You can start your journey in one city and finish it in another without having to go back to your first hotel. However, you need to plan your bus route based on actual connections, rather than a neat line on a map.
What to plan in advance
Identify the two end points: the city of your first arrival and the city of your return departure. Then check each intermediate bus route for a specific date. If one leg of the journey isn’t confirmed, don’t plan your entire holiday around it. An alternative must be feasible in terms of both time and budget.
How to apply this to your trip
Your luggage travels with you throughout the circular route, so do not leave any of your belongings at your first accommodation without a specific plan for collecting them. Choose your final night’s accommodation with your return journey in mind. Finishing in a beautiful but inconvenient suburb makes it difficult to wrap up your trip.
Check before taking the next step
Before booking, write down all your overnight stays and coach journeys in a calendar. Mark the decisions that can still be changed without losing money, and those that already tie you to a specific date. Check the full door-to-door route: a short journey with inconvenient stops sometimes takes up more of your time than a longer, direct option.
Useful information before your trip
Also check: what documents are required for a coach journey to Europe, how to prepare for an overnight coach journey, and the rules for carrying luggage on a coach. Find up-to-date coach services and route options on RedRay.
Photo sources: image 1 (CC BY-SA 2.0), image 2 (CC BY 4.0).
Questions and answers
Where should I start when checking the loop?
With the international departure, the return bus and the least common connecting service.
What should the planning result in?
You need to know where you’ll be staying overnight, where you’ll be setting off from the next day, and which parts of the itinerary can be cut short.
When should you last check the bus timetable?
Check the journey after booking, again 24 hours before departure, and once more before heading to the bus stop. Save the journey number and the carrier’s confirmation offline.
How much time should you allow before boarding the bus?
Follow the operator’s recommendations and allow extra time for public transport, finding the platform and checking your documents. For international journeys, it’s better to arrive early than to plan a tight connection.