Toot Bus (Hop on Hop Off)

Take bus if you want. You have taken the HOHO bus before and liked it. That is what counts. Every time I have seen negative comments about the HOHO buses it has been related to people using them for transit and not for the purposes of slowly getting around town and seeing the sights, which is what you will be doing. It’s not as if you have one day in Paris and you need the most efficient way to get around between sites. If that were the case, the HOHO bus would be a lousy idea. As to the distances between places or their locations relative to each other, that’s what Google Maps is for. You could map out the sights now and make a plan to go to them in a way that makes sense if you like to do that sort of planning.

or even the paper map in the Rick Steves Guide - other brands are available - and almost all will have a map with the main attractions on, and you can see how they relate to one another

Sometimes I like a paper map to spread out to see where things are. You can do that or use google maps to see distances.

I took the HOHO bus when I was in Paris my first time in college. It was enjoyable, but I can't for the life of me remember if we got off or not. All I know is we passed the Trocadero on a few of many loops (maybe we wanted to go to places out of order?) and the commentary was always about the "strong fountains!", so I am assuming we did get off to go to things out of order? The strong fountains are one of the few things I remember about that trip. It was a fun trip, we did all that we wanted to, and I wasn't disappointed in our choices. The thing I am wary about now with the HOHO buses is that tourism is on the uptick and if too many people want to take those buses on any particular day, if you get off, there could be lines and you might have to wait for longer than expected to hop on a bus. But really, no one will know the volume until the day of (or a few days prior to see averages).

A river cruise and a transit pass could get you seeing the sites AND transiting between places much quicker. If you end up taking buses, you can possibly see the same things too!

If you want to ride a bus for orientation, I'd imagine there are bus tours that offer precisely that, without the hop-on/hop-off feature. Surely those tours would be cheaper?

Any HoHo bus (Toot isn’t the only one) is good imo, we love them wherever we visit. We love sitting up top at the very back. It’s a great way to see everything, cool off, and rest your feet. Do the whole circuit or get off, whatever works for you. I grew up in Paris but we still enjoy the HoHo bus. I try to only take regular busses for transportation rather than the métro. Although i love the métro, it’s too many stairs and too much walking down long hallways for me. Traffic has never been so bad that i wouldn’t take either a regular bus or a HoHo bus.

We just did the HoHo bus in Dublin and loved it. We just go to the nearest HoHo bus stop where, normally, they all stop. We get on the 1st one that stops. They’re basically all the same.

We even did the HoHo bus here in San Francisco, just for fun.

Taking the métro or bus in Paris is very easy and not expensive. The métro Passes work for the busses too.

Here is a very good website to understand what Pass is best for you:

Parisbytrain.com

JHK is right, Google Maps app on your phone is essential, imo. It will give you walking, driving, public transportation directions, routes and options. Some people like CityMapper, i prefer Google Maps.

Thank you all so much!! I do have Rick’s guides and maps, and I have a decent idea of where things are. I didn’t mean that I needed the bus to really get me oriented….I guess I worded it wrong. I meant the bus would help us get to all the things without worrying about which metro stop, bus, etc. and we could orient ourselves to what we want to see more of. For instance, I have no need to get off the bus and do anything at Place Concorde, or Arch Triomphe, but I would get off at Champs E. Just to walk up and down the street and look at things!

I did enjoy it before, and I know that tourism is going to be high even at the beginning of May….but if the line is too long for the busy, we will just hoof-it to the next site. No worries! It was only $57 US each to have access to the bus 8 hours a day for three days. I don’t think the metro, city buses, or a taxi would be a whole lot cheaper for three days of here and there, and everywhere. Maybe we would save $20 each, but having to find a taxi, and get four people into it, and get to a site only to decide we don’t need to stay more than 20 minutes, might be tiresome.

I really appreciate everyone’s answers though!! Everyone is SO nice on this forum!
Bella

"I’m sure I would be backtracking or double back to get them to the places I want them to see." If you are going to feel responsible to get all of you from Point A to Point B, that would be stressful. I can't imagine orienting them to the Metro, getting Metro tickets on their phones, etc. But, then, maybe you're really facile with all of that. The HOHO is a great bit of fun especially, as Susan said, sitting on the top. Three days on the HOHO should get you most places that you want. You're above ground, for one thing, seeing all the sights instead of in the Metro (which I love, so I'm not dissing it) being squashed together when there's barely standing room.

We got a 2 day HOHO pass when we were in Paris. We like to walk, so for Montmarte, we used the HOHO to get as close as possible, and then walked the rest of the way.

@mnannie that’s a great idea! That’s what we plan to do too!! Do you remember which stop was closets? I believe it is the stop at the Grand Palais, and then I’m not sure how far. The map seems to show about 3km….so I don’t think it’s that far. It’s a nice walk through the city, right?

I think it is a huge waste of time but YMMV. A day pass for the metro/bus in Paris is a lot cheaper and gets you around quickly and efficiently. Wasting money on the metro is not a factor.

Yes but as one person pointed out, Metro is underground and we like seeing things as we drive by, or even sit in traffic. And I would have to know every metro stop to get off on. :)

If Grand Palais is the closet stop to Montmartre, you have a one-hour walk. I think you mean Palais Garnier which will be about a 35-minute walk. It seems to me that you want to be above ground and not have to figure out transit options and stops so the HOHO bus seems like a good choice for you. If efficiency is your primary concern, like I said in my other response, the HOHO bus is not a good option.

Yes I meant Palais Garnier. Sorry! And yes, I think my little group of four would rather be above ground and see whatever they can see of the actual city, rather than below ground even if it is faster. We have 5 days in Paris before we head south, so as long as no one has had any really horrific experiences, I think we will keep our HOHO tickets!!

If we don’t like the line at one of the stops, we will simply walk where we want to go. But it is nice to have the option, and $50 or so for three days of transport and not worrying about tickets and stops etc. for four people is worth it to me!

Thank you so much to all of you for your kind and detailed and helpful answers!!!

Regular busses are above ground and so easy. With Google Maps it tells you how many stops you have before reaching your stop and it tells you the name of your stop.
Not trying to change your mind, but most of the time a regular bus is better at getting you from Point A to Point B.
If you read the Parisbytrain.com link i gave you, the Passes are easy to understand.
How old are your kids? Maybe they can show you how to use Google Maps. It is very simple.
All that said, as i said above, we do love HoHo busses but not for transportation. We ride the whole circuit then we’re done.

Haha. Thanks for the tip. ;) I’m actually quite the techie, and very proficient in Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc. These aren’t my kids. It’s me, as tour director…my husband, and our two best friends who are an adult brother and sister in their late 20’s early 30s.

But thanks for the info about the regular buses. I will definitely check out the link you gave!

That’s great you’re proficient with GoogleMaps, then you’ll have no problems taking the bus. I hope you all have fun!

hey hey Bella in CT
other options to check out:
tuktukride.com
click tours and see the places they go to with some short stops for photo ops. read "learn more"
paris-by-tuktuk.com
click tuktuk tours and which one your gang would like and places to go to.
oldtimersparis.com
check out the 2 hour tour and the places they go
just a couple other options for you to look about. have fun in paris
aloha

We enjoyed the HOHO bus very much. The one we took had tickets that were good for 24 hours. We got on around 3:00 and rode the entire route observing all the amazing sights. We got on a second time the next morning and got off a couple of times at different sights. As long as you are back on prior to your expiration time, you're good to ride it till you once again get off. We're going to FR in a couple of weeks & plan to do the HOHO bus again. We very much loved taking in the beauty of the city from a higher perspective.

We have 72 hour tickets, and if we use it that much great, if we don’t we will be ok too! We leave May 7th! Super excited!!!

We used the HOHO bus in Dublin and loved it! I would much rather see the sights above ground than try to figure out the underground train situation. I think it's a great option to orient yourself to a new city, while someone else does the driving and talking. Not only that, you can hop on the bus or hop off when something or some place sparks your interest. I also think it's a great thing to do upon arriving, so you can get the lay of the land before striking out. Post jet lag and with more energy, you might feel more confident to venture out on your own. Rick is all about the #69 bus. I have never taken it, but plan to during our upcoming trip...unless someone says it's a hot nightmare.

I know Champs Elysees leads to the Place Concorde, and Arch Triomphe,
but I have no idea how far that is from Eiffel, Palace Garnier,
Pantheon, Les Invalides, Notre Dame and others. I assume we will have
to taxi to Montmarte as it isn’t on the Toot bus line.

Bella, I won't try and talk you out of the HOHO either, and know you've been to Paris before but will mention that we used very little public transit at all during our week in the city some years ago, and we were a few years older than you are! LOL, you're not 'old" by any means. We shared a carnet of 10 single-ride tickets and ended up with 2 left over; Paris was such a wonderful city to see from the sidewalks!

What worked well for us was grouping attractions by area - taking into account closure days, of course - for most efficient use of our time and shoe leather. For instance, we didn't go to the Pantheon and Palais Garnier on the same day, or the Sacré Coeur/Montmartre Cemetery (yes, we walked to/from those!) and the Eiffel on the same day; they're pretty far apart. But the Pantheon, Jardin du Luxembourg, Church of Saint-Severin and Musée de Cluny was an efficient grouping as they're all within the same area. Make sense?

You mentioned in a previous post that you're staying at Pullman La Defense on the 8th and 9th as you're going to a Taylor Swift concert in that area. Where are you staying for the rest of your time?