London by Hop on/Hop off bus

Which is the best Hop On/Hop On Bus service to use while visiting London? We will be there for 3 days in Sept.

Thanks

bob

You can check here the different color coded routes:

https://www.londontoolkit.com/whattodo/original_london_sightseeing.htm

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I liked the Original HOHO bus. The experiences are pretty much the same. You might want to choose one that has a stop close to your hotel.

Thanks for the reply's.

We will be staying at a Hotel right next to the Tower, so catching a bus should be easy.

bob

Look for one that has a 3 day pass. Will probably work out well in your favor.

As per DLMario's post Original and Big Bus are very similar in most respects, including the same main routes & frequencies and included Thames cruise, but they have different secondary routes & one might be more convenient to some folks' hotels (tho not to Bob's).

They generally match each-others' prices and promos, but sometimes one has a better deal than the other.

Original's yellow route has a live guide, their others are recorded. I think Big Bus has live guides on one route too.

The third ho-ho operator is Golden Tours. They're experienced coach operators & their excursions from central London are generally well-received. But they're comparatively new to ho-ho and their ho-ho service was poor. Probably better now but I think it best to stick to Original or Big Bus.

Golden also offer a London Tour, about 3 hours I think. Similar to the main ho-ho routes, but not ho-ho. You board at the start point & alight back there at the end.

JB :)

Look for one that has a 3 day pass. Will probably work out well in your favor.

While the HOHOs are great for an easy overview of the city, I would not use one over three days to get around. Much better options once you have done the tour(s) are regular buses and the tube.

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John Bull

Cotswold Eagle

Thanks for your information.

Bob

We did the Original Tour HOHO bus as part of our TA package with Princess; by my unscientific observation, it appeared to me that there were more Big Bus buses. We must have been waiting at the bus stop at Westminster Bridge for at least 35 minutes, while 5 or 6 Big Bus buses passed our stop.

If I didn't have the tickets as part of a TA package, I would have just Uber'ed everywhere. For two of us, it was often more or less the same cost to Uber as it was to Tube it everywhere.

 

 

If I didn't have the tickets as part of a TA package, I would have just Uber'ed everywhere. For two of us, it was often more or less the same cost to Uber as it was to Tube it everywhere.

This is the second time I have seen a similar comment and I am afraid it is potentially misleading. The only way I can imagine this to be the case is if you were paying cash for single tickets for each tube journey (this would cost £9-80 for two and I can imagine you could get a similar priced Uber for fairly short distances for that).

But you can take as many tubes and buses in central London as you like on any day for £6-60 each by using an Oyster or contactless payment card. You could only do two VERY short journeys by Uber for £13-20.

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I agree. The only time Uber would be more cost efficient is if you're doing 2-3 short hops in one day vs. the tube pass. I priced it out for my upcoming stay and it was about 1GBP less to use taxis than get a day pass on the tube and the taxis will take me from door-to-door. That is the FIRST time I've ever come across that in my many trips to London and it's simply because I'm taking only 2 hops across town. So, weigh your particular situation out before jumping. ;)

Oh - also meant to say that the in-person narrated drive on the yellow route on the Original Bus is really nice and kinda funny.

I agree. The only time Uber would be more cost efficient is if you're doing 2-3 short hops in one day vs. the tube pass. I priced it out for my upcoming stay and it was about 1GBP less to use taxis than get a day pass on the tube and the taxis will take me from door-to-door. That is the FIRST time I've ever come across that in my many trips to London and it's simply because I'm taking only 2 hops across town. So, weigh your particular situation out before jumping. ;)

 

Oh - also meant to say that the in-person narrated drive on the yellow route on the Original Bus is really nice and kinda funny.

Admittedly, we only did 2-3 trips each day in London - basically uber'ing from Waterloo to the Tower of London; uber'ing again from Tower of London to Big Ben/Parliament, and then uber'ing from the West End to Waterloo. We had multiple people in our party so it came out most cost and time efficient to just uber around.

While the HOHOs are great for an easy overview of the city, I would not use one over three days to get around. Much better options once you have done the tour(s) are regular buses and the tube.

I agree! We had a 1-day pass through our London Pass (which we loved the LP!). So we used the ho-ho bus, it was the Golden Tours, that was got through the pass to go from the British Museum to St. Paul's Cathedral. Well, with London traffic, we probably could have walked it faster. It was a lot of sitting in traffic. I'm just glad we didn't use it to actually get around. We had the Oyster Card too, and we used that most of the time to get around on the tube. Way easier!

We used the Big Red Bus HoHo as recommended by "John Bull" and some other Brit posters, and were very satisfied with it.

We really enjoyed the Thames River cruise that was included with the bus ticket. We took it from the stop near the Tower at the end of the day when we were ready to go back to our hotel, after a very busy day of sightseeing. It was nice to sit and enjoy another perspective of London.

We used the Big Red Bus HoHo as recommended by "John Bull" and some other Brit posters, and were very satisfied with it.

We really enjoyed the Thames River cruise that was included with the bus ticket. We took it from the stop near the Tower at the end of the day when we were ready to go back to our hotel, after a very busy day of sightseeing. It was nice to sit and enjoy another perspective of London.

The river cruise is part of our plan also. Except we want to do it in reverse, catching the bus at the tower and then riding the boat back to the Tower.

Bob