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Hop-on hop-off open top double deck sightseeing bus tour of London
Tootbus offers a range of tours to see London from the top deck
Tootbus (The Original Tour) - panoramic and hop-on, hop-off ticket options
In summer 2021 The Original Tour changed their name to Tootbus. The bus livery has stayed the same with the iconic Union Jack embellished across the sides of their buses, so they are still easy to spot. Tootbus offer several programmes of tourist bus services in London.
You can choose from traditional hop-on hop-off tickets for different durations (with or without a river cruise) or alternatively Tootbus also offer shorter tours such as their Express Tour or the popular Kids Tour.
Tootbus also offer tours in nearby Windsor. You can combine a leisurely boat and bus cruise through old Windsor town.
BOOK TOOTBUS HOP-ON BUS TICKETS What's included Tootbus tour types About Tootbus tickets Tootbus routes and map River Cruise Tootbus compared with Golden Tours & Big Bus Covid-19 Hop-on buses price comparison table
TOOTBUS EXCLUSIVE PRICE - CHEAPER THAN BOOKING DIRECT
Tootbus (Original London Tour)
Hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus tickets
• EXCLUSIVE PRICE - book here for cheaper tickets than booking direct
• Choose from 24, 48 or 72-hr tickets • Audio guide in 5 languages
Tootbus hop-on bus London - what's included in your ticket
Over sixty years ago the company who ran London's red buses decided to create a special open topped conversion of some of London's famous double deck red buses and run them on a circuit of London's main attractions with the facility to hop on and hop off. This company became known as The Original London Tour.
Today the Original London Tour now operates under the new name of Tootbus. The company is still going strong in London and has been refined to a sightseeing product so very popular with first time visitors to London.
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Unlimited travel for 24, 48 or 72-hrs on the Tootbus, (Original London Tour) sightseeing bus network that visits all major attractions in Central London
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High frequency daily buses with a selection of different tours available including Express, Kids and Evening tours
The only tour company to offer specially adapted Kids Tours
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A short river cruise on the River Thames to see major sights from a different perspective
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Download the Tootbus app to gain access to: routes and stops, audio commentaries (in English and French) and self-guided walking tours
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Free Wi-Fi on all buses
What you need to know about Tootbus (The Original Tour) London tickets
You can buy tickets for the Tootbus service in 24, 48 and 72-hour durations.
So, if you buy a 48-hour ticket, the ticket is valid 48 hours from the time you activate the ticket by boarding the bus.
London Discovery
A cheaper tour from Tootbus that offers good value on 1-day tours with no river cruise.
Must See London
This tour is more expensive as you get the river cruise included. Choose from a 1-day tour or a 2-day tour.
London Express - non-stop 2-hr tour
The Express Tour showcases the very best of London in just two hours. Perfect for anyone a little short on time who just wants to be taken around the beautiful sights the capital has to offer. This is a great way to see the city in the open-air, on a non-stop tour with on-board commentary.
London tours for kids
This is a short 45 minute open-top bus tour of the city, designed specifically for kids. The on-board guide will give a fun introduction to the history of London as you pass major landmarks. This is a great way to see London in the open-air setting of the top of the London bus. As you'd expect, tickets are cheaper than the traditional tickets for 1 or 2-day durations.
London by Night
Tootbus' evening tour offering, comparable with Big Bus and Golden Tours. 90-min non-stop bus tour.
Windsor Discovery
This tour of Windsor offers you a one-day hop-on-hop off experience of Windsor.
Must See Windsor
This tour includes a popular 40-min river cruise from French Brothers, and so is more expensive than the Windsor Discovery tour.
Tootbus (The Original Tour) tickets - how it works
Tickets can be purchased on the day from staff at the bus stops, Tootbus sellers on the street or online in advance from the Tootbus official website (see banner link above.) All prices are the same.
If purchasing online, the payment is by credit/debit card at the time of purchase.
Tickets are e-tickets and you receive a booking confirmation email, including a pass with a reservation number and a QR code. The QR code on the ticket is scannable on board the bus.
The validity of your ticket starts at the time of redemption, the first time your ticket will be scanned. While using the hop-on hop-off facility, your pass will be scanned every time you get on the bus.
It is recommended you use the Tootbus app to upload your ticket into it so it is all handy in one place. This is very easy to do, just a matter of filling in the reservation number and the name displayed on your ticket.
Tickets are flexible and are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase. You can amend or cancel your tickets free of charge any time during the ticket validity period.
You can begin your Tootbus tour at any of the bus stops in London.
Tootbus (The Original Tour) routes and buses
With your Tootbus ticket, you have access to 2 bus tour routes (depending on season) around London. The Yellow Route is the main tourist route, and as such offers the most frequent service, running every 5-20 minutes.
Summer and winter schedules
Schedules change seasonally.
The winter schedule runs until 1st April with both the Yellow and Blue tours starting from 9am.
Yellow Tour
The Yellow tour runs every 30 minutes from Coventry Street, Piccadilly, until the last tour departs at 4.20pm and 5pm Friday to Sunday.
Blue Tour
The Blue tour runs every 40 minutes from Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria until the last tour at 4pm and 5pm Friday to Sunday.
Free City Cruises river cruise with selected Tootbus tickets
Free Thames river cruise with City Cruises
Complete your visit to London with a cruise along the river Thames. Hop off at Westminster, take the river cruise to Tower Pier and board the Yellow Route again at the Tower of London.
City Cruises is the leading Thames river cruise company in London.
River cruises continue to be very popular with tourists and visitors to London as they allow you to experience the city from the river in ways you could never experience it from land.
Only certain tickets include the river cruise; the cheaper tickets do not.
Tootbus v Golden Tours v Big Bus
In terms of London coverage all three Ho Ho sightseeing bus operations visit the same areas and all the main London attractions.
There is some difference in ticketing, Big Bus operate a calendar day system, Tootbus offers 24-hour tickets, Golden Tours offers both 24-hr and calendar day tickets.
Golden Tours and Tootbus both offer tickets which are cheaper because they do not offer the river cruise.
Live guides
Currently only Golden Tours offer a regular service operating with live guides - however this is not a hop-on-hop off bus but a fixed duration of 90 minutes (the price is nearly the same as the hop-on bus price).
Otherwise all three companies use pre-recorded commentaries for their hop-on bus services (they vary on the number of languages offered).
However, during special 'promotional periods' (such as the Queen's jubilee, which will extend for three months) Tootbus sometimes put on a special service with an expert live guide. These tours are based on a first come first served basis and cannot be guaranteed (although they do run hourly).
Durations
All three companies offer tickets for one to three days.
In addition Tootbus offer a 1.5-hr Bar Bus ticket, while Golden Tours offer a fully guided 1.5-hr Express ticket (see above).
Evening Tours
All three operators offer evening tours. Big Bus also include a separate evening tour with their Premium and Deluxe tickets.
See websites for more details.
Walking Tours
Historically all three companies offered free walking tours included with your ticket.
Golden Tours and Tootbus no longer offer guided walking tours included.
However Tootbus do offer "Tootwalk" - a choice of three self-guided walks which you can download from the Tootbus app onto your phone.
Big Bus offer the following walking tours (led by expert Big Bus tour guides) available with all walking tours: Changing of the Guard Walk, City of London Walk and Jack the Ripper Walk.
River cruises
Two different river cruise operators are used, City Cruises and Thames River Sightseeing.
All river cruises are for one-way only.
Add-on attractions or alternative tours
Golden Tours offer a range of attractions as add-on to the basic 4-hr hop-on bus ticket.
Big Bus offer add-on tickets (1 or 2-day) including Madame Tussauds or St Paul's Cathedral.
Tootbus don't currently offer any add-on attractions but they do offer alternative tours such as a Windsor hop-on bus tour and a very popular Kids tour.
Click through on the banner for a thorough discussion on the differences between companies.
TOOTBUS EXCLUSIVE PRICE - CHEAPER THAN BOOKING DIRECT
Tootbus (Original London Tour)
Hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus tickets
• EXCLUSIVE PRICE - book here for cheaper tickets than booking direct
• Choose from 24, 48 or 72-hr tickets • Audio guide in 5 languages
Tootbus safety measures during COVID-19
Currently there are no real restrictions in London.
If you are worried, then travelling in the open air and distanced from other passengers will help ensure your experience is a safe one.
Visit Britain has put together safety guidelines which reputable companies like Tootbus has signed up to. You can see what procedures have been put in place on this "Good to Go" safety video.
LONDON'S OPEN TOP HOP-ON, HOP-OFF SIGHTSEEING TOUR PRICING 2023
Online advance ticket price adult/child/family |
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Tour |
*24 hrs or 1-day no cruise |
**24-hrs or 1 day with cruise |
*48-hrs or 2 days no cruise |
**48-hrs or 2 days with cruise |
*72-hrs or 2 days no cruise |
**72-hrs or 3 days with cruise |
London Evening tour |
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| Tootbus (Original Tour) | Adult Child Family |
£25.00 £14.30 £80.00 |
£32.30 £18.70 £98.00 |
£27.00 £17.16 £89.00 |
£34.85 £21.25 £107.00 |
£30.00 £20.00 £98.00 |
£37.40 £23.80 £116.00 |
£21.25 £12.75 £65.00 |
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| Big Bus | Adult Child Family |
N/A | £40.00 £30.00 £101.70 |
N/A | £57.00 £47.45 £150.30 |
N/A | £66.00 £57369 £177.30 |
£29.00 £19.11 £72.00 |
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| Golden Tours | Adult Child Family |
£28.00 £16.63 £75.65 |
£35.45 £20.00 £99.19 |
N/A | £41.00 £21.73 £110.08 |
N/A | £45.45 £24.09 £116.44 |
£24.00 £13.00 £64.00 | |||
| London's hop-on buses - 3 hop on buses compared | |||||||||||
All prices (except family prices) are those offered through Travel Compendium unless otherwise stated, using banners on this page. Savings can be made compared with walk-up prices.
Where prices shown are those of the hop-on company's website, they are the online prices, not walk-up.
Big Bus and Tootbus have permanent 10% online discounts of 10% and 15% respectively, while all companies occasionally run sales throughout the year so to be sure of the best possible price it is advisable to compare with official websites:
All Big Bus tickets run for calendar days only (not 24-hr periods). These include a river cruise. Big Bus are the only company of the three to offer a free guided walking tour included (Tootbus offer a self-guided tour you can download to your phone).
* Golden Tours and Tootbus offer cheaper tickets, which are bus only, no river cruise. Tootbus offer this for a 24, 48 & 72-hr ticket and call theirs 'London Discovery'. Golden Tours offer the bus only option for either 24 hours or a 1-day period only.
All other Tootbus and Golden Tours tickets are for 24/48/72-hour periods, unless stated otherwise.
** Prices for Tootbus here use official Tootbus link, Big Bus and Golden Tours prices use our links.
Family hop on bus tickets and other tour options
Family prices for all companies can be found through the operator's own websites (above).
For a big range of Golden Tours hop on plus attraction tickets see: Golden Tours hop-on bus plus attractions
POPULAR LONDON ATTRACTIONS - ADVANCE PURCHASE AND/OR FAST TRACK TICKETS
| London Eye | Amazing panoramic flight on the world's highest observation wheel. » Fast track tickets available. |
| The Shard | Tallest building in Western Europe with viewing of London from the top. » Fast track tickets available. |
| St Paul's Cathedral | Cathedral of the Diocese of London, venue for royal weddings. » Pre-book to guarantee entry. |
| Westminster Abbey | Along with St Paul's, England's main religious building.» Pre-book to guarantee entry. |
| Tower of London | Home of the Crown Jewels and a rich thousand year history. » Fast track tickets available. |
| Madame Tussauds | See wax statues of the most famous people in the world. » Fast track tickets available. |
| London Dungeon | The creepiest attraction in town, the London Dungeon. » Fast track tickets available. |
| Hampton Court Palace | Henry VIII Medieval Palace set in vast grounds. » Pre-book to save money. |
| The London Zoo | World class zoo in the centre of London. » Flexi tickets available. |
