Before I take a trip, I always do a TON of research to figure out the best budget-friendly ways to get to my destination. On this trip throughout Eastern Europe, I planned to mostly take trains between the cities. I love European trains because they are comfortable and easy to use. Through my research, I found out all the train tickets would need to be purchased at the train stations. However, when we went to purchase our Budapest to Belgrade ticket at the Budapest train station we hit a little snafu… There was no train that ran from Budapest to Belgrade anymore! It had recently stopped running between the two cities. I later found out that this is because of the huge amount of construction being done within Belgrade. Therefore, I had to figure out another way to get us to Belgrade. A worker at the train station suggested taking a bus. I did a little research and found out about FlixBus.
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How to Get from Budapest to Belgrade
I had heard about FlixBus and other similar companies before, but I had yet to experience them. Luckily FlixBus had several tickets left for the Budapest to Belgrade route so I was able to snatch up the two I needed. The bus ride would be about 5 hours long. We picked up the bus at the Budapest bus station. Upon the arrival of the bus, you must first check in your bags which go in the back compartment of the bus. Then, a worker checks you in and assigns you your seat. The worker is on board the bus the entire time. This bus was two stories. The top story was all seats. The bottom story contained the bathroom, a few seats, some seats with tables, and the worker’s space. Our seats were in the second story. The bus was supposed to have WiFi and a seat charger, but neither worked on our bus. The seats were a bit wider and comfier than an airplane seat and the seats had tray tables with a place to put your water bottle.
The Journey
It was about 2 hours to the Budapest to the Serbian border. During this time we were given a juice and a small chocolate snack. Upon arrival at the border, we had to wait for a little over an hour to go through passport control. Everyone had to get off the bus to go through passport control (but at least I received a stamp). Then everyone re-boarded the bus and we had to go through Serbian passport control. The worker collected everyone’s passports and we got them back a few minutes later with a Serbian stamp!
About 20 minutes after the border, we had a 20-minute rest stop. Here we had the opportunity to use the bathroom, buy some food, and stretch our legs. We ended up leaving the stop late because not everyone was accounted for. An hour later we reached Novi Sad, the first stop of the bus. 2 hours after that we arrived at Belgrade.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I felt that taking the bus between the two cities was not that bad. It was slightly cheaper than the train, but not as scenic and with less space. However, I would not rule it out for short journeys. I do not think I would recommend it for journeys longer than 8 hours or if as an overnight bus. Another possibility to get from Budapest to Belgrade is to fly. Flights cost around $100. Would you take a bus between two cities?
