pre-purchase tickets forHop on hop off buses
 

I need some advice for pre-purchasing hop on hop off bus tickets.

Is it cheaper to purchase these on line before arrival to the city, or is the cost the same?

We plan to pre-purchase for: Berlin, Paris, Seville and Barcelona.

Is this a good idea?
Thanks for all the advice.

There are several HoHo bus companies in Berlin and costs are typically in the same bracket of €15-18.
Some offer a small discount for booking online, but it's more like saving one or two euros.
Not exactly worth the hassle to book in advance IMO, esp. as also regular public transit/buses take you to whatever sights you want to see... for less than half the costs for a day pass.

Personally, bad idea for Paris and Seville at least.

Seville is smallish and easily walkable. Stay at a hotel near the center.

The bus through Paris is boring. Better to pick out a couple more things you want to see and really see them. Metro is easy and goes to every major site.

Barcelona depends on the price, timing and if you can get off to see the things you want to see. We mapped out sights, took a taxi to the one furtherest away, walked in between, and a taxi back to the hotel.

Berlin I am not familiar with. It would depend on traffic and what other public transportation is available. If it is anything like London or Rome, I would certainly not do it.

In general, HOHO busses have not worked for me: often costly and often stuck in traffic between stops, and sometimes it is just driving by places rather than actually seeing things.

Thanks for the advice. I think that we will skip the ho ho buses.

I think HoHos are a bad idea overall - never mind buying them in advance. Why buy advance tickets for a day that may be rainy or otherwise unpleasant - and you can see little?

Also - they don;t work as transit and for touring are often stuck in traffic.

IMHO much better to just head straight for the places you want to see - and see areas of the city via foot or regular public bus. (We typically do subway/equivalent for transport for distances too far to walk.)

A decent walking tour is the best way to discover a city, rather than a boring hoho tour. Read the reviews on Trip Advisor and see where the hoho buses rate. Usually coming in last as the worst tours to go on. Complete waste of money unless it is horribly bad weather or someone can't walk for a couple of hours.

Recommendation for Berlin is Insider Tours. Have gone on 5 of their tours, and loved all of them.

Although I agree that a HOHO bus doesn't capture the spirit of a city as walking does, I really liked the HOHO tour in Paris. Paris is huge and it gave me a good idea what some areas looked like. Personally, I'd recommend it as a great way to get your bearings and then walk through the more interesting places.

Having said that, I usually stay in a city 3-4 days and, after getting my bearings after the first 1.5 days with the HOHO bus, I generally walk the rest.

I am not opposed to hoho buses in principle, but like nytraveler, I think people book far too much stuff in advance without considering the effect of weather.

I don't agree with the advice about Seville. It's not THAT small a city, the bus was very useful for me a few months ago, it isn't that feasible to walk from Santa Cruz to the far end of Maria Luisa PArque (where the archeological museum is), and then across the river into Triana and the olmypic park area (I really enjoyed the naval museum right on that river) and then across the river again, etc. Seville is really not that small, I can't imagine doing that in one day on foot, but I did on that bus. Besides, I enjoyed the views, it was very pleasant.

I don't see any reason why you'd buy it in advance, I think you should do it when you are in the mood when there.