Only have a short stay in your city of choice and you want to make the best of your time? Grab a ticket to a Hop On/Hop Off Bus and see the best the city has to offer and skip the hassle of public transport too.
In just about major city you can travel too these days, you will find some version of the Hop On/Off Tour Bus. This is such a great way to spend your first few days in the city as not only do you get a great view of the main touristy parts of the city, but you also get transportation to all of the main sites that you will probably want to see. Plus, sometimes you learn about really cool places you'd never heard off.
So what exactly is a Hop On/Hop Off Tour?
Basically it is exactly as the name would suggest. Its is a Bus (Or sometimes a Trolley or a Tram), that goes around all of the main tourist destinations in major cities. The tour is usually around one and a half, to two hours long for the entire route and you can usually buy either a 24hr or 48hr pass to use its service. As it goes around its circuit it will stop at various major points of interest and tourist attractions. Here you have the opportunity to either stay on the bus for the full circuit or jump off the bus and go into the attraction and then grab another one of the Hop On/Hop Off buses later in the day. They mostly run every 15 to 30 mins so there is always another one coming by soon. By using the service you get taken right to the door of the main attractions without having to navigate yourself around an unknown city, plus they usually offer some form of discount or coupon to most of the major attractions. Plus, its usually pretty cheap. Most cities will only cost you about $40 for a 2 day pass, and if you use Go Cards or City Pass's the tour bus is usually included.
The buses are run by a variety of different companies such as Grey Hound, City Sightseeing, The Old Town Trolley Company etc depending on your city of choice. Some companies (such as Old Town Trolley Company) even offer a night ghost tour, or something similar. This is a really fun way to see the city, but with an interesting twist. You get the hear stories about some of the cities more interesting characters, rather than just straight history, and get to see very different sights than the usual tours. They also often have character actors as your tour guides to make the experience entertaining and fun.
The Hop On Hop Of tour is a great way to spend your first few days in a city to gain your footing and know what to tackle next (Its always the first thing I do in a new city). The best tours are the ones with a tour guide on board because you get a little bit more of a personal experience with interesting anecdotes, however all of the buses will offer some sort of audio tour if that's not available with headphones that plug directly into the buses AV system. They usually also offer the audio tour in a variety of languages so its a great first point of call for everyone.
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