Big Bus Rome Hop-on Hop-off Open Top Tour

There was so much to see from the bus but unfortunately the big bus audio tour was not substantial enough for all the wonderful buildings and sights.

Great overview of the city —worth the price. Beautiful day. So fun— appreciated the promptness … thanks!

We contacted the tour company to check if the tickets were interchangeable between the red and purple route, as the purple goes to the catacombs. Assured they were. So we booked. The stop was not where we expected, so we ended up having to find an operator and ask directions, then run for the bus. We asked the second operator if he could tell us when to change for the purple route, he said we couldn't unless we paid a further 150 euros for the 3 of us to go on that route. So we stayed on the red route, not what we really wanted. The driver didn't speak English, we weren't offered headphones, and spent our time on the bus checking the map. Gave up on the catacombs. The driver spent a lot of time at stops, including the station filled with smokers, the smell of which filtered throughout the bus as we idled there for about 15 - 20 minutes, not much time slowing down for photos opportunities. Drove quite fast at times. We got off close to the Trevi, which was a 15 minute walk from our apartment, so a very expensive bus ride at 102 euros. We completed our trip round the following day. Had to sit downstairs for a while, then went upstairs when seats available. Husband managed to locate headphones but the port in front of my son and I didn't work. I had to reach over to the one next to my husband, this was short lived as someone else got on. We got off, then back on later, only to be sat downstairs on an overcrowded bus. Not a great experience, not even an average one. It cost a lot of money and we felt ripped off. We contacted the company whilst on the bus and since. Their answer was pretty much referring us to website, and dismissive. "Sorry we didn't do better" was what we wanted. Wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Try the other bus operators or find alternative transport. A taxi would have been cheaper for the further away stuff. Did a lot of walking but saw all the major sights in a week despite the bus tour. Most stuff close together.

The trip was great once we final got enough help to get our actual tickets. We started at stop 6. They said we could get the tickets we paid for at stop 7, they said stop 8, they said stop 1. We couldn’t find where to go to stop 1 to get them, walked back and finally found someone who walked ahead of us the 3plus blocks to find the place to get the tickets. Once secure in our tickets we were fine.

We got a good overview of the city but with only 8 stops you were close to anything. Have ridden hop on hop off before. This was not my favorite. .