Bologna Open Bus Skip The Line & Food Tasting

That it is Severely misleading! I was the only one on The bus who purchased the tour ticket at $113 euros, almost $200 Canadian only to be told that this was a self guided tour!! When I called to express my concern, I was what I was escorted to the bus and for the food box I was completely on my own. The other 7 people on the bus paid $10 euros for the bus ride with no food box. It was supposed to be a hop on hop off tour to take photos have a snack and so on. NOT THE CASE AT ALL

It’s not what we thought from the description. The food tastings are simply vouchers for a variety of places. Some of the food is redundant. You would have to get this at the beginning of your trip to use the food vouchers, if you even would. Would have just done the bus tour had we known.

Went twice around the route then chose which sites to stop at.

Buyer beware! This tour in an of itself is fine but the real issue is the cost. The 3rd party operator, "Get Your Guide", charges way more than what the actual tour is worth when broken down into its components. I paid $97.72 USD for 2 people, which converts to €83.86. for starters, the actual "City Red Bus" costs €16 each, thus €32. Then, the "guide" was literally nothing more than a woman who met us below the Galvani statue in Piazza Galvani, greeted us, handed us a map, along with 2 food vouchers (more on that in a moment), and then accompanied us to the City Red Bus and handed us off to the bus driver and guide. The bus guide said maybe 5 words the entire 1 hour tour and otherwise all was done via headset, which, depending on your language, is more advantageous anyway. Then, these vouchers were for literally 1 smallest sized gelato each (it was very good, I will admit), which otherwise costs €3 each. The other vouchers were for 1/2 of a pre-selected piadina (there were 2 choices on the voucher), which was also very good but very little in terms of actual size. The actual whole piadina itself costs €8.5. So the grand total for all of this is €46.50. Clearly this does not add up at all. Now, had there been a more personalized experience with either of the "guides", I might have been a bit more satisfied. But given what it was and the fact that other passengers on that City Res Bus simply walked on and paid €16 each on the spot reaffirms that this package is ridiculously overpriced. I do recommend the City Red Bus because you will cover lots of ground and the audio guide is decent. I do NOT however, recommend using "Get Your Guide" whatsoever. They are the scammers here. Shame on them for offering this overpriced joke of a package. Once again, BUYER BEWARE!

The tour was ok. It’s best to just take a seat and stay on for the hour. You should buy your ticket at the bus stop where there are people selling at a table without the “food box” because you pay a lot of money for a box of coupons that you have to go on a scavenger hunt to find. Lots of cured meat sandwich coupons at Pakistani restaurants. Several seemed annoyed to redeem the coupon.

The bus tour is fine if you just get on for the hour then get off where you started. The food “box” is actually a box of coupons in which you have to kind of go on a scavenger hunt to find these places. Most of the restaurants are Pakistani and several seem annoyed when you show them the coupons but you will get your fill of those cured meat sandwiches. You can get tickets much cheaper by just going to the bus stop and not include the coupons, which in my opinion, are not worth it.

Dont waste your time. Complete rip off. Not a guided tour. 30 mins late. The guild could not answer any questions. There is no person on this bus.

We were the last to be seated and we had to sit up front with no way of seeing any sites. We saw our reflection in the dirty windows. There was no one to point out the sites and had to rely on the ear buds provided. Included a hop on hop off but driver never notified us of any stops and we went completely around Bologna not stopping and not knowing what we were seeing. The vouchers we got in a single packet was for 4 of us but we only got one voucher for one of the foods. Had no way of knowing where the food places were anyway, they were mentioned when we were handed our single packet but we’re from the states so a little pointing would have helped. The bus fumes were caustic. Don’t waist your money on this tour which was 16 euro directly from the bus co without food coups. Btw the food coupons were a gelato here, a fried something over another place, etc.

My tip with this tour is its just "ok". Do not buy the extra "food tastings". I assumed more than just coupons. The regular tour comes with a few coupons-very basic choices but good enough to try a few things. The "extra tastings" option is just more basic coupons-we were only in Balogna a few hours. No chance to use more than 2 as we were Indy there for the afternoon. I expected alot different. Then the bus got stuck behind a broken down car. The host suggested getting out to walk around. So what did we pay for? Luckily the bus was able to keep movng to finish tour. Interesting city-hop on/off is a nice feature-coupon option not worth it.

Great. Informative walking tour with very knowledgeable host. Nothing to fault enjoyed it all Thanks

The On/Off bus was a great deal. It only €16. But we paid over €36 for the 'foodie tour' which in the end was a.voucher for a local sandwich bar where you could only have a focaccia with Mortadella or mozzarella with a drink and an ice cream at a local gelateria. Just by the on/off ticket. The 'foodie tour' is not particularly foodie or a tour

Just buy the double-decker bus tour, which is much cheaper than this “tour.” All they do is meet you near the bus, hand you your ticket for the bus, and a couple of vouchers for some “free” food items. Then they leave you! Don’t be scammed. If you want to do the double-decker bus tour - which I DO recommend - but it from the bus directly. We paid over double for a worthless food voucher.

Chaotic set up, very brief intro by the person who met us at the meeting point. We did one circle around town, and then they went on a break. Never hopped back on. Instead we walked across town to the 3 food spots we had received vouchers for. Ice cream was very good, so were small lasagna bites. Pizza place was very nice, close to a train station (we headed there next). We only came for a day, so it was fine, but to truly spend time and get to know the town, this was insufficient. Expect pre- recorded description of the buildings passing by, no context or extra information. Many of us were confused. There was a girl (guide?) on the bus, but she sat with the driver in a closed off space up front the whole time. Glad we did not spend much money here.

Not really that intetresting. We found more about the history and sights of Bologna from the city square

We were met by Emma a lovely imformative young lady. The tour started at the Piazza Maggiori. The bus tour was greats was the food afterwards. Bologna is special the restaurants we went to were outstanding, don't miss it.

Great staff....although not sure why they mark stops on the route map as over 50% of them where not stopped at... Same with San Luca..great destination but no stops were made.. Web site is unrelable as it said all booked out for 3 days but when we enquired at the piazza site start/finish point... managed to secure tickets...not much point in having a web site if you dont keep it up to date, easy to follow...🤔

Interesting. We were the only ones on the tour for 90% of the time. Nice quick way to see Bologna. ..

The drive was very nice and informative. Talked about food but were coupons and didn’t have time to find the places to eat.

The guide was very friendly and helpful and the tour was very informative. I would recommend this tour .

The bus part was the typical Hop- On, Hop- Off thing - which was just OK. The "food tasting" part was a joke. 2 "vouchers" for a mini frozen drink and a small cheese quesadilla. Our guide didn't provide any touristic info. He merely handed us our vouchers, took us to the bus and that was it. Don't bother with this one - just do the bus.

We like to take the hop-on, hop off bus to get a first impression of a town. So we did in BOLOGNA. In short the tour is nice. But as it was 30 degrees, we found that the upper deck part had no sliding roof of some sort and so it was almost unbearable. We had done the same thing in MILANO but there all the busses had an open top space with a retractable summer roof where you could profit from the wind through the open windows, but provided tge protection against the sun.

The service from the local team was off the scale. The tour itself was very informative and it was great to learn about the history.

What a great way to view the sights of Bologna. Recommend this tour for anyone wanting to see the highlights and don’t have much time in the city.

This was not as good as I have experienced in other countries. Too fast, when stopping not discussion on the importance of the architecture

Very disappointing. The “food tasting” experience is just them giving you a few coupons for places to eat. The extra money paid for the “food tasting” which is about 20 euros is not worth these 2 or 3 coupons. I would highly not recommend.

This was a bit disappointing- the tour bus itself would have been €16 but we paid £50 for 2 of us with the “food tasting” being a voucher for 10% off vinegar, a free small ice cream and one other thing- definitely not worth the extra cost. We assumed (wrongly) that there would be a stop for the food tasting and not just vouchers

Wonderful way to see the city. Our sandwich hit the spot. Enjoy tasting the balsamic and our ice cream treat was scrumptious.

A great way to get round the wider city and see the sights of Bologna. It is a hop on/hop off service with commentary in multiple languages that does not disappoint. The “food tasting” is actually vouchers for 3 different local outlets” (hence the 4 instead of 5 stars). Whilst not part of the actual tour, we did use the vouchers and particularly enjoyed the gelato.

Just like any other City Bus Tour, but a good way to orientate yourself with the City, also the route takes in great views overlooking the city. The full route takes around 90 minutes, subject to traffic, there was ample room on the open top bus on the day we travelled. The food tasting element actually consists of being handed several vouchers for use at food outlets around the city, not sure that's what we expected, but the bus ride was ok.

We saw many churches and places, but explanations one after the other were to much as there were no breaks and no stops to make a photo for example.

This is the first Viator tour where I’ve been disappointed. I could have got the bus tour for a lot less money. There was only one food coupon and one drink (nonalcoholic) coupon. Someone met us, gave us a few details, and sent us off on our own. Definitely not worth the money.

It was a nice activity to do on a rainy day. We really liked the tasting tickets that were included for lunch and dessert.

When I turned up for ny trip I was disappointed that I was not allowed to go upstairs on the bus due to group of school children taking precedence. Took a seat downstairs only to be asked to move from that seat to allow school children to sit together. Trip is advertised as Bus and Food Tasting and being given vouchers to go and get your own sandwich or ice cream wasn't really what I was expecting. I could have just booked the bus tour when i got to Bologna at half the price!

Excellent, meet the guides at the right place! Lovely ladies who were very helpful. Exchanged my ice cream voucher for a balsamic vinegar tasting! Excellent, purchased some after the tour Missed Saturday and was easily rebooked for Sunday

It is a scam! Dont book this "tour". You pay extra aprox 40 euros per two persons just for someone to bring you a map for the hop on/ off bus of the city!!! The description is missleading, seems you will receive some experience, tasing, dinner..only to receive some vouchers for a piece of pizza abd a few bombons if YOU start looking for the places since they are not part of the tour. Basicaly somebody thought: if a tourist wants to plan ahead and take tickets online before arriving at the bus, than he can be fooled to pay more since he doesent really know what will receive. I am very upset to be fooled like this and hope Viator sees this abd takes down this tour. Also, i will contact Red bus hop off on toue to be adviced that some people use thier tickes to rip off tourists

Pros: Actually having us try 2 different foods in areas that we might not have otherwise. Getting an overview of the city without having to drive. Cons: My headphone's connection went in and out, so I did not hear all of the information. My niece's connection was OK.

This is a bit of a rip off. It costs just €16. to take the red city bus tour. We paid €30 each and for the extra €14 we got a voucher for a gelato (one scoop) and for a slice of pizza but when we went to redeem the pizza voucher, the shop was closed. Just take the red bus tour and save yourself a few quid.

Don’t know whether to be more insulted or ashamed. Insulted that they think idiots will buy their scam and ashamed that I was one if the idiots. Just buy an icecream and a ham roll and a bus ticket yourself and save 10 euro. No guide. No effort on their part. Meeting sign was a held-up A4 sheet of paper we almost didn’t see. Gave us a voucher for an icecream and another for a ham roll and said goodbye. We had to find both shops and queue to get in the red bus that normal people just pay to get on. 33 euro. For 23 euro of stuff we had to buy ourselves. In Australia this scam would get shut down.

I was took the experience of this Red Bus, it was a great time and we enjoyed a lots. I am highly recommend them, if you wish to see the Beauty of bologna, you should choose Red Bus

Don’t waste your money on this. The “food tasting” was some coupons for gelato and something else that you had to find the restaurant. The bus trip was nice with the audio guide telling you what you were driving by. You were able to get off and on the bus at any time. It did not stop at restaurants as it would see since it’s listed as food tasting.

This time everyhing went wrong! First time in our travelling with Viator all over the world. We had to search the place where bus should leave because it was not clesrly indicated in the ticket. When found the bus and showed the ticket and askef if this wad the right bus, the bus assistant girl said that it is NOT the right ticket! Then we search again the bus and phoned Viator 20 minutes before leaving time. It was very hot day and big piazza and we walk around to same place again, same bus. Viator guide was very kind and said they have been waiting for us 20 minutes because they have sent us wrong time to ticket. English in the airpads was unclear young womens voice. Roudtrip was not one hour only 45 minutes, two tastings were only one because the other place was airrady closed. Can we ger refund for that? We were very disappoited!

Not worth the money - just catch the Red Bus and go and grab some food by yourself… there is nothing more to it. There was nothing extra with the doid tasting experience that we could not do by ourselves.

The "tasting" is misleading, there are only vouchers to remote stores to buy goods at reduced prices. The red bus ride was very good. Explanations and organization excellent. Seen this way, the trip was worth his money.

O ponto de encontro deveria ser mais detalhado, mais preciso, Fala que é em uma grande praça mas não detalha especificamente o local mesmo. Em razão disso não peguei o ônibus no horário contratado, Também constava do TOUR uma parada em um mercado para degustação de comidas típicas, o que foi com certeza pago, mas não aconteceu

Great, they delivered what they promised. The Guide Anne was sensational. Super competent professional who did the most to please customers.

Unbeatable treatment. A tour to make contact. Light bus tour and several vouchers for tasting in the center.

first experience of a city tour by bus, experience with a neutral opinion, positive the possibility of getting on and off at several points even if the long waits do not allow many. I recommend providing the ticket clerk with some cash to be able to give change.

We were in Piazza Maggiore and we saw this train that offered a tour of the historic center of Bologna in streets that we would never have reached on foot. So we decided to have this experience and try it. Starting from Piazza Maggiore we walked around the oldest streets (arriving at Little Venice, the Jewish quarter, the square with the seven churches and other streets) with an explanation of the streets in the headphones provided. Very nice and characteristic ride. I advise.

All positive, shame about the cloudy weather, Mrs Laura with whom I made the booking was very very kind