Big Bus Tours Shanghai Reviews 201

Most cities I go to, if they have one, I do the bus tour. And it usually ends up being a Big Bus Tour. Generally I really enjoy them and find them great for getting my bearings, but the Shanghai tour was a "fail".

First, their website doesn't provide any help in finding their stops. The 3D map they provide online didn't help us, our taxi driver, or the locals in finding the stop at People's Square... if you don't speak any Mandarin it might be difficult - even though I can we wandered for an hour in the sun.

The wait between buses is just over the top. If you want to switch from one route to another, good luck. We took taxis in the end. On day 2 we waited at the Oriental Pearl building for over half an hour and when the bus showed up we had to sit and wait for 45 minutes while the driver ate lunch (and, more importantly, the touts sold their tickets to passing tourists).

In the end, we gave up on the tour. There's too much traffic in Shanghai and it was just too hot to sit upstairs on the bus. With the ridiculous waits between buses it just wasn't a good use of our time there, and we didn't even have time to use our included tickets for the Jade Buddha or that observation deck (it was so smoggy we probably didn't miss much).

Our hotel had offered to organise a private tour for us. I wish we'd done that - I'd have enjoyed Shanghai more.

Oh, while waiting we saw quite a lot more buses belonging to another company. I can't remember the name but it's the same price (300¥) so if you're really keen on the open top bus thing I'd check this out before committing to Big Bus. You might not spend so much time standing around in the heat.

Enjoy Shanghai!

Their bus schedule and frequency wasn’t as its claimed on their website, “…buses are everywhere in the city”. I was waiting at one bus stop for over an hour while I was watching tour buses from other local tour company (Big Red Bus) passing by about every 15-20 minutes. Their local staff were totally unorganized. They weren’t friendly and helpful at all for even basic direction questions. Local river boat tour supposedly included on the daily bus fee. However, their direction to the dock was so poor that I gave up after about an hour of searching.

Shanghai is a great and beautiful city to visit, please don’t let a bad managed tour company ruin your experience.

Some of the bus stops are not marked at all. Nearby hotels that distribute the Big Bus Tour fliers don't know where the stops are either even if the stops are in front of their own hotel! Please educate the concierges and put up signs at all stops.

Two issues completely ruined the experience.

Booked online, customer service agent refused to accept the electronic version of the certificate on my ipad. Spent two hours looking for a place to print the certificate, which looked exactly like the electronic version.

Last bus left for the temple after 4 and when we arrived the temple would not acknowledge our prepaid passes because it was past the 4:30 deadline to redeem. We had to pay the usual entry fee.

Well, you should have given a time schedule for each location. Without the time schedule, all our time was wasted because we were left in the dark about what time the bus starts, how long will it stop at a particular location, etc.

I fully enjoyed taking the big bus tour. I plan on taking the one in Hong Kong in a few weeks. It's the best way to see and learn about the city you are visiting. The only suggestion I have is to provide some kind of time table so the guests know when to expect the next bus. Many times I stood around waiting because I didn't know when the next bus was coming and didn't want to miss it.

Busses were not running according to a known and reliable schedule. We sometimes ended up waiting for hours.

Took same tour 2 years ago. Very much improved. The 45 minute wait too long between red and green tour. We wandered around Mall in the warm- that could be changed but other than that I recommend it to everyone I speak to😊thank you

As we did everywhere it is possible we used Big Bus to get a first contact with the big megalopolis of Shanghai. This was as usual the best way and we feel the three circuits were very complete. It is very easy to book tickets and easy to find the bus stops. This is a very valuable offering for people willing to really get the first key information about a city before to decide which specific area(s) to focus on.

Bus tour was great it got me to all the spots i required and the staff were mostly helpful when required but would the busses are in need of updating of the information boxes that you plus the headphones into to listen about the areas travelled (most did not work). The only other gripe (although minimal) was the percieved lack of busses as i waited as long as 1 hour for a connecting bus and average time waiting for a bus was 45 minutes so plan your trip well.
This all said, would i use this service when next in Shanghai with the family - YES!

I had a good time on the bus tour. The information is concise and the stops are in good location. I also like the extras that came with it. I got a good discount as well on the website. However It would be better if the operating hours can be extended because I didn't manage to complete all the tours in time.

It was a great way to see the main sights in the city, a clear roof would've been helpful as it was raining and we couldn't see the buildings through the closed roof. didn't have a night tour in Shanghai as they do in Hong Kong which would've been lovely. I would recommend these tours, great value.

A good service, with good routing. Covers the key and important point to see in Shanghai. Good price and the flexibility to use the tickets for 24 hours is nice. Don't miss the River Cruise. Try to get it at night. It is a wonderfull view.

The people running the tour had zero consideration for the people on the tour. They were rude and unhelpful and kept stopping for 30 minutes or 45 minutes at stops with no warning. The bus driver on one bus pulled over and lit up a cigarette and the entire bus stunk!

I took this bus tour because I has a fantastic experience in London.However.....

> Drivers dont understand english, so u can ask them a doubt about any stop. One tends to get up and look around or step downstairs when arriving at a stop. In shanghai, you can look around - because u have to focus on what your ear-fones tell you. You have to be seated and listen to which stop is the next. The drivers are DUMB.
> buses not on time, kept me waiting for 1.5 hrs atleast. I took a taxi to return to my hotel twice. (I called the office from Yu garden once, No help from them, the office had no idea of the next bus)
> There are no representatives at most stops to help u.
> The last bus at the Pearl Tower stop never came. I was standing there from 6pm to 730pm. No one said that the bus tour stops at 530pm. I again spent on taxi to return safely.
> No representative at the River Pier, so I also could not take the free cruise. No one there helped me. So I was again stranded.

So, overall, it wasnt very exciting this time.

Waiting unknown time on the bus-stop - there is not timetable. When you are in the bus - there is not any idea how long will stay on each bus stop, because the staff tried to attract new tourist. Every question when we continue is"10 minutes", but it last between 20 to 30 minutes.

We bought our ticket online which gave two days on the network plus a trip to the top of the skyscraper in Pudong plus a trip on the river for the price of a oneday. This was a great way to find our feet and is recommended to tourists and newcomers to the city. Two suggestions:
1) The website does not make it clear that if you turn-up at their office the ticket is for only one day; to get the two day pass plus add-ons you have to book online. One day on the bus is not in my opinion worth the $40 something cost. Two days are good value.
2) There were only two boat trips available on the weekday in January that we were there and we only found out when we turned-up at the ferry so we missed this. It would have been really helpful if the BigBus staff had proactively told us the boat times when we first joined the tour. Telling people upfront is not hard to do and would have allowed us to enjoy this trip.

It seem that there are not enough buses, because more than one time we were forced to wait for the bus more than half an hour.
It could be very useful if buses run in both directions on their rout and not only circle one as it is today.