The Original London Sightseeing Tour

There are better bus tour companies. Remember, these buses have two functions: information AND travel around the city.
The worst part of OLST is the hours. Last buses leave at 4:30 PM for some lines. 4:30! When you’re on vacation, you want to see the city day and night, not just half a day. And if you get stuck across town when the buses stop, you’re screwed!
We found ourselves sprinting to buses on two occasions because of exactly this.
Golden Tours, even though their Unilocal reviews stink, is definitely the one that seemed to have the most buses running for the longest hours. Again, information AND travel folks…
I did like our tour guides, and we did get a boat ride. But the boat was huge and cramped, and took forever to get going. It was $ 60 for that 48 hour ticket… meh, next time I’ll just get an Oyster card and figure out the public transit myself.

A good way to tour London.
Spend the extra four ponds to get the 48 hour tickets.
Well worth it.
Just be careful with the headphones. One gave me a slight shock as I was listening to the tour guide recording…

I really enjoyed my tour. It was fun and informative. There were lots of really great stops. I would have recommended the tour on that alone. I lost my phone on one of the buses and some kind soul turned it in. I was on a tour and had to leave London before I got word that it had been turned in and the front office was very helpful in getting my phone back to me safely.

I’m not an admirer of bus tours but sometimes it’s the easiest and cheapest way to see the sights, even better when you can hop on and off at other sights and join another bus later on.
Our bus had a tour guide than a
Pre recorded audio tour, if you stopped at any of the stops there was another tour bus that passed 15 minutes later.
This is a better way to see the sights other than the river cruise as the tube system can be difficult to navigate, especially if you are a first time visitor to London.

Best deal. Ever. One price to be able to take the buses all day to different locations throughout the city! Just make sure you make the last bus of the day! Luke, our live guide, was incredibly knowledgeable and polite!

I took this tour in the evening and found it to be quite informative and to hit all the main points of London. The tour guide was efficient and the tour itself was short and was everything I expected. For the price it is definitely worth it. I Would recommend taking this tour if you’re pressed for time or just want to pack in as much as you can.

We are NOT the kind of people who take tour buses. Typically, we find them cheesy, crowded and not our style. However, a friend recommended we just DO this open top bus tour to knock the sights off in an easy, efficient way. I must admit, it was a good call!
The narration was interesting, the tour covered the major points, and we appreciated the 24 hour ticket. However, the part we really loved the most was the boat ride that was included in the price. The driver was so funny and knowledgeable, and the trip down the Thames was fantastic. We ended up at the Royal Observatory and hit the prime meridian line, and came back by walking underneath the river!
I highly recommend this for first-​time London visitors (like my family) — get over the cheesy tourist factor!

Just finished an amazing rock & roll tour! I can not stress how superb Laura (our tour guide/​bus driver). She begins the tour by asking what your favorite bands are, be honest because she will base her facts on your favorite bands! She is seriously the encyclopedia of rock & roll! Request her, she really was above & beyond!

Went on the guided t1 yellow tour was really interesting learned some fun facts & things I didn’t know, saw lots of sighted in 1 day ticket gives you 48hrs on the bus hopping on & off also a free river cruise too

no zero possible, crap service from top to bottom. no body has any authority. rude, personnel are solid waste

This is an exceptional hop-​on hop-​off tour for those visiting London. You ride a double decker bus along different routes depending on your preference. The tour guides are all knowledgable and very funny and enjoyable to listen to. The busses pass by most of the main attractions and you can get on and off as you please. Definitely a must for sightseeing and transportation!

The OLST had some great points… and some not so great points. I’m not sad i took a tour, i’m just sad i ended up with this one:
Cons:
–Buses were always packed and not as frequent as you might like.
–Wasting time waiting for the bus while other tours are whizzing by you is less than fun.
–Not all of the buses have a guide, and if the driver didn’t start the tape at the right time then the audio tour is way off and makes no sense.
–Sometimes the buses would randomly stop for 15 – 20 minutes at a time for no apparent rhyme or reason.
–When no tour guide is on board it’s hard to get the driver to stop. Short of booking it from the 2^nd floor while the bus is still in motion you weren’t getting off unless there was a passenger waiting on the street to get on.
Pros:
–Clara, my favorite tour guide. She was witty, funny, and answered everyone’s questions. Some even in foreign languages. She was very knowledgable as well.
–Rain– though some might think this is a con… it’s London, and to be expected. Thank you for thinking ahead and putting a billion ponchos on board so everyone stayed pretty dry.
–Photo opportunities– the guides always tell you where to take the best pics.
–Free second day– what’s not to love about getting rides the second day for no additional charge?
–Free river cruise on the thames (one way only).
–Meeting new people on the bus. I was travelling alone and ran into some couples who gave me suggestions on things to see and even invited me along with them to a museum.
OLST wasn’t a terrible experience but i definitely think next time i will give the Big Bus Tour a whirl and see how that goes. They seem to come much more frequently, comparable prices, and have additional stops.

Das Prinzip Hop on and off ist Klasse… es zirkulieren verschiedene Linien, Veranstalter, mit oder ohne Kopfhörer und sprachbezogenen Erklärungen.
Für Erstbesucher eine ideale Form London erstmal auf sich gesamt wirken zu lassen, und sich dann nochmal seine Highlights in einer zweiten Runde Sehenswürdigkeiten anzuschauen.
Kleiner Tipp am Rande: Testet mal bei den Verkäufern am Abfahrtsort, wie es mit den Preisen steht;-) Handeln geht fast immer… ;-)
Bei machen ist eine Themse Strecke enthalten.

I love hop on hop off bus tours!
This was a very good value for the money if you are in London for the first time and trying to get a bearing where you are and what you want to see.
The only issue was the buses could not maneuver quickly thru the congestion in central London.
That causes you to sit on the bus in traffic no matter what time of the day you choose.
The guides and recordings were somewhat helpful but again you sat in traffic.
We got on /​off the bus many times but sometimes we could not locate the bus stops in other areas.
If they made a smartphone app to locate the closest bus stops, that would have helped navigate on foot.

Cher ou pas cher, 29 € par personne ?
On a tenté et le résultat est mitigé. Pour le prix vous faites le tour de Londres, autant d’arrêts que désiré, et les commentaires en différentes langues sont appréciés.
Les chauffeurs sont sympas et ils vous renseignent à la demande.
Les regrets. Le bus roule vraiment vite et né s’attarde jamais, les commentaires sont parfois décalés et le confort en mouvement et parfois limite.
Alors prendre ou pas prendre le bus? The question?
Malgré un prix prohibitif pour une durée si courte (24h) et des horaires qui se terminent trop tôt (maxi 18h00 et pas sur tous les trajets), on a aimé la promenade.
Nous l’avons «coupé“avec 4 ou 5 excursions dans Londres et du coup la journée est passée très vite. Les commentaires durant la visite vous aident à découvrir la ville et la possibilité de monter et de descendre à volonté rend le service appréciable. Quelques possibilités offertes pour le même prix de faire du bateau sur la Tamise et d’accéder à prix réduit à d’autres attractions. Pour les touristes matinaux, un plan sympa un peu cher.

The tickets cost 29£ each, and they are good for 2 days. And they include a boat tour on the river Thames. Don’t pronounce the T-​H, pronounce it Tames, so you don’t sound like a newb. Anyways, we were told at the hotel to get on the Yellow line by the Marble Arch. The concierge said it would be easy to figure out once we got to where the busses lined up… yeah, not so much. Here’s what you need to know:
The Yellow tour is a speaking tour in English. I assume you want this, because you are reading my review in English. The only way to tell which bus is which, is by looking at the front windscreen for a miniscule yellow triangle. Real «obvious…».
So you get on, and try to sort out the route. You cant. The driver swings around the turns like he’s looking for a restroom and about to piss his pants. The tour guide can barely keep up as he tears through the streets so fast. Remember, 29£… to get bounced and jerked around, like what it must feel like to be a drivers ed instructor.
Then they stop downtown by some bridge near the Eye of London. Don’t know the bridges name, since we took the turn on two wheels and we’re preoccupied with not dieing. We walk across the bridge to the riverboat, which is supposed to be a 45 minute tour of the river. It is not.
Completely unexpilicably, the tour boat continues on, for another 45 minutes past the point where the useless colorful map says it turns around. Asked the crew, and got the 1000-​mile stare like that is normal for the paper to say one thing and them to do another completely. Ridiculous. Burnt 2 hours of the day, on a cold rainy boat.
Tour was ok. That’s it. Way. Way. Overpriced. Don’t do it unless you have nothing but time and GBPs to waste. Wouldn’t do it again.

If you haven’t been to London before, the bus is a great way to get an orientation. A bit cheesy, yes, but it gets you to the top spots, some of which you may not have even known about. You get to see things as you go (unlike the tube) and there is an audio guide that fills you in on some of the historic landmarks etc. along the way. If it is slow it gets a bit annoying because rather than information they play poorly amplified music, like being on hold. One of the buses we took had a person up top instead of a recording which was much nicer. Some things to be aware of: Get a seat on the top if possible, or you can’t see much. Check the timetables and compare companies. If you aren’t careful you could find yourself wasting a lot of precious time at bus stops. Some of the other companies seemed to have more buses going past than «the Original.» They may re-​route for road construction or what have you, and not go past some of the stops they are supposed to. If traffic is heavy you could walk faster through some sections, especially in the center, and see more too. The pass is good for 24 hours from pick up so it works well to use it in an afternoon then the next morning if your time frame allows. That way you can get better value by planning time consuming activities like the Tower of London or the British Museum when you aren’t using the bus. Our pass included a «free» Thames cruise. The guide was fantastic and the weather beautiful so we actually enjoyed this part more than the bus!

Not good.
I’ll admit that I would not normally do a bus tour. But since I did, I expect more than this. A lot more.
You get on one of these double decker, fake London city busses. You are going want to ride on the top, see sights and listen to an audio description of the things you pass. It is a fairly simple proposition.
Even on a Tuesday, they were way oversold – the bus was packed and for much of our ride there was no space on top. This was made worse by the fact that the bottom deck has the seats facing into the center, making them useless for sightseeing.
Finally, we got seats on the top. As we entered the last ¼ of our loop through London, the bus stopped and they made everyone get off, ostensibly for a larger bus and to change drivers. But that meant we had to fight for seats and there were none on top.
We took the Tube back the rest of the way.
Beyond the fact that these buses are the lowest form of destination education, this one was so awful that if I did not want to waste my time complaining, I’d demand my money back.

The routes for this bus tour definitely lets you see all that London has to offer. We were eager to get top deck seating, but we were not prepared for the wind chill that was to come. Dress in layers!
Having the hop on hop off option is great if you’re in London for a limited about of time. You can easily use the bus instead of using transit to get to your destinations.
The guides for the tour can be a little hit or miss. The first one I had was a cranky older man who sounded like he might have been drinking. It was a little difficult to understand anything he had to say. Later in the day, we had a different tour guide and he was much better. Very clear voice and gave us lots of history of each site.

I was headed to London for the 1^st time purely for holiday, I didn’t want to be corralled in a «tour» group where everyone had their own agenda and I have used City Sightseeing before in other cities, so before I even made it across the pond I purchased tickets for Hop on Hop bus tour! Tickets in hand headed off to the main office in Trafalgar Square to redeem them, noticed that the City Sightseeing is called The Original London Sightseeing Tour, no big deal, they honored my tickets.
This is one of the best ways to see London, my ticket was valid for 24 hours, and I was able to hop on and hop at any point, also included with my tickets was a hop on hop off Thames River Cruise but I never made it to it.
I saw so many sights, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, House of Parliament, Westminster Abby & Elton John’s apartment and so so much, and I got to explore London at my own pace, which is what I really enjoyed!
On one of the buses it was an audio tour and the next time it had a tour guide so I guess it all depends on timing haha but that’s the beauty of being able to hop on and off at any point!
The Original London Sightseeing Tour was a blast and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to break away from the tour groups and go at it on their own.

Richtige Touri-​Nummer aber wenn man innerhalb kürzester Zeit alle wichtigen Sightseeing-​Süots abhaken will, dann ist es perfekt. Mit £28 etwas zu teuer, aber den Touris darf man ruhig auch mal etwas zuviel abnehmen ;-)

Really nice tour — so nice I went on it twice! My husband was in meetings for the day so I decided to play tourist and hop on The Original London Sightseeing Tour. I had a bit of difficulty finding the ticket kiosk at Piccadilly Circus, but a helpful passerby pointed me in the right direction. The tour took approximately two and a half hours, and I had the opportunity to hop on/​hop off if I wanted. The sites included on the tour are too numerous to list, but included Trafalgar Square, St. James’ Palace, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Westminister Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, among others.
I must admit I was spoiled on my first go-​round, as the tour guide was spectacular, and provided a great deal of history and detail along the ride. However, he jumped off the bus halfway through the tour, and I was left with a tour guide who seemed to fancy himself a comedian, and provided very little history. I was tempted to get off the bus and wait for another, but I still had three hours before I was due to meet my husband. I decided to stay on the bus, sitting through the remainder of my first tour, as well as a second tour of the same sites. Boy, am I glad I did! My third and final tour guide, who joined us at Piccadilly, was phenomenal. He repeated some information I had learned on the first tour, but added so much more! It was such an interesting and informative tour, and I am very grateful to have been on it.
The tour is a quick way to get your bearings in the city and see some of the sites — if you sit on the upper level of the bus, you can often get great photographs without tourists’ obstructing your view. Do your homework though: look online and decide which tour would work best for your needs. Decide if you plan to get on/​off the bus, and if so, where. And by all means, if you aren’t enjoying the commentary of your guide, get off the bus and wait for the next one, which will be along in less than 15 minutes.

See it all from here…
If you’ve never been to London and don’t know anyone to show you around this is one of the best ways to see the city. Being that London is known for is rainy weather it can be a little difficult to enjoy when you’re cold and wet but never-​the-​less it is still a nice London touring option.
The fact that they allow you to hop on and off the bus at any on the stopping points so you can roam around that portion of the city is great. Once your done just go to one of the clearly marked stops to wait for another bus to pick you up and carry you to another part of the city you wish to see.
Every time I come to London with a new person I take them on this tour. They love while I usually take the opportunity to take a cat nap.
Be sure to watch your time toward the end of the day as the busses do have a last stop for each point on the tour. If you miss the last bus you will be forced to take a taxi or walk depending on how far you are from your destination.
Another great thing about this bus it that if you take the train in from another neighboring country you can buy a ticket and catch the bus at the train station and end up back there at the end of the day. This is a rushed way to see the city but it can be done if you start early enough in the morning and don’t get off to much to look around and it comes with a cruise as well which is nice to see parts of London from the water.
Enjoy your Trip!

Alors ce tour en bus est génial ! Pour 25£ il me semble (j’admets c’est un peu cher), vous pouvez prendre ce bus pendant 24h à partir de votre première montée dans le bus. Je pense qui si vous êtes touristes et c’est la première fois que vous venez à Londres il faut absolument faire ce tour ! Il permet de voir les endroits phares de Londres en 2h30environs pour le tour complet ce qui permet après de ciblé les endroits que vous souhaitez absolument voir. Et tout ça avec des explications en toutes les langues dans des écouteurs fournis sur l’histoire de Londres (super intéressant). Et vous avez également avec ce ticket une croisière sur la tamise je l’ai faite jusqu’au bout (1H30environ) et pour né pas perdre du temps après j’ai pris le métro à Greenwich (zone2) pour rentré rapidement.
Et en plus ce ticket vous permet d’avoir un guide les jours de la relève de la garde avec explications en anglais et les lieux pour tout suivre au mieux.

Ein tolles Konzept. Man zahlt einmal und kann die Bustour 24 Stunden lang nutzen, an jeder Haltestelle ein– und aussteigen und so einen groben Überblick über London in 24 Stunden bekommen.
Definitiv jedem Londonneuling zu empfehlen.

Ich war nicht ganz so begeistert von der Original London Sightseeing Tour.
1. Die Haltestellen sind teilweise sehr schwer zu finden. Wir wollten nicht an den Haltestellen wieder zusteigen, an denen wir ausgestiegen sind und das war dann etwas mühsam, eine Haltestelle zu finden.
2. In den Plänen mit den Tourbeschreibungen sind nicht alle Haltestellen aufgeführt.
3. Nur auf einer der Touren gibt es fremdsprachige Kommentare. Das macht die Touren gerade für Kinder langweilig und uninteressant.
Ingesamt ist das eine gute Sache, wenn man eine Stadtrundfahrt machen will, und kompakt viel sehen und erfahren will. Wenn man das Hopp on/​Hopp off-​Verfahren so nutzen will, dass man nicht an der gleichen Stelle in die gleiche Richtung wieder zusteigt ist es mühsam.

Die Doppeldecker-​Bustour:
Man zahlt pro Erwachsener ca. 18 Pfund und kann das Ticket 24 h lang benutzen. Damit kann man dann verschiedene Routen abfahren. Eine einfache Schifffahrt auf der Themse ist auch noch dabei sowie gute und interessante Kommentare per Kopfhörer in der eigenen Sprache machen die Fahrt kurzweilig.
Die längste Tour geht ca. drei Stunden, man kann aber auch an jeder Haltestelle aus– und einsteigen.
Bei schönem Wetter macht so eine Fahrt im offenen Doppeldeckerbus wirklich gute Laune!

Ich war vor einigen Monaten in London und habe die Original Sightseeing Tour für zwei Tage gebucht. Es ist die perfekte Art London zu erkunden wenn man noch nicht dort gewesen ist. Der Bus hat viele Haltestellen an denen man ein und aussteigen kann um sich die Sehenwürdigkeiten oder Museen anzusehen. Sehr zu empfehlen, wenn auch nicht günstig.

Meiner Meinung nach die ideale Art die Stadt kennenzulernen.
Das Ticket ist zwar nicht billig, gilt aber 24 Stunden… man kann es dadurch auch evtl auf 2Ttage verteilen.
Die Busse fahren auf verschiedenen Routen und man kann an jeder Haltestelle nach Belieben aussteigen und in einem anderen Bus weiterfahren
Der Takt ist etwa 10 – 15 minuten…
Also ideal um bei interessanten Stellen auszusteigen und später die Rundfahrt fortzusetzen.
Ist auch gut zu kombinieren mit bestimmten Besichtigungen da man direkt an den Ort gefahren wird und später die Rundfahrt fortsetzen kann.
Die Busfahrer sind große Künstler, habe sie echt bewundert wie
sei das nicht kleine Gefährt sicher durch den grausamen Verkehr bugsieren.
Wenn man es gut ausnutzt ist die Fahrt bestimmt ihr Geld wert…