The Original London Sightseeing Tour
Hop On , Hop Off Open Top Double Deck Sightseeing Bus
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Forty years ago the company who ran London's red buses decided to put on a special double deck bus on a circuit of London's main attractions. This original idea has now snowballed in popularity to a point where every visitor to London seems to use the tours.
All tours are included in one ticket which lasts for a 24 hour period.
Like its arch rival, Big Bus, Original London Tour offers two main sightseeing routes that cover all the main sights in Central London augmented by a feeder service that shuttles out to the British Museum and Bloomsbury not on the main routes.
As well as the bus tours, free walks and river cruises on the River Thames are also included in the ticket. There is a kids club who get their own commentary and activity book.
Key Points of Original London Tour
- Tickets valid for 24 hours
- FREE Walking Tours! (Three of them)
- FREE Thames River Cruise
- Hop-on and hop-off service with stops at all the attractions
- English live guides + Audio guides (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Japanese & Kids' Channel.)
Original London Main Departure Points
Start your tour from one of the main departure points, where you will find helpful staff ready to assist you.
Trafalgar Square - Original London Tour's own visitor centre
Russell Square - Woburn Place (front of Royal National Hotel)
Piccadilly Circus / Leicester Square - Haymarket & Rupert Street
Victoria Station - Buckingham Palace Road, by Grosvenor Victoria Hotel
Marble Arch - on Park Lane, subway exit 3 'Speakers Corner' & Marble Arch station
| London Transport Getting Around |
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Public Transport Within London |
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Public Transport to/From London |
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London Airport Transfers |
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Cruise Port Transfers |
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Hop On Sightseeing Buses |
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London Tours |
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Tours Out Of London |
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Original London Tour Bus Routes
Tour Map |
Your ticket covers all the routes on the Original London Tour network in London. You can switch from one to another route as you please.
There are two core routes, The T2 (Red Route) and the T1 (Yellow Route) that cover all the main places of interest in London and to a large part duplicate one another. The Yellow Tour has a live commentary, (only in English). The Red route has multi- lingual commentaries via headphones.
Tours Of |
Open Top Bus |
Other Tours |
| Coach Tours |
The Red Tour (T2) 2 Hours 15 mins - Every 5- 15 minutes
This tour is highly recommended for overseas visitors not comfortable with English. It covers the best of London's sights with an informative commentary in a choice of languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian). The route is very similar to the Yellow Route but has an extra section going up to Madame Tussaud's, Baker Street and Regent Street.
Main attractions passed : Madame Tussaud's, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, The National Gallery, Downing Street, Big Ben, London Bridge, St.Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London & Westminster Abbey.
The Yellow Tour (T1) 2 Hours 15 mins - Every 5-15 minutes
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The Yellow Route takes you to the best of London's sights with an entertaining and informative commentary in English.
Main attractions: Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, The National Gallery, Downing Street, Big Ben, London Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London & Westminster Abbey.
Museum Tour (Blue Route) 2 Hours - Every 15 minutes
The Museum Tour (T4) Route) gives you easy access to many of London's top Museums, shops and attractions. It runs between 08:15am and 5:15pm every 15 minutes and uses audio guides for commentary. The tour also acts as a hotel feeder service to the Yellow and Red routes covering the South Kensington, Gloucester Road, Kensington High Street, Knightsbridge and Bloomsbury/Euston hotel districts.
Main attractions: Kensington Palace, Baden-Powell House, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Brompton Oratory, Harrods, Knightsbridge, Harvey Nichols, Hyde Park, Ritz Hotel, Piccadilly Circus, Shaftesbury Avenue, British Museum, Russell Square, Wellington Museum, Royal Albert Hall, Albert Memorial, Kensington High Street & the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.
Free River Cruise With City Cruises
Enjoy a complimentary river cruise courtesy of The Original Tour.
City Cruises is pleased to offer customers of The Original Tour a FREE cruise on the River Thames. You collect your free pass from a member of The Original Tour staff, present it to the City Cruises ticket office at the boarding pier of your choice and you're on board. City Cruises depart from Westminster (Big Ben), Waterloo (London Eye), Tower of London and Greenwich Piers.
Free Walking Tours
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THE ORIGINAL CHANGING OF THE GUARD WALK
Departs daily at 10.30 from The Original London Visitor Centre. See Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and the regiments that guard them in this exciting walk as you march alongside the guards at Buckingham Palace.
LONDON ROCK N Roll WALK
Departs daily at 13.00 from The Original London Visitor Centre. The Beatles on a roof top, The Rolling Stones recording their first album, where David Bowie recorded, The Sex Pistol's first gig - its only Rock 'n' Roll and I like it!
THE ORIGINAL JACK THE RIPPER WALK
Departs daily at 15.30 from The Original Tour stop at Tower of London on Tower Hill. Walk in the footsteps of the world's most infamous serial killer as we reveal his murderous tale from the streets of Whitechapel in 1888.

| Comparing London's Open Top Tours | ||||
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Tour |
Ticket Price Adult (Child) |
Walking Tours |
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3 hrs* |
24 hrs |
48 hrs |
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£24.50 |
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Changing of Guard Walk, |
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£29 |
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Royal London Walk, |
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£18 |
£23 |
£27 |
Diamond Jubilee Walk, |
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* Not hop-on, hop Off. AUDIO TOUR LANGUAGES Original London Tour - English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Japanese & Kids' Channel. Big Bus - English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Russian Panorama - English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese |
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