Big Bus Tours

I purchased a Discover ticket, via Wowcher, valid for one day, which included the bus routes and a one-way boat cruise. I went solo and boarded the red route bus at stop one, Green Park station on Piccadilly. This was very simple to find. I spoke with a really friendly, helpful young man, who helped me exchange my Wowcher voucher for the bus and cruise ticket. I did wait about 20-30 minutes for the bus, but it was a beautiful day, I personally didn't find this a hardship. I was fortunate and managed to bag one of the few seats left on the upper deck, right at the back, in the corner. This would have been exactly my seat of choice! I planned to stay put for the entire route, so I made myself comfortable. I was provided with free, hygiene sealed in-ear headphones, to plug into the seat-back audio devices, to listen to the pre-recorded commentary. I thought this was excellent! Presented in a fun, engaging manner, clear, relevant and informative. It was also plenty loud enough and the headphones mostly stayed put! To ride the entire red route on a warm, sunny Friday in London took around 3½ hours. This was fine for me, I wasn't using it as transportation (you need the tube for that!) but as a relaxed sightseeing experience, which is exactly what the tour delivered. On returning to Green Park, I hopped on the tube (Victoria then District line) to Tower Hill, to get the included cruise, down to Westminster. Sadly, on arrival at the pier, I was informed that the next two services had been cancelled, due to a broken down boat. It would have been a 2-hour wait for the next functioning service (also the final one, I believe). This was incredibly disappointing and an unfortunate end to a fabulous day. I will be contacting Big Bus Tours about this... I decided to jump on an Uber Boat (Thames Clipper) instead. Whilst probably not as relaxed and 'cruise' orientated as the Big Bus/City Cruises offering, I got myself a lovely spot on the outer deck and still managed to enjoy the river views I'd hoped for. All in all, I had such a lovely day and would recommend, especially if you have plenty of time and want to get a pretty unique viewpoint of some of the most popular areas of London's West End and the City. And, in my opinion, going solo was great! I just focused on the views and the commentary.

· via Google

The Big Bus Tours were a fabulous way to see London during the day and night! The audio guide pointed out points of interest and gave so much wonderful information. This was a fabulous way to get a broad view of the city and help you navigate to explore the city! Would highly recommend!

· via Google

Overall, it was really cool getting to ride on top of the bus and see London from that perspective. The views were great and it was an interesting way to see a lot of the city. However, there were major wait times at some stops just to get back on the bus, and you’re still dealing with London traffic the whole time. The tickets were also pretty expensive, and honestly I think using public transportation would’ve been both cheaper and faster. Overall, it was a fun experience to try once, but I don’t think it was fully worth the cost.

· via Google

Wonderful was to see the city. We spent 2 full hours out and about on the bus. We enjoyed the sights but there was no sound. It’s not really a tour without that. Otherwise it was a good opportunity to sight see and get a feel for the city. I don’t know how they fit those buses down these narrow roads but they did well.

· via Google