Hop On Hop Off Boat in London

[ShelleyK]

Looking at this, there are so many to choose from. 

 

Does anyone know which one will get you to see the most places at a reasonable rate? 

 

It is confusing! Help! 

 

Thanks!

ShelleyK

[CruiserBruce]

Book it as  package with one of the land hop on hop offs, like Big Red Bus.

 

You can check their routes on their websites, but I think they are pretty identical.

 

Define "reasonable". That means many different things to different people. Usually the multi-day packages are the best fares.

[gnome12]

50 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Book it as  package with one of the land hop on hop offs, like Big Red Bus.

 

You can check their routes on their websites, but I think they are pretty identical.

 

Define "reasonable". That means many different things to different people. Usually the multi-day packages are the best fares.

Yes, but then you are relying on the hohos as transportation instead of just providing an overview, which, in London, means you won't get to see much, if anything, in depth.

[CruiserBruce]

47 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Yes, but then you are relying on the hohos as transportation instead of just providing an overview, which, in London, means you won't get to see much, if anything, in depth.

You get off and explore the sites you want to see in depth. 

[markeb]

What are you wanting to see? I think that's the key question. I don't know that I'd use them as transportation, other than possibly from Westminster to the Tower or Greenwich. The trip to and from Greenwich is actually very nice. I don't remember who we used, or how many providers are on that route. But you do see a lot of London along the Thames, and Greenwich is a great stop (if you have time) on its own. But we only got off in Greenwich. And that looks to be a common theme: Westminster near the bridge and/or London Eye, the Tower, and Greenwich. Everything else on the "HOHO" is a cruise by. 

 

But as gmome12 says, HOHO, whether on water or roads, is an inefficient means of transportation in London and can make it difficult to see, and more importantly experience, London. Consider this a river cruise. And I'm not sure who we took when we did this.

[markeb]

6 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

You get off and explore the sites you want to see in depth. 

 

They stop at the Tower and Greenwich. It's a reasonably good way to get to Greenwich. It may or may not be a good way to get to the Tower depending on where you're staying. It's probably a horrible way to visit both the Tower and Greenwich in the same day!

[Globaliser]

On 8/9/2024 at 8:28 PM, ShelleyK said:

Looking at this, there are so many to choose from.

 

Does anyone know which one will get you to see the most places at a reasonable rate?

 

With one exception, all the river services are intolerably slow if you want to use them as transport, and are really designed to be leisurely river cruises as others have said.

 

The exception is Thames Clippers, which operates fast catamarans. Although they can't operate at high speed in central London, they are still faster than the tourist cruises. They do operate at high speed downstream (east) of Wapping, where their benefit is greatest if you happen to want to go to/from places on the river near their piers.

 

If you want to use the river for hop-on hop-off transport, this is probably the only practicable option. That's underlined by it being part of the Transport for London network, so that you can (for example) pay with Oyster. (However, Thames Clipper fares are not integrated into the main TfL fare structure, and TfL fare caps don't apply.)

 

Thames Clippers has hop-on, hop-off fares that may suit you if you want to use them for this.

[exlondoner]

In all cases, if you want to use the boats for sightseeing, check the tides. A very low tide really does make a difference to how well you can see.

[kflietst]

On 8/9/2024 at 3:28 PM, ShelleyK said:

Looking at this, there are so many to choose from. 

 

Does anyone know which one will get you to see the most places at a reasonable rate? 

 

It is confusing! Help! 

 

Thanks!

ShelleyK

 

[kflietst]

ShelleyK

We want to take a HOHO to just get an overview of the landmarks.  We were advised to just ride the whole circuit on our first day to get our bearings. We are wondering which route allows us to see the most , and are confused by all the options too.  Green Line? Blue Line? Red Line? At least 3 different companies! ? Does anyone have a recommendation for us? 

K

[Globaliser]

5 minutes ago, kflietst said:

We want to take a HOHO to just get an overview of the landmarks.  We were advised to just ride the whole circuit on our first day to get our bearings. We are wondering which route allows us to see the most , and are confused by all the options too.  Green Line? Blue Line? Red Line? At least 3 different companies! ? Does anyone have a recommendation for us?

 

I think this thread is about boats, not buses.

 

For buses, there are lots of other threads. Try these:

• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2923080-london-hop-onhop-off-bus-question
• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2932870-london-red-bus-hop-on-hop-off
• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2943268-hoho-bus-in-london
• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2963916-big-bus-hop-on-hop-off-bus
• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2971702-hop-on-hop-off-in-london
• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2984492-hoho-bus-in-london-and-pre-cruise-in-london
• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3010625-london-hop-on-hop-off-bus

 

Personally, I recommend these: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/ - there are far more routes and they're far cheaper (no more than £5.25 for a whole day, no matter how many journeys you take).

[Kenswing]

Use the HOHO as a last resort. At least until the construction in the city slows down.  We had tickets for the Big Bus and due to all the construct, doing the loop on their Red Route took over three hours.  We stayed near the Eye and ended up walking to a lot of places.  The tube is easy to use.  And for the times we just didn't feel like dealing with things we Uber'd.

[Globaliser]

5 hours ago, Kenswing said:

At least until the construction in the city slows down.

 

Do you have any insight into when this might be? I seem to recall that the work has continued largely uninterrupted since about the year 1666.

[exlondoner]

8 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Do you have any insight into when this might be? I seem to recall that the work has continued largely uninterrupted since about the year 1666.

I think that is right, but I’m not sure it didn’t start earlier than that. Possibly there was a bit of a pause in about 1942. 

[John Bull]

Hop On Hop Off Boat in London

 

The only included cruise offered by all hop-on bus operators - City Sightseeing, BigBus, Toot, and Golden Tours  - is a 30-minute one-way cruise from the Tower of London to a stop at either end of Westminster Bridge or vice-versa. There are no intermediate stops.

If you don't buy hop-on bus tickets you can buy cruise-only tickets at the pier

..................

The Thames Clipper is a ferry service which operates between Putney Bridge in the west to Barking Riverside in the east, about 18 miles with up to 20 intermediate stops and something under 2 hrs end-to-end. Totally unsuited to hop-on/off, although hop-on/off tickets are available.

The part that would be of interest to most visitors would be between the London Eye & Greenwich, about 7 miles / one hour and takes you past Tower of London, under Tower Bridge, and past new and converted-warehouse riverside flats & the high-rise Canary Wharf commercial centre. And IMHO that's only worthwhile if you combine it with seeing the sights at Greenwich, which include the Cutty Sark tea clipper, the imposing Old Royal Naval College & the National Maritime Museum - all are close to the pier - and Greenwich Royal Observatory (a 10-minute walk across the park from the Maritime Museum).

Return to central London on the Clipper, or Docks Light Railway from Cutty Sark station or 10 min walk to Greenwich train station for frequent trains (about £5 pp) 

 

That would be a great day out, but perhaps only for those who are in London for more than a day or two

 

JB 🙂