A bus ticket is the cheapest way into a city. Here is which one to board.
What a 24-hour pass really covers, whether the top deck is worth it out of season, and which coach day trips justify the seven o’clock start. Reviews of bus and coach tours in a hundred countries.
Three loops travellers board more than any others.
Four bus days that do the work a hire car would.
A combined ticket in London, a countryside run out of Amsterdam, a night drive from Reykjavik and twelve hours to the Grand Canyon. What each costs and how long it takes.
01The combined ticketLondon Eye, River Cruise, & Hop-on Hop-off Bus TourOpen-top bus, river boat and the Eye on one purchase, spread over two days. The bus stop and the pier are the same walk.
02The countryside runZaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam & Marken Bus TourWindmills at Zaanse Schans, then Edam, Volendam and Marken, back in Amsterdam inside eight hours. Nobody has to drive.
03The night driveNorthern Lights Bus Tour with Hot CocoaA coach leaves Reykjavik when the cloud forecast breaks and drives until the sky is worth stopping for. Four hours, hot cocoa, no streetlights.
04The desert runGrand Canyon West Bus Tour with Hoover Dam and Optional SkywalkTwelve hours from Las Vegas for Grand Canyon West and the Hoover Dam, with the Skywalk as an add-on. The driver takes the desert road; you take the window seat.
Six countries where a bus ticket is the first thing to buy.
America runs on trolleys and open-top loops, Britain on double-deckers, Italy on red City Sightseeing paint. Six countries, and the strongest bus day in each.
A hop-on hop-off pass is only cheap if you actually get off.
Twenty-four hours, forty-eight, seventy-two: the clock starts at the first scan, not when you wake up. The three below sell more seats than any other loop on earth, and each one puts you within a walk of the sights a taxi would charge you for.
Open top, glass roof or wooden bench: the bus decides the day.
Every open-top deck →
The route is usually the same whichever ticket you buy. What changes is what you sit in, and that is what you will remember, in either direction.
The open top deck
The front seats upstairs are the reason the queue forms early. There is no cover, the wind is real at speed, and a cold grey afternoon turns the best seat on the bus into the worst one.
The guided city run
A fixed loop with a live guide or a glass roof over your head, no getting off and on. Better value if you only want the commentary, and the only sensible choice in weather.
The trolley
Wooden benches, open sides, a bell and a driver who narrates. Savannah, Boston, Nashville and Honolulu all run them, and the stops sit closer together than a double-decker loop.
America splits its bus tours three ways. Pick the one your city runs.
A trolley in Savannah, an open-top double-decker in New York, a full-day coach out of Las Vegas. The vehicle sets the price and the pace, so start there rather than with the city.
The bus and coach tours travellers book most.
Every bus tour review →The loops and long days that fill first, from a $22 pass in Rome to a full day at the foot of Mount Fuji.
1
Mt Fuji and Hakone 1-Day Bus Tour Return by Bullet Train
See Mt. Fuji, Hakone, Lake Ashi, and the Ropeway in one packed day from Tokyo, then return by bullet train.
From · $163
Read our review →
2
24 or 48-Hour Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
from $39
3
City Sightseeing Hop-on Hop-off Bus with Audioguide
from $15
4
Tootbus Hop-on Hop-off (Optional River Cruise)
from $43
5
Zaanse Schans, Edam, Volendam & Marken Bus Tour
from $32
6
1-Day Tokyo Bus Tour
from $129
7
Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoa
from $74
8
PERFECT KYOTO 1-Day Bus Tour
from $129
What a bus tour costs, from a city pass to a private coach.
Grouped by what one seat costs. City loops sit in the bottom band and the price climbs with the miles, not with the comfort.
City loops, trolley passes, panoramic night runs and the short hops out of the terminal.
Full-day coach trips, tea buses, distillery runs and the aurora chases.
- 11-Day Tokyo Bus Tourfrom $129
- 2Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoafrom $74
- 3PERFECT KYOTO 1-Day Bus Tourfrom $129
Long-haul day tours, private coaches and the mountain days out of Tokyo.
No city sells more bus tours than London, day or night.
Two rival loops cover the same landmarks for much the same money, the Christmas lights run exists for about six weeks a year, and afternoon tea is poured on a moving Routemaster. If you only take one, take the night tour.
Every London bus tour →
Three bus tours that could not happen in any other vehicle.
Tea poured on a moving top deck, a horror show performed in the aisle, and a coach that drives away from the streetlights until the sky turns green.
Tea on the Top Deck
A restored Routemaster does a slow circuit of the landmarks while a tiered stand of sandwiches and scones somehow stays upright on the table in front of you. Seats are booked by the sitting, the route is fixed, and the tea is poured while the bus is moving, which is the whole trick. London and Dublin both run one; London has the older bus.
- 1Afternoon Tea Bus Tour in Dublin★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,791 reviews
- 2Afternoon Tea Bus Tour – 1960s Routemaster Bus★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,032 reviews
- 3Afternoon Tea Bus with a Glass of Prosecco★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 1,853 reviews
The Blacked-Out Decker
A black double-decker with the windows blacked out, a conductor who never breaks character and a script that treats the city as a crime scene. It runs after dark, the jokes land harder than the scares, and whoever sits at the back gets picked on. York and Edinburgh have the long-running ones.
- 1Comedy Horror Ghost Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,932 reviews
- 2Comedy Horror Show: York Ghost Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,032 reviews
- 3Ghost Bus Tour of Edinburgh★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,761 reviews
The Aurora Coach
The driver reads the cloud forecast at lunchtime and picks a lay-by an hour out of town where nothing is lit. Everybody stands in the cold for as long as the sky is worth watching, then the coach drives home. Nothing is promised, which is why the trip runs on the forecast and not the calendar.
- 1Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoa★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 13,947 reviews
- 2Northern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavik with Hot Chocolate★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,782 reviews
- 3Northern Lights Bus Tour with Free Photography★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,642 reviews
Four bus tours that sell out before you land.
Most city loops can be bought at the kerb on the morning. These four run on short seasons, small buses and departure lists that fill weeks ahead.
- 01Christmas Lights Bus Tour With Live GuideThe route only exists for a few weeks around December, on a bus with a fixed seat count and one departure a night.
- 02Afternoon Tea Bus Tour in DublinOne table per booking on a bus that holds about a dozen of them. The weekend sittings go first.
- 03Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot CocoaIt runs on winter darkness and a clear forecast, so the good nights are claimed long before they arrive.
- 04Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter Tour with TransfersStudio entry is timed, and the coach transfer is sold against those slots rather than the other way round.
What a bus ticket does not tell you until you are on board.
The clock starts at the first scan, not at midnight. The last bus of the day leaves earlier than the timetable implies once traffic is in it. The top deck is open, which is glorious in May and punishing in November. And an audio guide is only as good as the seat you plug it in at.
By city — where the loops run
Six cities where the open-top loop is still the fastest way in.
Rome
BarcelonaWhen the coach leaves the city: bus day trips worth the early start.
Somebody else drives, the stops are timed, and you are back for dinner. Toledo out of Madrid, the Great Wall out of Beijing, Hobbiton out of Auckland, Mount Fuji out of Tokyo Station. The ones that work are the ones where driving yourself would have ruined the day.
- 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 bus tours added most recently.
More new arrivals →
All About the Fjords, in one tour by bus & boat from Ålesund
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Alany: Mix Tour Cabrio Bus Safari, Boat Tour with Lunch
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Alanya: Sapadere Canyon by Cabrio Bus w/ Cave & Lunch
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Ålesund to Geiranger Fjord Boat Tour with Return Bus Tour
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Alcudia: ALCUDIA City TOUR Open Top Bus, open-top bus tour
Read our review →
Al Madinah: City Sightseeing Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
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Aurora Bus Tour with Snacks, Photos, and Drinks
Read our review →
City Bus Tour with Downtown or Miami Beach Pickup
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7 Day Bus Pass: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Takayama, Kyoto and More
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