Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Two competitive companies (Original and Big Bus) offer essentially the same two tours of
the city's sightseeing highlights, with nearly 30 stops on each route. Big Bus tours are a
little more expensive (
£
30), while Original tours are cheaper (
£
25 with this topic).
These two-to-three hour, once-over-lightly bus tours drive by all the famous sights,
providing a stress-free way to get your bearings and see the biggies. They stop at the same
core group of sights regardless of which overview tour you're on: Piccadilly Circus, Tra-
falgar Square, Big Ben, St. Paul's, the Tower of London, Marble Arch, Victoria Station,
and elsewhere. With a good guide and nice weather, I'd sit back and enjoy the entire tour.
(If you don't like your guide, you can hop off and try your luck with the next departure.)
On a recent trip, I had a livelier, more informative guide on the Original tour than the Big
Bus tour, though guides can vary even within the same company.
Each company offers at least one route with live (English-only) guides, and a second
(sometimes slightly different route) comes with recorded, dial-a-language narration. In ad-
dition to the overview tours, both Original and Big Bus include the Thames River boat
trip by City Cruises (between Westminster and the Tower of London) and three 1.5-hour
walking tours.
Pick up a map from any flier rack or from one of the countless salespeople, and study
the color-coded system. Sunday morning—when the traffic is light and many museums
are closed—is a fine time for a tour. Traffic is at its peak around lunch and during the
evening rush hour (around 17:00). Unless you're using the bus tour mainly for hop-on,
hop-off transportation, consider saving time and money by taking a night tour (described
below).
Buses run daily about every 10-15 minutes in summer, every 10-20 minutes in winter.
They start at about 8:00 or 8:30 and run until early evening in summer or late afternoon in
winter. The last full loop usually leaves Victoria Station at about 19:00 in summer, and at
about 17:00 in winter (confirm by checking the schedule or asking the driver).
You can buy tickets from drivers or from staff at street kiosks (credit cards accepted
at kiosks at major stops such as Victoria Station, ticket good for 24 hours, or 48 hours in
winter).
Combining a London Bus Tour and the Changing of the
Guard
