oriole1251

Hello friendly people. My wife and I are planning our 1st Europe 20 day independent trip.My question is are those hop-on hop-off tour buses worth using.Places we are visiting are Madrid,Paris,Venice and Rome. Any suggestion would help. Thanks

nytraveler

I personally don;t think they are worth the money.

But if you want to do one understand what it is. It is NOT transportation (it's way too expensive and runs too infrequently). It's not a tour (since you don;t go inside anything).

If you want a simple geographic overview of a city and to see the outside of some sights - that you will return and see inside on another day - it works.

Otherwise save your money - and walk or use the subway/public buses.

StCirq

I actually have enjoyed the one in London on the day of arrival, probably because it's such a huge city and you get a sense of how it's laid out. The commentators/actors can be very funny, too. But that's not on your list.

Did one in Rome and thought it was a waste of my time. Never did one in Paris - didn't need to. Didn't do one in Madrid, either

There are H-O-H-O buses in VENICE??

ellenem

Yes, there is a new HOHO vaporetto. For me it would not be worth it. Here's the detailed description on the Living Venice blog:

http://livingveniceblog.com/2012/05/...nice-waterbus/

illnative

We have used the ones in Paris, Rome, London and Madrid. We use them on our first day in each city - to get an overview. They are expensive, but I think worth it on your first day. We would always ride each route, front to end with our own map in front of us so we understood where we were, etc - marking places we were planning on seeing and new places we hadn't thought about. I would say the one in Rome was the least worth it - as the busses didn't run very frequently. Paris was probably the best, followed by London and then Madrid.

Tentek

In paris, you can do Batobus HOHO boat combined withthe bus. We didn't do the bus but we liked the boat.

stracciatella

Best one is in Barcelona.

nukesafe

If you want a lower cost alternative to the Ho-Ho, we used Foxity http://www.foxity.com/en/foxity-concept to orient our newbie companions to Paris on our first day. It worked out very well to give them an overview of the city layout and to see the outside of something like 50 of the most iconic sites.

It only takes an hour and a half, and you don't get off, but you get a lot of info from the recorded spiel. The things you see that interest you can be visited on your schedule later by public transport.

It only costs €16, and kids are free. I have not used the Ho-Ho, so don't know how the prices compare, but I do know that if you are using Ho-Ho for transport you could do a lot better using the Metro and buses.

gh21

Another vote for Foxity in Paris. As the previous post said, it's not HOHO but a good overview of the city on your day of arrival.

tarheeltravler

I've only used it in Dublin, it was great! Especially for a city you aren't familiar with.

Tentek

I did a similar to Foxity bus tour in Brussels because it was only €12 and it was raining. Gave me a great overview of the city. Maybe, that's why I like it so much, unlike other Fodorites.

amer_can

We have done HOHO in Paris (good) combined with Batobus. London (not good..grid lock) but the boat part was much better and the water view of all the cities is great!! Madrid(2 1/2 days) one ticket pm one day and am next. Dublin (great), Lisbon (great),Vancouver (great)San Fransisco(great) Have never been disappointed except london as stated above but what can you do about traffic? Barcelona (good). Istanbul (great). We do the trips on the arrival day or the next and get an idea of what to see and routes to follow. know nothing about Foxity. HOHO is about 19/20 Euros or was this last year and we elt it was a good deal. will do them again anytime we can.

golfernz1

I have used them in Paris and Rome. They are great except that in the heavy traffic of both cities they can be very slow. So much so that in both places I eventually 'gave up and got off' and took the metro directly to the places I wanted to see. One was the Trevi fountain, I took the metro from the central station and got off at the closest stop, walked to the fountain. Go very early in the morning before the hordes of tourists arrive, it is far more enjoyable then. From there I walked to other interests and probably enjoyed it far more than being on the bus, discovering other interesting places like small galleries and churches along the way. In Paris I just found the route of the hop on hop off bus far too slow and getting around Paris by metro is so easy and quick. Study the metro map before you go and work out a route for the places you want to see. Take a cruise on the Seine instead of the bus, it's a real delight. You can book on the internet and save yourself some money. Have a great time.

oriole1251

Thank you all for ur wonderful replys. This will come in handy.

chapla

In Rome we loved the Archeobus! It takes you around the main spots in Rome and then heads out to the catacombs-worth every minute!
In Madrid the bus covers 2 routes.The modern Madrid one is not that interesting unless you want to see all the skyscrapers and the soccer stadium Bernabeu.
Madrid looks wonderful lit up at night from the top deck of the bus!