A whole city goes past the window. You just pick the seat.
Which 48-hour pass covers the stops you actually want. What the open-top loop costs in Rome against Paris. Whether the coach to Mount Fuji beats the train. Reviews of the bus and coach tours worth boarding.
Rome by open-top, Fuji by coach, the Dutch windmills, the Icelandic dark.
Four rides in four corners of the world that show what a bus ticket actually buys. What each one costs, and what the people in the seats said afterwards.
01The cheap classicCity Sightseeing Hop-on Hop-off Bus with AudioguideA day on the Rome loop costs less than two metro tickets, and the Colosseum stop puts you at the gate.
02The long haulMt Fuji and Hakone 1-Day Bus Tour Return by Bullet TrainOut of Tokyo before breakfast, Fuji’s fifth station by lunch, home on the bullet train. One coach, one day, no driving.
03The country runZaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam & Marken Bus TourWindmills, a cheese farm and two fishing harbours in an afternoon. The classic case for letting somebody else navigate.
04The night chaseNorthern Lights Bus Tour with Hot CocoaA coach that drives away from Reykjavik’s glow until the sky clears. Cancelled on cloud, rebooked free.
In the United States the bus is how you reach the thing you came for.
Distances here defeat walking and parking defeats driving. Three kinds of American bus day, what it costs to board each one, and where the route actually goes.
Hop-on hop-off is the fastest way to learn a city’s shape.
Board once, drop off at whatever looks good, climb back on when you have had enough. The three loops more travellers ride than any others, and the countries where the route is genuinely well drawn.
Six cities where the bus beats the metro.
Decks that sit above the traffic, stops at the door of the thing you came for, and a commentary track worth the headphones. Six cities, and the ride to take in each.
The bus tours more travellers board than any others.
The full catalogue →These are the seats that sell out first, and the thing each one gets right.
1
Mt Fuji and Hakone 1-Day Bus Tour Return by Bullet Train
This full-day Tokyo outing combines Mt. Fuji’s 5th Station, a buffet lunch, the Hakone Ropeway, a Lake Ashi cruise, and a Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo. An English-speaking guide such as Sora, Hiro, Momo, or Levin leads the day, with audio guidance in several languages. It suits first-time visitors who want many major sights in one organized trip.
Tickets from $163
Read our review →
2
24 or 48-Hour Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
from $39
3
Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter Tour & Branded Bus
from $151
4
City Sightseeing Hop-on Hop-off Bus with Audioguide
from $15
5
Tootbus Hop-on Hop-off (Optional River Cruise)
from $43
6
Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam & Marken Bus Tour
from $32
7
1-Day Tokyo Bus Tour
from $129
8
Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoa
from $74
Three things that can only happen on a bus.
A loop round a city is one thing. A 1960s Routemaster with a tea tray on your knees, or a hearse-black double-decker with an actor in the aisle, is another.
The Routemaster Run
London retired the Routemaster from normal service in 2005, and the survivors went straight into sightseeing work. The open platform at the back, the conductor’s bell, the half-cab and the crash gearbox are all still there, which is why the drivers are specialists. Edinburgh, Dublin and Valletta run their own fleets of the same vintage, and every one of them is slower than the modern loop on purpose.
- 1Guided Sightseeing Tour on a Vintage Open-Top Bus★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · from $40
- 2Afternoon Tea Vintage Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · from $65
- 3London Christmas Lights Tour by Vintage Bus Open Top★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · from $37
The Comedy Horror Bus
York and Edinburgh both run a black double-decker with blacked-out windows, a coffin-shaped interior and a professional actor working the aisle for ninety minutes. It is theatre that happens to move: the route matters less than the script, the jump scares are staged, and the bus parks outside the sites rather than stopping at them. Book the late slot, because the joke lands better in the dark.
- 1Comedy Horror Ghost Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · from $28
- 2Comedy Horror Show: York Ghost Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · from $26
- 3Ghost Bus Tour of Edinburgh★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · from $24
Scones at Fifteen Miles an Hour
Somebody in London worked out that a double-decker with the seats pulled out and tables bolted in could serve a full afternoon tea while doing the tourist circuit, and Dublin, Edinburgh and Valletta all copied it within a few years. Scones and sandwiches come on a tiered stand, the pouring happens at traffic lights, and the route is timed to the length of the menu.
- 1Afternoon Tea Bus Tour in Dublin★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · from $72
- 2Afternoon Tea Bus Tour – 1960s Routemaster Bus★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · from $87
- 3Afternoon Tea Bus with a Glass of Prosecco★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · from $64
Four things a bus ticket does not tell you.
Most of this can be sorted on the morning. These four run on clocks, weather and seasons that take no interest in when you turn up.
- 0124 or 48-Hour Hop-On Hop-Off Bus TourA 24-hour pass is counted in hours from your first scan, not by calendar day. Board late in the afternoon and you have paid for a morning you will never use.
- 02Big Bus Hop-on, Hop-off Open-Top Sightseeing TourThe top deck is open to the sky, and that is the whole point of the ticket. In rain everybody moves downstairs, where the window does the sightseeing for you.
- 03Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot CocoaThese run on the dark half of the year and on a clear forecast. Operators cancel and rebook on cloud, so keep a spare night in the trip rather than the last one.
- 04Afternoon Tea Bus Tour in DublinOne or two sittings a day, a fixed boarding time and a set table. There is no later bus, and the kitchen has already counted the scones.
What a bus tour costs, top deck to tailgate.
Every ride on the site grouped by price. The cheapest city loops undercut the metro day pass they replace.
City loops, trolley passes, night circuits and the short runs out of town.
Full-day coaches, distillery runs, aurora chases and the tea buses.
- 11-Day Tokyo Bus Tourfrom $129
- 2Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoafrom $74
- 3PERFECT KYOTO 1-Day Bus Tourfrom $129
Long-haul coach days: Fuji, the Grand Canyon, the Great Ocean Road.
The day the coach leaves the city behind.
Windmills an hour out of Amsterdam, a volcano out of Tokyo, limestone stacks down the Victorian coast. The day trip is the one bus ride that is about where it stops rather than what it passes, and the driving is the part you are paying to skip.
- 1Mt Fuji and Hakone 1-Day Bus Tour Return by Bullet Trainfrom $163
- 21-Day Tokyo Bus Tourfrom $129
- 3PERFECT KYOTO 1-Day Bus Tourfrom $129
The six loops almost everybody rides at least once.
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