When you're backpacking, getting buses is inevitable. They'll serve as your main mode of transport between town, city and country. You mightn't be a bus person, but you sure will have to become one.
While some buses can be awful, cramped, slow and bumpy, others can be a real treat. Lie-flat seats, good films (or films that aren't playing at 100% volume) and sometimes they're even on-time.
There's much to consider when it comes to the quality of buses, the cost, the route and even the company. But another thing that's worth considering is whether or not you should book a bus or buy a ticket at the terminal.
The reason you might want to consider how you pay or your ticket is due to the incredible fluctuation in price you'll find when buying online versus in person. Not only that, but availability tends to differ online too.
What you'll find in most countries in South America is that bus tickets can be booked online for a certain price, but for a far cheaper price in person at the terminal.
From our experience, we found that walking into a bus terminal without a prebooked ticket was the cheapest and most effective means of travel.
When you arrive in most terminals, you'll be swamped by vendors selling you tickets to every destination you can imagine, at times for half the price online. Not only that, but as many companies don't have websites online, you'll be given a far wider array of companies to choose from the second you enter the terminal.
We found that almost every time we entered a terminal, we were greeted and whisked into a bus within 5 minutes. We almost always paid far less in person then had we booked a ticket online. This meant we spent less time waiting in terminals and kept a lot more money in our pockets.
So our advice for buying bus tickets is to wait until you're in the terminal, as you'll spend less time waiting for a bus, and you'll be paying far less.
However, it's important to note that while we did this for the majority of our bus trips, if you're planning a particular trip that is tight on schedule, you might just find it easier and less stressful to book online.
Additionally, there are a few places that will require you to book a seat online as buses are limited and demand is high. We found this to be the case in places like Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
As backpacking can often be a toss up between time and money, this is a handy tip worth remember that can save you both.