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 numbers behind the verdict
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.
It is your first morning and you want one 60 minute circuit of the centre with commentary before choosing what to visit.
You want Nymphenburg Palace and BMW Welt in the same day without changing trams: the Grand Ticket does both for €28.80.
You are staying near the Hauptbahnhof or Stachus, where every tour starts and ends.
You can start after 14:30, when the online Happy Hour Express ticket drops to €21.
Skip it if
Your list is Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche, the Viktualienmarkt and the Hofbräuhaus. They are all within 600 metres of each other.
You dislike waiting. Buses are 20 to 30 minutes apart on the Green Tour and 30 to 60 minutes apart on the Orange Tour.
You are a group of two to five adults. One MVV group day ticket is €19.70 for all of you.
You sightsee late. The last Express bus leaves Karlsplatz at 16:30, and the last one for Nymphenburg at 16:00.
Munich sightseeing bus: the fact sheet
Routes and timetable
Route
Stops
Frequency
Full loop
First / last bus
Green Tour (City Center)
7
20–30 min
60 min
10:00 / 16:30
Green Tour (City Center)
The city loop that the Express Ticket covers: 7 stops from Karlsplatz/Stachus past the Pinakotheken, Odeonsplatz, the Eisbach, the Deutsches Museum, Marienplatz and the opera, in 1 hour.
The operator's city map, valid until 31 December 2026, gives a bus every 20 to 30 minutes between 10:00 and 17:00 from April to October and says frequency depends on the season.
The last Express departure from stop 1 is at 16:30.
A second line, the Orange Tour, continues from Karlsplatz to Nymphenburg Palace, the Olympic Park with BMW Welt, and Schwabing every 30 to 60 minutes, with the last departure for those stops at 16:00.
It needs the Grand Ticket and is not listed stop by stop on this page.
Audio guide in 9 languages.
Ticket prices
Ticket
Adult
Child
24 hoursExpress Ticket
€24.30
€15.30
48 hoursGrand Ticket 48h
€34.60
€18
72 hours
not sold
Prices are the operator's online rates, checked on 5 October 2026.
The Express Ticket (24 hours, €24.30 adult, €15.30 child aged 4 to 14) covers only the 7 stops of the Green Tour.
The Grand Ticket adds the Orange Tour to Nymphenburg, the Olympic Park and Schwabing: €28.80 for 24 hours and €34.60 for 48 hours, with children at €15.30 and €18.
Bought on the bus, the Express costs €27 and the Grand €32.
An online Happy Hour Express ticket, valid from 14:30, is €21, and family tickets are €49.50 (Express) and €58.50 (Grand).
The buses also carry the Big Bus name, and the Big Bus Munich ticket sold by Civitatis rides the same Green and Orange lines from Karlsplatz.
Child fare: ages 4 to 14.
The same day by public transport
MVV (Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund)
Adult
Single ride
€4.20
One day, unlimited rides
€10.10
The day cost is MVV's single-day ticket for zone M at €10.10, valid on S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams and buses until 06:00 the next morning.
Zone M covers every sight on this page, including Nymphenburg and the Olympiapark.
A single ride in zone M is €4.20, or €3.74 as two stripes of a €18.70 stripe ticket.
Two to five adults travelling together pay €19.70 for a group day ticket.
Children under 6 travel free.
Since 1 January 2026, children aged 6 to 14 also ride free with an adult holding a single-day ticket.
Do the sum for your trip
Change the numbers to match your group. Fares are adult fares from the tables above.
Sightseeing bus–
Public transport–
Public transport is charged per ride up to the daily maximum. Multi-day passes can be cheaper still.
24, 48 or 72 hours
24 hours€24.30 Express Ticket · €24.30 per day · 2.4 times public transport for the same days
48 hoursLowest cost per day€34.60 Grand Ticket 48h · €17.30 per day · 1.7 times public transport for the same days
For one day in the centre, the 24 hour Express Ticket at €24.30 is enough. It covers the 7 stops of the Green Tour, and the loop takes 1 hour.
Add €4.50 for the 24 hour Grand Ticket (€28.80) if you want Nymphenburg Palace or the Olympic Park, which the Express does not reach. The only 48 hour ticket is the Grand, at €34.60 for an adult and €18 for a child.
It makes sense when you give Nymphenburg and BMW Welt a day of their own. There is no 72 hour ticket.
By public transport the same day costs €10.10 for one adult, the MVV single-day ticket for zone M. Bus 100, the museum line, runs from the Hauptbahnhof past Königsplatz, the Pinakotheken, Odeonsplatz and the Haus der Kunst to the Ostbahnhof, close to the Green Tour's northern half. Tram 19 crosses the old town from Stachus past the National Theatre and along Maximilianstraße.
Tram 17 goes to Schloss Nymphenburg and the U3 to Olympiazentrum for the Olympiapark and BMW Welt. Two adults pay €19.70 with a group day ticket against €48.60 for two Express Tickets.
None of these has commentary or an open deck.
Does it suit your trip?
With children
For families, public transport is far cheaper here. A child ticket on the sightseeing bus is €15.30 for ages 4 to 14, the same on the Express and the 24 hour Grand, and under 4s ride free.
The Express family ticket is €49.50 online. On MVV, children under 6 are free, and since 1 January 2026 children aged 6 to 14 travel free with an adult who holds a single-day ticket.
Two adults and two children can cover the day on one €19.70 group day ticket. In the bus's favour, the operator's German pages mention a separate children's audio channel, and the 1 hour loop is short enough for most children.
Take the loop for the commentary on a wet day, not for the view. The operator describes its buses as open double-deckers and does not say how the top deck is covered in rain.
Civitatis notes that a bus with a roof may replace the open one in bad weather. The lower deck is always enclosed.
A 24 hour ticket started at 14:00 is still valid the next morning, which helps if the afternoon is washed out. Munich's covered alternatives are close to the stops: the Residenz at stop 7 and the Deutsches Museum at stop 5.
In July and August, do the loop first thing. The first bus leaves Karlsplatz at 10:00 and the open deck has no shade.
With a bus every 20 to 30 minutes, a full one at Marienplatz can mean half an hour on the pavement in the Tal. Stop 4 at the Eisbach is the place to get off on a hot day, because the English Garden starts there.
The Orange Tour runs only every 30 to 60 minutes, so plan Nymphenburg around its timetable.
If you cannot walk far
Phone before you buy if you use a wheelchair. The operator's website does not say whether its buses have a ramp or a wheelchair space, and gives +49 89 54907560 for questions.
The top deck is reached by stairs on any double-decker. For people who walk but not far, the Green Tour puts eight of the ten main sights within a 7 minute walk of a stop.
MVV is the dependable fallback: trams and city buses are low-floor and most U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations in the centre have lifts.
Walk the old town and use one MVV day ticket for the rest. Karlsplatz to Marienplatz along Neuhauser Straße and Kaufingerstraße is 800 metres and passes the Frauenkirche.
From Marienplatz it is 3 minutes to the Viktualienmarkt and 5 to the Hofbräuhaus, then 10 minutes north to the Residenz and Odeonsplatz. Use the €10.10 day ticket for tram 17 to Nymphenburg and the U3 to the Olympiapark.
If you want one ride with commentary and no hopping, Civitatis lists a 1 hour panoramic tour on the same buses.
Board at stop 1, Karlsplatz/Stachus, on Sonnenstraße next to Hotel BUDDY. It is the only stop where you can change between the Green and Orange tours.
Buy online. The Express Ticket is €24.30 on the operator's site and €27 from the driver, and the Grand is €28.80 against €32.
Olympic Park and BMW Welt, on the Orange Tour, are the same stop. The last bus back from it leaves at 16:45.
For the Glockenspiel on Marienplatz at 11:00 or 12:00, get off at stop 6 in the Tal and walk 3 minutes through the Old Town Hall arch.
The operator's map has a code for live bus tracking. With gaps of up to 30 minutes, check it before you walk back to a stop.
The published hours of 10:00 to 17:00 are for April to October. From November, check the operator's timetable page before you book.
Munich hop-on hop-off bus: quick answers
How much is the hop-on hop-off bus in Munich?
The Express Ticket for the 7 stop city loop is €24.30 online for an adult and €15.30 for a child aged 4 to 14 (checked 5 October 2026). The Grand Ticket with Nymphenburg and the Olympic Park is €28.80 for 24 hours and €34.60 for 48 hours.
How long does the Munich loop take?
The Green Tour takes 1 hour without getting off and has 7 stops. Riding both lines on the Grand Ticket takes about 2 hours 30 minutes.
How often do the buses come?
Every 20 to 30 minutes on the Green Tour and every 30 to 60 minutes on the Orange Tour, according to the operator's city map. Buses run from 10:00, and the last Express departure from Karlsplatz is at 16:30.
Does the bus go to Nymphenburg Palace and BMW Welt?
Only with the Grand Ticket, from €28.80. The Express Ticket stops at the 7 city-centre stops and does not leave the centre.
Is Big Bus Munich a different bus?
No. The buses carry both the Gray Line Münchener Stadtrundfahrten and Big Bus names, and both sell tickets for the same Green and Orange lines starting at Karlsplatz/Stachus.
Is the sightseeing bus cheaper than public transport in Munich?
No. An MVV single-day ticket for zone M is €10.10 and a group day ticket for up to five people is €19.70. The €24.30 Express Ticket costs about 2.4 times the single-day ticket.
Gray Line Münchener Stadtrundfahrten · MunichOn Civitatis · rated 8.4/10 by 234 travellers
