Double-decker bus tours

If you are first time in Paris and want to see the main sights, a bus tour is a good choice. In 1-2 days, you’ll see all the biggest symbols of the city. The double-decker Hop-on Hop-off buses are good for an overview of Paris, and then you can dedicate the rest of your vacation to your favorite places.

Benefits of bus tours

• On your tour you’ll see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Champs Elysees, the Champs de Mars, the Louvre, Orsay museum, the Opera Garnier, and much more famous places.
• The buses provide headphones and you can listen to an audio guide while riding. Just plug the headphones into your chair and pick your language. The information is all interesting and connected to what you see.
• You can not get off one bus and drive the entire route in a circle (about 2 hours) or get off at every stop, walk or even go to a museum, and then continue the trip on the next bus. The drivers don’t care as long as you show your ticket.
• The tourist buses run every day, including weekends and holidays.
• Another plus is riding around in the rain and seeing Paris at its best without getting wet.

Have we convinced you? Now we will tell you how to buy a ticket for a double-decker bus in Paris.

Bus cost

Bus tour ticket may be valid from 2 hours to three days. It are bought from the driver, in tourist agencies, on the official site or right here. Ticket prices sometimes change, currently a one-day pass costs €39 for an adult and €19 for a child, a two-day pass costs €45 and €22 respectively. To buy a ticket, select a date in the calendar below. The length of validity of the pass can be selected at the time of issuance.

If you don’t know the exact date of your trip, that’s okay. The ticket will be valid for 12 months from the date of purchase.

Is it worth taking a ticket for two days?

Not many people use them to just ride in a circle. Usually tourists go to a specific stop, get out and look around at something like the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame. And then they get on the next bus and go to the next stop. But if some place was so wonderful that you want to spend the whole day there, on the next day you can just continue along that route on the bus.

Combined tours are very popular: like bus tour + the Eiffel Tower or a river tour. Such offers are more profitable for tourists. You can find a nice offer here.

A hop-on-hop-off bus ride is also included with the Paris Pass.

Timetable and route

After your purchase you will have a map of the route. You can get on the bus at any of the stops. They are all close to the metro in famous areas.

The first bus leaves at 9:30. The next is after about 15 minutes in summer or 20 minutes in winter. The buses stop at 18:30, but there are night buses too. A bus tour of luminous Paris in the evening is just as fascinating. For tickets, click here.

The top floor is usually open so you can see better. Tourists recommend sitting in the first rows on the second floor because they’re protected from the wind and have the best view of Paris.

The audio guide on the buses are good enough, but only give you an introduction. If you want more interesting in-depth information, you should book additional tours in advance (you can see them here) or download our detailed audio guide of Paris here. It has good interesting information on museums, tourist sites and secret places. There’s no boring info from Wikipedia, since the tour is made by locals with reliable sources.

Types of Hop-On Hop-Off Buses

Tour buses are visible from afar – they are double-decker, bright colors. There are several bus tour companies in Paris. These are Big Bus Paris (buses in red), Open Tour (yellow), Foxity (orange) and TootBus (in the colors of the French flag). The main difference between them is the routes. Some companies offer one large route to all attractions. Others run several small overlapping routes that can be changed throughout the day.

In general, they all offer sightseeing at the same major attractions, so which bus to choose is not that important. You can get on any of the buses of the company you choose, but not the other buses.

Enjoy your trip!