Big Bus Tours New York Reviews 4,568

Bus tour is by far the best way to get a good overall tour of the main sights and learn a lot of very interesting information along the way. Having the live commentary makes a huge difference to the whole sightseeing experience and I would recommend it as a way to see the big cities to anyone. The big bus tours seemed to do a really nice job, the live commentaries were very informative and amusing. The New York traffic made things a little slow going at times, but that isn’t their fault and the guide filled in all the time with interesting facts and history. Big bus app was OK but the built in map didn’t seem to be accurate in locating the buses so you were never quite sure if/ when one would turn up. Also there could have been more buses, very frustrating waiting at a stop and seeing all the other bus tour companies going by.... Overall we were pleased with the experience and foind it a good way to get around while learning a lot at the same time

So easy to use

Our Tour guide Sherwood was great. Information after booking from BigBus was unclear.

Have used Big Bus in Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia. Excellent service. New York was equally as good. Knowledgeable tour guides who made all on board feel welcome.
As a London taxi driver I've always advised first time visitors to take a Big Bus tour to orientate themselves and get an intial feel for the city. I'm glad to see that service appreas to be world wide

as you would expect, more busses would be better. Other company busses seemed to roll by as we waited for the Big Bus. When on the bus, it was a nice experience. Tour guides were informative and engaging.

A giant waste of money. It is not clear where stops will be. The two maps we were handed listed different stops. Which were both different than the app. A stop at Chevys? There is no Chevys. Other bus tour companies have employees EVERYWHERE guiding people where to go. Big Bus? We couldn’t find a single one. Take it from me, don’t spend the money. Take an Uber or the Subway from location to location you want to see. Much easier. And probably cheaper!

Overall a good experience - minimal wait times however rain did suck but that is nature..... overall great drivers and tour guides!

Very rude tour guide and agents. Customer service is not any better. Skip this company and go with another company or walk. The issue was never resolved even though the company said it was.

This was a great way to see the sites

Excellent way of seeing the whole of Manhattan. The only disappointment was the unreliability of the Big Bus App. The map was accurate, but buses could not be viewed in “real time” as advertised. Once this is improved I would give a rating of 5 stars.

Very well informed and easy to hop on and off!

Had excellent informative tours...especially liked tour guide Mark ..
He was funny...'not to shabby'. Did the deluxe package and well worth the money.

The tour guide was funny at times and grumpy at other times. Tour was okay. I have done many hop-on/hop-off bus tours and unfortunately on this occasion, I concluded that I should have chosen a different experience

Honestly I was not overly happy with my experience...more of a mixed review. For the amount I paid for it, I would hope that I don’t wait for a bus with my young family in the freezing cold for 20 min to be told the bus is full and would have to wait minimum 30 more minutes!! I didn’t end up being able to do the uptown tour because it was always full so didn’t get my monies worth! Very upset over the entire thing!! Plus the one bus had advertising over the windows so you couldn’t even see out of them? That doesn’t make sense to me why you would do that!!
But the tour guides themselves were very nice and I enjoyed them when I got a chance to use the bus!

Great tour, and the staff was very nice and helpful in the evening and they have a nice variety

Enthousiastic guides telling lots of information about New York. Not very clear where to hop-on and hop-off. Signs are hard to find.

I was traveling with a group of ten people, and it was difficult for us to even get on a bus. We waited at one bus stop for over thirty minutes while at least five buses came and went, and there was no room for us on any bus. I realize that we came to New York at a busy time, but we were frustrated because we had paid for this service thinking we would use it as a main form of transportation during our trip. Finally, we walked to the first stop on the red line and we were able to get on there. I wish one of the Big Bus Tour representatives who watched us wait and wait and wait would have given us this recommendation. Many people were not getting off at that stop because they wanted to ride through the whole tour.

Holiday in New York We bought a 3 day pass with entrance to 5 attractions. However when we arrived at these attractions the Big Bus voucher was not a ticket but a voucher. We then had to queue to exchange the voucher for a ticket and then get in line to enter. The worst was the Liberty Island ferry at the Statue of Liberty. 45 mins to exchange the voucher for a ticket then 3 HOURS to get on the ferry. What a waste of our holiday time. When we got to ground zero told it was a 1 hour queue to get a ticket with the voucher then a 2 hour queue to get in the museum. Gave up had enough by then.

We made the mistake of signing up for the Big Bus Tours in advance. Our first day, we went to the stop nearest our hotel and inquired about activating our attraction portion with the guides at the stop. They were conflicted about where to send us, one stating stop 11, another stop 12. We finally decided to get on the bus, but we were still very confused. We couldn't understand why we couldn't just use our QR codes on our phones. That would have made it so much more simple. But no, we were told we'd need to go to one of the information desk stops, and remember, the guides at the stop were conflicted as to which stop to send us. We got on the bus and went to stop 11. And walked in circles for the longest time. We never did find an information station, or anyone at that stop, for that matter, in the BIG BUS TOURS jackets. We did get to walk around that area and see some amazing things and ended up walking all the way back to our hotel this time around, as we could not even find a stop to pick us up as it was then after 5:00 pm. The next day, we went back to the stop nearest our hotel and were told to get on board and to go to stop 12. This we did and found Madame Tussauds and got our activation. By this time, it was too late to even use any of them though. We did very much enjoy that final bus tour though. Bane, the tour guide on the bus was very entertaining and nice.
All in all, our advice is to not think you have to buy a package in advance and to go directly to a stop in person when your arrive and find out the facts. And make sure they give you details. Even the app was not user friendly, in our opinion. And, really, we think it's a scam to get you to go the Madame Tussauds? I mean, why have to go all the way across town to activate something you've already paid for in advance?????

We would not recommend Big Bus Tours to anyone unless they just want the ride. That is worth a pass for tour bus only.