HOHO Bus - the Original Tour London

We have never done a HOHO bus tour, but I am thinking about it for our first afternoon in London. We will have 8+ hour overnight flights with a 6 hr time change - so I want us to stay awake and adjust to the new time zone, but not push anything too strenuous (group of 6 - ages 17-77).

My question is really how have you used the tour? Do you really hop off/hop off to see different areas? Or do you just make the circuit to get a overview of the city an introduction to where things are? We might be able to do some of each - just ride the first afternoon, stop off places the next morning.

If we just stay on for a full circle - how long would that take approximately? (Yellow route) I am guessing we won't even be able to get on the bus until 3pm or after if we try it the first afternoon. The last full tour is at 4:30pm

The full yellow route takes 2 hrs 20 minutes, other main routes about the same (detail is on their website).

London is packed with sights, and a full tour is interesting for pretty-well its whole duration.

Some folk ride a full route for an overview, some will hop off/on mebbe two or three times in a day using different routes.

What doesn't work well is using the hop-on bus purely as transport from one sight to another - say, just to get from Trafalgar Square to the Tower of London. That's about 3/4 of the yellow route, so around 1 hr 45 minutes. By tube (London's underground) it takes about ten minutes !!!

Buses aren't allowed past Buckingham Palace - If you want to see Buckingham Palace you will have to get off, walk 100 yards or so to see the Palace, then back to the stop to catch the next ho-ho.

Or from Buck House walk up The Mall & under Admiralty Arch into Trafalgar Square. .

Or hop off around Parliament Square for Big Ben & Westminster Abbey. Then mebbe walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square & jump on another ho-ho there.

Or take a little river cruise (included in the ho-ho fare) from Westminster Pier (near Big Ben) to the Tower of London and re-join the yellow route after looking round the Tower & Tower Bridge.

There are lots of permutations. :)

JB :)

The full yellow route takes 2 hrs 20 minutes, other main routes about the same (detail is on their website).

London is packed with sights, and a full tour is interesting for pretty-well its whole duration.

 

Some folk ride a full route for an overview, some will hop off/on mebbe two or three times in a day using different routes.

 

What doesn't work well is using the hop-on bus purely as transport from one sight to another - say, just to get from Trafalgar Square to the Tower of London. That's about 3/4 of the yellow route, so around 1 hr 45 minutes. By tube (London's underground) it takes about ten minutes !!!

 

Buses aren't allowed past Buckingham Palace - If you want to see Buckingham Palace you will have to get off, walk 100 yards or so to see the Palace, then back to the stop to catch the next ho-ho.

Or from Buck House walk up The Mall & under Admiralty Arch into Trafalgar Square. .

 

Or hop off around Parliament Square for Big Ben & Westminster Abbey. Then mebbe walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square & jump on another ho-ho there.

Or take a little river cruise (included in the ho-ho fare) from Westminster Pier (near Big Ben) to the Tower of London and re-join the yellow route after looking round the Tower & Tower Bridge.

 

There are lots of permutations. :)

 

JB :)

Thank you for the information! Yes, lots of possibilities - I love that :D Knowing the time for the whole circuit will help us decide what we will try to accomplish the first afternoon.

I took the Big Bus - oddly enough I had already been to London :eek: but was quite tired one day (not unlike having jet lag maybe...) and it was a lovely, sunny day. I thought it might be a good day to have a ride ALL AROUND LONDON above ground. I was right. I took the *longer* route - on Big Bus, it's I think the Blue Route (ok, or the red route, our locals will know!) but it was close to a three hour ride and I loved it. Also, I have to dig out the brochure but I think the Big Bus runs later into the evening though if you're arriving off season, maybe not? JB would know better than me - I did my ride in May.

Some folks *did* hop off and hop on (Piccadilly, Trafalgar, Hyde Park) but many on this longer route like me, were taking the entire ride. As a life long NYC resident, I was keen to take in the layout of greater central London - doing the boroughs, not unlike NYC would require days or weeks - so I could put it on some sort of terms with my city and others I've explored widely like Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong, Rome or Philadelphia...mostly just geographically - I'd never attempt to ever really compare any of them. Each was a unique treat to me.

The audio for the tour was likewise wonderful - somehow I could still hear the descriptions and the sounds of the city as well so I thought it was wonderful and well worth the time, depending upon how/why one wishes to plan their visit. In the case of getting a preview of London and combatting jet lag, I think it's a great option...take the longer tour, then go to a pub, try to walk a bit for some exercise and maybe turn in early.

Enjoy your visit :)

I'm trying to decide whether to do a HOHO bus one day too. We have 2 full days in London after our cruise, and then leave the 3rd morning from Heathrow. We're staying at the Crowne Plaza Kensington, so we're right near both a tube station and a HOHO bus stop.

We might get the 2-day London Pass, which includes 1 day of blue HOHO bus (Grayline Golden Tours). How does that one compare to the other HOHOs? Are the all pretty much the same?

Also, is the London Pass worth it for the number of attraction you can reasonably get into in 2 days? There's probably 5-6 items in the list we'd like to get to.

I took the Big Bus - oddly enough I had already been to London :eek: but was quite tired one day (not unlike having jet lag maybe...) and it was a lovely, sunny day. I thought it might be a good day to have a ride ALL AROUND LONDON above ground. I was right. I took the *longer* route - on Big Bus, it's I think the Blue Route (ok, or the red route, our locals will know!) but it was close to a three hour ride and I loved it. Also, I have to dig out the brochure but I think the Big Bus runs later into the evening though if you're arriving off season, maybe not? JB would know better than me - I did my ride in May.

 

Some folks *did* hop off and hop on (Piccadilly, Trafalgar, Hyde Park) but many on this longer route like me, were taking the entire ride. As a life long NYC resident, I was keen to take in the layout of greater central London - doing the boroughs, not unlike NYC would require days or weeks - so I could put it on some sort of terms with my city and others I've explored widely like Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong, Rome or Philadelphia...mostly just geographically - I'd never attempt to ever really compare any of them. Each was a unique treat to me.

 

The audio for the tour was likewise wonderful - somehow I could still hear the descriptions and the sounds of the city as well so I thought it was wonderful and well worth the time, depending upon how/why one wishes to plan their visit. In the case of getting a preview of London and combatting jet lag, I think it's a great option...take the longer tour, then go to a pub, try to walk a bit for some exercise and maybe turn in early.

 

Enjoy your visit :)

Thanks for the confirmation! I do think the HOHO plus a walk along the river (our hotel is in the Southbank near Waterloo station) will be perfect for our first afternoon/evening.

I'm trying to decide whether to do a HOHO bus one day too. We have 2 full days in London after our cruise, and then leave the 3rd morning from Heathrow. We're staying at the Crowne Plaza Kensington, so we're right near both a tube station and a HOHO bus stop.

 

 

We might get the 2-day London Pass, which includes 1 day of blue HOHO bus (Grayline Golden Tours). How does that one compare to the other HOHOs? Are the all pretty much the same?

 

Also, is the London Pass worth it for the number of attraction you can reasonably get into in 2 days? There's probably 5-6 items in the list we'd like to get to.

For us, no it is not worth it. But that is also considering we won't really want to cram every minute full of sights, and we have 6 people - making it more difficult to keep a really tight schedule. I think we will do the Travelcard purchased from a rail station (our hotel is very close to Waterloo station) and get the 2 for 1 deals for what we want to see.

For us, no it is not worth it. But that is also considering we won't really want to cram every minute full of sights, and we have 6 people - making it more difficult to keep a really tight schedule. I think we will do the Travelcard purchased from a rail station (our hotel is very close to Waterloo station) and get the 2 for 1 deals for what we want to see.

Seems like 90% of the reviews/recommendations I see say getting the London Pass is not worth it, at least on a price vs cost of buying tickets individually basis goes. It's a bit frustrating reading, actually, because I'd LIKE it to work just from a convenience and ease-of-use standpoint. I guess I'm OK with still buying the passes even if we only break even or lose a few $$, just for the convenience and ability to bypass ticket lines. But I wish a higher percentage of the reviews said it was worth it just for that. Very few do.

I've gotta think this through more, especially which attractions we're happy enough just seeing and getting pictures from the outside without really needing to go inside. With limited time (2 days), we may just prefer seeing more places from the outside than fewer in the inside, making the pass not worth getting.

We ended up doing a Walking Tour of London - for Muggles! [emoji6] It was very fun and informative - and not just from a Harry Potter perspective. Our tour guide Lily shared bits and bobs about other filming locations and pertinent info about the areas of London that we were traversing through.

The tour was about 2.5 hours (including a ride on the tube) and was about £14 each. Well worth it.

(We ended near Leicester Square - and went to the Lego Store there - WELL worth a look see!!)

Cruising NCL [emoji925] with Raleigh Traveler

Just a follow-up... We ended up getting the 2-day London Passes (they were like £2 cheaper buying them at the airport desk). And we used the one day of Golden Tours HOHO bus benefit that came with them. They were fine, and I wouldn't hesitate to use the Golden Tours HOHO again.

We used the London Pass for the HOHO bus, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge Experience, Westminister Abbey, and the Churchill War Rooms. I didn't add it all up, but we probably broke about even. It was worth it though just for ease of use and to skip a few lines.

I also bought Oyster Cards for all of us to get around on the tube. Quite easy buying them at the kiosk inside the station, and then redeeming the deposit and remaining value at the same kiosk when done.

We used the Original HOHO bus in London in June, 2015. We purchased the 2-day tickets and Tower of London pass ahead of time on line through the site London Tool Kit https://www.londontoolkit.com/. It saved us money and was convenient. There was a stop fairly close to our hotel in the Westminster area. We never did make it around the whole loop, but we hopped on and got off at whatever we wished to visit. We did use the free river cruise and enjoyed that too.

Be aware there are different commentaries on the buses: some have audio tapes, some have live guides. We preferred the live guides. The first bus we got on, we could not hear the commentary because of loud speaking (French) people behind us. We got off at the next stop and got on the next bus; much better.

I used the Original tour bus company. I just stayed on for the whole circuit. Nothing better than seeing the sites and not having to deal with the crowds or hassle. Walking tours are great (did a fun pub walking tour) but not for your first day there after those kind of flights IME (been there/did that - so tired I tripped in the middle of an intersection in Rome!). If you plan to be there for more than 2 days, the London CityPass is a great time & money savings.

We had problems with the Original Tour HOHO bus - up to 40 minutes waiting for one at the Westminster Bridge stop. When we asked a Original Tour person, they told us to wait and one should be coming soon. A second Original Tour representative then came and informed us that they had trouble stopping at the stop and that we were to walk to the next stop around the corner on York Road. They weren't very well organized. The ticket was part of our vacation package with our TA so we didn't sweat it, but there were alot of unhappy passengers. I probably wouldn't use them again.