A Review of FlixBus: My Trip from Wrocław to Berlin

The last time — and only other time — I tried to take an international bus trip, it didn’t turn out very well. That was when I wanted to go from Brussels to Amsterdam. After waiting for the bus to show up for two and a half hours, in the pouring rain and freezing cold very early in the morning, I gave up and took the train.

So I was a little nervous about my plan to take a bus from Wrocław, Poland, to Berlin. I decided to use a different bus company than the one that had failed me (I’m looking at you, OuiBus). Carson and Natalie had used FlixBus for their trip from Paris to Madrid, and their bus clearly showed up, so my standards were pretty low. But I have to say I really enjoyed my FlixBus experience!

Logistics

The bus departed from Wrocław Glówny Dworzec Autobusowy Bus Station, which is only a little south of the city center.  I booked my bus ticket online about 3 days in advance. I was able to just show the ticket on my phone, and I didn’t need to print it. Book with FlixBus.

Convenience

Dworzec Autobusowy is Wrocław’s main bus station, so it has a very central location. You could probably walk there in 30 minutes from Market Square, but it was the equivalent of a $2 Uber ride from my hostel so I just did that. Once you arrive at the station — it can be a little confusing because it’s connected to Wroclavia Mall — follow the signs for the Bus Terminal. You’ll see a big screen listing all the departures and dock numbers. My ticket told me to be at the bus 15 minutes before departure, so I made sure to do that. My bus was waiting at its designated location and I was able to board immediately.

Security

There is no security checkpoint at either bus station. From a belongings-security perspective, the driver gave me a bag tag and reclaim ticket as I put my larger backpack in the bus’s cargo hold.

Experience

I was able to choose my seat when I made my booking, so I was happy to have a window seat near the front. As we pulled away from the station, I was surprised that there were only about 12 people on board. The bus wasn’t even close to full. We didn’t pick anyone else up as we drove, so everyone was able to spread out. I slept for a while.

The bus ride was scheduled to be 4.5 hours long, and it didn’t have any special perks other than Wi-Fi. Of course, it had a toilet on board. About 2.5 hours into the trip, we stopped for about 10 minutes at a gas station close to the Poland-Germany border. Everyone had a chance to get off, stretch their legs, and buy some snacks if they wanted to.

As we got closer to Berlin, our first stop was at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. A few travelers got off here. Our next stop was a train station, Berlin Südkreuz. Finally, the rest of us departed the bus at Berlin Central Bus Station. We actually arrived about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Value

I only traveled one way on this trip, since I flew into Wrocław and was flying out of Berlin. For the one-way ticket, it cost me €20. I found this to be a reasonable price — especially since flying out of Berlin instead of Wrocław was saving me more than €100. The trip didn’t feel too long at all, although I’m sure it probably helped that I slept half of the time.

Having only a few people on board may not be a typical experience, but it certainly made the journey extremely comfortable. I was happy with pretty much every aspect of the trip. The bus actually showed up, it was easy to find, it left punctually, the bus was clean, we made a quick pitstop, and we arrived at our destination early.

I would never use OuiBus again, but I would definitely use FlixBus! They won me over with a great experience the very first time I used them.

 

Have you ever used FlixBus or any other bus companies for international trips? What did you think? Leave me a comment!

-Cathy

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Originally Published on March 31, 2019.