Europe is technically the smallest continent in the world but it has literally developed itself so much that you can feel that it IS the world. Most of the European cities & towns can be explored on foot. Their city centers are so small that you need just a day to see everything that a historical center has to offer. Cities like Prague, Amsterdam, Bratislava, Salzburg, Dubrovnik are very compact & hence, they can be explored easily without any transportation.
Then there are many other cities, which are huge, and you will need some sort of transport option to just get around. Cities like Paris, Rome, Vienna are so huge that if you choose to stick to public transportation & prefer to cover all the monuments in a single day, it is simply not possible. In such times, Big Bus Tours come to the rescue.
What are the Big Bus tours?
In Europe, there are many modes of transportation – Trains, Buses, Trams, Metros, Taxis etc. There is one more variation of buses which is called Hop-on Hop-off buses. These buses take you from monument to monument, hence saving your time & efforts to move around in a relatively new city.
Are Big Bus Tours Worth Taking?
Of course! Let me tell you about our experience in 3 cities in which we took Big Bus Tours. We took our first Big Bus Tour in Paris, then in Vienna & then finally in Rome. I feel it was really helpful because, as I mentioned above, these cities are gigantic. We did not want to follow the public transportation to non-touristy areas as we had been to 2 of these cities (Paris & Vienna) before. Big Bus Tours are really helpful, here’s how:
It saves time
Most tourists have about 1-2 days max in each city they visit. Even I visit cities for mostly 2-3 days & it is impossible to see each & everything in that time frame. If I do not want to spend my time commuting in a big city like Paris, I should just go for Big Bus Tours.
All the Big Bus Tours have specific routes for each city. It goes from 1 tourist attraction to another in a fixed order. You can simply hop on the bus, get to the attraction, see it, get back to the bus stop & catch the next bus to the next attraction. The best thing about Big Bus Tours is the frequency at which the next bus comes. Usually, every 30 mins, there is a bus departing from the fixed bus stop. It saves a lot of time if you want to see 10 touristy things in a single day.
It saves efforts
This one is the obvious one. When we are traveling, we want to relax, see things at our own pace, not run around. Big Bus Tours specifically cut down on our efforts. It spares us the pain of changing buses & metros just to go from one attraction to another. In Rome, Big Bus Tours helped us a lot. As you know, Rome is a huge city. Taking public transport (which is too crowded) makes commuting worse. But when you know that one single route is going to take you from Colosseum to Circus Maximus to Vatican City to Spanish Steps & back to Roma Termini station (Center), you know you are going to save a lot of efforts in traveling.
Moreover, you get to see this wonderful city from the top of the bus. Most Big Bus Tours are equipped with WiFi in all its buses. You can stay connected while traveling as well. It also spares you the effort of opening Google Maps every now & then just to see how to go from one place to another. Saving efforts is definitely a major win when you are traveling abroad.
It saves money
Let’s face it when we are traveling, saving every penny that we can, makes us happy. There are many ways you can travel inside cities. There are city cards & passes which offer free public transportations. As I mentioned, even if you want to take public transportation in cities like Paris & Rome, it is too crowded & spread out. If you want a personalized experience, you can hire taxis. Uber is mostly present in all the major European cities. But taxis quickly get expensive especially when you are traveling for an entire day inside a major city.
Big Bus Tours swoops in to make your transit effortless & personalized, without costing a bomb. Most Big Bus Tours cost as much as what a public transport card might cost. Pricing of Big Bus Tours is definitely a major win.
I personally love Hop-on Hop-off buses like Big Bus Tours because I get to see on the top deck of the bus & see the real city through the front seat. Nothing beats that view, that feeling & obviously, the joy of saving so much money & efforts. What about you?
Pictures: Awara Diaries
Check out our Big Bus Tours experience here:
Check out Big Bus Tours’ Official Website.
Thank you for sharing your comment! It’s always great to see different perspectives and experiences. Looking forward to more insights.