Big Bus Tours Washington DC Reviews 2,681

READ TIL THE END***
I strongly advise against taking the Big Bus Tour especially if you are on a tight schedule, SAVE YOURSELF TIME AND MONEY AND LOOK FOR OTHER OPTIONS FIRST! There are plenty of other tours in DC. They make you wait for over 30 or 40min before a bus shows up at the stop. After it happened to us a few times during the day we ended up taking UBER ALL DAY to make up on the lost time after waiting and waiting and waiting! It was seriously unbearable, especially when you see all the other tour companies stop once or twice and the BIG BUS doesn't show up! Also two of our digital commentary didn't work and there was no guide aboard the one and only bus we ended up taking! On top of it all, they are also liars, I obviously asked for a refund to which they agreed after I submitted all the proofs they requested, yet a month later I still have not received the money and when I called to find out the person said she could not help me and HUNG UP ON ME because she didn't want to hear my complaints! This is an UNPROFESSIONAL AND OVERRATED COMPANY!

We did the Night Tour of WA DC and had a wonderful tour guide. HIs name was Keary. He went above and beyond what everybody expected, he even took us to a monument that wasn't usually stopped at. He was concise, clear and very well spoken. His knowledge of the DC area is deep. I highly recommend Big Bus Tours DC with tour guide Keary!

Thomas/Big serge was the best bus driver get him!!

Bought a 2 days pass but got no service at all on day 2 as it was memorial weekend and they discontinued service on several stops with no advance warning. I asked staff on day 1 if there would be any change to route and was told service as normal following day. I waited for almost an hour before walking to Lincoln memorial, then took cab to Arlington, followed by another cab. Did not see any big buses but every other company. Was so exhausted from hanging around and walking miles that I was too tired to use night bus as they ask you to turn up 45 mins in advance but won't let you on bus till 6.45 pm even though its sitting there empty! Most of the queue were aged 50 plus, not able to stand waiting that long. Most disappointed with service and totally out of pocket. Going to New York next week but will book with another company ☹☹☹

With making the night tour I don't regret going as my tour guide would of hold a character or act as a typical tour guide yet cracking the occasion joke... Even with the sense of humor and enthusiasm he had in his voice. Altogether I feel happy about the trip and would gladly take it again. Even with the pretty bad weather conditions. Chris Lee & Damian (probably butchering their names) had made me quite excited to tour areas of DC despite my fatigue. I would probably recommend a close experience like this tour to most of the people I know.

Booked this sight seeing service today. $49 dollars a person. We started at Union Station and we got off of the bus at the Botanical Gardens (the first stop of the red line). When we went to go to the next location on their looping tour we stood in the rain for 30 minutes waiting for the bus to come. All of the other tour buses had done two to three laps to this location while we were standing there. When the bus finally came we were loaded in with several other people on a full bus. Everyone was standing in the aisles. We were directed to go to the back area to stand by a very rude attendant. There were no apologies made by the company on their crowded conditions and tardiness. The attendant had a very harsh affect like we were bothering her. The company does recorded audio tours by giving you headphones instead of a live audio tour. But if you are standing and do not have a seat, you do not have a box to plug your earplugs in to hear the tour. The audio tour has very few comments and history on the buildings you are passing and they play filler music most of the time. It is the same patriot music the whole tour. Not a quality learning experience. We witnessed people being told to go up on the roof of the bus and given ponchos and people being left at the Big Bus stations because the bus was crammed in the aisles and no one else could fit. The bus driver was awful he would speed up and then, harshly pound on the brake. The people in the aisles were getting really jarred with every stop. The windows were foggy and no one could see a thing. The roof was leaking on one passenger. No air-conditioning in the back. We got off at the History museum and elected to walk to the hotel versus getting on this bus again. An UBER/Lyft driver and ride would of been a quarter of the price and more accommodating. Save your money or pick another tour service.

Bus leaks, windows are fogged up. Seats face each other instead of looking out windows. Bad choice and very expensive for riding a bus around and seeing nothing!!!

Don’t waste your money on this trip. Use Old Town Trolley instead. For starters, we encountered the very rude and arrogant Ashley Pitt at Union Station. She refused to answer any of our questions - and it appeared to be because of our race.
As for the advertised “lively” narration, there was none. Apparently, the narrator was absent for the day....so we did our own. The day was hot and there was no AC on the buses. Most patrons hopped off instead of on. Our first stop was Arlington; however, we were never told about the additional tour fee there. We reported this experience to our hotel and they said that they would contact Big Bus and not recommend the tour to any more guests until the service is improved. We also reported a scathing review on Trip Advisors as a warning to others!

On a whistle-stop tour of Washington we hoped to see as many sights as possible. The 3 routes this company operated seemed to be a good way to do this.
We had time to do all 3 routes including hopping on & off to visit some of the monuments.
We purchased 2 x 2-day Big Bus tickets at midday on Thurs 29/03/18
We took the Blue route first.
As we arrived at Arlington cemetery the guide informed us that there would be a bus approximately every 20 minutes for the return trip (I have since noted that the website says 30 minutes) When we pulled up to the Arlington cemetery stop there was a long queue of angry people waiting to board who said they had been waiting over an hour for a bus - this should have been a warning sign.
We arrived back at the cemetery pick up point at 2.20 to wait for a return bus, a small group of people were already queuing.
We waited there for 1 hour and 35 minutes, we had no idea when or even if, a bus would turn up, it was hot, there was no shelter, no refreshments and no information.
After we had waited for almost an hour one of the ladies in the queue rang Big Bus tours customer services number for an update. She was still on hold when the bus finally arrived 40 mins later.
The staff on the bus were unapologetic, unconcerned and unable to supply a reason for the lengthy delay. Several of us spoke to the supervisor, Robert Scott at Lincoln Memorial when we arrived back. His attitude was the same. He claimed that all the buses had 'gone out on time' but was unable to explain why none of them had arrived at Arlington cemetery except to imply we were lying.
Due to the unacceptably lengthy delay at Arlington cemetery we did not have time to complete the Red bus route as after visiting Lincoln Memorial we were told we were on the last bus of the day and would have to disembark at Union station.
This meant that the following day we could either complete the red route or take the Yellow route but did not have time to do both.
We wanted to visit Georgetown and consequently paid for a taxi there as we were worried about the reliability of the Big Bus service and afraid we'd miss our train if we were again left waiting for a bus for an hour and 35 minutes.
$69 per person for 1.5 trips is very poor value for money, it would actually have been cheaper for us to use taxis.
I have used Big Bus tours in other cities and not encountered these problems. Some delay due to traffic etc would be understandable but the length of this delay was totally unacceptable.
I have emailed them to ask for a refund but have yet to receive the courtesy of a response or even an acknowledgement.

This was the Worst experience! Not only do they lie about their time for pick up and drop off, but they lie about having a mobile ticket option. We bought four two day deluxe tickets, downloaded the app and opted for the mobile tickets. We used the mobile QR code “tickets” twice the first day. On the second day they claimed our mobile QR code ticket didn’t scan and that there was nothing they could do about it! We road the bus twice for $210 dollars and we also got a mysterious $80.00 charge applied to our credit card! Their staff are unprofessional, they lie and clearly did not have to possess anything but a pulse to work for them. I witnessed the Big Bus employees lie and mistreat a woman with an autistic son, they would not allow her or her son on a bus and lied and said another bus would come in 20 minutes, she had been waiting for an hour and a half with a highly agitated disabled son! Seems like the ADA should look into this business. Their recorded tour narration was also not in synchronization with the ride either! Uber if you have to, do not take this bus!

We paid for a 2 day tour of DC including the night time tour. It is March and 35 degrees. When we show up for the night time tour 15 minutes early there is a long line already.

They fill up the first bus, then a second bus. We are the last ones in line, our only choice is to sit up top in the open air, again it is 35 degrees outside.

They refuse to run a third bus, which was sitting there, telling us we should have showed up earlier and better luck tomorrow night.

We just went next door to the old town trolley and we're able to get on one of the many busses they were running and sit inside a much better bus.

Everything was great. Guides were very informative (Tom and Pam are the only names I remember....) but everyone did a very good job. Only one small mixup (possibly/probably our misunderstanding??) about the last run so we ended up quite a distance from our hotel. The very nice man from Big Bus gave us a free day for the next day. We found the buses to be punctual. One driver saw us running and waving and he waited for us. No hesitation to get this company again.

I had booked the tour in advance and made a mistake by booking the night tour instead of the day/night tour. Stacy made some phone calls and got it straighten out. We paid a little more and got what we wanted. We enjoyed the tours-the only way to get around DC!

Terrible experience, you pay for nothing. I don't recommend it. The service is very bad. You spend more than one hour waiting for the bus. At the end they say: this is the end, no more and you don't have rights at all.

Very disappointed with the Big Bus in Washington D.C. We had an issue (paid for two fares at 4:30 p.m.) for a total of $98 and were then told, after our credit card was swiped that the ride finished up at 5 p.m. The attendant said she couldn't issue a refund but they could at Union Station. We went to Union Station and they said we were given the wrong information and would have to email the company. We have emailed a couple of times and no one has bothered to get in touch with us. Spent $100 for nothing. Very poor customer service!

Terrible.... we vacationed in Boston first. Used Old Town Trolley Tours.... "the best" Finished up in DC with Big Bus Tours. Horrible experience. My motherinlaw who is 77 was walking up to the top deck. Driver closes door, I asked her to wait before leaving so my mother in law wouldn't fall, she said " She would do the driving" very rude. There was no narrator most of the time.... lower part of the bus was hot.. very hot.. Terrible experience... Will not use again anywhere. Definitely going back to Old Town Trolley Tours. Sorry Big Bus but your service sucks.

False Advertising

The so called air conditioned buses are old and NOT air conditioned.
The buses run late if they show up at all.
Sometimes, you can even hear what the tour guide is saying.
Honestly, you can get there faster by walking or taking mass transit.

Today was my only day to spend in DC. I'm from Utah and was so thrilled to have one day in our nations capitol. I purchased 2 tickets for my husband and I. My husband is 63 and has a heart condition. I felt seeing the city on your buses would be the best to see the most and walk the least in the heat.
The first three busses of the day were great, the drivers friendly, the guides informative. Had anyone asked me about BigBus at that point I would have given a rave review. Sadly, one driver on our last bus of the day simply ruined my entire dc experience. We boarded the bus with our electronic pass for 2 on my phone just as we had done previously. The driver refused to scan my phone. He demanded my paper "ticket" I explained I never received a ticket. He ordered us off the bus and insisted without a ticket we weren't allowed on any more buses. I tried to reason with him. Our hotel is clear over in Arlington. I told him I had been given a paper receipt on the first bus but I couldn't find it. By this time I was embarrassed with tears in my eyes literally begged him to let us ride to the train station at least. He was so rude and condescending. I was so humiliated. I apologized for not understanding the receipt was a ticket, he told me to get off the bus. My husband and I got off the bus. Now in a strange city this experience was simply horrifying. I paid my money simply to be left on the curb. I truly am at a loss of how a company or even a human can treat a customer or person in such a manner. I tell you this only to hAve you please train your drivers beyond the rules. Kindness, respect and compassion could go so far.
This experience will ever mark my dc experience I sure hope it doesn't happen to any one else

Not enough buses to make it convenient, waited on average 30 min, and once 45 minutes. So the hop on hop off concept is not accurate. There were 3 red buses to everyone one blue bus the day we waited for the blue bus. Also the tour guide is sometimes a person sometimes a recording, either way, just ok. Actually pretty disappointed. It was not the information about DC I was looking for. I wanted historical information about important buildings and forefathers. Felt it was a little racially biased towards non white population, and if forefathers were mentioned seemed to emphasized mostly the negatives on those couple of men that were mentioned. If want a true historical guided tour, find a different bus or walking tour. If just want transportation and don't mind waiting, its ok :)

We had a chance to visit Washington DC and taken big bus tour, on night tour on 29th July 2017, in bus No CO64 we had our tour guide Sana who was too good she made us so informative about the monuments we visited, undoubtedly she and the driver was too good, who gave us the opportunity to take the photo graphs while stopping the bus at right location. Thanks Big Bus and sana and the driver.