It will cost around €1500 (US $1700) for the whole tour, Scandinavia and Southwestern Europe, July 5 - August 19. It will cost around €1200 (US $1360) for the SW Europe section (5 weeks), per person, not including airfare. Please select the section of the tour you would like to come on:

Please carefully read these next few sections and answer the questions below each of them.

The Euro Bus Tour is organized by volunteers for ISKCON Youth Ministry, to inspire youth in Krishna consciousness. Most of the organizers grew up in the movement and can relate to the challenges we face, as devotee youth, in balancing our material and spiritual needs.

On the Euro Bus Tour we want to offer you a retreat from ordinary life, and provide you with opportunities to absorb yourself in blissful, spiritual activities that fill your heart with joy, build strong friendships with like-minded devotee youth, and have amazing transformational experiences in Krishna consciousness. We’ll go on adventures, camping, swimming, hiking in the Alps, seeing some of the most beautiful sights and landscapes Europe has to offer. We’ll participate in Harinamas, Ratha-yatras and Kirtan festivals, and we’ll have our own morning and evening programs. There will be lots of opportunities to engage in practical devotional service, from beautifying temples to the daily services that make the tour run smoothly. Most of all, we hope to have a ton of fun on an extraordinary spiritual adventure together, making memories to last a lifetime.

A typical day on the tour might involve waking up around 6:00 AM, attending a youth-led morning program with kirtan and themed philosophical discussions based on our scriptures. Breakfast by 8:30, followed by a variety of activities during the day, such as sight-seeing, going on an adventure in the area, attending a workshop, playing sports, free time, or engaging in a service activity together at a temple. We'll help to prepare meals and clean up afterwards. On weekends we'll often go on Harinama Sankirtana in a nearby city. In the evenings, we'll sometimes perform our bus tour play (drama / theater production) for the local devotees or guests, followed by dinner prasad, a little chill time, and then we'll usually get ready to go to bed around 21:00 (9:00 PM), especially when staying at temples. It will be important to establish a routine of everyone going to bed at a similar time, and waking up at a similar time in the morning, so we're on a similar "awake" schedule for each day's activities.

One of the concerns we hear from applicants is that they're afraid the tour will be too strict. "Will I be required to wake up for mangala arati?" they ask. Or "do I have to chant a certain number of rounds?" The answer is no. While we want you to have an amazing spiritual experience on this tour, we will not force you to engage in spiritual activities. We require that you follow the four regulative principles and a few basic rules, and hope that you will demonstrate an interest and enthusiasm to participate in the spiritual activities. Devotional service to Krishna is based on love, it's a voluntary agreement, and we'll encourage each other to do our best. There will be some people on the tour who get up early, and some who don't. There will be some who chant more japa, and some less. There will be some who don't usually go on Harinama Sankirtan or attend regular programs at temples, but who will push themselves to the edge of their comfort zone to do so. Whatever level of spiritual commitment you're currently at in your life, we want you to feel welcome on the bus tour. We are here to inspire each other. None of us are perfect. Let's go on this spiritual adventure together.

Our goal is to always remember Krishna and never forget Him. Our guiding principles are Nama Ruci, developing a taste for chanting the Holy Names; Vaishnava Seva, serving the devotees to obtain their valuable blessings and association; and Jiva Doya, being compassionate towards other living entities who are suffering in this world, by helping them reconnect with the source of their happiness, Sri Krishna. On this tour we will try to live by these principles, and we request that you try your best as well. Please try to live the lifestyle of a devotee of Krishna, showing an active interest in devotional activities, being enthusiastic for Harinamas, Kirtans, spiritual programs, and voluntarily engaging in daily services to help the tour run smoothly.

There are four legs of Dharma which uphold civilized human society: austerity, cleanliness, mercy (compassion), and truthfulness. There are four vices which destroy the legs of Dharma and cause society to become degraded: intoxication, illicit sex, meat eating and gambling. While traveling on the Euro Bus Tour, we expect you to follow the four regulative principles, both the do’s and the do not’s. Please carefully read the descriptions below and answer the questions about each of the regulative principles.

Do not indulge in intoxication and similar addictions which destroy Tapasya, the voluntary austerity we perform to restrict sense gratification, follow the four regulative principles, have the determination to work hard to achieve our goals and perform our duties in life. It takes voluntary austerity to be satisfied with a simple life, whatever situation Krishna has put us in, and utilize our God-given time to solve the real problems of material existence, self-realization, God-realization, ending our suffering and getting out of this cycle of repeated birth, disease, old age and death. Austerity includes virtues such as temperance and moderation.

Do become addicted to flooding your senses with the sweet nectar of kirtan, prasadam and serving the Vaishnava devotees and the Holy Name, and take up voluntary austerities (like traveling on the bus tour) to engage in spiritual activities that will be to your eternal benefit.

Do not engage in illicit sex. Indulging in excessive sense gratification exemplified by illicit sexual activities leads to dysfunctional family systems, broken marriages, unloved children, and destroys purity, or cleanliness in society. Cleanliness includes keeping clean externally by bathing, being organized and regulated in our habits, as well as internally purifying our mind by chanting Krishna’s Holy Names. Cleanliness includes virtues such as modesty, chastity, prudence, discretion and foresight. On the bus tour, do not engage in flirtatious behavior, unnecessary physical contact or intimacy with members of the gender you’re attracted to. Instead, do cultivate a healthy family atmosphere and try to see everyone on the tour as your brothers and sisters. Do not let your mind dwell on the objects of your sense pleasure, epitomized by sexual attraction. Control your mind and senses by keeping yourself engaged in “higher taste” Krishna conscious activities, be chaste, be a well-mannered gentleman or lady, don't dress or act in ways that agitate the minds of others.

Do not eat meat, nor fish, nor eggs. Acts of violence such as killing animals to satisfy the demands of our tongue are an expression of extreme selfish behavior. Not just meat eating, but also being unkind, selfish, greedy, arrogant, hurtful and exploitative towards others, which destroys mercy, compassion, and kindness in society, and leads to karmic reactions such as violence and war. Besides, being a mean person may not win you many friends. Mercy includes the virtues of fortitude, bravery, and courage. Do practice being non-violent, tolerant, and kind towards all living creatures (including other bus tour participants), and be compassionate towards others by helping them end their suffering in this material world by reconnecting them with Krishna and engaging them in His service. We are all children of the same Creator. He is the proprietor of all that is. The goal of all activity is to please Him. When we begin to harmonize our desires with those of our Creator and engage in the loving exchanges of Bhakti together, there will be lasting peace and happiness.

Do not gamble. Giving in to gambling and its associated vices of cheating, lying, bluffing, pretending and foolish risk taking causes anxiety, fear, paranoia, financial and spiritual ruination in society, and destroys the last leg of religion, truthfulness. Do not risk losing your life, health, wealth and precious time in temporary, fleeting (here today, gone tomorrow) pursuits of the mirage of happiness, epitomized by the gambler who wagers everything he owns for the slim chance that he might win back more than he deserves. Instead, cultivate Satyam, truthfulness, which includes the virtues of justice, morality, integrity and chivalry. Be truthful and act with integrity. Be honest with yourself, accept your own shortcomings. Accept that you have chosen to turn away from Krishna, resulting in your present awkward situation in this material world of repeated birth, disease, old age and death, with all of its associated miseries. Realize that you need help to get yourself out of this mess, that there is a God who loves you, with whom you have a broken relationship, and muster up the courage to work on fixing that relationship. Truthfulness, Satyam, means acting from a platform of that which is True, lasting, eternal, spiritual reality. Be real. Rise above the fog of your false ego, your false identification with this illusory, temporary material mind and body. Begin acting on the platform of your true Ego, as eternal spirit soul, the servant of the servants of God.

Every moment of our human life is precious. Take guidance and shelter in the good association of saintly Vaishnava devotees. Work on solving the real problems of your existence. Find out who you are, who Krishna is, what your relationship is, and how you can go back to your eternal home with Krishna, back to Godhead. Thinking you have all the time in the world to absorb yourself in material pursuits now, and become Krishna conscious another day, is risky business, much like gambling. Time is your most valuable asset, it's ticking away, moment by moment, and you have no guarantees that you have lots of it. If you gamble it away, you cannot buy back even one second with all the riches of the world.

Yes, the bus tour is a great opportunity to travel all over Europe and see amazing places, meet amazing people and make lasting friendships with devotees your age. And yet there's so much more. Try to give yourself to the flow of the bus tour river and see it as an experience, a transcendental journey, and let yourself be surprised by where it takes you.

Don't be the one kid who refuses to go to bed at night, and won't wake up until after breakfast. Don't be the stranger who hops off the bus at every sight-seeing opportunity and says "See you all in a couple of days when you're ready to leave." Give yourself to the process that is the bus tour; let Krishna's magic act on you and see what happens.

You've heard the proverb that you are what you eat, similarly, that you become who you associate with. On the bus tour we're trying to follow a Krishna diet for body, mind and soul. We're feeding our tongue Krishna prasadam, our mind the sound vibration of Krishna's Holy Name, our heart the loving exchanges of the interactions between Vaishnava devotees. We're training our eyes to see the world with Krishna-colored glasses. A seemingly mundane activity like hiking in the Alps can be transformed into a mystical spiritual experience when it's done with a group of devotees conversing about spiritual topics, with the mindset of seeing Krishna's amazing energies everywhere, murmuring the Holy Name on our japa beads while letting the breathtaking scenery sink in, stopping for snacks of Krishna prasadam sandwiches. The activity becomes spiritualized, and an opportunity to bond with Vaishnava devotees and develop meaningful friendships that will last a lifetime.

Or, you might suddenly find yourself in the middle of a city square, singing and dancing joyfully in an ecstatic Harinama Sankirtana procession, mesmerizing onlookers, who stop to ask what it's all about and might even walk away from the exchange with a prasadam cookie or a spiritual book. You begin to realize your good fortune, and that the curious onlooker's lives have just been changed forever by appreciating the Holy Names and the devotees who were merciful enough to go out of their way to share Them. In such situations, magic happens. Special Krishna Shakti energy flows through your heart and overwhelms you, as you begin to realize you've just been an instrument acting on Krishna's behalf, sharing little drops of immortal nectar with the fortunate souls who happened to be nearby. Little by little, with experiences like that, your heart becomes transformed, and before you know it, you want more. And you begin to realize that we, the next generation youth, can do this. We can help continue the Sankirtana Movement of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in our little way, distributing the ripened fruits of Love of Godhead to every person in every town and village, passing on the gifts that we have been given.

While sitting casually around a campfire, you might find yourself immersed in a really deep conversation with another devotee youth who is going through similar struggles in life. You begin to realize you're not alone, that you now have a whole new family of devotee friends who will be there to support you in good times and in bad.

And that, in a nutshell, is the bus tour. Creating a series of extraordinary experiences with lots of devotee youth your age where Krishna's magic can happen, and then just waiting to see how it unfolds. So why not give it a try. Go with the flow, embark on the journey, and see where it takes you.

Our motto is Serve to Love - Love to Serve. There will be lots of opportunities for devotional service on the bus tour, both on a daily basis, and when presenting dramas and kirtanas at festivals and on Harinama Sankirtana. Many hands make light work, and working together to achieve something extraordinary can be a joyful experience. Each one of us will be engaged in multiple services throughout the tour. You can help lead, supervise and manage different important activities. Please let us know what services you prefer to be engaged in by checking the appropriate boxes below. Check all that apply.

Help us decide which seminars to offer during the bus tour, from among the below suggestions. Add your own suggestions in "Other..."

If we don't know you, please list two references plus their contact information (phone, email, messenger) of responsible adults in your community who know you well, who are not related to you, and who can give us a character reference for you. For example, your high school teacher, employer, temple president, ashram leader, godparent, or similar community leader.

If we don't know you and you haven't come on a previous bus tour with us, please email a current photo of yourself to tours2019@krishna.com.  

Before you press the submit button below, we'd like to take a moment to thank you for your interest in the Euro Bus Tour, and for taking the time to fill out this application.  As we've mentioned before, we have a lot more people who want to come than we have room for on the tour. The organizers now have the difficult task of choosing from among the best applications, and deciding who will be best suited for traveling together on this year's tour. Unfortunately we cannot accept all applications. If your application is not accepted, don't despair. There will be more bus tours in the future. We're also working on organizing more youth events in Europe, with the Youth Exchange program. Please keep in touch and check Youthbustour.com regularly for upcoming tours and events.