- Hong
Kong: A very good public transport
system but you need an
octopus (cash) card purchased from railway stations or most retailers .
Air conditioned double decker buses going almost everywhere,
light rail and metro trains also. Taxis are pretty reasonable.
- China:
Most cities have very good
public buses and you can see the
sites. Long distances mostly bullet trains and sometimes city
to
city buses with out of the way places. Generally
book at the stations, tour companies or maybe through the hotel. Taxis
in most cities and major towns are very reasonable in price
- Vietnam and Cambodia:
Generally have good long distance buses and local buses in the major
towns and cities. Generally book at the
stations, tour companies or maybe through the hotel.
- Singapore:
Much the same as Hong Kong with similar light rail and metro
trains and lots of buses and even the taxis are fairly reasonable.
- Malaysia:
We found that for long distances the buses were the more
efficient and faster but we took an old train from Kuala Lumpur to
Butterworth which was slow but quite enjoyable. Trains within
Kuala Lumpur are excellent.
- Russia etc:
Our main experience was the Trans-Siberian Railway and this
was a great
experience. From Moscow to St. Petersburg the fast train was
easy. St. Petersburg to Minsk in Belarus was easy booking at
the
railway station. Minsk to Warsaw Poland was really hard to
book
if you don't speak Russian. Poland was great no problem with
trains and booking at the stations. Often light rail and good
buses within the cities. Wroclaw Poland to Dresden and
onto Franfurt Germany we used Flixbus buses. Absolutely great
but
all bookings are generally online. Flixbus have networks
throughout Europe but not in most Balkan (Former Yugoslavia) countries
and not in Greece or Turkey to our knowledge. They mainly
deal
with capital cities and major centres. Taxis as a rule are
fairly
cheap.
- Greece and Turkey:
Most public transport is by bus and most cities and major
centres
have big bus stations where you can book. Generally you can
find
out schedules online through searching city to city or town.
Most
good hotels and local tourist information will have or find information
for you too. In Greece the intercity buses are mostly
government
owned and very good. In Turkey there are numerous privately
owned
bus companies some who operate throughout Turkey and others specific
areas. All are excellent and expect soft drinks, coffee, tea
and
snacks onboard. In the major centres there is always good
local
public transport and taxis are good and cheap. In most major
tourist centres in Turkey they also have mini buses called dolmus(h).
Always good and cheap but check the routes if you can as they
all
travel different directions.
- Balkan countries Former
Yugoslavia:
To our knowledge with long distance routes public transport
is
nearly always privately owned buses. There are some trains
but
buses are faster and more efficient and also fairly inexpensive.
Taxis in most cases are good but check that they are
legitimate
and run with a meter. If you are in Serbia and trying to get
to
Kosovo by public transport you might find it easier to go via North
Macedonia.
- Bulgaria
and Romania there are trains and buses. Depending
on your
timetable and route they are equally as good and reasonably priced
about the same. Trains are government and buses are generally
private companies. Taxis are also very reasonable as a rule
as
long as they are legitimate as Balkan countries.
- Hungary and More Importantly Budapest: Not sure why we chose buses
and trains it may have been the times and schedules. With
research you"ll find that they're both similar prices and travel time
is much the same. In Budapest we bought a 7 day pass each which
covers all public transport and we used both light rail / trams and
buses as well. A very easy city to get around and very hard to
get lost.
- Slovakia We Chose by Train: We think that that was the most efficient and economic way to travel. Hiring a car was fairly reasonable too.
- Czech Republic Again We Chose by Train: Pretty sure that was the best and cheapest option. With Prague as mentioned on Czech Republic page pensioners and seniors get free public transport with a card. Public transport is a breeze.
- Austria Again by Train:
Wer'e pretty sure that once you get into Western Europe rather
than the previous Central Europe that trains are the major option.
Prices for all public transport rise quite dramatically as you
change to Western Europe. We researched using buses but found
that they're timetables didn't suit us either very early morning or
into the evening. Transport in Vienna was very good but we didn't get season tickets.
- Italy Always by Train: Validate your tickets on all transport in Italy or get fined heavily. Very
expensive to travel intercity in Italy and no seniors or pensioners
discounts for travellers or tourists. Again buses were not an
option for us as the timetables didn't suit. Most cities have
very good public transport. Venice as expected is dearer than
anywhere else. The best option is to buy a season ticket.
We bought a 7 day ticket each for our 5 days and gave the ticket
away when we left. Only 1, 2 or 7 day tickets. This covers
all ferries within the Venice Lagoon and all the islands so best to use
it as much as you can. Public transport in Rome was excellent
buses and light rail fairly inexpensive. Pompeii, Naples,
Sorrento etc. excellent train links and fairly cheap. Sicily we
found was actually cheaper for train transport than the mainland and
hiring a car for 3 days was a good way to get around.
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