London Hop On Hop Off Bus

Discount code ATOC2010 may work on the Original Bus tour. The hop on hop off bus tours are darned expensive. Only you can decide if they are worth it. My son fell asleep when we took the tour on arrival day. http://www.theoriginaltour.com/ www.bigbustours.com/uk/html/uk_home.html

We did Big Bus Tours and loved it. We only had one day and thought it was the perfect overview of London! It whet our appetite for a future trip. Not to mention, since the buses go all over the city, its going to give you free public trans for the 24 hours you're using it. We liked most of our tourguides, and if you don't like the one you've got, get off at the next stop and catch the next one! I believe we got a discount by booking ahead of time online.

Many people like the hop on hop off tours. But think about it, you're sitting there surrounded by tourists. Is this what you really want? I don't. Wife and I boarded a real London double decker bus on our first morning in London (arrived the day before in late afternoon) and rode in the front row on the top level from South Kensington through Piccadilly Circus and got off a block away from the British Museum. It was a great trip and didn't cost us a fortune. And best of all, we felt like we were really in London, not on a bus full of tourists.

If it is your first trip to London it is a great way to get a quick overview. You may decide that some sights arent worth returning to, while you may notice others which werent on your radar before. good way to help make your own decisions about what you want to see

I'm with Dave and Kira. Our first day in London with our family of 4, we rode in the top deck of the #12 bus from our hotel near Hyde Park/Paddington to Westminster. It gave us a feel for being in the big city (we're suburbanites), left us right at the "wow we really are in London" sights of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and the cost was covered by the travelcards we purchased before we left Heathrow. We enjoyed using public transport the whole week, and met a number of interesting Londoners since my husband is not shy about talking to "strangers". :-)

Well, this is going to end up being one of those 50/50 split threads, it seems! :D I think you either like this sort of thing, or you don't. Personally, I am with Dave. I cannot imagine a situation where I'd want to be trapped like a rat with a bunch of other tourists on some big red expensive bus blazoned with signs pointing out that, yes, I am a tourist! Of course, that's just me. And no, there is nothing wrong with being a tourist, of course! You're not going to be able to "blend in" and it doesn't matter. In fact, it's pretty cool to be a tourist, because you get to ask questions and meet folks and ask them about their city, and it's great. BUT. No Big Red Hop On Hop Off Bus for me. My two cents' worth: If the tix are expensive, and you need to buy six of them, it is entirely possible you will not get your money's worth. "Getting an initial overview" is just that. You see something on the fly, and then have to back-track in order to actually go there. For seeing the Big Sights, I find it more efficient to know where you want to go and get there on public transportation, then see the thing properly. I mean, how will you know you want to duck into the Tate Gallery if you don't duck into the Tate Gallery? How can you tell by just seeing the front of it as you whiz by on a bus? IMHO, for just general exploring and getting the lay of the land and making your own discoveries, a Big Red Bus that goes to all the major tourist attractions is precicely the opposite of a good way to go about it. Then again, I have never traveled with a family of six. Soooo.... what do I know?

We have used the Hop-on, Hop-off buses a few times and loved them for an over-all view of London. We also took the Gray Line tours inside and outside of London. The great thing about the Hop-on- Hop-off buses is you get to see buildings/locations from a distance and then you can decide if you want to return to see those sites on your own. My husband and I will use the Hop-on, Hop-off buses when we return in September. We didn't think they were expensive at all. The Tube is a great means to get around London also. All their transportation options are wonderful inside and outside of London.

"But think about it, you're sitting there surrounded by tourists. Is this what you really want?"
If you're sightseeing in London, you'll be surrounded by tourists at the museums, cathedrals, etc. If you don't want to be surrounded by tourists don't go sightseeing in London or any popular city for that matter. That's a weird comment... Anyway, the point of the hop on/off buses isn't to simply sit and stay on the bus. You learn tons of stuff about the city AND the sights while you're on the bus. Then you hop off at the sights you want to go into. And since Ben is staying for a week, they can see the city, get an idea of the layout, learn a little bit about what they will see during their week there from the tourguides on the bus.

Count me with those who think the HOHO buses are great! I've used them in London and in Dublin. They are, of course, more expensive than a regular bus, but on a regular bus you can be (to use the words of another poster) "trapped like a rat" with grumpy commuters, obnoxious local teens, people with their weekly shopping or whatever, and you don't get any of the commentary and information that you get on the HOHO bus. Take the whole trip around the route, then use it as regular transportation back to the things where you want to spend time.

"If you're sightseeing in London, you'll be surrounded by tourists at the museums, cathedrals, etc." Amy, my point is that you can get around London just as well without paying a lot of money to sit in a bus with a bunch of other tourists. Some people are better with maps than others. Tourists who prefer not to use the tube, or the bus routes, take the HOHO buses, in my view. And they pay a premium for it.

The HOHO buses tickets are usually only good for 24 hours. Who do you know that uses them for their entire stay in a city? If someone buys tickets repeatedly for their entire London stay, then I would agree that is lazy and very expensive. But to get a tour of the entire city, was great. Especially for us as we only had about 8 hours in the city. But as someone said above, you don't get a narrated tour on the tube or the bus. As someone who uses public transportation whenever possible while traveling, I wasn't inferring that it should be a substitute. It's just a nice overview of the city and since you've paid to ride the HOHO, why not use it during the 24 hour period to get from sight to sight? Then, once your pass is up, perhaps you've become a bit more familiar with the city and can then use public transport with a bit more confidence.

My boyfriend and I are going to London in September and were considering the HOHO bus as we will only be there for a day and a half before heading to Scotland. How expensive are the tickets. I agree with the value of getting the commentary and overall view, before striking out on our own.

Big Bus is £27, which is around $44. Original Tour is £23 if booked online, which is around $38. Golden Tours (Gray Line) is $32.60 for a 2-day pass. http://goo.gl/IFqKs http://goo.gl/BdJ2Q http://goo.gl/US41h

Ben, you are right, it is expensive and you're right again, it is the best way to get an initial overview of the main sites. The best part is if you start to feel like a rat trapped with a bunch of tourists you can always Hop Off. To equate this choice with not being able to read a tube map or figure out the bus routes in just silly and a little insulting. I've taken the HOHO in Edinburgh, York, Bath, Dublin, Paris and, of course, London. In Edinburgh we were the only passengers and had the guide all to ourselves. In Dublin we did in fact use it as our main source transportation and for the time we had it worked out perfectly. The buses are not always full either. The first seats to go are the ones on top in front..if the weather is fine. One day, in London,when the weather got a bit soft, the guide handed out rain ponchos. These are some of my experiences on a HOHO.
Whether you can or cannot read a tube map, you cannot get your bearings underground.

I completely agree with Laurel from Kirkland said. It is VERY insulting to say if someone is to lazy to figure out a tube map or bus route. It is a very good way to get a initial overview of London.

Another advantage of HOHO busses is that kids love them. When my daughter got whiny or dragging that first day, she perked right back up getting to clamber up the the top deck of the HOHO bus. (And I remember well her amusement at the stories and corny jokes told by the driver of a HOHO bus in Dublin.) A good HOHO is like a good walking tour; no substitute for touring on your own time and based on your own interests, but a good way to get an overview of a place and some local information. (Of course, that's assuming they're not out of your budget. They are a splurge, that's for certain.) I have to admit that, since my daughter grew up, I don't tend to use them these days when I travel. But they were sure handy back then.

Most of the HOHO bus companies now include a pass for a Thames cruise. That makes it a better bargin. They do give you a good bacis orientation- and the are HOP ON and HOP OFF- so if you want to take a break from riding, you can. Also if you purchase them around noon on one day, you can use them for parts of 2 days. After that it's the Tube for me! And walking- London is so easy to walk!!! Check for discount child's tickets, too.

Thanks for all the info. We were on the fence about this too.

We were in London in July, and I have to say the HOHO was probably my least favorite experience. We got on mid route and were forced to change buses at a shift change; we got up early the next morning only to find out the live commentary didn't start for 45 minutes (so we settled for the canned commentary, which was not very good); and twice the buses detoured and didn't take us to the globe/south bank. It's also very expensive. However, it is a good overview to the entire city. I think if I had to do it again I'd look for a cheaper option and just try for a tour around the city, without the hop on hop off option. That part just didn't work for me.

It depends on how lazy (or some would call it effiecient) you are. I was lazy so I did the hop on hop off and loved it. That way I saved time having to map my route on buses and the tube. I went in 2004 before I had a handy smart phone with GPS. Don't get me wrong I did use regular transporation for things but when I wanted to do the whole tourist loop I used the HOHO buses and it was Awesome and worth the money to me...and I was a student at the time!

Please excuse the typos, I rushed!

We used the Big Bus HOHO about two weeks ago. They have a family rate (2 adults/2 kids) for I believe 55GBP which helped. We then purchased one additonal child's ticket and one additional adult ticket. We were a family with 3 adults/3 kids. The Original Bus HOHO has a family ticket that includes 2 adults/3 children. That might work out cheaper for you. We found some sights in London did have family ticket deals that were helpful.

Our family (of 5) liked the taxi rides we took better. Although the first day there if the weather is good you can just sit up top and look around while you rest up. Because of traffic we though that the bus tour was not the best use of our time. And we often had to wait for quite a while to hop back on. But it was fun and yes expensive.