During
your visit to London, one of the recurring sights are the hop on,
hop off tour buses. Especially in the summer months there seems to
be one coming along every couple of minutes, each jam packed with
visitors.
Their obvious popularity speaks volumes for the convenience of the
concept. These buses are a simple way for visitors to get orientated
on your first day and visit all the main tourist attractions. |
If you're
staying more than a couple of days then you should be confident enough
to get around using London's excellent public transport.
By the HOHO (hop on hop off) buses are a great way to get introduced
to London.
There are two major operators of the HOHO buses, the Original London
Tour and Big Bus.
Each offers a similar product, this page aims to enable you to identify
if one is more suited to your needs than the other
|
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Price
Price is not a great differentiator, as you can imagine as they offer
such a similar product neither Big Bus or Original London Tour allows
each other to be substantially undercut. |
| Discounted
Ticketing |
| Original
London Tour |
Big
Bus |
Adult
£22.00 (public price £24.00)
Children* £10.00
(public price £12.00)
2 Adults + 3 Children* £69.00
* Children (5-15 years old)
Original
London Tour Tickets Click Here
|
Adult
£21.60 (public price £24.00)
Children* £9.00 (public
price £10.00)
* Children (5-15 years old)
Big
Bus Tickets Click Here |
Operating
Times & Frequencies
The Original Tour's two main sightseeing tours operate between 08:30
and 17:30 to 18:00 with frequencies between 5 and 15 minutes depending
on season.
The Museum Link service operates similar times but is less frequent,
every 30 minutes.
The Big Bus two main sightseeing tours operate between 08:30 and 18:00
(16:30 in Winter) with frequencies between 5 and 20 minutes depending
on season.
The Museum/Connector service operates similar times but is less frequent,
every 30 minutes.
Routes & Coverage (Including Hotel Districts)
Both the Original London Tour and Big Bus Tour have two main sightseeing
routes that cover all the main sights in Central London and largely
duplicate themselves in terms of places visited.
Both have a 'lesser' route that services the British Museum. The Big
Bus just has a very short feeder route called the Green Link that
shuttles between Trafalgar Square and the British Museum/Bloomsbury.
The Original Tour has a Museum Tour equivalent that is much longer
and carries on from the Trafalgar Square/Piccadilly Circus area out
to the South Kensington Museums and Knightsbridge, (for Harrods).
The Big Bus still goes to South Kensington and Knightsbridge but is
served by one of their mainstream sightseeing routes (the blue route).
The big difference for coverage is if you have your hotel accommodation
in the Gloucester Road or Kensington High Street area of Kensington
or the Paddington/Bayswater area. The Big Bus Blue route, one of its
main sightseeing routes visits these whilst the Original London Tour
doesn't.
Guiding
& Commentary
Both the Original London Tour and Big Bus Tour have a main sightseeing
route with live commentary in English. This is the Yellow Tour for
Original London Tour and the Red Tour for Big Bus.
On the other main sightseeing route both companies use recorded commentary
in many languages.
The Original London Tour has English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian,
German and Japanese
Big Bus has English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,
Japanese and Russian commentaries.
The Original London Tour also has a special commentary loop aimed
at kids, (in English)
Vehicles
Both companies use very similar buses.
Free
Walking Tours & River Cruises
Both companies offer walking tours and river cruises included in the
ticket. Both offer three walking tours spread through the day which
have almost identical themes.
The river cruise is identical, both companies outsource this component
to the same company.
Other
Extras
Both companies will sell you tickets to some of the attractions along
the way, (the list is not extensive but is slightly different between
companies).
The Original London Tour has a 'kids club'. Every child gets a 'passport'
to London and a free fun pack with activity/quiz book. A commentary
specially designed for children is available on the red route.
Big Bus offers a 'Big Bus Bonus Card' with a very limited range of
discounts and extras at restaurants. |
| London
Duck Tour - Amphibious Tour Of London By Road & River |
| An
exciting road and river adventure appealing to visitors of all ages.
In
an amphibious vehicle you will pass famous London landmarks such
as Big Ben, The House of Parliament and Trafalgar Square before
a dramatic launch into the Thames from out slipway at Vauxhall for
the water borne part of the 80 minute tour.
|
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| London
Duck Tour - More Information |
|
