London bus tours
 

Any preference from folks on the Big Bus Company vs. the Original London Sightseeing Tour. Visiting end of April but only have three days so taking one of them for a day seems to make sense. Thanks for any commments.

They offer different products. Big Bus is £20 for 48 hours, Original is £15 for 24 hours.

Robespierre's is £13.50 for 168 hours.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34535187

lol, Robespierre, thanks for the link, and so reasonable too! Do you take on-line bookings? ;) Will have a go through and see if it can be done without too many questions that can't be answered on our own. I read also that the Big Bus 48 hours is only valid until the end of March. Going in April so couldn't take advantage of that perk.

ttt for Daydreamer.

Thanks so much Starfish! :-)

I can't compare the two, as we only did the Original London Sightseeing Tour, but I will comment and say that we enjoyed the tour. We liked the commentary and saw some great sights. I think they are both probably pretty similar though, so you probably can't go wrong with either choice.

Have fun in London...its a great city!

Tracy

I was on the Original Tour two weeks ago. It is £18 ($31.50) and includes a 40 minute river cruise. You can order the ticket on line for £16.50. Without the river cruise I would not have been happy for the price. I enjoyed the cruise a lot but it was not possible to hear what was being said on the boat (bad sound system).

It is nice to see the sights from the upper level. I think to get the best value one should have a plan and hop off at the furthest place you want to see. We started at 11:00 am so were able to use it the next morining to go the the Tower of London. The last bus was at 6:00 PM. Not to start but to get back.

Robespierre has a great plan. I would have done that but was outvoted.

Thanks Tracy and gomiki. As you say, I'm sure one can't go wrong with either one. Appreciate your feedback and tips!

Daydreamer, in case you are still tracking this post, following are comments from a fellow Fodorite that might help. This was part of Robespierre's link. Sounds like they had done both the Big Bus and Original Tour.

"Though pricey, we also love the Original Tour but the yellow route with the LIVE commentary, which is informative and often quite hilarious. On a nice day, there is no better way to enjoy the fantastic scenery and architecture all about than from seat on the open air upper deck. Great photo ops too. We've found the commentary on the Original Tour far superior to the Big Bus, and the OT buses run more frequently on all the routes.

If you start your "tour" mid-day or late morning, and take the last Thames cruise, you can get on again early the next day and do some more riding around, so long as you board before your 24 hours has expired."

If you get ON before your 24 hours expires, you can ride until sundown as long as you don't get off. So theoretically (and here I envision <i>The Motorman's Friend</i> from <u>Semi-Tough</u>), you can ride for about 36 hours, taking in the sunshine (skin cancer) and fresh air (airborne pollutants) from the top deck.

Yes, the yellow route is best. Quite amusing. As far as the photo ops, on my rides the bus was moving at the best sites or the shot was blocked by something.

Looks like the big bus company has dropped their time frame to 24 hours as well. Too bad, I think I'll go with the OG london tour...or investigate Robespierre plan some more.