It was horrible. It doesn’t stop where it says it is going to stop at. It was never on time. There’s no phone number on the website to call anyone to see where we can catch the bus or when the bus will be there. If I could’ve canceled the tickets I would have.
Overall served us well. Had problem with reservation but resolved quickly. On isuue with employee, but all the rest great. Got you everywhere!
Everything was great. The night tour had a small problem. Had to swap buses just before it was time to go. So we got an extended tour, the driver also went out of his way to get passengers to union station. That was Awsome.
Book online if you think you will use this- we used it the first time to get a "lay of the land" since it was our first time to DC. The staff was very friendly. The metro bus is MUCH CHEAPER! Not sure if I would do it again. There is no live guide it is through your head-set- a few times when they would say something was on the left- was actually on the right. The driver was taking a break when we got to the spy museum stop so he asked us to get off the bus and get on the next one that was coming along- we waited over 30 minutes and ended up getting an Uber!!
The team was extremely friendly and everything worked out perfectly. Thank you as well to Beverly.
wanted a tour to see major sites in DC, have never been before, would have been a good tour but was not aware of the time it would take and therefore paid for red and blue line and Arlington but only got to see blue line and Arlington. In off season buses only come every 45 minutes, you get off to see a site then wait 30 minutes for the next bus and it only runs 9-4 in October Arlington was not as described had to buy another tour package at the Arlington site to actually see the sites there. Big Bus only takes you to the gate, that was not clear. Only saw 3 sites plus Arlington due to time. Paid 110$ person plus another 150$ at Arlington, definitely not worth it. if you do this tour, go in peak season and plan for 2-3 days.
This was not the promised narrated tour. It was nothing more than municipal bus service, hugely overpriced. The first clue it over promises and under delivers is the online website. It prominently presents a $49, 18 stop tour. But you go to pay and it demands $65. Click backwards to check and sure enough it says $49. Try paying again: $65. Don't do business with an outfit that baits and switches right up front. Then, they promise an audio tour. They attempt audio guidance 2 ways: headphone recorded narration, and bus driver live speaking. The recorded audio simply doesnt match the route and is a confusing mess...because DC always has traffic disruptions somewhere that force route alterations. The recording doesnt adapt. Then, there's the drivers narration: you CANNOT hear it, especially upstairs, so we went downstairs and still no joy. Hop on a different bus; same experience. No speakers that I could see. And, no way you can hear both narrations at same time. Pick one or the other...but neither works. So after awhile of chaotic noise while moving you realize it was an over-hyped, way under delivered experience. Nothing more than a metro bus sort of circulating service at 40x the prices. The city that is the host of our nation's capital should be ashamed of permitting vendors that fleece people like this.
Easy & Nicely covered tour . Fee & visit good Special thks to trip advisor - Lena Hai
not the fault of the bus company but a foreign delegate was in town and the roads around Washington DC were closed or re-routed. Some bus's were canceled and travelers, including us, left stranded for over an hour. Weather was nice enough, but the driver also exited the bus outside the Spy Museum, we figured taking a bathroom break... NO. He left us sitting on the unmanned bus for over half an hour. Had we known or been informed we could have maybe gotten off the bus and checked out the spy museum.
Book this directly from Big Bus. Do not book from Viator. They sent me a link that did not work that the operator could not accept which cost me pretty much my entire day and buy the time they provided a “resolution,” the hours (which are unclear in the viator posting) had pretty much gone. So moral of the story, don’t book through Viator unless you want to gamble your money being wasted and being given some bs excuse why a refund can’t be had. On that point, let me again emphasize that I wasn’t able to take this tour because Viator provided me with a link that didn’t work and ended up giving me tickets about 30 minutes before the tour concluded.
To start this review. I paid £250 for 4 people. The buses are advertised as being 30-45min apart at each stop, this is almost certainly never the case. They're late, always. At least an hour. The staff tried their best to help but they didn't know exactly when the bus was going to be there, location tracking is inaccurate and at one point it showed the bus wasn't even on the route. The bus itself, At least half of the plug in points for the headphones your given at the start of your journey don't work, there's multiple routes within DC and there's a flip sign at the front of the bus which displays which route that bus is serving. On our buses, they were displaying the incorrect route. Very confusing especially if you are unfamiliar with DC and you don't travel frequently. As much as I know this is a "tour bus" a bit more pace would be appreciated, people were literally walking faster than us. We left because we are only here for a day trip and we wanted to see as much as possible. None of the bus stops are clearly labelled on the street, it's unclear where you need to stand. A sign would help? In Edinburgh they have a sign at each stop so it's clear where you need to wait for it. The price and the service just doesn't work for me, just take the metro if you need to get between locations or even Uber.
I waited at a Big Bus stop at the Air & Space Museum for 45 minutes in the rain, then walked to 2 other stops an nog Big Bus. Some roads were closed but also no information that the Bus would drive another route. So after beeing soaked of 1.5 h walking I gave up. Did a refund claim but got nothing back, really customer unfriendly!
There was a race through DC so the bus didn’t start until 3 hours after time stated & what we paid for. Due to this delayed time, we were unable to use bus for the day as we wanted to start our day early.
They will explain all of the landmarks and a brief history of them I found all of these people to be very, very knowledgeable and very nice which really needed you can get on and off of the stops that they go to and every half hour you’ll have another bus take you and continue to to the next point of interest
Overall great experience. Got to see the major sights and learn some history along the way. Just plan accordingly as buses run every 30-40 minutes per stop. Tianee was a great bus driver. She was nice courteous and greeted everyone with a smile.
It was very difficult to find the bus stop. It was difficult to get any time of support by telephone or by virtual assistant. The bus stops were not clearly labeled. All we did was put the headphones on and hear music there was no type of description discussing the sites. I was extremely disappointed cause I'm used to taking big bus tours Hop On Hop off in Paris and Nashville and this at all what I expected
The initial hop on location was a bit confusing, however, each driver was helpful in directing us to the correct location. ALWAYS a great experience on BigBus Tours!
The tour was great for getting an overview of the city But we ended up on a bus where half the speakers up top did not work for the audio and they never seemed to be in sync with what we were actually driving by. Last thing was that the maps were kind of useless as they had no addresses on them and we could not remember where the big bus stops were.
So it started out really good. We were the first on the bus and got seats on top right in the very front. View was amazing and weather was great. Driver was really good. Everything went south after we had ridden both the red and the blue lines. So the first stop , we didn't have any issues. After our second stop at the capitol , it fell apart. We made a couple more stops.And then once they got to where the spy museum was , she stopped the bus and announced they were short drivers and she was taking her break and would be gone thirty minutes. So she basically stranded everybody at the spy museum. We walked down to the wharf , which was a good little walk and came back to catch the next bus , and the original bus was still sitting there. People ended up losing minimally an hour of time waiting on that driver. Very poor customer service
First bus broke down, moved everyone to another bus. At 4:30pm bus stopped in middle of tour and all we told to exit and find alternate means to get back to our starting spot. Either Uber, metro, or walk in rain.
It’s a fantastic way to see the city. However Viator does not give enough information on how to navigate . It wasn’t until we went to The Big Bus sight if someone or a senior citizen books this Viator should not be the booking method for this particular tour
Warning: Do not use this Bus tour. The service was lousy. In the morning of 11 am 10/4/26 at the Washington monument, we took our first ride. The driver did not offer to give us a free ear piece to listen to the tour and did not announce what stop was coming up. The driver then asked everyone to transfer to another bus, after we all sat there for 20 minutes. Initially the same driver told us, this was the bus to the White House. We had to transfer multiple times, we went back and forth over the Potomac River twice, this wasted our time, because we had a bus schedule to keep to go back home. The wait time at the bus stop was longer than 30 minutes! Another competitor bus company came faster (Old Trolley Bus), which stopped near our bus stop to pick and drop off their passengers. Go with another bus company and do NOT use Big Bus! This was a waste of time and money. Out of 18 stops, we only saw 4- 5 sites, because of the long wait time in between the bus stops.
We got on the bus at Arlington Cemetery at approximately 4PM and continued our tour. As the bus approached the switchover from the blue loop to the red, the driver told us that this was the last run of the day. We stayed on, as we had parked near stop 10. Six stops later (again, at stop 6), the driver shuts off the bus and says this is the end of the tour. NOT at the end of the loop, in the middle of it. So, we were left stranded at The Spy Museum with our vehicle was near Jefferson Memorial. We were not the only customers that were left hanging. Thank goodness for Uber! In addition, the overall quality of the tour was just so-so. The brochure does not have a map of where everything is, just two circles showing the stops, not their actual locations and distances to one another or any other sights.
Tour was audio and terrible. Not friendly. Way too expensive for what you get. Metro was a better way to travel. A total waste of money. I will make sure to discourage others from using your services. Totally disappointed. A refund is the only thing that would make me happy about The Big Bus Tour!!!
Gregory was great getting us to the bus. The tour was a good way to scope out the sights.
It’s worth it, one should book this only to travel Washington DC and he would be able to roam around the DC seamlessly
The commentary is pretty recorded but it synchronised pretty well with the journey. There was confusion with with the various coloured routes due to the sheer number of options.
Our Driver Joe Moore was very helpful and considerate.
Lena was fabulous! She helped me throughout the whole day.
Thursday pick up driver stopped at Spy Museum for 45 minutes with no explanation. Would have liked to have a more detailed talking commentary of buildings we drive by.
Amazing tour we enjoy every stops
Devaughn was so helpful, he went out of his way to help our family. We’re so grateful our paths crossed! Beverly was so sweet!
It was over booked, no ac and couldn’t breathe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t take it. It took over 3 hours to get from the first pickup spot to Arlington. Bus stopped multiple times for no reason, driver left the bus, came back 20 minutes later. There chat sessions are useless. Multiple of us got off, never to come vak
If you are doing the red and blue loops, I would suggest riding all the way to the Arlington cemetery and getting off to enjoy that one first.
Devaughn was amazing, very knowledgeable!
The tour was cancelled in the morning due to some activity taking place in DC. When I asked for a refund due to not being able to do the tour as I would not be available in the afternoon I was told NO.
Had a wonderful time seeing all of DC with the informative, jokey commentary and lively music.🎧 Sharia was the perfect driver, kind, friendly and just all round lovely… thank you Sharia ☺️
I’m not sure if what we experienced was normal or if the company was having difficulties. We booked for 2 days. From their app, it looked like there was only one bus on the red line. When we stopped at the Spy Museum, we were instructed to change busses twice. No explanation given. Both days we waited for over an hour for a bus at designated spots. The audio wasn’t great on one of our rides, it kept cutting in and out. After changing to the third bus, we were told to get off the bus and wait for another. It took 30 min for the next bus. Our group are easy travelers, so it wasn’t a huge deal, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend this company to anyone. I would steer folks away.
I really apreciéted the big help from Lena she was so helpful and concerned about us ( we made a mistake) and she was taking care of us like a mama❤️🥹 my husband and I never forget her
Always the best way to see a new city, see the sites & decide how to plan your trip,, excellent trip
Levron was the greatest guide I’ve ever had on any tour. Made the booking worth it alone. Also great driving by Marcus!
The NASCAR car race was on the day and they had to amalgamate the loops. should have informed us prior to this, no intimation at all. We were waiting at the Hyatt for 1.5 hours along with other people and the bus did not show up at all. The hotel staff said that it stopped there and had the stop timings, though the bus did not show up. Wouldnot recommend this at all
My honest review is C minus There was no a/c in the first floor and on top the where a few earphones plug working I see better services
Unfortunately for us - The Indy car race was being held the weekend after our tour. Sadly this was not mentioned at any time during the booking process. An overwhelming number of the stops were closed due to roadworks and traffic diversions. Also my wife is in a wheelchair, so we hd to stay on bottom of bus - not an issue - but no AC on the bus was trial to endure. Overall - we saw all things as promised, but the tour was difficult.
Great staff, the pick up points for both red & blue routes were easy to find. All staff were friendly and welcoming even in the excessive heat. Shout out to the tour operator organiser at the pick up who explained about tours and when next buses were coming and where to get on & off. Fabulous tours of all the Washington sites. The commentary was informative but may not be for everyone. We used 2 day bus pass to see all the sites. Day 2 we decided which places we wanted to hop off. Ie Lincoln memorial, Arlington cemetery, White house, Smithsonian museums. The only improvement is some buses lacked any air conditioning for passengers & drivers. Which would have been nice as it was 37c. Great value, great staff and great way to see all the sites.
Purchased a 3 day pass on the morning of 08/11/2026, we found that the schedule was inconsistent, the stop locations were hard to find. On the second day we waited for an 1hr 15min at the Air and Space Museum, during this time their competitor, The Trolley Bus came and went 3 times. When we were picked up, the manager informed us that we missed the last bus tour and the bus would only take us to their office. It was 4:40pm and we were told at the time of purchase the bus ran until 6pm. We tried to contact the company, but their telephone number was down, and no one was available at their office. If your sight seeing time is unlimited, and you want to wait over an hour in the heat, and then have your concerns ignored this is the company for you.
I need to share our experience with all of you. When we arrived at stop 13 to jump back on the bus to go to Arlington, we were informed that the bus was not able to get to us due to the road being shut down. Kaleb D. from Big Bus contacted dispatch and arranged for a bus to meet us at an alternate stop to take us all to Arlington. He personally walked us to the stop and made sure we all arrived there and safely boarded the bus. He really went above anything I would have expected. We was kind and very personable. Kudos to him. Thank you, Kaleb D. You made our day with your kindness.
⭐️ 1/5 — DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! We had a terrible experience with Big Bus Tours and I absolutely would NOT recommend them. When we got on the bus, the driver didn’t even check our tickets. The bus itself was disgusting, with nasty plastic seats, no air conditioning, and no live tour guide. But the worst part — and what really made me feel unsafe — happened when we stopped at a red light. The driver PUT THE BUS IN PARK, GOT OUT FROM BEHIND THE WHEEL, and stood in the aisle until the light turned green. Then he sat back down and continued driving. I have included a picture for proof because I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Afterward, I had to argue with someone through their online chat just to get a refund. I literally had to point out that having an unsafe driver should qualify us for a refund before they finally agreed to give me one. For the price they charge, this experience was completely unacceptable. Between the condition of the bus, no A/C, lack of a tour guide, and especially the driver’s behavior, I would recommend spending your money elsewhere. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!
Lena & Makquis & Ebenezer. Amazing service. Would recommend this tour to all my family and friends. They went above and beyond.
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