Busabout Review | What Happened? 2024 Update!

Busabout was a phenomenal tour company geared to the independent backpacker 18 to 30 year olds. Their core mission was stress-free flexible travel and Busabout had a little over a hundred of tours operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Busabout earned an immensely popular reputation with younger travelers looking to travel on a budget and party at the same time. Let us take a deeper dive into my Busabout Review.

What is Busabout?

Busabout was born in 1998 linking up with the ‘best’ cities in Europe aimed at the budget-minded independent traveler. They teamed up with HAGGiS Adventures & Shamrocker Adventures expanding their tours and destinations.

Accommodations: This is where Busabout differed from Contiki. For the most part, the accommodations where not included however they do provide you with a list of approved accommodations to stay in depending on the tour. Busabout always provide you with a list of hostels / hotels giving you freedom. For the most part, you can expect to stay in hostels but Busabout does its best with finding the best hostels that are incredibly fun to stay in and have everything you’ll need all in a great location.

The big benefit was that Busabout gave you the freedom to book whatever accommodations you want.

Hot Tip: If you plan to stay in a dorm-type hostel always grab the bottom bunk! Just remember that Busabout also allows you to book any accommodation you choose.

Busabout Guides: Their job is to make sure everyone is accounted for and act as your local guide while in country. At the same time make sure you’re having a great time. You meet your guide at the hostel and do group introductions and afterward head out for dinner at a local spot. Almost always the guide will take the group to a bar or club to celebrate your first night in the country. Busabout is all about fun and they kick things off quick! Remember many of these guides are young expats so they have all the key (fun) places dialed in.

Group Size: My two experiences with Busabout were surprising in that the group size was smaller than expected. Both times the size was less than 20 people. Especially in Asia I was expecting a larger group but that wasn’t the case. Nothing at all like Contiki where there can be 30 + fellow travelers all on a bus.

Hop on Hop off: Busabout tours are VERY unique in that they offer “hop on – hop off” tour passes that can be up to 90 days in Asia. If you want you can do a 9-day tour of Thailand and go home or you can do 9 days in Thailand and then join another tour for 8 days in Vietnam. This is what Busabout so great, it was geared more toward the independent traveler.

Food: Complimentary breakfast was provided with nearly all the tours however lunch and dinner was all on you. I just loaded up on the breakfast but eating in Southeast Asia is incredibly cheap.

Cost: In both my experiences traveling with Busabout, they were much cheaper than Contiki. in many of their trips it’s surprising. You also need to factor in if the tour offers the accommodations.

Busabout Review:

I’ve done two tours with Busabout, and I must say it was some of the most fun I’ve had traveling. I admit I was the oldest one in the group but they were cool and I wanted to have a good time. The trips were Cambodia and Thailand and they were spectacular. I didn’t matter how old they were I was partying along with them. I went in knowing I’d probably be the oldest one on the trip, while they were parting all through the night, I went back to the hostel at 2 am…it was all good.

I think the best New Year’s celebration I’ve had was the full moon party in Ao Nang…man that was fun! It started with a pub crawl and it ended right on the beach. It’s difficult to explain because it was a new experience and I never did new years on an island so this was a first for me. I joined thousands of other revelers on the beach listening to music dancing drinking and just living our best lives…that’s living!

I’ll admit I didn’t have my creature comforts such as a hotel with a full breakfast buffet and my own private bathroom. However, the hostel in Phuket offered more amenities than most of the smaller hostels in the area.

Optional Add-Ons: The excursions Busabout offered were optional and I did maybe half of them. Again, these do cost extra but they are worth it. Depending on the country they can be just about anything so check what the add-ons you want to do. Remember these are totally optional.

Our guides were very knowledgeable about the area and they in fact made the trip so much better. It’s obvious that tour operators employ extroverts to be their tour guides.

Travel mates: It seemed that half of all Australian youth went on Busabout tours which was fine, I found them easy to get along with. Frankly, Aussies are fun and they make the trip that much more interesting.

Final Thoughts On Busabout:

I found that Busabout was the one the best alternatives to Contiki. The two trips I took with Busabout was so MUCH fun I wanted to kick myself in the ass for not having done this 10 year ago. Their budget friendly trips were top notch! Busabout offered incredible value, tons of fun and a lifetime of memories.

Most Popular Busabout Tours:

Sadly, it seems that Covid really messed up operations at Busabout and they haven’t had any trips since the lock down occurred. The website is still up but they’re not offering any sort of trip at all. I hope they come back, I felt Busabout offered tremendous value on their tours.

Any Busabout Alternatives?

YES! Luckily, there are a few alternatives for younger travelers looking to have FUN and still travel the world. Pay close attention to Tru Travels – they have over 15,000 5-star reviews!

From what I’ve been hearing Tru Travels has been racking up a reputation for young party goers looking to explore the world, soak in the local culture, eat great food and have the time of their lives!

Make sure to read my post on the 6 Best Tour Companies For Young Professionals – they offer exceptional value and are known to be fun.