Best cities for a hop-on hop-off bus

Yes, narrowly: 7 out of 10. The Express Ticket costs €24.30 against €10.10 for an MVV day ticket, about 2.4 times the price, and the loop takes 1 hour with eight of our ten sights within a 7 minute walk of a stop. The catch is the wait, a bus every 20 to 30 minutes, and the two sights it misses. Nymphenburg Palace and the Olympiapark need the €28.80 Grand Ticket.

Yes, on the numbers, though only just: 7 out of 10. A One Day ticket is £32 against an £8.90 daily cap on TfL, about 3.6 times the price, and the Red Route takes 2 hours 30 minutes to get round with a bus every 15 to 20 minutes. What tips it is distance. The main sights are spread over 7 km and eight of our ten are within a 7 minute walk of a stop.

Yes, by a narrow margin: 7 out of 10. The 24 hour Discover ticket is £22 against a £5.70 daily cap on Lothian buses and trams, the Red Route loop takes 1 hour 10 minutes and a bus comes every 10 minutes until 17:00. The Old Town is small enough to walk, but it is built on a ridge, and the bus does the climbs for you.

It depends: 6 out of 10. The 24 hour ticket is €23.20 online, less than twice the €12 that six single rides on Florence's buses and trams cost, and the loop takes about 60 minutes with a bus every 25 minutes. The weak point is the route. The buses cannot enter the limited-traffic centre, so the Duomo is a 9 minute walk from the nearest stop and only six of our ten sights are within 7 minutes of one.

It depends. At €24.30 for 24 hours the Classic Tour costs about twice a €11.20 BVG day ticket, which is cheap for a sightseeing bus, and it stops within 4 minutes of seven of Berlin's ten main sights. The weak points are a bus only every 25 to 30 minutes and a 2.5 hour loop, and public bus 100 covers much of the same road. Our score is 6 out of 10.

It depends. The 24-hour ticket costs €29.70 online against €11.25 for a day of unlimited metro and bus, and six of the ten main sights are within seven minutes of a stop. The bus earns its price on Montjuïc and along the seafront, where the metro is thin. For Gaudí's houses, the Sagrada Família and the old town the metro is faster and a third of the cost. The score is 6 out of 10.

It depends: 6 out of 10. The 24-hour Discover ticket costs $62 and covers only the Downtown Loop, with one bus every 30 minutes, while six subway rides cost $18. Six of our ten sights are within a 7 minute walk of a stop, but Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum are not on this loop at all. Manhattan's length is the argument in its favour: the sights are spread over 9.6 km.

It depends: 6 out of 10. The bus is frequent, every 15 minutes, and nine of our ten sights are within a 7 minute walk of a stop, but the cheapest ticket is €20 for two days against €4.10 for 24 hours of metro, tram and bus. The centre is also small. The National Archaeological Museum and the Panathenaic Stadium, the two farthest points, are 2.3 km apart.

It depends: 6 out of 10. The 24 hour ticket is €28 against €5.35 for an Andante 24, about 5.2 times the price, and buses come every 25 minutes on the Red Line and every 30 on the Blue. In its favour, Porto is steep, nine of our ten sights are within a 7 minute walk of a stop, and the Blue Line loop takes only 1 hour.

It depends, and for many visitors the answer is no: 5 out of 10. A 24 hour ticket is €27.50 against €10 for a GVB day ticket, and the bus comes about every 25 minutes. The city keeps tour buses out of the canal ring, so the 65 minute loop runs around the edge of the centre. Six of our ten sights are within a 7 minute walk of a stop, but Dam Square is 13 minutes from the nearest stop and the Anne Frank House 12.

It depends, and for many visitors the answer is no. The bus costs €29.70 for 24 hours against €10.30 for a day of unlimited metro, and although all ten main sights sit within 5 minutes of a stop, nine of them fit inside a 3-kilometre strip you can walk. Route 2 runs only every 35 minutes and Route 3 every 25 to 35. The score is 5 out of 10.

It depends: 5 out of 10. The 24 hour ticket is €24.75 online against an €8.50 daily maximum on STIB-MIVB, and nine of our ten sights are within a 7 minute walk of a stop. The weak points are the wait and the size of the centre. The Red Route comes every 20 to 30 minutes, the Atomium shuttle every 2 hours, and the central sights span only about 3 km.

It depends: 5 out of 10. The 24 hour ticket is €22.50 online against a €7.60 daily fare on ATM, about 3 times the price. Nine of our ten sights are within 7 minutes of a stop, but they are split across four lines, and the Red line runs only every 50 minutes and the Green line to San Siro every 90. The central sights fit inside 3.7 km and the metro reaches nearly all of them.

It depends. The Yellow Bus costs €22 for 24 hours against €7.25 for a 24-hour Carris/Metro ticket, and that €22 covers only one of the two routes. Buses run every 40 minutes, and only 5 of Lisbon's 10 main sights are within 7 minutes of a stop. It scores 5 out of 10: good for Belém and for sparing your legs on the hills, weak for Alfama, the castle and the riverfront centre.

It depends. The Big Bus costs €39 for 24 hours against €12.30 for a Navigo day pass, and its single loop of 10 stops takes 2 hours 15 minutes with a bus every 10 to 20 minutes. It puts you within 5 minutes of six of the ten big sights, including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre-Dame, but it never goes near Montmartre. Our score is 5 out of 10.

It depends. Big Bus costs €39 for 24 hours, about five times the 2,750 Ft (€7.45) BKK 24-hour travelcard. Buses come every 10 to 25 minutes and the loop takes 1h50, but service stops at 17:00 and central Budapest is only 4 km across with a metro line under its main avenue. It scores 5 out of 10.

It depends: 5 out of 10. A 24-hour Discover ticket is €31.50 against a €6.00 daily cap on a Leap card, more than five times the price, and buses come only every 20 to 30 minutes. The loop is well drawn, with eight of our ten sights within a 7 minute walk of a stop. Central Dublin is small, though: 4.2 km separates the two farthest sights, and most of the others are within walking distance of each other.

It depends, and for most people staying in the centre the answer leans to no. The 24-hour ticket is €37 online against €9.70 for a 24-hour Wiener Linien ticket, buses come only every 20 to 30 minutes, and only six of the ten main sights are within 7 minutes of a stop. The central ones sit within about 3 km of each other with trams circling them, and St Stephen's Cathedral is 9 minutes from the nearest stop. Schönbrunn, 5 km west of the cathedral, is the exception. The bus earns its price on the long legs: Schönbrunn, the Belvedere and the Danube in one ticket with commentary.

For most visitors, no. The 24-hour ticket costs €28.05 online against €8.50 for a 24-hour ATAC pass, and only 3 of Rome's 10 main sights sit within 7 minutes of a working stop. The Colosseo stop is suspended, the Vatican stop is 13 minutes from St Peter's, and the buses cannot enter the lanes around the Pantheon and Trevi.

No, for most visitors: 3 out of 10. The 24 hour ticket is €28 against €5 for a TUSSAM day card, buses leave 20 to 40 minutes apart, and the flat old centre puts the cathedral, the Alcázar and the Setas inside about 2 km. Six of our ten sights are within a 7 minute walk of a stop, and the Alcázar, Santa Cruz, Triana Market and Casa de Pilatos are not.