London Bus Tour?

gavcradd

Hi, we (two adults, two children aged 3 and 5) are going to London for two days next week and we want to book an open top bus tour.

What is the cheapest way of doing this and does which bus companies have the most buses? I've seen an online deal with the Original Tour company for £63, or one with Hop on Hop off buses for £49, both do a 24h + 24h free offer. Anyone recommend either of these or someone else?

Not being a London regular, are the offers if you just walk up on the day better or worse than this? Any chance of haggling?

Thanks!

susancs

I haven't checked today, but did see Groupon had some good London bus and boat tour deals and there was a 20%off code that was stated on the site on Saturday ( that I used to book a restaurant deal voucher).

bargain_babs

gavcradd wrote: »

Hi, we (two adults, two children aged 3 and 5) are going to London for two days next week and we want to book an open top bus tour.

What is the cheapest way of doing this and does which bus companies have the most buses? I've seen an online deal with the Original Tour company for £63, or one with Hop on Hop off buses for £49, both do a 24h + 24h free offer. Anyone recommend either of these or someone else?

Not being a London regular, are the offers if you just walk up on the day better or worse than this? Any chance of haggling?

Thanks!

are you travelling by train? if so check out


http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

macman

I suggest you save yourself a whole heap of money and simply use a one day Travelcard, Oystercard or contactless debit card on LT bus routes 9 and 15 (no cash fares on London buses any more). These cover exactly the same 'heritage' sights with modern double deckers (unlike the ancient relics used by the tour companies), and you won't get rained on. All payment methods cap the maximum daily payment, so you can jump on and off as often as you like without paying more than the daily cap. And both your children can travel free if accompanied by a ticket holder.
The open top buses are just a very expensive tourist scam.

SallyD

MACMAN is so right, save a heap using the buses. Route 159 can be added to his suggestions. Useful website;- https://www.londonforfree.net/walks/

terryw

I can thoroughly recommend the Original tour. I use Tesco points for the tickets.
But even at full price it is good value for money.

Ticket for 48 hours in winter. Learned and interesting guides. Riverboat trips included.
Walks including JTRipper. Kids activity packs.

Worth checking out to really enhance the whole London experience.

zagubov

macman wrote: »

I suggest you save yourself a whole heap of money and simply use a one day Travelcard, Oystercard or contactless debit card on LT bus routes 9 and 15 (no cash fares on London buses any more). These cover exactly the same 'heritage' sights with modern double deckers (unlike the ancient relics used by the tour companies), and you won't get rained on. All payment methods cap the maximum daily payment, so you can jump on and off as often as you like without paying more than the daily cap. And both your children can travel free if accompanied by a ticket holder.
The open top buses are just a very expensive tourist scam.

I'll second that. You might find a boat tour is a better way to spend money. Sitting on the upstairs of the doubledecker buses is the way to go. The underground's faster but you'll see nothing. There's plenty of fast food places your kids will enjoy eating. Hamleys will please them. The Stockpot's a nice little restaurant in Soho.
This website can get you cheap early deals in nice restaurants. If you want to get to the shard from the West End, there's trains from Charing Cross that get you there in five minutes, unlike the underground which takes forever.

AO78

The original poster will already have been on his trip, but for anyone looking at this thread planning future trips (like I am), I agree with TerryW that the Original tour is fab. No, it’s not the most economical way of getting about, but calling it a scam is a bit much – it’s a tour!

I’m very careful in how I spend my money and rarely even bother with tourist attractions any more when I travel, but my mum was really keen to do a bus tour on a trip to London a few years ago, and we thoroughly enjoyed it – London is so full of history and culture that there was something interesting to hear about at practically every corner. And it’s a bit of a rest as well J

I’m taking my daughter for her first visit to London next month and she desperately wants to do an open top bus, so I’ve hedged my bets that the weather will be ok on at least one of the days, and ordered my tickets using Clubcard vouchers.

terryw

Thank you AO78.

I go on the Original tour about three times a year. The tickets cost £8.50 of Tesco points. My last visit was last month. I had two days of interesting tours for this. The guides were excellent. I took four riverboat trips -the Tower to Greenwich and return, and the Tower to the Eye and return. The Jack the Ripper Walk was great fun. I did not have time for the other walks. The coach itself was excellent, and being winter, there was plenty of room. The coach was certainly not an ancient relic.

I have used the London buses mentioned for a tour is London using an A to Z. This is good fun but no comparison to having a learned guide who points out many attractions which could be easily missed and provides interesting and witty facts about the city.

Purely from an MSE point of view the cost using Tesco points is less than the cost of two days tickets with London transport.

Scam? I hardly think so.