Before you start reading this post, I want to tell you that this post is not sponsored or paid for in any way through Flixbus or any other affiliate. I am writing this simply because of my love and addiction to this incredible bus service in Germany.
For those of you who know me, you will know that I like quality, but I like it cheap. My best suggestion to get the best of both worlds would be to shop at flea markets where you can get second-hand quality pieces for one-tenth of the price, if that.
Flixbus is like my shopping haul at the flea market. I get incredible quality for one-tenth of the price. PS. If you’re wondering why I’ve called it ‘MeinFernbus’ and ‘Flixbus’ already, it’s because the two have officially partnered – but I’m so used to the shorter name.
Saving the planet one ticket at a time! I will always choose the bus over driving myself.
Here are 10 of the best reasons to fall in love with FlixBus
:
1. Cheap
If you’ve been to Germany before, you may already know that transit can get quite pricey especially if you’re planning to do the whole country in one go. Though the Deutsche Bahn is an incredible experience, especially if you’re taking the ICE (300+km/hour), nothing can beat the prices of Flixbus. What would typically be a 50 or 60 euro ride ends up costing about 12 – 20 euros on this bus. Example: Freiburg –> Frankfurt = 15 Euros.
2. Comfortable
After returning from India for a wild trip, nothing in Germany can seem ‘uncomfortable.’ Even before my visit to India, I loved the comfort of the bus. Not to mention, I have some pretty genius tactics to getting my own two seats ;). Hint: I don’t eat carrots to piss people off, but it seems to work.
3. Free WiFi
Near the beginning of my wonderful experiences in Germany I was already sold on MeinFernbus Flixbus, but always got overly excited about their free WiFi offer only to find out it wasn’t working. This happened quite a few times, but for the past couple of months, it’s been working perfectly!
Photo Credit: A Normal Distaster
4. Separated Seats
Sounds crazy, huh? I haven’t heard of it either. To be honest, I’m not even sure if that’s the right headline for the pointer. The seats are in two’s down the isles just as you would picture any other bus, but they slide apart from each other for additional space. So. Cool.
5. Reclining Chairs
I don’t know why, but I tend to compare bus seats to plane seats as I am usually taking long-haul overnight flights and bus rides that are only a few hours long. If the bus is more comfortable than the plane seat, then I’m a happy camper. In this case, the chair reclines almost twice as much as a plane seat would and is super cushy (is that a word? – haha).
Photo Credit: Fudder.de
6. On Board Washroom
I haven’t bought the She Wee yet, but I’ve been pretty close.. not to mention, I did add it to my Christmas Wish List. Luckily, when I’m in Germany I don’t have to worry so much about having to use a She Wee out the window, as there’s usually always clean toilets available on board. If not, there are numerous spots along the highway (dirty and free or clean and 70 cents).
7. Snacks and Drinks Available
Photo Credit: Utopia
8. Convenience App
I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re never going to get any cheaper than Flixbus. Well… there are a couple other discount buses like DeinBus, but I haven’t had good experiences with either of them. The alternative option is to hop on board a BlaBlaCar (carpooling), but even then sometimes it can be more expensive.
9. Television Maps On Board
Maybe I’m a freak and it’s just me, but I always use my Google Maps App to figure out how much longer to go. A couple of times on the bus they’ve shown the map on the TV’s throughout the bus with the kilometers to go and the time duration.
Photo Credit: Verbraucher Papst
10. Plugs
Last and certainly not least, the plugs, they’re incredible! Each seat has a plug, I ALWAYS charge my iPad and phone on the bus. I could travel hours on Flixbus and actually get somewhere exciting on the end instead of sitting on my bum doing the same thing locked in my room at home.
I confess, I’m in love with MeinFernbus Flixbus and will forever and always be a loyal customer :D… as long as my German visa is approved – haha.
Looking for some inspiration as to where to go on your bus journey? Check out these city guides around the country: The Fairy Tale Route of Western Germany, Plan Your Trip to Karlsruhe, Germany, Why Duisburg is the Best Place for Photography
I also love MeinFernBus and FlixBus (they recently merged!). Such a cheap way to travel and I love that they provide wifi!
I know right?! I am hoping that the prices stay just as amazing as they are. As a blogger is my ‘home away from home OFFICE SPACE’ haha… Now I’m taking MeinFernbus FlixBus to Berlin for ITB!
I came across a really cheap night bus route from Berlin to Munich, departing from Berlin at 11pm and arriving to Munich at 7am; and I was wondering whether anyone had had a good experience on this night bus? Are the seats on the bus comfortable enough for an overnight journey?
Would appreciate any feedback!
Thanks
G
Hey there!
I haven’t taken a night bus yet – perhaps one of my readers has a better answer. However, I have heard that they aren’t so bad in Germany. Luckily it’s a first world country which usually means the standards are pretty high. What line was it, do you know? I have a lot of German friends who have had experience taking night buses.
Best, Jenna
Thanks Jenna, actually it´s the Meinfernbus service from Berlin to Münich. Since you are familiar with the companies’ services I just wanted to know if you guys think it’s comfortable enough for an overnight journey. Thanks
I really like your blog posts, I just started reading them and since I live in Berlin it’s fun to see how you explore the country. By the way, Mein fern bus means my distant bus, which doesn’t make sense in english but I hope that helped!!
Lmfao Lea, omg… I translated it into ‘my green bus’ didn’t I?! I’m such a dummy (and was half asleep writing this). You’re right about the ‘my distant bus’ haha, but then again nothing ever translates properly, does it? I’m having the hardest time learning conversational German at the moment, but I’m getting there 🙂
Thanks for the sweet comment, I hope to move to Berlin one day!!
Hey, hello from MeinFernbus! Thanks for the warm words.
If you would like to look into our office, drop me a line!
Thanks Aleksey! I would love to. Do you have a contact e-mail? Feel free to send me it via giveforgranted@gmail.com or personal message on social media. Cheers! Jenna
Do not trust them for your travel plans!
I booked a bus ride from Vienna airport to Prague. The bus never showed up. I had to incur charges of 24 Euros to get to the next transfer station to make the next bus in time!
I emailed customer service and they immediately responded apologizing and that they would check on it. That was the last I heard from them. After numerous emails asking for a response/help/explanation way the bus never showed up, and request for a refund of my money towards the part of the trip/ service they did not provide I still have not received a response.
They will accept your money, but will not give you the benefit of the bargain. Do not rely on them for transportation!
Andy!
Thanks for your comment, I have heard this before from others… it is a shame that companies like MeinFernBus Flixbus can create such a negative impression for potential customers. Though I haven’t had a bad experience with this organization, I do understand your frustration… same thing happened to me but with IndiGoGo Airlines in India… it was an absolute mess and then I read other blogs about how much people loved their experiences.
Though regardless of those negative experiences, there are always other areas which they do wonderfully. I enjoy the affordable price of the bus rather than the train and I’ve taken it more than two dozen times with no worries.
Do you have any other recommendations for affordable transportation across Germany?? I really like mitfahrglenheid (spelling?) and BlaBlaCar as well!
I have used them 3 times now and my only complaint is that the wifi has not worked on each of those occasions. This has never been a problem on ADAC Postbus. Come on please, if Wifi is advertised, make sure it works !!
Very true, my boyfriend said the same thing. I am hoping with their Meinfernbus Flixbus partnership they will be able to put a little more money into fixing things like this. I never had troubles with the WIFI, but I always took the same routes (Freiburg to Heidelberg or Freiburg to Frankfurt) … as soon as he took different routes the WIFI wouldn’t function properly.
Hopefully the team will be reading this post and can help make a change! 🙂
I have used Meinfernbus many times especially between Dresden and Berlin and I love her. Our love was cemented just last week when I traveled from Marburg to Erfurt. Unlike the Dresden-Berlin trip, the bus turned up 20 minutes late. On reaching Erfurt, I rushed out to catch the earlier booked connecting Train forgetting my bag which contained expensive camera and equipment. On calling customer care the following morning, the response “…the driver hasn’t reported any luggage on board yet, fill in the online form for missing luggage, but because we have many offices, it may take 30 days to recover it, if someone didn’t pick it from the bus” she hesitated “the bus is returning to Marburg today at 13:20, if you can go and ask the driver at that time. If it is still on board you will get it.”
13:40 the bus arrived, the driver asked what color is it, and walked me to the exact point where it was safely stored.
Ahhh, thanks for the comment Kiwanuka!
I haven’t experienced anything like that on Meinfernbus yet… but I’m happy to hear that! I have a tendency to forget the most important things in the least convenient places haha. So happy you got your luggage back – that would be might worst nightmare to lose all that equipment!
Thanks for the review. The internet wasn’t that reliable but it did work decently for the first 2 hours out of Nuremberg.
The bus was safe and clean. I think of my 4 buses, 2 were 30min-1hr late. The drivers were all very friendly. I’d take flixbus again, though it is a bit exhausting for 8+ hr long trips.
I took a 9 hour journey to Prague which was actually a lot longer than it was suppose to take, but I lucked out with awesome WiFi and TV’s! However, I have experienced that the WiFi on almost all other buses doesn’t go through (could also be my terrible phone though haha).
It is exhausting for a long journey, but I think many people, they need to compare the distance/time it takes to the money (how much they’d pay for a train or car pool).
I agree and also use them for short haul trips!
We took two return journeys from Frankfurt on 24th & 25th July – I will be avoiding this company like the plague in future, and would advise others to do the same. The main problem was that the return bus on the second day did not show, there was no communication other than a text much earlier in the day to say that it would be 30 mins late. after two hours the next coach came and wouldnt let us on, we left and had to pay train fare home, it was a horrible experience. There were a number of other problems, including there being no information at all, especially at the stops themselves – the whole system is a chaotic mess. Busses seem to rountinely be running long behind schedule. Wifi worked on only 1 out of 3 of our journeys, The toilet worked on only 1 out of 3 of our journeys.
On the first day we travelled we were going to buy tickets from the driver, it took us a while to realise that it is cheaper to book online/in advance but this isnt really advertised. On the return journey the driver didnt seem to want to sell us a ticket and we only just made it onto the coach, it was extremely confusing.
I feel we are owed a refund but have absolutely no confidence in them honouring this.
No thanks ever again!
Hey there RS,
I’m so sorry you had such a terrible experience with them! I have taken them recently only to have the wifi cut in and out, but I’ve never once had an issue with the bathrooms. The buses can often run late as the traffic on the autobahn can be crazy sometimes! I think it’s fair to say that it’s not easy to make everyone happy all the time. I hope that if you ever decide to take them again, that your journey will be much better. I do agree that it would be nice if they could refund you your money or offer a formal apology of some sort. I tend to make my complaints known on Twitter when I’m unimpressed with the way a business is run, 8/10 times it works, perhaps this might work for you too?
All the best,
Jenna
Hi There !
I am about to travel by FlixBus from Warsaw to Berlin; I was a bot nervous but after reading your comments I feel better now 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experiencing
My friend and I missed our original bus due to a change in the pickup location which wasn’t pointed out very well on the ticket. We had shown up at the original pickup location (asked staff around if we were in the right spot) and no bus showed up. Our ticket had two portions as there was a small layover in a town. We decided to take a train to catch up to the next stop to reconnect with our bus. The train set us back 100 EURO! We showed up at the next stop. The bus was 15-20min late and then the bus driver would not let us board. We had a ticket for the first portion and second. However, their check in system would not allow the driver to check us in on his phone even though we could clearly see our names on his phone. We spoke with him and he laughed and did not allow us to board. We needed to get to our final location so had to pay 59 EURO to board a bus we had already paid for. I have spent 3 months now emailing (back in my home country now) Flixbus with only an offer to provide credit towards a new trip. I don’t think I want to ever ride with them again. I want the Money back that was wrongfully taken from me as I already had a valid ticket for the journey. On top of that both the customer service agents and bus driver were very rude through the process and they just don’t seem to care. Went three-four weeks without responses. The day that was meant to be fun and only cost us 45 Euro turned into a terrible experience and set us back the original cost plus 159 EURO. Could have flown to our destination for that! I’ll try another provider next time before I have spend another penny on them. Also WIFI does not work!
Hi there Kirstyn,
I am so sorry you had such a terrible experience on FlixBus. It seems the customer service has changed quite significantly since MeinFernBus and FlixBus merged. I have approved this comment on my blog in hopes that others will see your concern (including the company) and hopefully at some point they will fess up to the mistakes they’ve made and pay you back every penny.
Unfortunately, the bigger the company grows, the harder it is to ensure a pleasant experience. I still haven’t had any terrible experiences, but it may also be because I take the same routes quite often.
– Jenna
I cannot recommend Flixbus if any punctuality is a requirement.
I have traveled few times by myself with Flixbus. In addition, I have taken my friend by my car to the bus stop several times. On average the busses seem to be late at least 20-30 minutes and once the bus was late 1.5 hours. Many busses seem to be canceled too.
I needed to go once to Airport and I tought that I could use Flixbus. A bad idea. 10 minutes before the estimated arrival time, I got a message from Flixbus that the bus is late 50 minutes. I needed to take a train in order to get to airport on time. I never got my money back from Flixbus.
Although it is cheap, if you need to hurry, you might lose lots of time and money.. and miss your appointments.
I will travel by trains in the future
It is truly a great and useful piece of info.
I’m happy that you simply shared this helpful info with us.
Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Teena for your wonderful comment 🙂 <3
Wow! I travelled in Scotland with Megabus and was incredible, comfortable and fast. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for Italy. It took me 6 hours to do 220 km!!!
Gustavo Woltmann