such as Eurail were designed for travelers with a flexible itinerary. They allow travelers to hop on and off trains whenever you want and the opportunity to travel last minute without having to purchase expensive last-minute fare tickets, thus the pass sometimes saves them quite a bit of money.
For Go Real Travel travelers, it doesn’t make sense to purchase these rail passes. Since all of our holidays follow a fixed itinerary, we are able to purchase point-to-point transport tickets (that is tickets purchased separately to travel from city A to city B) and included them in the cost of your trip package. Since you have a fixed itinerary, we are able to purchase these tickets in advance, benefiting from early bird fares, saving you huge amounts of money against the rail pass.
In addition, since we take care of the purchase of these tickets, there is no need to stress or spend time searching for websites online to purchase them from.
Isn’t it just easier to rent a car and drive?
There is a common misconception that renting a car to travel from city to city in Europe is easier than traveling by public transport in Europe. In our experience, this is usually not the case, and as we strongly advise against renting a car when traveling from the city to the city and only recommend them to travelers who plan to spend the majority of their trip exploring the remote countryside.
Since Europe has an extensive public transport network connecting many of its large and popular cities, there is really no need to hire a car.