Edinburgh Open-Top Tour: Iconic Sights

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Explore the best of Edinburgh with the Hop-On Hop-Off City and Britannia Joint Tour. Discover the city’s top attractions on two routes and enjoy 48 hours of unlimited hopping on and off. Don’t miss the chance to visit the iconic Royal Yacht Britannia. Book now!

Duration: 2 hours, 10 minutes

Cancellation: 24 hours

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Highlights

Edinburgh Bright Bus Tours Hop-On Hop-Off Britannia Tour (Route)

Operating Schedule: Britannia Tour: The first tour leaves from Waterloo Place at 09:00, with hourly departures until the final tour at 18:05.
1. Waterloo Place
Stop 1: Waterloo Place (Outside Princess Suite Hotel)
2. Gallery of Modern Art
Stop 2: Gallery of Modern…

Edinburgh Bright Bus Tours Hop-On Hop-Off Britannia Tour (Route)

Operating Schedule: Britannia Tour: The first tour leaves from Waterloo Place at 09:00, with hourly departures until the final tour at 18:05.

1. Waterloo Place
Stop 1: Waterloo Place (Outside Princess Suite Hotel)

2. Gallery of Modern Art
Stop 2: Gallery of Modern Art (Outside National Galleries Scotland: Modern One)

3. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Stop 3: Royal Botanic Garden (West Main entrance)

4. Newhaven Harbour
Stop 4: Pier Place (At Newhaven Harbour)

5. Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre
Stop 5: Royal Yacht Britannia (Outside Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre)

6. Barry Fish
Stop 6: The Shore (Outside Barry Fish)

7. Malmaison Edinburgh City
Stop 7: N. St David Street (Outside Malmaison Edinburgh City)

Points of Interest

Multrees Walk
St Andrew Square
Princes Street
Princes Street and Gardens
Scott Monument
Edinburgh Castle
Waverley Mall
Edinburgh Waverley Station
The Balmoral Spa
Melville Monument
Holyrood Distillery
Royal Yacht Britannia
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Newhaven Harbour

Edinburgh Bright Bus Tours Hop-On Hop-Off City Tour (Route)

Operating Schedule: City Tour: The first tour departs from Waterloo Place at 09:00, with frequent departures until the last tour at 18:20.

1. Waterloo Place
Stop 1: Waterloo Place (Outside Princess Suite Hotel)

2. Saint Andrew Square
Stop 2: St Andrew Square (North side of the park)

3. Lothian Road
Stop 3: Lothian Road (Next to the Body Snatcher Watch Tower)

4. Bread Street
Stop 4: Bread Street (Opposite DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel)

5. The Mound
Stop 5: The Mound (West side of National Gallery)

Stop 6: George IV Bridge (Outside Scottish Library)

7. Grassmarket
Stop 8: Grassmarket (Opposite Apex Hotel)

8. National Museum of Scotland
Stop 9: Chambers Street (Opposite Museum of Scotland)

9. Canongate Kirk
Stop 11: Canongate Kirk (Outside Canongate Church)

10. Palace of Holyroodhouse
Stop 12: Holyrood Palace (Opposite north side of Scottish Parliament)

11. Dynamic Earth
Stop 13: Dynamic Earth (Outside Dynamic Earth)

12. Abbeyhill
Stop 14: Abbeyhill (North entrance to Holyrood Palace)

13. Regent Road
Stop 15: Regent Road (At Robert Burns Monument)

14. Lauriston Place
Stop 7: Lauriston Place (Outside Lauriston Health Centre)

15. John Knox House
Stop 10: John Knox House (Opposite Museum of Childhood)

Points of Interest

Multrees Walk
St Andrew Square
Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street
Scott Monument
St Cuthbert’s Parish Church
Festival Square
Edinburgh Old Town
Grassmarket
Greyfriars Kirk
Greyfriars Bobby
National Museum of Scotland
Edinburgh Castle
National Galleries Scotland: Portrait
Usher Hall
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh Farmers’ Market
Camera Obscura and World of Illusions
The Scotch Whisky Experience
National Library of Scotland
Museum of Childhood
John Knox House Museum
The Museum of Edinburgh
The Scottish Parliament
The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse
Palace of Holyroodhouse
Dynamic Earth
Arthur’s Seat
Regent Road Park
The Burns Monument
Calton Hill
Nelson Monument
Observatory House
National Monument
Waverley Mall
Edinburgh Waverley Station
The Balmoral Spa
Melville Monument

What's Included

Free headphones to keep

What's Not Included

Please note Royal Yacht Britannia attractions tickets are not included.

Additional Information

Climb aboard Scotland’s official open-top tour and experience Edinburgh from the best vantage points in the city! With a combined ticket for two tours, you can explore both the Edinburgh City Tour and the Britannia Tour, granting you access to the capital’s most renowned attractions.
Feel free to hop on and off as often as you wish to visit remarkable…

Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings

4.0

(175 Ratings)

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Q731dimiad

Feb 2, 2026

Love it! Great experience to sight see - We booked both the City and Brittania Tour. The sights were beautiful both in the city center and Leith. I loved hearing the historic facts every stop has. Wished we visited when the weather was a bit warmer to be able to walk around. If it’s your first time in the city, for sure book this tour.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Ron_p

Oct 29, 2025

Great way to see Edinburgh - Excellent way to see Edinburgh. I did the entire bus trip in one day to get the lay of the land and see where everything was and then spent the next day walking around all of the interesting sites. The bus commentary was also very helpful and informative about all of the different locations.

Review provided by Viator

Christopherje288zx

Oct 28, 2025

Great day out thanks to Ryan and Ben - I wanted to share my experience because I genuinely feel this service exceeded my expectations. From the moment I started using it, everything was straightforward and user-friendly. The support team was responsive and helpful, making the entire process smooth and stress-free. I came to Edinburgh from Leeds for a week to sightsee and experience Scotland for the first time. At Stop 1, I met Ben, who sold tickets for my wife and me. He was wonderful and assisted us to the bus. Once on board, our driver, Ryan, was a lovely gentleman who was very helpful and provided us with recommendations for places to visit and eat as we asked for. We completed one full tour with him and then got off at Stop 6, where he pointed out areas of interest and shared valuable information about the stop. Honestly, I can’t thank him enough for his assistance. I will definitely be back, thanks to this fantastic experience!

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Mkfineart

Oct 7, 2025

Excellent way to see Edinburgh - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent way to see Edinburgh I took the Big Bus Tour in Edinburgh and it was a wonderful experience. The drivers were friendly, accommodating, and clearly enjoyed their work. The recorded tour through the complimentary headphones was informative and easy to follow. Buses came frequently, making it convenient to hop on and off at key sights. As a seasoned traveler, this is always how I get oriented when arriving in a new city—safe, easy, and a great value. Highly recommend.

Review provided by Viator

Sarah_k

Sep 26, 2025

Great way to get a... - Great way to get a highlight tour of the city. We sat up top and had great views. We also used the bus later to get to some stops, but in the end found it quicker to just walk. The employees were really helpful. Twice I had schedule glitches that were not their fault, but they accommodated anyway.

Review provided by Viator

Marilyn_d

Aug 31, 2025

Really transport only - This is for a bus ticket only - misleading as we thought from the name of the tour, it included the tickets to see the royal yacht. Audio was difficult to follow and see landmarks that were being discussed.

Review provided by Viator

Dd43

Apr 15, 2026

Bus tour with vape and grocery shopping stops and changed pick up points - Strange experience! First day driver stopped at dynamic earth to vape, she alighted the bus with no explanation returning minutes later Second day the driver who picked us up at stop 4 on the Britannia tour, the first bus of the day ie 935 told us that stop 4 had moved. We had been picked up there on the first morning and dropped back in the evening. And even though there had been an apparent change of pick up the driver had stopped for us. We asked at stop 1 if there had actually been a change so that we could work around it at the end of the day….no one else seemed to know about this change. The next strange thing on day 2 was a stop between stops 9 and 10 so the driver could go into a store. Again no explanation just the driver stopping, leaving the bus, locking it and going to do whatever he needed to do. I think it may have been a convenience or similar and seemed a little inappropriate. Apart from these occurrences the tour was good, informative and well planned out. We always grab a ‘bus tour’ when we get to a city we don’t know, we use this to get our bearings and plan our days out and the three anomalies we experienced won’t change this.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Keven_z

Oct 11, 2025

Plenty to hope on and off for - This bus got you “close enough to walk” to many sights including Buckingham palace. You couldn’t see the palace on the bus, you had to walk a couple blocks, it was Thursday, the Mall was open i believe. Typically this is my got to first day of any new city so i can identify what i want to see and not. There was good music on the audio, the narrative was very limited. Probably due to traffic patterns may make that tough.

Review provided by Viator

Suela8044pn

Sep 17, 2025

Grumpy drivers, very disappointed - Drivers quite grumpy not helpful at all. In fact I would go so far to say 'rude'. We got on at Blue run Stop 2 but return journey driver missed out the stop, we asked for him to let us off but he refused and we ended up a long way from where we expected to be. Very disappointing and not a good welcome to visitors.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Diane_c