Is There Anyone on Forum Who Liked the London HoHo Bus

Me!

Be aware though, it is what it is. If you have been on one of these busses elsewhere (I've done London, Rome, Paris, Budapest, Cambridge) you know exactly what to expect.

I think they give a nice, low effort overview of a bunch of sites with a (not 100% accurate) commentary that is often intersting.

As a means of transport they are terrible. Over priced and slow (I think this is true in any city they operate in).

And yes, you will sit in traffic.

the HoHo Bus

it makes it sound as though there is only one operator. I've no experience other than knowing there are several competing operators so the discussion needs to be clear about which does what better or worse than others. But all will get dragged down by the traffic!

I have never actually used a Ho-Ho bus myself; honestly, it’s just not really my thing. My own immediate opinion about them is indifferent. However, it seems to be one of those topics where people are polarized at either end of the spectrum with little middle ground. I suspect a lot of that negativity comes down to a bit of travel snobbery — the idea that Ho-Ho tours are far too "kitschy and touristy," because heaven forbid we look like tourists instead of enlightened visitors.

But your post triggers a question: why do we let our opinions get so easily shaped by the bias of anonymous strangers on a forum, rather than a real-life friend? A friend. Your friend. If your friend and her grandson had a wonderful time, that real-world experience should carry more weight than internet strangers.

We visited London after our Rabbies tour of Devon and Cornwall in 2025.

We wanted to see how much London had changed since we last toured in London several years ago. Also, wanted to avoid the underground.

We did take a HoHo that included a cruise on the Thames. The HoHo pass was good for two days. We found the bus moved very slowly and on one occasion didn't move for 5 minutes, with no explanation.

We explored St. Paul's and took the Thames cruise, that was great, then explored the Westminister area, including Westminster Abbey (spent three hours there, lots to see). Taking the HoHo's larger track took us over four hours, just on the bus. It worked for us, but frankly, I wouldn't advise it for the best way to see London.

I am sure you will find a few, but your view is primarily traffic and the routes are not efficient. I do not recommend this as a way of getting around to various sites. The tube or regular buses would be a better option. I never suggest these “ hop on hop off” buses in London.

Also, you can make things easier on yourself by grouping sites that are near each other together on the same day. For example, Westminster Abbey and the Churchill War Rooms are just a few blocks apart.

The other thing is to make sure the lodging you choose is close to a tube station, or at the very least close to a bus that goes to a tube station.

You can’t avoid traffic in London. It’s the nature of a massive metropolis of 9 million people built on a road system designed over hundreds of years. No bus in London is going to be fast whether it is a HoHo or a TfL bus.

The purpose of the HoHo bus is to give a leisurely tour along routes around the city. It is not designed to provide efficient transport between sights. If that is the expectation as a passenger you are setting yourself up to be disappointed and frustrated.

Being slow it does have the advantage of giving you time to actually take in the sights around you. Much of the beauty of even the most ordinary building in London is on the upper stories, features that you tend to miss when walking around.

Whether a HoHo is right for you depends on what you are expecting from it and how good you are with slower travel.

I always take comments on line with a pinch of salt. People who are satisfied with a service don’t tend to post, those who want to complain do.

I like almost all HOHO busses. The London one is about average but if I were a first time visitor I would do it.

I have taken many HOHO buses and find them a good way to get an overview of the city. My method is to ride the entire route once and then get off at the areas I find the most interesting.

On my first visit to London, there were no HOHO buses. Just regular sightseeing buses. The traffic back then wasn't as bad. (Fewer cars, more horse drawn carriages.)

If you think the HOHO bus will be something you would like to do, then do it. Just realize it will be slow and probably best as a sightseeing bus and not a way from point A to B.

I've taken my wife on two tourist hop on hop off bus tours, both over 20 years ago.

We sat on the top deck of one in Edinburgh, getting drenched from head to toe, and we were the only people on the top deck, and one other couple in the downstairs saloon. We hated it, but we had spent so much money on it we were determined to see it through. And we weren't going downstairs and miss everything.

Shortly after we moved to Coventry 30 years ago I took my wife to see the sights of London and show her all the things I knew of from being there as a child. We bought tickets on what was then, I think, called The Original Tour. I guess we maybe did a half of the ride before we got tired of it and got off, never to get back on again.

On the other hand, as you have mobility problems and don't do well on stairs, maybe getting on and staying on like you did in Paris would work well for you. You have time, move slowly, and from upstairs could see what is visible. And if you forget part of it you take another circuit.

I think that you, bostonphil7 would be one of the few I would recommend it to. Don't do it during a heat wave or in the rain.

No roof.
No food or drink.
No toilet.

I think you need some context to the trip as well.

If you've got a week in London then spending your first afternoon driving around on the bus to get a feel for the lie of the land. Maybe with a stop to see a sight sounds a great use of time.

If you've got 1.5 days in London as part of a mad, whistle stop tour of 5 European capitals in a week then, I would think, it is a less good use of time.

(Perhaps unintuitively if you only have a single afternoon the bus loops back around to being quite a good idea IMHO.)

It's like the forum's favourite topic, "the Cotswolds". Lovely if you have a spare Sunday and fancy a light walk in the country with maybe a roast but not something to drop Paris for on your once in a lifetime "Eurotrip".

In theory, yes, but it depends on your expectations and use. London is the general type of city that a bus tour works, as sights are sort of stretched out in different areas and viewable from the bus (Paris is similar, Rome is not.) However, traffic has affected it's effectiveness, your views may just be of London gridlock. Few HOHO buses are great for basic transportation, if the few places you want to go work with your and the buses schedule, then fine, but if you want to get from point A to Point B, walking or the Underground would be a better option. As for other features, the tour narration many times is hit or miss, if it works, if you can hear it clearly, if it is even interesting. Cost can be an issue, tickets can be pricey, pressure to upsell you intense. So if you want a quick overview, budget not a big concern, maybe with a couple hop off and ons, and traffic does not seem too onerous, then go for it.

While the HoHo buses are not for me, I agree with Nigel. For you, with your mobility issues and your acknowledged lack of sense of direction, the HoHo bus would probably be a good choice for you. But, sit up top for the views and be careful going up and down the stairs to the upper level.

You don't have to stay on the top deck of the bus.
I have mobility issues and the last time I was on a HoHo I stayed downstairs. Did I get as good a view as up to? No, but it was still pretty good.
If you are unsteady on your feet I would actually caution against using the stairs unless you can guarantee the bus isn't going to move while you are on them. They can be very steep and a potential accident waiting to happen.

Again a lot of the decision depends on attitude, and there are no rights or wrongs. One persons frustration at being stuck for 5 minutes in gridlock, is another person's opportunity to observe what is around them.
A friend and I accidentally road the HoHo in New York during a big freeze. It was all over the news but we didn't have a clue what the US temperatures translated to in British temperature so we just kept going. It was SO cold, but great fun. We also did the Staten Island ferry. When we came home we found out it was minus 20C at its warmest!

Sitting in traffic for five minutes doesn't sound like a big deal to me personally.

I've never been on one, but I think visitors should give it a go.

There's three main operators in London that I see around. Golden Tours, Tootbus and Big Bus Tours. There's several others listed on Google that I don't immediately recognise.

I think people make too much of the traffic. Maybe it's just because I'm used to it, but it's generally not that bad these days unless there's a specific holdup with construction or what have you. The measures taken by the city to reduce car traffic have worked to some extent and central London isn't as congested as it was a decade or two ago. I use regular service buses all the time. I really don't mind if a bus is quite slow. I'm accustomed to compensating for it if I need to be somewhere at a specific time. You don't have that time pressure if you're on vacation usually.

If you are sensitive to traffic I'd maintain that there's a few specific times that may find the roads a bit quieter.

Midweek between 9:30am and 12 midday the traffic is at its lightest. Building from 2pm until 6 or 7pm is when there's most traffic on the road.

Saturday morning is a good time.

There's often protest marches or entertainment / sporting events that cause road closures on a Saturday afternoon so check Transport for London's website for that.

Central London is really quiet up until lunchtime on a Sunday generally with very light traffic. All day Sunday is good HoHo bus time, barring road closures for events.

In all our years of travel we had never taken a HOHO bus. However, this past April we traveled to Ireland with a couple who had taken many HOHO busses in several cities. We arrived in Dublin for a 14 day tour a couple days early. Our friend bought two-day passes for the four of us from one of the HOHO bus companies. Our husbands had reservations for the Guinness tour. While the guys were on their tour, my friend and I rode the bus planning to get off to spend time at a few sites of interest to us. The weather did not cooperate. It rained pretty much the whole morning. Long story short, we ended up riding the HOHO bus route a total of seven times over two days. It never did work out to get off the bus to see the sites due to rain and other commitments. I think we had four different drivers. All but one driver was excellent. We had a lot a laughs with one of them. We learned so much history, much of which was not included in our organized tour. It was a good overview of the city. I was skeptical of the HOHO bus concept. But it was worth it. I would do it again in a different city. I have a problematic knee and the HOHO bus worked well for me. I did not go to the top seats due to my knee and the rain. We certainly got our money's worth :)

What ever you decide about the HOHO experience, bostonphil, I hope you have a fantastic trip. I enjoy reading your posts.

Traveler Girl

We like Hoho bus tours all over the world. They give you an overview of the city and we always do all the tour options in one day. As the years go by mobility issues have made them even better option. I like them to go slow so you can see more of the architecture and people on the street. We will get the 2 day option if want to actually hop off to see museums, parks, etc. If time in a city is limited then the 24 hour ticket works. Never take this tour if it is rainy. We opt for the top deck front row or any outside seat midway to the back. It is windy up top so I use a ball cap to keep hair out of my face. We don’t take HoHo buses in cities where the historic districts are pedestrian only. Big cities with widespread interesting sites and neighborhoods work best. FYI we liked the London HoHo bus.

Wow so many responses hat I can not reply individually at least for now.

I took my first HoHo Bus in Paris in May and really liked it.

I would be taking the HoHo Bus for an overview of London just getting an idea of the neighborhoods, the sites, where things are and how close together. I am not good with directions or maps

I would stay on it for one entire trip without getting off. Then I might decide to try it again after. a break getting off somewhere and seeing something.

I am not going to try to use it as public transportation.

I know that in London there are three or more HoHo buses but my hotel is close to Victoria Station and there seems to be a dedicated area for all the HoHo buses with staff to assist.

I have been watching youtube videos and Big Bus gets one of the highest ratings.

There is a Big Bus stop a couple of blocks from my hotel so if I decide firmly on Big Bus, I might just pick it up very close to my hotel.

I forgot to add for those who do not know that I also have mobility issues and walking has its limitations. I can walk some but slowly and with limits. I need to sit down a lot.

Even with my mobility issues, I was still able to go up the stairs to the top deck but very carefully.

I can walk up some stairs depending on how many and how steep but I hsve to be careful and hold on.

Last month both elevators in my building were out and I had to walk up nine flights of stairs. It was slow and I had to sit down a few times when I got to a landing. But I made it. It was not the first time that I had to walk up these stairs.

Every evening I walk up two flights of many In stairs after being on the greenbelt.

I know that there are no toilets or food but I eat and use the toilet before getting on the bus.I will have a water bottle with me.

If I decide to get off at a site, it would probably be a museum where there are toilets and a cafeteria.

In Paris, I took the Toot Bus one time around and began to take it again a second time only so that I could get off at the D'Orsay. Ate at the D'Orsay and used the toilets. Visited the D'Orsay and then took the Toot Bus back to my hotel but it was very slow going back to my hotel because by afternoon, the traffic was terrible.

Carol N R

I am staying in between Victoria Station and Victoria Coach, about 2 mins to Victoria Coach and 3 mins to Victoria Station. That time is for persons with no mobility issues. I will probably take more time.

Staying on St Georges Drive right off of Buckingham Palace Rd. Believe that I will be able to walk to a lot of places

geovagriffith and others

I do not mind a little traffic or even being stuck for a short while. it gives me a chance to look around and sometimes take pictures. I use it to get familiar with my immediate surroundings and the street and enjoy the architecture.

Emma in London

I only know temperature in F.

I live in Austin TX and it is 100 degrees today, truly horrible,

A couple of years back, a friend and I explored a new park the city had opened. We went out too early and it was 90 plus. Miserably hot.

We saw a young man wearing a long sleeve jersey. He looked so miserable, more miserable than us.

We.asked him if he was ok. He came from Australia where it was winter and never checked the weather of Austin, Tx. I guess he expected it to be cold or cool. I think he even had a jacket around his waist.

We really felt for him ...

So important to check the weather of where you are going to.

I only know temperature in F.

Phil, you need to be able to convert Fahrenheit into Celsius (or vice versa) if temperatures are important to you when traveling in Europe. There are any number of online resources you can easily use for that, including this one:

https://www.worldometers.info/converters/temperature/fahrenheit-to-celsius/

Thank you Kate

The link you sent me is helpful

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