Big Bus Tours - London Review

I bought the bus tour plus a ticket to St. Paul s cathedral, when I got to the cathedral they refused the ticket. I ended up paying 20 pounds for a ticket to St. Paul s directly from the cathedral and wasting the 18 pounds I paid for the bogus ticket from Big Bus. What a ripoff! As a side note, people with the London Pass walked past the line and went right in, I ll do that next time. Also, once you get on the bus the first time they give you a flimsy printed faded receipt and That s what you need to show them to get back on the bus, lose the little piece of paper and too bad for you. Also, the live tour guide was an Asian woman who could barely speak English. The best part of Big Bus tour was the recorded tour, a pleasant English voice with music and riding upstairs in the open air. Just don t buy any additional tickets, don t listen to the live tour, don t lose your scrap of paper, and you re good!

We had a really disappointing experience with Big Bus Tours in London. We had to wait over 40 minutes at a stop waiting for a bus to come and one never arrived. We decided to walk to another stop in case that one was inaccessible for some reason and spent another 10 minutes waiting there as well. They advertise that it takes 15-20 minutes and that is definitely not the case. Also, every time the bus stops, they have someone come on board and check every single person's ticket. This takes about 15 minutes each time and adds a lot of time to the trip. Also, customer service isn't great. We requested a refund due to the fact that we could only ride the bus for 2 stops as we were unable to get back on after we hopped off. They've been unresponsive.

first part of our tour we rode along on the red tour with live comments in english. the guide was really sweet in telling us so many harry potter facts, we really enjoyed that.
then we switched to the blue tour to have comments in german as well. was very interesting cause i think we saw some streets of london which we would not have otherwise.

It was a wonderful experience and convenient way to see most of the tourist attractions and experience the river cruise thru Big Bus Tour hop on hop off. I would definitely recommend this company to anyone!

Big Bus London. Hopp on Hopp off is basically a nice thing. We thought so too. Positive: we have always found a place and the waiting time with 10-15 minutes was also ok. NEGATIVE: And that's why I only give 2 stars. It happened on 3 of the 4 days that the route has changed for whatever reason. I'm not talking about a road or lane that was bypassed or omitted but of major detours. There were also omitted stations although one has pressed the "Stopping" button. This is very annoying. But there are 2 other organizers offering this service.

The worst tourist bus I have taken. The audio guide in Spanish was functional music. Almost no information. We went through important sites and were not even mentioned in the audio.
Low trained staff. We have seen how the guide announced only in English that this was the last bus. Many passengers did not understand it and had to get off in a hurry anywhere. It is not a phrase so long as to learn it in two or three languages, considering that they work in tourism and that people take that bus precisely because of the possibility of having audio guide in several languages. I do not recommend at all.

Good service and location, kind staff enough. The only drawback: do not pass every 20 minutes ... last night we waited (in vain) in front of Harrods for over an hour ... traffic problems (Trump's visit?)

Pretty sad experience :( Don t waist your money. Most busses have no live commentator and give you cheap 10 cent earbuds and narration is awful and non-informative.

They give you headphones and plug them into the front seats. They have several languages among them Spanish and it is telling streets, monuments and telling the story. You can get on and off on the same day wherever you want without additional cost. It is included in the London Pass. Entertaining. Although if there is traffic something slow is done.

Delightful. Enjoyed the live commentary. Each guide had a unique sense of style and I enjoyed their off the script comments. Great way to see London when you are short on time. We thought we would only jump on for a few stops but stayed on the entire Red loop.

Sometimes too full! Short routes (you had to change the bus too often - also because of driver breaks, waited forever at some stops)

I used the Christmas special, and since they allowed us to buy tickets on the bus itself, we were standing all the time.

the worst tour ever, Not worth the time and money
I took the tour Sunday at 8:30 am , the driver stopped in 3 station each time waiting 20 to 30 minutes to fill up the bus . I will never take this tour in the future

Our tour guides didn't seem confident in the information they were giving and the second one we had was nearly unintelligible, as he preferred to focus on the patrons in front of him rather than all who were part of the tour. It also seemes like he wasn't speaking into the microphone. Someone who is hard of hearing should use caution or steer clear.

Commentary was a bit repetitious, love Greensleaves but some other tunes would be good too. 3 day pass was really good value and we very much enjoyed the river cruise and going to Greenwich. Will definitely choose this option again next time!

They did not have 40 minutes in Madame Tusaud to change buses without any explanation. So much so that the children fell asleep

There were two competitors trying to vie for our ticket sales and we mistakingly went with the Big Bus Tour. If they had mentioned the Original Bus Tour had live commentary we would have gone with them but from our stand point at the time there did not seem to be much of a difference. The hop on and off feature is worth the expense. However the recorded commentary was a bit disappointing.

sometimes the intense traffic lengthens the journeys too much

Not a very good experience. Many delays. Waited long time to catch a bus at stops. Unbelievable nightmare

Bought tickets online, didn't get the tickets, creditcard still charged. After waiting half an hour on the phone I need to fill in a form to get my money back. Don't use this company, terrible service.

Very slow. The red line only in English without the possibility of audio in Spanish.

A real disaster at the stops are not clear stop the service super early and luck if you get close to where you wanted to get off. The driver is on the edge and if the bus is full there are places that are like going on a regular bus or even more expensive for him.

On the first day of our 24-hour ticket there was unfortunately a half marathon, so the route from the tower to the parliament was blocked. Extreme traffic jams on the other side of the Thames - Big Bus couldn't help it.
On the second day we got off at Buckingham Palce, when we wanted to go on again, there was no bus forever and then it was completely overcrowded. It cost us a lot of time and we are again with the public transport.

Good way to see the sights with limited time. Loved the English tour guide on our route (think his name was Matt). He was amusing and had good stories to tell. Liked that there were people at each stop to help. Confusion about when the last bus was. Got told there was no more buses but then there was one.

Great way to get to know London and its history if you only have a few days there. It's a bit slow as the traffic is full-on but that's to be expected in London. The bus stops can be a bit hard to find at times.

Best way to get around and see the sights plus hop on and off where you want to explore etc! We have used them 2 years running now
The guides are great and informative as well as helpful
The drivers are good in the main, but some could do with a chill out pill when it gets busy etc
This stay was a hot one especially as no room on top decks so no choice but to sit downstairs so maybe some fans installed or something would help

Excellent way of seeing the city and learning quirky little facts about the place. Our tour guide on the first day was a fella called Matt - he was brilliant!

Only bad thing was that its not clear where the tour actually goes from on the website. Took us a while to find the correct bus stop in Trafalgar Square

We were pleasantly surprised. Nice staff great routes. Free headphones different languages as guides. Red line me live guides. Price absolutely fine. All sights are approached. With a ticket you can drive all routes. Overall, highly recommended.

On the day that myself and two friends began the tour, there had been an unfortunate accident on Fleet Street which caused major delays. The person providing the guided tour in English was very pleasant and did his best to keep us interested during horrible traffic. Unfortunately the situation did not improve and there was an accident right near the Thames near Embankment. At this junction we had to exit the bus and we just gave up. I cannot blame the guide as he was horrified, but we paid for two full days of tours and ended up only getting about 3 hours, 2 of which were stuck in traffic (which I understand was the fault of the accident on Fleet St. Very underwhelmed.

Purchased a one day pass at 2 pm in the afternoon as the ticket sales person advised us the ticket is good for 24 hours. So would be good until 2 pm the following day. Last bus ends at 6 pm. So we thought we had until 2 pm the following day.
The following morning we tried to get on but the driver said our ticket was valid only for the day of purchase. So essentially we bought a full priced ticket for only 4 hours.
When trying to reach any customer service, we were told there's no offices and no phone number. It's all an online form for contact.
Waste of money.

Bus driver very rude, I politely asked him a simple question, whether the bus stops at the London Eye and his reply was 'you have headphones? Then listen.' This was completely uncalled for.

Waited 40 mins in the cold for a bus that's meant to come every 15 mins, the other companies had 2 3 or 4 buses each come past in that time. Tour guide sounded like they were making it up as they went along. Guides waiting at the stop with us were helpful and were trying their best to figure out where the buses were and making calls to get things moving. Just take the Tube.

The buses are infrequent and slow. The audio is low quality and there was lots of static. To top it off, the tour agent at the bus stop was rude, unhelpful, condescending, and told me to smile more . Would not recommend. Try going with The Original London Bus Tour which looked much more professional and modern.

Decent tour and regular service but they will lie and cheat you to sell tickets to attractions. For example the reps who are obviously on commission will say buy the ticket from us it s cheaper and you don t need to queue up, it s not true they are actually more expensive and you still need to queue up and present the ticket to the cashier at the attraction who will then issue you with a real ticket.
I wrote Big Bus Tour an email to complain and they told me that everything was in accordance with their Terms and Conditions. Just buy tickets from the attraction or online and not from here.

More busses are needed. Many of them were overcrowded. Also, there needs to be enthusiastic guides on the red line. The ones we had were terrible.

I loved the tour it helped me see all the main highlights of London during my short stay. I will definitely do use this in the future.

Not worth it. Waste of money and time . We had to wait for so much time for the bus to come. You are better off taking the tube and seeing each spot individually.

We had Sandy as a tour guide on the red route. Her Australian outlook on life was very refreshing and funny and she had loads of facts and info about the sites. We later swapped busses and got a rather less interesting guide so your enjoyment will depend on how good your guide is. Although you can just listen to the automated audio track in a variety of languages

Overpriced
Fake promises
We bought tickets for tasude and big bus tours from them
They told us we will be in 15 minutes in madam tasude museum but we had to wait for 2 hours for the ticket

They made us fool and was making other people fool as well

Don t buy from them at allllllll

Bus tour wasn t worth buying

Better go on ordinary buses

Not exciting
Nice guides
Too much information
You can travel alone
A cumbersome process from the time of ticket purchase to boarding
Buy a ticket in one place and get up in another remote place we barely found and had to go all the way back to ask again where the bus stops.
Suitable for those who do not feel safe traveling alone

We were only in London for two full days and i though this would be a good way to see many sites quickly without fussing with public transportation, big mistake. The first day we waited well over a hour for the green line at a stop we previously got off at, saw several other different company busses come and go, but no Big Bus. Finally gave up and took the tube to where we wanted to go. The second day wasn't much better. It started off decent, jumped into a bus after about 25 mins, hopped off around Hyde Park. Got back on around 2, went back to the "staging area" and we were all told to get off the bus and they were done for the day. Even though the app and their brochure says last pick up was well past 5. Again other companies busses were still rolling. Really disappointed for the money spent, I can't recommend them based on the experience we received.

good service on time performance, take almost all attraction points in London, enjoy the London trip.

The three lines allow you to easily go around London and reach your hotel, we took the tickets with the tour on the Thames it was great, little more they give Pancho on the bus when it rains.

Loved the tour and live narration. Wound up on a crowded bus and Chris was the driver. He was so helpful and informative, great guy.

Pleasant trip but little information. Most of the time the recording was playing music.

My wife and I were visiting London from Canada on August 4, 2019. We were only in London for one day. When we purchased the tickets at St. Pancras station, we told the ticket agent we would only be in London for the one day. I had actually voiced a concern about how easy it would be to hop off and back on another bus, particularly if the bus is full. She said it has never been a problem. She never told us there would be disruptions on August 4 due to the Prudential London Bike Marathon which would result in most of the streets the tour takes being closed. We only found out about the bike Marathon when we left the Tower Hotel in the morning and could not find a bus anywhere. We walked for hours along the bus rout to try and find a bus that was running but could not find any. In the Terms & Conditions on the website there is a link to submit a "ticket" if there is a concern. We did so two weeks ago but have any heard any response. The tour may be great, but I wouldn't know. Customer service sucks!! Still waiting for my refund for a tour I was sold and couldn't take due to now fault of my own.

I only want to say to you congratulations for your excellent service, professionalism and courtesy

NO INFORMATION ON HOW TO RECOGNIZE STOPS OR GET ON BOARD
TOO LOUD AND TOO MILITARY MUSIC BETWEEN THE COMMENTS
VERY INTERESTING AND COMPLETE CIRCUIT BOTH FOR LOCATIONS TO SEE AND COMMENTS
WELCOMING DRIVERS AND OWN BUSES
AGENTS IN THE FIELD ARE OF UNMATCHED QUALITY
FANTASTIC RIVER CRUISE WITH THE TED GUIDE
I WOULD RECOMMEND BIGBUS

A good way to get an overview of London and great historical info thru the commentary. Unfortunately they try to jam too many people into the buses at a time so I m the end viewing of these iconic London sights is hampered. If you re doing this tour, get a seat on the top deck to avoid this.

Most of the guides were really friendly and funny - BUT: Already on the first day (we had a 2-day-ticket for Miami) the bus forget to stop (we waved our hands like crazy but he did not even look in out direction at the bus stop!). It was the last bus so we had to walk over 30 minutes to get where we wanted to get to. On the other day there was a guide who did tell absolutely *nothing* about anything. Just sat in the bus and said "This is a postcard picture." several times and the half hour long - nothing else! Really sad - we wanted to hear something about Miami but yeah... we're actually disappointed. The other guides though were cool and funny and just perfect but these two experiences are really not worth all the money for the ticket... Sorry!

Absolutely a 5 star Plus. They offer so many variations of what and where want to see, in a guided tour of London.We then got off to explore our-selves. We stopped to have great fish and chips at a local market. Got back on again and stopped to visit the Tower of London for a few hours. Went over the tower Bridge and stopped to have a Pint at a local pub, was Awesome. You just jump on and off whenever you want. This may be the highlight of our English visit.

The staff is super rude. We took the tour in November and they were not following the routes, the busses we're unevenly spaced. The tour guides dint know what the next stop would be. We understand that due to diversions, the routes need to be changed, but at least talk to the tourists properly when they ask you what the next stop would be. They talk to you so rudely that you don't want to board their bus again. The maps which they offer are outdated, it was really a bad experience.

Had a nice day, route was very clear after we found the first stop (staff was present). Routes were beautiful and we've seen more of London than on previous visits.
Staff provided good service, were helpful, friendly and occasionally told extra about what we saw.
We really liked the combination with the boat trip. A board's comment was bright, entertaining and a nice addition to what we saw.
Thanks for the nice day.
Dylan Jos and Yvonne

So convenient and easy to use. The best way to see all the sights with no hassle and lots of ability to do your own thing.

Waste of time and money. We spent half the day in the London traffic jam. OK that is a general problem. Better use the tube. But at least the busdriver on the green line was incorrect and inacceptable unfriendly. The driver stopped the bus to get himself a newspaper. We thought this would be the official bus stop at Kings Cross and wanted to leave the bus. My 12 year old daughter was outside the bus and and got in panic when the driver started to close the door while the rest of us was still inside. He then told my wife in a very unfriendly way that he's the one who decides when people are allowed to leave the bus. When I told him that this was not our fault but his he became a touch of aggressive. Not a nice trip.

Great way to get a tour of London taking in the major sights. The cruise was really good inclusion in the package also.

We chose BIGBUS for a tour of London with our little girl; the ticket was taken for 1 day (Oct 22).
Difficult to find stops easily, drivers unpleasant, frequency totally improbable - sometimes 2 BIGBUS follow each other on the same circuit, sometimes waiting 30 minutes - which led us to 3 times to call a TAXI!
We do not recommend this service and regret our purchase.

Unfortunately our experience with this product was greatly disappointing. Whilst advertising promotes 15-20 minute intervals for lines, our actual experience was standing around twice for greater than 45 minutes waiting for one bus to show.

Due to London traffic it is much better value to use the subway, whilst it can get busy it gets you around town way quicker. One loop of the red line in our case, mid week and mid-morning took several hours to complete.

Commentary on one of the bus' we used utilised derogatory humour, essentially criticising every major country without provocation in an effort to be familiar. This fell flat with the Asian group next to us, whom immediately left the bus.

well my experiences on the big bus tour was confortable until the bus hit a car on its right, it was very jolting and scary. Do to this altercation we got off of the bus. The person leading the tour was very personable and knew his facts. The bus does Not allow you to take great pictures due to the constant moving. It cost us 30 pounds for a 24 hour period. oh and we also have a pass for a river ride !!! It would of really been worth it is ti were only 15 pounds.

While the routes were well planned and the guides were informative and entertaining , there were several inherent problems that made these tours a little chaotic. For instance, our tickets included passage on the boat but when we arrived at the boat around 4:30 we discovered that the person who gives us the boat tickets from Big Bus Tours left at 4pm. The only reason we were able to get on the boat was because I begged the person who takes the tickets at the dock. Also the app is not well designed and led to a lot of unnecessary running around (and I live here, I was only doing the tour to show my parents around who can t walk much). Whenever we ran into confusion, it was frustrating that there seemed to be no number to call to ask a human being to clarify/help. Felt a bit shady.

An easy way to waste your time stuck in the traffic around the city. This city is completely collapsed due traffic and it is much better just to walk with a good map of the tourist places.

Great idea to visit too bad the comments are sloppy and that the wait for the green line evening very long (20 min in the cold). The red and blue lines are fine but the green line is of no interest.

Horrible!! Pure deception! Too poorly organized, lacking information, too much traffic, a lot of time is lost. The audio does not work so you can not understand anything. Terrible!!
It is much better to know the city by subway.
I do not recommend this tour.

A practical ticket that allows access to the boat and buses but closing very early (I6h3O) and therefore inconvenient for tourists.

I liked a lot of beautiful guide beautiful photos, the only small flaw and that on Sunday certain roads are closed and can not do the complete tour but the same beautiful!

As a Traveler in London , I found big bus a good option to explore this beautiful city & its historical culture . hip on & hop off is a good way to check your choice of places .Guided tours with the option of language is a add on . Was lucky to get a good weather & got a seat on upper deck . made the whole experience worth remembering .

Loved our first visit on the Big Bus! When you're in london, you gotta check this out for sure

Horrible. Very disappointing. Very little commentary. More music than commentary. Infrequent buses and rude and dismissive employees. I waited 45 min for a bus while 6 buses from each other tour came by. Do not recommend. Would have given 0 stars if it were an option. City buses would have been a better option.

Would never dream of using any other way of seeing London. Good timetable with lots of different ways to see our glorious capital. Well worth getting the red route especially if Lewis is the guide, excellent knowledge with good humour thrown in what more could you ask for. We've been using Big Bus tours for almost 10 years and the experience we just had was the same as always second to none. Thank you again Big Bus for a truly great weekend

There are not many Hop On/Off Red Buses. Settled for the Blue and had to jump off and get a taxi to where we wanted to go since too much time wasted on the blue bus and we didn't want to get stuck since it was around 5 p.m. Not once did we see a red bus to hop onto. Very disappointed and not worth the money we paid for a family of 4.

Good sightseeing routes and audio commentary. Very nice boat ride incuded in orice. However on afteroons a little chaotic shedule at the end of the blue route. We have tried twice and never completed the Kensingtonpart. After 40 min.(16:30-17:10) waiting in the bus at Marble Arch we were informed that there is no time to finish blue route between Marble Arch and South Kensington. The situation repeated next afternoon.

Although it has an interesting service, the disrespect and disinterest in treating the customer well is HUGE and PREDOMINANT.

I bought a ticket for 2 days and immediately started using it, keeping with me the receipt they give and the digital receipt they send by email.
The next day, by mistake, the receipt was on the bus when I got off.

When calling the BigBus agent, I presented the proof of purchase the previous day with a validity of 2 days, he scanned with his reader and proved that it was valid and EVEN THEREFORE, HE PREVENTED me from using the transport because he is unable to print a new receipt , even if there was no access restriction, as the ticket information is not read by the driver. So, all he had to do was inform the driver that he had checked the documents that I presented.

It was impossible that the ticket had expired, as he saw that it had been purchased the day before and that it had already started to use.

I lost 72 euros (mine and my wife's) + 300 reais, for a mere case of not being able to reprint something that was already proven.

IT WAS BORING AND RIDICULOUS to see the lack of interest in treating the customer well.

Great if the traffic is ok, a little bit slow, so plan for an outdoor activity. Dress according to weather.

I purchased the ticket online for 2 days and I have received the confirmation by email.

On my first bus hop on, my email ticket was scanned and I never received the paper ticket.

While hopping in again on my second stop, I was told they need the paper ticket due to which I wasn't able to use my ticket at all.

Contacted Big bus customr service and haven't heard back from them.

In 2019, they are using paper tickets and dont have direct phone lines to help tourists who are usually in a new city for a short time.

They take advantage of that and as tourist loose their tickets they make more money because we then have to buy the ticket again.

All they could have done , was allowing me to use the service with my email confirmation or allow the bus drivers to reprint my ticket.

I recommend it if you visit London a few days is the best way to see much, but not in detail, in a short time. You can ride the ferry on the Tamesis River, the ride on the River is very nice and you see London from another perspective. It is also a way to save in transport because you can get on and off the bus as many times as you want, depending on the days you have bought ...

I had a wonderful tour yesterday in your beautiful city and we were blessed with wonderful weather.Our tour guide, Peter, was most charming and very informative his knowledge of the city was extraordinary and he made his facts and figures all so interesting and amusing. Thank you

Ideally, do the 2 day tour. In the first you travel all the routes without going down and in the second you go down in what most interested you the day before. A good way to go while they explain some of the culture of the place

Absolutely horrendous! We jumped on the bus at Westminster at midday, expecting to be back round in time to do The Eye after. After 2 and a half hours we were dropped in the middle of nowhere, told to get off the bus...no explaination. No More

Excellent for a global and fast view of the city.
Booked via the internet that saves you as well, either arrives directly with the QR code on the phone and at any of the stops on the way you will find the staff that scans your code and ticket at that point have fun all day getting on and off the bus in various points of attraction.

We found it practical, informative and very friendly. The tour should definitely be done once. We also did an extra tour on foot, which was really great.

This sightseeing tourism company is present in virtually all important European cities

It is very resourceful for someone new in London and sightseeing the places. Good job Big Bus!

Had a good time riding around the city and learning about the history. Comes with a boat ride, but there were not instructions on how to use it. I was hoping to catch a ride back on it, but apparently you need to get a separate ticket, and there are only certain locations you can get said ticket (they cannot do it on the bus). I was left stranded at the boat station with no way to get a ticket. This was a massive inconvenience.

Great services, great live guide on the bus(red line only). I definitely recommend!