Hop on Hop Off in Rome ( Red Bus)

Posted by nivende on 10/05/15 04:44 PM

We have used the familiar red hop on hop off buses in many cities and have thought them to reasonably good. Not in Rome. The route is quite small, the stops are not well placed and identified and they appear to sell too many tickets sold for the number of buses. At the Coliseum we had to wait for 4 or 5 buses in order to get a ride. In Rome, the tourist sites are not so spread out that you can not walk or combine walking with public transport.

If you want to go hop on hop off maybe try the green bus.

Posted by travgal

USA

10/05/15 05:08 PM

118 posts

thanks was wondering if it was as good as in London

Posted by nivende OP

10/05/15 05:26 PM

15 posts

I would say worse. It has been a while since I used London's. In London, I used the subway much more than in other cities. For example in Paris, you can use the hop on hop off as an alternative to busing or the metro. The hop on hop off in Rome just gives you a drive around the city. In Milan the hop on hop off seemed to be quite good but we just had time to do one loop.

Posted by Kathy

Minnesota 🎒

10/05/15 06:16 PM

15831 posts

All the hoho's in Rome have seen enough negative reviews for so long that I wouldn't personally recommend that anyone use them for sightseeing. As noted above, unless you have mobility challenges (and the hohos can't drop you off directly in front of many attractions anyway) Rome is very easily and more enjoyably explored on foot or with a combination of your feet and some hops on public transport.

Frequent complaints include dirty buses, broken audio, surly staff, buses too full to pick up passengers at assigned stops, long delays because of traffic, and longer walks from stop to attraction than anticipated. There are much better ways of seeing Rome!