London Panoramic Open Top Bus Tour with Audio Guide

Excellent

Good views, helpful drivers. Great way to see the city. Voice guide William (blue route 11th June) was brilliant. Witty, knowledgeable, friendly and really brought the trip alive. He is a 5 star catch!

Williams the best

WILLIAM was great! Very knowledgeable, friendly, welcomed everyone on and off board. Good sense of humour. Very satisfied

Informative tour absolutely fantastic

Huge thank you to our guide Joe , so informative and great sense of humour! Fantastic way to see the sights of London- Richard our driver did an amazing job navigating the traffic 😊

Fun day out in London

Our tour guides were William and Emma. Both knew what they were talking about and were full of enthusiasm. We had young children with us and they were both very considerate of this. Drivers were very good also. Would highly recommend

A wonderful open bus tour of London with a live guide

On May 17th we booked an open bus tour with a live guide of central London with Golden Tours. It was a great way to see London without walking. Our live guide was William, a young energetic Londoner, who was informative and fun to listen to. His microphone was not working that day, but he made do and shouted on the top of his lungs so we could hear him. I highly recommend this tour for anyone who wish to rest a bit from all the walking in London. And a big thank you to William.

Londoners, think you know London, think again

We live in London and have done so for nearly 20 years. The kids had been begging us to go on an open top bus tour for ages and I was reluctant to do so, I mean we knew London right? However, it was when I realised I could exchange my Tesco clubcard vouchers for tickets that I gave in and I am so glad I did. Jack was our guide and he was extremely knowledgeable and provided such a personable and funny way to learn about the different places in London. There were also so many hidden gems that he told us about, things that I have passed so many times before and never knew that killer fact about that made it fascinating. It was a great experience that my 7 and 10 year old loved, thank you Jack.

Great Guide

So pleased we had our guide - Andy. He was full of facts, and kept us entertained. There was something for everyone, whatever nationality. He pointed out film locations; enlightened us about buildings, their architects and residents; explained the origin of place and street names; shared personal experiences; and more. Highly recommended.

informative and fun in the sun

Bus was on time and easy to find. The guide Alex was excellent and the driver Ahmed drove safely and smoothly. We were very lucky with weather which helped. It was a Saturday so busy but Alex kept everyone informed about spare seats at every stop.

Emma was phenomenal as London tour guide

I had Emma as a tour guide around London on April 16. She was phenomenal! Knew everything about everything! I'm glad we xhose this instead of hop/hop off. We pretty saw all of London on the tour.

Well worth the money.

Had a wonderful tour. Showed us everything that we expected to see. Dominic was awesome. He knew so much and was funny articulate and had a lot to say about everything. I would have given this tour five stars had he not talked so fast. It was very informative though well worth the money it gave us a sense of London.

Great experience

Super experience. Traffic a nightmare. But very informative experience under Alex our guide. Loads of information and a nice bit of humour to help . Great

Lovely tour!

Our group had booked a different tour but ended up in this one. We had a great route and the live audio tour by Alex was lovely; informative and funny. Driver Noor drove us around and adapted the route according to traffic which was nice. We avoided delays. All in all we saw a lot of highlights with some background information in a very relaxed setting.

Very nice experience

First of all thanks Alex and Noor for the great tour. I liked the style of humor that Alex has. And he knows a lot of interesting facts. Noor is a great driver. One little minor thing was that we ordered tickets for a 2 hour tour without hopping on and off, but we had to go on the hop on and off tour. Gladly the stops were quickly and we had no long stops. But it made it a 4 star review instead of 5.

London night city lights tour

Did a night tour with William and abs, the tour was great William was very passionate about the city and heaps of great stories about the city

Amazing experience!

The open top bus tour with live guide is a great way to visit London in only 2 hours. When you don’t have much time and want to have a panoramic view, it’s a very good possibility. The guide EMMA was fabulous, very kind and friendly, she has lots of knowledge and explained in details about the city and the history of London in the route. Amazing experience!

George

George was a fabulous guide very knowledgeable, charming polite young man . Willing to advise when asked .

George was a fantastic guide!

George was a fantastic guide. Very courteous, knowledgeable and friendly. He explained everything to us all throughout the journey. Definitely 5 out 5 stars!

Fun Day in Central London

Great experience with this group. As we were waiting for the bus to start the tour, I called to see when the next bus arrived, they answered the phone and gave me the exact time. EMMA!! A native from England was our audio guide and did an incredible job taking us back in time as she explained the history of the sites we visited. She went out of the way to help us with directions and information as we went on to our next stop. Thanks Emma!

Saved the Day!

Had a wonderful time touring London on the Golden Tour bus until I got injured. The bus driver on the blue route parked too close to a wooden plaque and I banged my head on it as I got off the bus, breaking my glasses. It was horrible. When I got on the orange line the new driver Dave Vassallo, noticed that something was wrong and asked me about it. When I explained what happened and showed him my eye he immediately gave me an ice pack for my eye. Thank you so much Dave for saving my eye and the day. Im forever grateful for your kindness and saving me from a black eye. Until next time London. NM

Silence or Interruptions

The audio tour was awful. When it was actually playing, the information was usually intriguing and informative, but halfway through, it would cut off the explanation and jump to the next location, then skip 10 or 15 notably interesting points as the driver navigated the bus through traffic. It was a terrible missed opportunity to learn so much more about the city, We stood for long times waiting for the very few buses of this company, and saw 3-5 buses from other companies come and go, so it really felt that they needed to run a bunch more buses. The "freebie" of the tour boat ride was however one of the best things we experienced in all of our time in London. Despite the crew member repeatedly reminding us that he was not a tour guide, but crew, his presentation was informative, entertaining and highly enjoyable The bus drivers were very conscientious drivers and despite the craziness of driving on the wrong side of the road in a double-decker bus, we never felt unsafe.

Not nearly as good as others.

Not good, the audio was terrible because some of the audio machines were stuck on a language like Spanish. We had to get on and off many times and still didn't even get to complete an entire tour. We had to wait for another bus for about 20 minutes after we had walked half a mile (in the blazing heat) to get to the nearest stop after the bus driver told us to get off. Service was bad as well, many staff were just talking to their mates instead of actually helping us. The only reason they had two stars instead of one was because of the people who were talking on the bus, they were quite comedic and informatic.

Alex was charismatic!

Alex was very charismatic and made us laugh with his humour-filled commentary. Hashi drove us safely through the tiny streets of central London.

Great Driver & Unofficial Guide

David the Driver and most definitely not the tour guide was funny and very knowledgeable. Would highly recommend to any locals or travellers who want see London and learn a lot and have some fun!

London Family Trip

excellent, we had a great weather, fantastic family experience. Bit expensive as we paid 76 Pounds for 2 adults and 2 child under 15 yrs. Overall a must when you are visiting London. We got what we expected from Golden tours.

An interesting tour - if unexpectedly long!

The pick up stop one Belvedere Road was not very well signposted and had to ask for directions from nearby london eye staff, but when we got there the golden tours rep was very helpful and apologetic that our bus was going to be 15 minutes late arriving due to traffic. The tour itself was great, our guide Joe was very knowledgeable and engaging, telling us facts not only about what we were seeing, but of London and UK history and King's and Queens which was all very interesting. The round trip itself was meant to take 1.5-2 hours but due to traffic and road closures ended up taking over 3 hours. We had booked activities after the tour, thankfully having sense to leave a few hours gap and am glad we did otherwise we would have missed them. Also not great to be stuck on a bus for 3 hours when you don't have toilet facilities on board. Would have been nice if the bus had stopped where there was a public toilet somewhere along the way, so passengers did not have to sit there in discomfort. Driver Mr Farah did a fantastic job of navigating us through the tricky traffic though. Was slightly confused this was advertised as a tour, not a hop on hop off route - yet there seemed to be passengers doing exactly that, getting on and off at different stops. Overall we had a good time and would do it again - just be careful not to choose a day when there are protests and road closures, and don't drink too much coffee beforehand!

Not what was communicated or expected

The live guide was great and super nice person but I strongly recommend against this tour. The trip was cut in half due to various reasons and if a portion was due to road closures then it would have been nice to know up front. We stopped at about half of the locations, got no where near Buckingham palace. Because I paid for my family of five for the "non lump on jump off" we were kinda stuck with what we got. I did message the company mid afternoon to ask for a refund or credit towards another offering but never heard back. Best to stick with the red hop on hop off till they get things sorted. Don't blame the company for the traffic but due blame them for the lack of communication - Mark

Amazing guide William

Amazing guide William, the whole thing felt like a movie or best stand up show ever. He was really enjoying himself, as did we. Interesting trivia instead of boring history. We saw everything we probably would have missed without his commentary. Nice job William! Thanks to him this was not a most touristy thing you can do in London.

London open top bus

A nice quick tour of the sights of London, however the traffic was horrendous and the tour ran late, the tour guide was good

Not as expected

We booked the live guided tour of London expecting it to be a good experience with the children (ages 9, 7 and 5). We purposefully did this tour for the live guide and we were disappointed with it. The guide could be barely heard and understood. The volume was very low, even when we asked to be higher and the guide said the bare minimum. When we did a similar tour in NYC the guide was lively and told all kinds of stories and facts, which was what we where expecting it to be so it would ve interesting for the kids. Would definitely not repeat and would have done the regular hop on hop off.

Loved it

What can I say about Emma?? Her love of history really came through on the tour. She was charming and funny. Thank you Emma for a memorable evening in London.

Not exactly what we reserved

The hard part was finding the right meeting point. We put the address in and walked very fast to be on time. When we got there the bus that pulled up was the right company but it was a hop on hop off bus that’s went 3 hours instead of the 1.5 hours we wanted originally. Some of the earphone jacks didn’t work. I asked the man as we entered if it was the right tour and he just ushered us on not even checking our ticket. It was nice to be in open air after a long flight though.

Money well spent

Kitschy and touristy, but very fun and informative if you can get a seat on the top deck. Nice way to see all the big London sights and hear some historical nuggets without having aching feet and blistered thighs from walking (or kids getting whiney!). Tour guide Jack was especially knowledgable and entertaining. I don’t know if this is true, but I’ve heard this company is the only one that still has live tour guides instead of just recorded ones.

No 2 Hour Tour Non-Stop To Be Found!

There was consistent confusion regarding the 2 Hour Tour with this Company. We never did find anyone who knew of the 2 Hour Tour so we were given the two one hour Hop-On, Hop-Off tours, the Red Line and then the Blue Line. The tours themselves were very good and we enjoyed them but I would not promote the 2 Hour non-stop tour if there isn't one that exists.

Live guide was brilliant

Done this 2hr live guide tour in London over the Easter break with some friends and little ones. It was easy to book, just a few hours in advance. It was a very good mix of things being shown, but wish we had a better view of the Palace. Our Guide, Joe was absolutely brilliant! He was funny and entertaining, keeping our attention for the entiriety of the tour. He included some historic facts but explained it in a way that's easy to digest and to understand even if english isn't your first language. Joe was also good with paying attention to guests, their needs and interests. For example, we had a US group onboard, so he went out of his way to talk about links to the US, but did the same for a group from Australia too. I didn't expect much from the tour, but was surprised to find that i genuinely enjoyed it and even learned something new! Thank you

Refund please Viator did not deliver tour

We paid for this tour and due to the London Marathon the bus was not there at time so could not partake in this tour. Still waiting for a refund

Mark, the onboard guide was amazing with lots of facts and stories. thank you Mak.

If ever anyone can get one one of the buses with Mark R as an onboard guide, it's fantastic and he is very willing to have a conversation with you as you ride the bus. The only thing is that he does speak very fast so .... concentrate! :-)

An absolute disgrace

The head tour guide is an absolutely awful man. He constantly complained about his ex-wife, made misogynistic comments, complained about his bosses at Golden Tours, displayed admiration for Boris Johnson, and most shockingly of all, advocated for the execution of Meghan Markle. Everyone in my party was gobsmacked - it was the bile against Meghan that made me write this review. Totally out of place on a family bus tour, or any bus tour for that matter. He makes Golden Tours look absolutely awful and shouldn't be in this profession.

Brilliant - would only do this again if Emma was the Tour Guide

Emma was absolutely fantastic- her knowledge and love of London made this the best ‘tour’ of any city I’ve been in around the world. She was able to share so many different facts that truly enriched the tour! Further to that, Emma actually walked me back to where I needed to be after the tour (I had no idea in which direction to go). She is a gem and worth her weight in gold. Thank you Emma - I have already told family and friends to make sure they get you when in London!!!! Thank you 🙏

Fabulous introduction to London!

We only had a short evening in London and chose to spend it on a GoldenTour open bus night tour. Emma was our guide and was truly amazing! So much knowledge and such a kind manner. Truly an enjoyable way to be introduced to London!

Next time definitely one of the other providers

Worst experience ever. The guy selling the tickets was really unfriendly. They use everything trick they can and are happy for every misunderstanding to get as much money out of you as possible. He told us after we had paid the full price that the busses are only running for half of the day and then wanted us to pay extra to use the bus on the second day. On top of that the busses are running less frequently than the ones from the other tour providers. However, when we eventually managed to get on a bus, the bus drivers were very nice…

No content, boring incidental music, sloooow

Went with the family, hoping to see the sites, listen to historical stories. While we slowly moved through the streets, cutting off ambulances and running red lights there would be an occasional story about some building, statue, person. If we were stopped, we would hear it to completion. More times than not, the story was interrupted when it was just getting interesting to tell us about the stop and to be careful. Instead of resuming the story, incidental aka elevator music would play. The very same tracks my bank plays while I await old age while on hold. We just passed Trafalgar square without comment. This tour bus is a complete waste of time and money. Avoid and do something, anything else!

You won't get what you sign up for.

I paid about $70 for this tour and nobody asked for my ticket. It was a hop on hop off bus and I signed up for a 2 hour non stop tour. According to the tour company no such tour exists, I verified my viator information with them, I was at the correct place, they told me no such tour exists. Not sure why viator has this listed as a thing.

Awesome!

Great experience! Emma was an amazing tour guide and was very knowledgeable on all the London history!

Knowledgable tour with Dominic & Mark

Fantastic experience on the guided open top bus with Dominic and Mark. Dominic was very knowledgable and funny and made the 2hr journey one to remember. Perfect for kids to see London. Highly recommend.

Great experience.. value for money.

I am Londoner & my family came to visit me. Upon search we found this tour information. The open top bus with tour guide Emma plus warm weather was icing on cake. To see London's most iconic places with lot of inside / historic information was worth. As I said tour guide had all the answers to random questions ask by tourist. We had great time throughout. Must say all the team member few to mention, Driver Miguel, tour guide Emma and manager Akshay are credit to your company who Help us to make my family trip memorable. Thank you and we will recommend this to all in our contact.

Enjoyable, definitely recommend.

We really enjoyed the tour and the commentary by our guide Emma. She was interesting, funny and patient with some of the less polite customers on the bus. We found the stop easily, it was made clear where we could get off to visit the sites we were being told about, or to change to the other tour. There were headphones clearly available for audio in different languages. Perfect way to see the main London attractions.

Worst Tourist Experience

Worst tour I ever experienced! First it was very difficult to locate their stops. The map wasn’t very clear on its locations. Our driver didn’t communicate with us the bus wouldn’t be stopping at Buckingham Palace. When I realized we had passed the location, I ran down to driver and he let us off only to have to walk half an hour to get there. The original driver didn’t offer us headphones so no audio. He also stopped & didn’t communicate it to us. We sat on the bus waiting unsure for how long. Definitely not worth the money or time spent. It was very disappointing!

Informative and entertaining

My son and I had a great time thanks to Laurence the tour guides informative and entertaining commentary.

Very disappointing

The trip was sold as an alternative to a hop-on, hop-off tour for 2 hrs. This is what we wanted. Upon arrival we were told there were only hop-on, hop-off busses. It was an hour and a half instead of 2 hrs with more than 10 min of that time at Victoria Station (not the origin of the tour). The live audio guide was literally unintelligible and spent an inordinate amount of time in private conversation thereby missing important points of interest and sites. Buckingham Palace was not visible from the tour. Not recommended.

Wouldn’t recommend

We bought 48H tickets and waited several times over 40/45 minutes at the stop till the bus came. In the meantime we saw other hop on hop off busses come and go. Waist of time and money. At one point we didn’t even bothered waiting anymore and took the tube.