ktyson

There are quite a few attractions that this tour stops at that I want to see. But what I'm wondering is if this is worth it or am I better off taking the tube or bus to the sites I want to see. Is this big red bus reliable? Is it fun?

Thanks

tod

We have been to London about 10 times now and take the "Open Top" bus tour every other visit simply because it is such great fun! (in sunny or even overcast weather ). We usually stay on the bus throughout the whole trip and then catch a tube to the places we found interesting. It is a very good way to be introduced to London.
I am not sure what you mean by reliable, as there isn't just ONE bus but many buses coming along every 30 minutes or so. Could be sooner-can't remember. Also, there is another bus company also doing the same tour thing.
You may want to take the bus called a "FROG" or something similar, which becomes a boat and travels on the Thames. We have never done it but it looks like an interesting fun thing to do.

janis

"Is this big red bus reliable?" - well you can't rely on a specific timetable/schedule.

But if you mean will you get stranded somewhere - no. For a first time visitor the tours (either Big Bus or The Original - they are totally comparable) are a very good idea. taking the tube really gives you no sense of the geography, distances etc. Plus you can't see anything while underground.

You could take regular local buses - but then you don't get the commentary and they are meant for local travelers so won't hit nearly as many of the major sites w/o changing routes several times.

So I'd recommend you take the Big or Original (if the weather is nice) and after you have an idea of what's where you can take the tube/buses for the rest of your stay.

chepar

I agree that these bus tours are great for getting "the lay of the land", so to speak - and the commentaries (the live ones) are quite enjoyable.

Another consideration is that the tickets for these buses are rather expensive if you use it for transport to the attractions - I recall my ticket was in the neighborhood of 13 GBP for a 24 hour period. I wouldn't get off the bus to visit the Tower of London, for example, if the time it took to visit it prohibited you from being able to ride the bus for the rest of the route.


We used our ticket to ride the various routes the bus tour had to get an idea of the city, then later took the tube to places we wanted to visit.

Robespierre

See also:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34535187

LAwoman

I've heard that the Original London Bus is the one with live commentary and the Big Red Bus has taped commentary. I don't know if this is true, but have only taken Original for this reason. Both times commentary was live, and very entertaining.

I like to do this when we first get into town and are jet lagged.

Grasshopper

The Big Bus Tour is live other than the "blue" route which is taped. There are 3 routes. This is a great thing to do when you're jet lagged. We always use the last little bit of our 24 hour ticket the second day to get to our destination of the day.