Manchester Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Sightseeing Tour

No show.

We bought our ticket on Saturday last 8 June with the intention of taking the full tour, which we did, and then using the bus to visit some of the attractions the followingday. On Sunday morning we were at the Piccadilly Gardens stop 15 minutes early and waited for the bus. It was due, according to the timetable, at 11.35 but had not arrived by 11.50. There were no traffic delays so the bus should have been on time. The website link to check for service updates didn't work so we had no idea what the story was. Very poor service ehich we had paid for. We took the tram instead to the Lowry.

Poor and not worth the money. Get a tram.

Not especially good and I would have been disappointed if I’d paid full price. Even at concessionary fare it was a bit of a poor experience. First, the top deck was completely full when I got on, so got stuck downstairs. Second, the recorded commentary was out of sync with the locations. Third, the commentary was minimal and to be honest, I got the impression that either not a lot of thought had been given to it, or in putting in some history to the development of the city. Maybe there isn’t much to work with in some areas but the audience is captive and there’s a story to be told. Fourth, driver was unhelpful. I got off at Media city in the middle of the day, but there was no information about bus times on the scrappy and uninformative leaflet provided. The leaflet says download an APP to get live tracking on buses and times etc, but even when I did that, no live tracking available. In the end, I got a tram back. So a bit of a waste of time and money really.

Pretty deo

Taking an open top bus in Manchester is always going to be a gamble! However, the weather was good to us on this occasion. The upper seats were already wet from an earlier shower but we dried them with the tea towel provided by the driver. A pretty good route around the city and Salford was taken that included all the pertinent sites. The experience could have been a bit better if the driver had called out what number stop we had arrived at. At £8 for concession it was very good value

Great trip

Sitting on the top deck in the sun seeing Manchester buildings at a different level is a brilliant experience. Good commentary. Clearest voice was the lady of the 2 recorded voices

Disappointing lack of commentary

Disappointing. Decided to take the tour on the day we arrived in Manchester to get a feel for the city. Unfortunately, for large parts of the tour there was no commentary, including most of the City centre which is full of buildings of historic importance. Unlike the other tours we have been on in other cities here and abroad, we passed by monuments and other landmarks in total silence and ended the tour feeling that we knew little more about the city than we did when we boarded.

Disappointed

A waste of 90 minutes. Recorded commentary was boring and out of synch for the first part. It doesn’t stop at all the advertised stops. It’s advertised as hop on and off but with limited stops and only 3 bues a day that’s not easy. You are better off using the trams

Terribly poor. Use the trams. Better value and better service.

Incredibly rude bus driver, late/missing service, poor commentary and only available in English and difficult to hear if anyone is speaking, no attempt to slow when passing landmarks some of which are only visible down side streets or alleys. Prices shot up by 1/3 since 2023 but old prices shown at starting point. We arrived early for the 11.15 service and were joined by others but it never arrived. Hence when the 12.00 service came it was overcrowded with some passengers having to stand. Driver was thoroughly unpleasant to a foreign tourist in front of us and yelled at another who showed his ticket and walked on. Stickers on the bus say commentary is available in various languages using the ‘sightseeingmanchester’ app. which doesn’t seem to exist. The poor English only commentary was relayed through speakers which were difficult to hear if others were talking. Early part of the journey is through the heavily trafficked city centre so extended periods when nothing was said or of significance to view, followed by sprints between traffic lights. The service is also infrequent with the last bus starting at 15.00, hence limited opportunity to do much hopping on and off. We ended up taking the tram to see some of the sights on the route.

Rude Bus Driver

The tour itself was fine, although it was so hard to hear the commentary over the speakers being upstairs, but the worst part of the tour was our incredibly rude driver. Honestly one of the rudest people I have ever met. I never write reviews so that means a lot coming from me. I came down stairs to double check whether the bus would be stopping at a certain stop and was shouted out like a teacher scoulding a child -‘SIT DOWN!!’. I was so shocked and upset by his behaviour, it really ruined my day. Will not be recommending this tour to anyone in case they have the bad luck of getting this same incredibly rude driver.

Do not book!!!

I emailed the day of my tour, and 2 follow up emails over the course of 5 days asking for a refund for a terrible experience and they have ignored everything. See pictures for the issues.

Tour cancelled and no refund

Bus didn't turn up so there was no tour. There was no notification of cancellation. There has been no refund.

Give this hop on hop off experience a miss...very poor

How extremely disappointing. Old fashioned bus with loud engine noise made it impossible to hear the commentary downstairs. The CD with the commentary kept skipping and needed to be replaced several times...very frustrating. On a positive note the bus driver was very helpful with passengers. Was really looking forward to finding out about the history, culture and architecture of Manchester....it just didn't live up to expectations. Would really like a refund.

Please give more details on exact pick up

Terrible. Waited since 1pm and walked around the area to find a bus stop. Could not find. Could not get response. So basically missed it and lost my money. Had to pay Uber to drive me around the area to tour

Couldn’t hear a thing ….

Hard to hear commentary - sound system needs upgrading or a guide onboard. Could be more fun! Passengers talking over commentary too. Need 2 days if you want to hop on and off in winter.

Sold tickets for a service that wasn’t operating!

We were sold tickets for a day when the service wasn’t running. No refund yet. Not sure whether this is bus company’s or Trip Advisor’s doing. Probably a bit of both.

Underwhelming

Couldn't hear the commentary with the incessant natter from other customers.They should have been urged to shut up or told to leave the bus.Rant over!

Suspicious, as no cancellation is offered either.

Waited at bus stop 2 Piccadilly gardens for 2 hours, no bus ever arrived. Decided to walk around the city myself, again no bus in site. Locals informed me that they rarely see that bus and that the public bus can be taken to all the sites for free.

Manchester Tour

Great tour to get an insight into the city. I know it is a hop on hop off however the frequency of the busses do not give you much options

Lousy service and no bus

No bus the first day, email to tour operators who assured me my two day ticket was still for two days. But no bus the next day either. The overall impression is lousy service.

- No earphones were...

- No earphones were available - No other language than English was explaining the tour in spite that on your website mentioning that is available 5 languages on the bus.

Not much fun!

Bit boring as the narrative is a recording not a live person like we had when we went to Liverpool, who was very entertaining. Could’ve have walked around the central part quicker then the bus! Didn’t even go a full route and no hopping on and off 🙈 Handy if you wanted to get off at the Imperial War Museum or Media Studios.

They don't turn up on time. Get a Tram pass instead.

They seemed celebrating with big fanfare their new timetable, which looks like someone wasted their time dedicating some passion to it. Sadly they can't live up to it! Driver was 40min late. The contact email is a black hole and the phone number goes to an answering machine. The bus is tatty and worn. The driver eventually dragged his arse down the street with coffee in hand at 11:10am when the bus was due to leave at 10:30. Obviously there was no apology. He then spent the time rallying the bus through the streets to make up for lost time and he was pretty relaxed about running red lights. The tour is ok, but it misses a lot out. Simple things like the Etihad stadium for instance! You will spend much of the time in traffic starting and stopping between traffic lights and flying through areas like the Media centre. I would recommend visitors to get a pass for the trams. I would recommend the company go to Edinburgh to see how tours should be operated.

Top Tour

Being with my Grandson Lewis is a happy place for me! The tour is great value for money, and takes in lots of sights and of Manchesters history. The option to hop on and off is brilliant. The audio tour guide is great, and I learned a lot of new things myself!

Did it’s job👍

Easy to book online, would have been better to run more frequently. Got what we paid for, easy way to get around

Pick a different one

we were at the stop before the appointed time. waited 20 mins, no bus. tried to chat with tour operator, no answer. tried to chat with viator, which answered but said they wouldn’t refund our $ because the tour operator said the bus was there on time. eventually we saw the bus go by about 30 mins later so we know they were lying. there are plenty of other tour companies running HOHOs… pick a different one.

Experience of Hip Hop on Manchester

It's okay but could do more by going round more strategic locations such as Manchester City Stadium etc

Don’t bother

Terrible £12 for one adult Then paid £8 for a day pass for 2 adults and one child on the trams which covered all of the same areas we wished to visit ie etihad Manchester United media city and the imperial war museum. The biggest let down was not being able to hear the commentary… no earphone socket with multi lingual commentary available very poor show

Good tour for a first visit to Manchester

Very good tour , informative , hour and half if you don’t get off . Good stops for those wishing to look around .

Not the best

The narration couldn’t keep up with the geo-location meaning key information was missed during the trip. We expected the bus to stop at the Manchester cathedral but this was not the case. We really wanted to get off at this point so not happy that the driver didn’t stop. Compared to other city tours I’ve been on, this one was a bit lacking.

Not a great experience

Did the 2.00 p..m. tour today in temperature of high twenties. We sat on the upper back seat to get a good view but soon realised that the foam inside the seats was soaking wet and seeping through the seams and damaged areas onto the back of our jeans. Because it was a hot day and the vinyl seat covers also hot, we did not notice this at first. When we did notice, we had to move seats and advised another passenger who got on during the tour not to sit there. At the end of the tour we pointed this out the driver who had a quick look and said there was nothing wrong with the seats. He wasn't the one who ended up with wet jeans though!! Apart from this, the tour was ok but not one which I would repeat because of our adverse experience.

Awful!

No seats left on the bus and only one bus an hour. Husband had to stand, we gave up! Have complained by email and asked for refund for our family ticket and have not even received a reply!

Trouble retrieving tickets

The trip gave a sense of the city. We had a lot of trouble retrieving our tickets through TripAdvisor, and we’re given plenty of irrelevant adverts during the process. This was frustrating, and we nearly missed the departure as a result

Terrible !!!

It was a bad experience. Stop 1 where it starts was moved and we never received any notification. There are only 3 schedules, so it is impossible to go down to enjoy some place and take it again. we had to end up using local bus. I do not recommend at all .

Bus was 20 mins late and then wouldn’t leave the spot til the following hour and wouldn’t allow anyone to board

Absolute waste of time. The bus turned up at 13:20 when it said 13:00 on the timetable and then the driver wouldn’t let us on and proceeded to tell us he wouldn’t be starting until the 14:00 tour. People stood with young kids in 27° for 30 minutes to be told that. Absolutely shocking service & a waste of time

Disappointing

Very disappointing. We could not hop on hop off as we would have liked to as the next bus wasn’t for another two hours.

Rude bus driver

The tour did not start at Albert Square as had been advised by the website, so we had to find the bus stop opposite the Alan Manchester hotel, Princess Street. The driver was rude and unhelpful. The tour itself was informative and interesting, albeit on one occasion the audio commentary was not reflective of what we could see from the bus (maybe the driver went off the prescribed route).

Great - Providing The Weather Is Fine.

This is one of the best ways to see any city. I was a little bit sceptical about it because there are a number of major attractions that it doesn't go near, let alone stop at. However, starting from outside the art gallery, we were pleasantly surprised by what we could see during the 75 minute journey. There are so many fine old buildings to admire in the city and one or two new ones. Obviously better to be seen from the upper deck, as most of the best architecture is at the top of the buildings. There is on board commentary in English. You can get it in other languages via an app. The female commentator is much clearer than the male. Tickets are good value as they are valid for 2 days and can be booked online or you can buy them on the bus. The biggest problem with the hop on / hop off service, is that it is not frequent enough to be truly effective. At present, there are only three buses per day. Still we had an enjoyable day.

Not in operation!

Not in operation, not possible to book at their website. Don't answer calls. Choose instead the free public busses, these takes you around but without guidance.

A treat way to see the city

If you want to find out about the history of the city, this is the perfect way to do it. An excellent commentary from Dominic Monaghan takes you through the hour plus route, which explains how the city developed and you see every sight you would want to.

Excellent bus tour

One of the best open top bus tours I have been on. I particularly liked the way the driver, John, blended his local knowledge with the pre-recorded commentary.

Helpful and interesting tour

Really interesting, informative tour to help learn our way around the city. The driver, John, was very friendly and helpful in guiding us around the city and advising us on what to do whilst we stayed.

NOT TOO BAD

Not as slick as most open top tours long periods with no commentary Average bus tour poor value at full price

Fantastic

Wow what a fantastic service and it’s free! The bus was clean, it announced where you were, the driver was very helpful and cheery. What more could you want. All cities need this.

Manchester Sightseeing Tour

This tour gave me a great overview of Manchester. I learned a lot and got some good ideas of other things to explore. The commentary was excellent and very well synchronized to the route. One tip, wear weather appropriate clothing.

Interesting, but limited

This isn't a bad way to see Manchester; but with a limited number of stops it is a bit restricting as to when/where you can join/jump off....plus at this time of the year there are only three trips a day, meaning it's a two hour wait between busses.....in fairness I get why as it wasn't busy, but not great for those that want a more frequent jump on-jump off experience. This would normally be £12 each, which I think is too much - but we got a Groupon for about £14 for the two of us that we bought just before joining the bus...that price was a fairer reflection of what it was worth

Tour Bus

Very good and we can see all the tourist place. Also we can use the ticket 2 days so we can visit the tourist place everywhere we want..love it.

Not Too Bad

The hop On – Hop Off Bus was a good tour (as they all are) to learn about Manchester and the history behind the building, architecture and the town itself.

Quickest view of the City

It was a quick way to get accustomed with the City. We boarded the bus outside Old Trafford stadium, purchased tickets on board. Would definitely recommend.

Enjoyable.

Ideal way to see the city. Bus was punctual and clean. Best time to go would be in the warmer months because it is cold upstairs. As we are OAP’s we thought the £6 fare was ok, but think £12 is overpriced.

Ok tour

I really don't see any of the negatives others have mentioned about this basic tour. Hop on hop off tours are just basic simple ways to see the sites in a area. The Manchester tour covers all this and more for under 15 pounds.

Kind of terrible.

This hop on hop off is not good. Off peak time it runs every hour and a half. I used the bus mainly to get to Old Trafford because I couldn’t figure out how much a bus would cost. The bus was slightly less than me taking a cab. The upstairs seats in the open part of the bus were all wet. The commentary was ok. But we weren’t always near what they were talking about. There are a bunch of stops. It didn’t seem like the bus was stopping at them. though. Off peak there are 3 full circuits. It is kind of a waste of money. I can’t recommend it.