Edinburgh Open-Top Tour: Explore Iconic Sights

Hop on and hop off the Edinburgh City Tour to explore iconic landmarks like Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Mile, and more. Enjoy 24 hours of unlimited sightseeing from the best seats in town!

Duration: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights

Big Bus Edinburgh City Tour (Red Route) (Route)

Operating Schedule:

  • Summer (May–August): First bus departs at 09:00 from Stop 1 (Waterloo Place), with services every 10 minutes, and the final tour at 18:20.
  • Off-Peak (April, September, October): Buses leave from 09:00 every 15 minutes, with the last tour at 16:00.
  • **Winter…
What's Included
  • 24- or 48-Hour Big Bus Hop-on, Hop-off Sightseeing Tour by Open-Top Bus
  • Two Routes available: City & Britannia Tours
  • Entertaining Audio Commentary available in 9 languages
  • Dog friendly
What's Not Included
  • Hotel Pick-up & Drop-off
Additional Information

Experience Edinburgh like never before with Scotland’s official Hop-on-Hop-off open-top tour! Enjoy the best seats in town and the ultimate way to discover the capital.
Feel free to hop on and off as often as you wish to fully appreciate the sights on our city tour, including Edinburgh Castle, the National Museum of Scotland, Dynamic Earth, Greyfriars…

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.2
(396 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
731manavk
Aug 16, 2025
Best Experience! - Owen was amazing as he really was good with customer service and got us the best experience for the hop on off bus tour. Cheers Owen and keep up the good work!!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
503instagrama
Aug 16, 2025
Amazing - Owen is really nice and very helpful to us, was fantastic—friendly, knowledgeable, and made the Big Bus tour unforgettable!”
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Brett
Aug 14, 2025
Edinburgh great place to visit and explore. - Great tour, very good audio tour, excellent value. Great way to see Edinburgh. Great idea, hop on and hop off along the route at the great sites.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Blr60
Aug 11, 2025
Worth it! - We rode all three routes- red,green & blue. Green was our favorite with the live tour guide and blue was also very nice as it went to the outer parts of the city. Red bus was really crowded but made the best of it- great way to see and learn about the city!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
165gillianf
Aug 7, 2025
Not as good as in other cities - perhaps try a different company. - We've done many of these tours in different cities. This one provides less information about the city and about where each stop is. Also, they state that the buses run every 10 minutes - we frequently waited 20 - 30 minutes. Next time, I would choose an alternative company.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jg440uk
Aug 13, 2025
Ok better with tour guiide - John park sold us the tickets lovely guy gave us pass for bus too Edinburgh zoo. Ben who took us to bus stop to catch bus very informative. My only complaint is the commenry better if you've got someone pointing out things and a little more patter someone you can ask questions too
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Guide30686716004
Aug 25, 2025
DANGEROUS BUS DRIVER WILL KILL SOMEONE - date: 23rd august 2025 Number of Guests: 2 Comment: Bus number 2908, when we first alighted the bus at dynamic earth at 14.55 on the 23rd august 25 we were told to wait until everyone had got off the bus, when we left the bus at stop 3 he let the passengers on the bus so we had to squash past them with our shih tzu dog, the most dangerous part was heading to to saint Andrews square the driver was so erratic and impatient. Using his horn all the time even though the traffic in front was static and then by Gordon Ramseys an old lady who had mobility issues was nearly knocked over by the bus we where waiting to hear the bang it was so close if we wanted an on the edge ride we'd of gone to Alton towers and not Edinburgh.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stephen_w
Aug 12, 2025
No Buses, Zero communication!! - Without warning, the route was changed leaving us waiting for buses that were never coming, trying to travel to stops that were no longer on the route, having to use public transport and needing to book a taxi to return from Leith. Fast to sell you tickets but no prior warnings given of removal of services. Complaints ignored.
Review provided by Viator
Beabeabun
Aug 3, 2025
Wasn't up to scratch - Got these because of the route which would take us to the Royal Britannia and thought we'd get the city route too. The city route was not great.. In the space of 40 minutes I'd seen 6 hop on off sightseeing buses and only 1 of the bright bus tours. I was told on the leaflet that they run every 10 minutes... The ticket sellers were all lovely not issues there. At 1830 we were told to get off the bus at number 1 stop near Waterloo and said it ended there. Us and a few others were confused as we weren't told this was the last one? Also if we knew it'd stop there and was not continuous loop, we'd have gotten off closer to our destination. Overall, wouldn't use them again and would use the other hop on/ hop off buses.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sarah_e
Jul 30, 2025
Horrible Customer Service - We were unable to experience anything. I called to ask if there was anyway that we could get a voucher online ( yes, I know the site says you cannot) because my RA was acting up and I wasn't able to walk that far right now. I still wanted to pay but just asked for an accomodation. After 20 minutes my call was disconnected.
Review provided by Viator
From $25
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).