Big Bus Tours: is it reliable, and is it worth it?

Yes, Big Bus Tours is a real and long-established company, and the bus you paid for will be there. How good it is depends on the city: the service is frequent in Edinburgh and London and thin in New York and Dublin, and getting money back after you activate a ticket is hard.

8.2/10
Traveller rating · 8.2/10 across 12,092 reviews

Company details checked on 5 October 2026

Miniature model of London with an orange sightseeing bus Miniature model of Edinburgh with an orange sightseeing bus Miniature model of New York with an orange sightseeing bus Miniature model of Paris with an orange sightseeing bus

Big Bus Tours at a glance

  • Founded2011
  • Head officeLondon, United Kingdom
  • OwnerExponent Private Equity (majority owner since 2015), with Merlin Entertainments as a minority shareholder
  • How it worksRuns its own buses
  • Cities worldwide29
  • Official websitebigbustours.com

Average of the ratings on Civitatis for the cities below, weighted by the number of reviews.

Is Big Bus Tours reliable?

Who is behind it

  • The contracting company in the terms is The Big Bus Company Limited, registered in England under number 01360202 at 110 Buckingham Palace Road, London.
  • The brand owner is Big Bus Tours Limited.
  • The majority shareholder is the British investment firm Exponent, with Merlin Entertainments holding a minority stake.
  • Press reports have said Exponent was looking at a sale, and we found no completed change of owner by 5 October 2026.

Refunds and cancellation

  • The published terms give a refund, full or partial, only when Big Bus cannot provide the service during your ticket's validity for reasons within its control.
  • You apply in writing to info@bigbustours.com with a copy of the ticket, or pick Refund Request on the contact form.
  • Tickets marked fully flexible can be moved to another date free of charge if you ask before the booked date.
  • Once a ticket is activated it cannot be paused, extended, transferred or cancelled.

When something goes wrong

  • The usual problems are stops taken out of service, diverted routes and a full top deck.
  • On 4 October 2026 our city pages recorded two suspended stops in London, a relocated stop in Paris and a moved first stop in Edinburgh.
  • The terms allow Big Bus to change routes, stops and times without notice and say a seat is not guaranteed on either deck.
  • Complaints go through live chat or the enquiry form, its phone lines are listed as unavailable, and a ticket bought from a reseller has to be taken up with that reseller.

What to expect on the day

  • In the seven cities we cover, a bus comes every 10 to 30 minutes and a full loop takes from 70 minutes in Edinburgh to 215 minutes on London's Blue Route.
  • The last bus leaves between 16:30 in New York and Vienna and 18:20 in Edinburgh.
  • Commentary is recorded and played through headphones in 6 to 16 languages, and Dublin also has an English-speaking guide on every bus.
  • On 4 October 2026 stops 1 and 14 in London were out of service, stop 7 in Paris had been relocated and stop 1 in Edinburgh had moved to George Street.
  • The table below shows how travellers rate it in each city.

Good at

  • The same ticket names, app and rules in every city, so you know what you are buying.
  • Live service pages for each city that list closed and relocated stops.
  • Free date changes on fully flexible tickets if you ask before the booked day.
  • Bundles with a river cruise, walking tour or night tour for people who would buy those anyway.

Watch out for

  • The cheapest ticket often covers only one route. In New York and Edinburgh the second route needs a dearer ticket.
  • The clock starts when you press Activate in the app and cannot be stopped.
  • No refund for a change of plans, bad weather or a long wait. The terms only cover a service Big Bus fails to run.
  • Multi-day tickets must be used on consecutive days.

Big Bus Tours, city by city

The same company can be worth the ticket in one city and a poor deal in the next. These are the cities we have checked.

Who is Big Bus Tours

  • Big Bus Tours was formed in May 2011 when two family firms merged: Les Cars Rouges, which started in Paris in 1990, and The Big Bus Company, which started in London in 1991.
  • Exponent Private Equity bought the business in 2015 and Merlin Entertainments, the owner of the London Eye and Madame Tussauds, took a minority stake in 2016.
  • The head office is on Buckingham Palace Road in London.
  • In most cities Big Bus owns the buses and employs the staff, which is the main difference from a franchise brand.
  • There are exceptions.
  • In Munich its own FAQ says the tours are run by a local partner, Münchener Stadtrundfahrten, with Big Bus selling tickets as an agent.
  • River cruises and attraction entries bundled into tickets are always run by other companies.
  • Its website lists 29 cities on four continents, from London, Paris and New York to Dubai, Singapore and Sydney.
  • One website, one phone app and one set of ticket names cover almost all of them, so the product is easy to recognise from city to city.
  • The routes, frequency and price are not the same, and our city pages score them separately.

How Big Bus Tours tickets work

  1. Most cities sell three tickets: Discover for 24 hours, Essential for 48 and Explore for 48 or 72. The hours run from the moment you activate the ticket in the Big Bus Tours app, on the date you chose when booking. London also sells a One Day ticket that is valid on the chosen calendar date only. The names are the same everywhere but the contents are not, so read what each one includes in that city.
  2. The longer tickets add extras: a river cruise in London and Paris, a night tour in Dublin and New York, a guided walk in Budapest and Vienna. In some cities the 24-hour ticket leaves out a route. A booking confirmation email is not a ticket. You add the booking to the app with its reference, or ask staff at a stop for a paper ticket before activating.
  3. Booking on the Big Bus website is cheaper than paying the full price at the stop, usually by about 10%. If you buy through a reseller, questions and refund requests go to that reseller.

Big Bus Tours: quick answers

Is Big Bus Tours a legitimate company?

Yes. It is a British company formed in 2011 from two operators that started in 1990 and 1991, with a registered office in London and buses in 29 cities.

Can I get a refund from Big Bus Tours?

Only in limited cases. The terms offer a refund when Big Bus cannot provide the service for reasons within its control, and you apply in writing. A fully flexible ticket can be moved to another date for free before the booked day.

When does a Big Bus 24-hour ticket start?

When you activate it in the app on your travel date, or when staff issue a paper ticket. It then runs for 24 hours without a pause.

Does Big Bus run its own buses everywhere?

In most cities, yes. In Munich the buses are run by a local partner and Big Bus sells the tickets as an agent. Cruises and attraction entries are run by other companies in every city.

Is Big Bus the same as City Sightseeing?

No. They are separate companies and their tickets do not work on each other's buses. Big Bus mostly runs its own fleet, while City Sightseeing is a brand used by local bus firms.

Sources

Read on 5 October 2026. Timetables and prices change with the season, so check the operator's page before you travel.

Other companies

  • Barcelona Bus Turístic

    Yes. Barcelona Bus Turístic is run by TMB, the public company behind the city's metro and buses, and it is the most frequent tour bus we cover in Spain. The catch is a strict rule: once you buy a ticket there is no refund.

  • City Sightseeing

    The brand is genuine and has been around since 1999, but City Sightseeing does not run your bus. A local company does, so quality, refund rules and the place to complain change from city to city.

  • Madrid City Tour

    Yes. Madrid City Tour is the city's official tour bus, run by two of Spain's largest coach and tour companies, and its cancellation terms are better than most. Route 1 is frequent, while Routes 2 and 3 can leave you waiting 35 minutes.

  • Gray Line Münchener Stadtrundfahrten

    Yes. Münchener Stadtrundfahrten is an old Munich company that runs the buses itself, and the same buses are sold under the Gray Line and Big Bus names. Check the cancellation terms before you book, because its published terms charge a fee that rises as the date gets closer.

  • Sights of Athens

    Yes. Sights of Athens is a licensed Greek tour company that runs its own blue buses, and its cancellation rule is clear: free up to 24 hours before. The city loop is frequent, while the Piraeus and beach lines run only six times a day.

  • Tootbus

    Yes. Tootbus belongs to RATP Dev, part of the group that runs the Paris metro, and its refund rule is one of the clearer ones: free up to 24 hours before the tour date. In Brussels the weak point is frequency, above all on the Atomium shuttle.

  • Yellow Bus

    Yes. Yellow Bus belongs to Carris, the public company that runs Lisbon's buses and trams, so you are dealing with a transport operator and not a reseller. The weak point is frequency: in Lisbon a bus comes every 40 minutes.