Paris Tootbus Discovery Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour

Give them a break. It is an Olympic City.

Better than expected after reading reviews. This hop on hop off bus was similar to many similar experiences in other cities. This tour company is obviously trying to figure it out with the Olympic disrupting traffic flow. I would recommend this bus tour. It got me to the sites in wanted to see and the buses had available seats.

Absolutely terrible, don’t do it!

Our experience was appalling. The commentary was completely inadequate, often irrelevant when there was any, and the rest of the time annoying and repetitive music was playing, all while the bus was passing sites where explanations and information should have been delivered. Much of the commentary was centred on Olympic trivia past and future, not what we were on the bus to learn about. Other commentary was benign, cringeworthy personal comments, about the speakers own personal life in Paris, completely unprofessional. Do not use this service, it is very expensive and you will waste your time and money.

RECONSIDER AND DO NOT

RIDICULOUS!!!! 1) they don't tell anyone that when you get on at Eiffel T you must change at Arc de Triomphe to actually take what is supposed to be a two hour loop 2) we have made the first stop only and it has been an hour and twenty minutes NOT due to traffic, but due to them sitting at their bus stop trying to garner more riders. What a waste of money! The audio is poor at best; stupid and distorted music between any commentary and quality is such one can hardly make sense of it despite home language.

Zero Stars - exceptionally poor tour and customer service experience

I have put off writing this review in the hope that our complaint could be resolved privately however my emails are now going unanswered and I feel the need to share my exceptionally poor tour and customer service experience. We visited Paris on Wednesday 31st May for a one day family tour with Tootbus Paris. * We waited 45 minutes at the Louvre stop for a bus. * In that time an empty Toot bus drove past and did not stop. We asked staff but they could offer no explanation. * Despite being first in line for the next bus, there was a scrum of people allowed to get on before us and my children were knocked over in the process. Staff did not intervene and had no control over the large crowd. * When we eventually got on a bus, there were no available seats meaning we had to stand. We didn't hear any of the commentary and opportunities to sight see were limited in the crowded gangways. * We managed to stay on the bus for only 2 stops as our children were so upset by the whole experience. * I emailed Toot Bus Paris with my complaint detailing the above and asking for a full refund to be told that there were problems with the traffic that caused our problem, then to be told there were problems with the weather (it was a dry morning on the 31st). * Responses to my emails have been unsatisfactory with no apologies offered and include a sarcastic tone of "We wish we could control the weather and give you the weather of your dreams all year round". My complaint was never about the traffic or the weather! * My emails are now going unanswered. The company's decision to blame the traffic and then the weather rather than acknowledge some key factors of my complaint and now ghost my emails is simply appalling. I have received no partial or full refund. DO NOT use this company!!!!!

Perfect

Perfect way to see the city. We enjoyed the convenience of the ability to get off where we wanted and then get back on when we were ready.

Don't use TO-OT on and off bus in Paris

Absolutely the worst experience of on and off bus. When we get to a large city we enjoy the on and off bus - we've done Big bus and city sightseeing in London, Rome, New York City, and many more.. Our To-ot Paris driver was running red lights honking at pedestrians, her stops were down the road at random spots. There was no commentary of history or anything about the city or even notification of upcoming stops. I would skip the line for this bus and go to another vendor for sure

Not worth it!! Not enough buses...Long waits!!

The seevice is awful, small fleet in comparisonto BIGBUS tour. Long waits between stops. Sat at Notre Dame spot for more than an hour for a bus while 8 Big Bus Buses drove past us. By the time a bus showed up the amount of people waiting for the bus couldn't get on the bus. The audio tours are difficult to follow and not a lot of thought or effort put into the details.

Not good

We found it difficult to find the hop on point to get started. Because of bridge closures for the olympics lots of stoppages in traffic. The buses kept letting people on when all seats were taken. Too congested

Would try a competitor next time.

Enjoyed the bus sitting on top when not raining. Bus took a long time in traffic. Wait for arrival was 30 minutes minimum. No commentary available.

Wet in more ways than one!

I find a hop on hop off tour is a really good way to get an overview of the city and have done them in lots of places, but today’s takes the biscuit. I thought I would book Toot Bus for their eco credentials and for a different experience of Paris-it was certainly that. It was a very wet and miserable day in Paris which caused the buses to be particularly full. However at Notre Dame stop they packed people on like sardines while an empty bus waited behind then decided not to stop. I squeezed myself in the next bus as one person came off. I got off at Champs Elysee in the hope that if I had something to eat the rain would ease off. It did and after about 45 minutes I headed back for a bus. There were two buses at the stop, the first with a roof on top (no windows probably designed for sun rather than rain) and I took a front row seat upstairs. I was on the bus for about 5 minutes before the ticket seller came and told everyone on board that there was a technical difficulty and we had to change buses. Onto another busy bus, no sign of a roof, so upstairs was unusable. I managed to find a seat beside an elderly lady and was looking forward to connecting my headphones to find out all about Paris. No such luck, apart from the occasional piece of information, mostly from the male voice, there seemed to be a lot of nonsense about scooters and traffic and having coffee. Perhaps they were trying to give a flavour of life in Paris, but a tour bus should do what it says on the tin and guide us through the city. Had I not been to Paris before and toured with a different company I would have known nothing. All this while the rain poured in the missing downstairs window on top of the elderly lady and the little boy in front of her. To avoid hypothermia I left the bus at Auber and took the train to Chatelet des Halles to head to the airport several hours earlier than necessary such was my disappointment with the experience. On the plus side they do seem far more frequent than other companies, but if you only have a limited time in Paris choose another company that will give you nuggets of information about the beauty you can see around you in Paris. Top tip avoid, especially if it’s raining.

Amazing

Best experience for those who dont want to walk to see all places. We really enjoyed. Read a lot of bad reviews, we will definatelly recommend.

It was good

The bus itself is good but whenever I pay for things at Viator it is always so cloak and dagger like everything is a big mystery and I find myself practically begging for info. Can I not get sent the map and tickets and all details once I pay? It seems the day of I am scrambling for someone to tell me where I’m supposed to redeem my ticket.

A scam - not a tour at all

Everything was terrible, wasted a whole afternoon and $100 euros. The audioguide is not a guide, absolutely no content about the places you see, it is as if a give year old was writing their own diary "you can know where you are just by looking at people... I like going for a run with my yellow suit and then having a croissant". There was vomit on one bus, the other one had an open roof while it was raining and the audio guide was not working. I was so furious I cried. DO NOT BOOK IT!!!

Wasted half a day waiting

Absolute cabbage, says first pick up at 9.30am, asked driver who was having a lovely smoke by bus at 10.05am what was going on ,all I got was 5 more minutes. When we did get going it felt like drivers first day. Then the added bonus of staying at stop 1 for a good 15mins for no apparent reason, well it depends if u think letting the driver go buy a coffee and have another smoke is a good reason.May be cheaper but you pay for it in your time.

Poor, expensive, stupid comentary

This is REALLY expensive !! I have been on these all over the world and this one is silly money. My friend and I went ahead with this as they are usually a good way to see things, and if it had been brilliant then we wouldn't begrudge the cost. But it was not... Loads of silence gaps, then ridiculous commentary which was supposed to be funny but was in fact cringeworthy. We spent a lot of time in traffic, which was not anyone's fault - but there is so much to say about Paris that with a decent commentary we wouldn't have noticed how much time we spent not moving. I don't reccomend this, I would say to get a metro day pass and plan your route using that.

Not really worth it

The concept of hopping on/hopping off is great, but it didn’t work so well for us. The attendant and bus stop locations were harder to find than expected. There was no line to get on the busses, just a mob of people. Folks would walk right up and cut off people what had been waiting 15/20 minutes for the bus.. The traffic was horrendous (we sat at one intersection for 45 minutes). We decided to ride the loop once to see everything and the plan was to come back and get off at the most desirable spots. We were only able to make the loop because it took us 3 hours to do so. I will skip this next time.

Best way to tour Paris!!

This was a great experience!! We were able to see all the major landmarks of Paris in a day at our own pace. The bus schedule was fantastically simple. The app gave us the perfect guidance to get to every bus stop. The buses were comfortable and the audio was clear with succinct and clear information on every landmark.

Use a competitor .

I waited for over an hour for a bus and then it was to full to get on. I had to take a taxi to get around. I would like to get my money back as we couldn't use it. Counted 8 buses of a competitor while waiting.

Waste of money

Trouble locating pickup points in city. Did not see many Toot buses on streets. Saw “BigBuses” on the street but few Toot buses.

Good way to get oriented to Paris Highlights.

The Tootbus gives you a good overview of the main Paris sights. And a great view from the top seats.

Doesn’t run late in the evening

I was not happy with the communication I arrived later in the day to Paris and I thought the bus run all night so I finally found the bus from where I satiated and the driver said we are done for the day and it was 7:15pm… I sent a message to see if I can use my tix the following day and nobody has since responded.. I wasted $100

Ready go

After the rain the recording stopped working for a while. Also we wish more info was given during the tour One driver was very good always saying ready go in a very enthusiastic tones. It was very nice

Good experience

Overall a good hop on hop off bus trip. However it was tough to find bus map and key stops if you are not boarding from Eiffel Tower stop.

Paris in a day.

The most memorable part of the day was seeing all the iconic landmarks in Paris. The bus gets very close to the Eiffel Tower to get nice photos.

Awesome introduction to Paris

This was an excellent way to see several major sites in central Paris as we only had two full days to explore the French capital during our first-ever visit. In fact, we enjoyed our first tour so much that after lunch, we got on again for a second trip. Both drivers were warm and friendly gentlemen with an excellent sense of humour. When we insisted on giving them a modest tip at the end, they were genuinely happy and grateful at our thoughtfulness. If you consider the skill required to manhandle a bus through the often crowded and chaotic streets of Paris, these drivers deserve at least a little something extra for their efforts. We’ve done the hop-on hop-off thing in many major foreign cities and each time, it was worth the cost. TOOT in Paris is no exception!

Terrible experience

Terrible. I will request a full refund. Bus did not show and office staff was not helpful after calling twice.

Don't waste your time and money

I booked this as I thought it would be a good way to get around the sights of Paris as I had previously used the City Sight Seeing which no longer operates in Paris. My family and I were totally disappointed from start to finish. Firstly the audio was atrocious, there was long pauses, pointless music and a complete lack of any relevant information about the sights. I felt like we may as well have got on a public bus! The drivers were a mixed bag, of the three buses we got on the first was pleasant and helpful but the other 2 drivers were pretty rude one even took our tickets from us even though it was a hop on hop off bus. We also booked the package which included the Seine cruise this is also best avoided (book with one of the operators at the boats instead.) We noticed only once the tickets were issued by the bus that you could only use them before 5pm when we had wanted to go on the river at night to see Paris lit up. This meant that we had to waste another day going on the cruise. The boat docked and it was the smallest boat they could find, the boat was packed and the upstairs closed off because the river was high due to heavy rain meaning we were crammed in on the bottom deck in 24 degree heat. To make matters worse the route was changed because the boat couldn't get underneath certain bridges meaning we couldn't get near Notre Dame. I was also unable to leave a bad review via their email they sent me. All in all a pretty rubbish experience and although its the cheaper option for tour buses its only cheaper by a few euros. If I was to do another tour I would steer clear of Toot and pay the extra money for Bigbus tours.

Go way to see the sites!

We have enjoyed using Hop on Hop off bus rides on other cities and Paris was no exception! This is a great way to see the major sites in Paris! We enjoy the ease of jumping off at our interested sites, taking pictures and jumping back on. The buses come at regular intervals so you are not waiting long for a pickup!

Rooftop Bus

A little on the expensive side but the upside is you can jump on and off the bus at any stop. We started at the Eiffel tower but they have several stops. There was good info. With the headsets but would have liked more info. Nice to have in different languages though. The seats are not too comfortable. Some buses have a roof top which is nice if it's not too cold or rainy. The drive around Paris is about 1.5 hour.

Great sightseeing

Pre recorded tourist information was very helpful. It is a safe place to find out that Paris traffic is quite daring. The route took us to Paris' main sightseeing spots.

Very poor, don’t use this company

I wouldn’t recommend this bus company for several reasons: 1. The bus drivers are rude. They are dealing with tourists so should at least be able to speak some English and try to be helpful. 2. The commentary is atrocious. There is limited information about the sights, just some weird commentary about personal preferences and football?? It’s almost like they think English speaking tourists are stupid. 3. Most of the time is spent sitting in traffic jams (which is obviously not the company’s fault) but it wouldn’t matter if there was good ongoing commentary the whole time. 4. It was extremely expensive. 5. The bus didn’t even stop at the Eiffel Tower of all places! It slowed down and then sped up again, bypassing it. When I went downstairs to ask the bus driver about it all he did was ask me for my ticket repeatedly and couldn’t understand or care less. Although he had stopped at the Champs Élysées to have a cigarette for 10 mins prior. We had to wait till the next stop and then walk 30 mins back to the Eiffel Tower. So bad, choose another option!

Overpriced

Overpriced for what it is. Doesn't bring you around interesting areas, just the big tourist traps. I think they used to have 2 lines and due to that, visited more than just the big tourist sites

Amazing !!

The best tour guide I’ve ever been on! Linda is fabulous Not only was she knowledgeable. She was funny too a pleasure!

Great after an overnight flight

We got a front seat on the second level. It was perfect - saw all the top sights really well without ever leaving the bus. It was an easy way to see the city while jet lagged with kids.

Great mode of transportation but…

Wonderful mode of transportation to see many of the highlights for those who do not have a lot of time in Paris. Our first bus was great, the operator was very nice and all was smooth. The second time on the bus, nice operator, but the audio was not working. The following morning (still within our 24 hour window) we were told we could catch the bus at any of the designated stops. However, at 9:45, the first bus of the day had not yet shown up much to our dismay as we had a scheduled excursion. We resorted to public transportation.

Being able to hop on and...

Being able to hop on and off at any point of time of the journey. Will be good if this can be made available at night.

Wonders of Paris

Escape the city traffic and relax on a boat ride on the Seine River to see the top attractions of Paris.

Great Route!

We did the one day ticket as we only had a few hours to do sight seeing in Paris. We managed to see all the sights we wanted to see. Got off the bus at the Eiffel Tower and back on at the following stop with hardly any waiting time and enough space. We went in the Easter holidays and thought it be busy but there were enough busses and we could always get a seat at the top. Friendly bus drivers, great audio. Daughter loved the English kids audio. Would definitely recommend!

Great for first timers and those with limited time!

Always a good option for a limited calendar. I had a day and a half, and this allowed me to see the major sites at a decent clip.

Traffic was so busy, the Notre Damn stop wasn't serviced.

Stood waiting for over 30 minutes while the app downloaded, just to show the bus bypassing the stop due to heavy traffic. Decided to take the metro at which stage I was completely overwhelmed and exhausted and just went home, skipping 4 stops. Also the commentary talked a lot about fashion and the voice talked about their personal preferences regarding the opera (what?!) while we passed historical monuments without commentary. Don't recommend.

Good tour but poor QR Code

QR code too small. Had to use the Toot App rather than the Viator App. Otherwise well worthwhile trip.

Fun and a good price

TootBus tour was a perfect thing to do on Day 1 of our Paris trip. If you’re tired, jetlagged, or you don’t want to walk too much, this bus tour takes you around the main sites. The top level of our Toot Bus had a glass roof and windows, which was great since the day was cold and rainy. The app was pretty good, showing when the next bus was coming, most of them came quite fast, altho we did have a very long wait at one stop towards the late afternoon. Luckily each stop is at such a nice location that you won’t be bored while you wait. Start early in the morning so you can really benefit from all the stops. The website said the bus would stop running at 5 PM, but it actually continued until 6:30 PM which was great. We were lucky at one point to get the front row seats on the top level of the bus! It was a gorgeous view, and we really felt like we saw everything. The pre-recorded audio explanations were fine, nothing very intellectual, but fine. Considering how expensive it is to take an Uber or Taxi in the horrible traffic to get to the tourist spots, this bus tour is a bargain!

Meh

While in other cities this was a great way to see the hot spots, Paris was a nightmare. The daily tickets were oversold, so every bus was JAM packed to the point that we couldn’t get on or had to stand up. The buses ran late, oftentimes we had to wait up to 45 min for one to arrive. The bus stop signs (particularly on the Champs Elysses) was SO small, we walked right past it twice—while trying to keep an eye out for it. I’d suggest this for smaller cities, or just get a taxi.

Fun Times

All of us enjoyed It was great having the audio guide We had a little difficulty finding our stop at first

Recommendable.

Great bus tour! Hop on, hop off, with frequent buses. Great way to see the central sights. Helpful and friendly drivers, and good audio guide, with earbuds provided if you don't have your own.

The buses ran on time but...

The buses ran on time but the audio was broken, so we didn’t receive any information about the sites we saw.

Great intro to the city.

The bus tour is a great introduction to the city for those of us who are visiting for the first time. Hitting most of the major attractions, it gives a good perspective on location, travel time, access, etc. The voice over is a bit corny but that is OK for the limited time it is on.

Not easy to find

Very difficult to find places to access your bus as there were several stops not available at the time.

A good way to get around Paris but the audio needs work.

The bus is a hop on hop off bus but it had some problems. The audio guide was always telling you about the upcoming stop after you had passed the stop. It was sometimes difficult to find where the bus would stop, you had to stay in the general area and see where they stopped. Don't waste your time using the wireless option because that audio is way off. But if you want an economical way to get around the city and time is not a problem, I think it is worth the money.

Take this tour if you want to get scammed and learn little to nothing about Paris!

I'll start by saying that the salesperson by the Louvre was not at all honest and did not warn those who started the tour there that we would not make the full loop. I assure you I asked very specific questions about the route and was assured I'd have time to get on and off at various stops that day. We were all abandoned, unexpectedly, about 3/4 of the way through (and having never hopped off). The driver told us all to get off the bus and that another bus would show up in 10 minutes and that we needed to get on that bus. The next bus arrived only to tell us there were no more buses. I will chalk that all up to miscommunication --- and a salesperson who misrepresented the tour. However, the tour itself was a joke. I wanted to do the loop so that our travel companion who'd never been to Paris before could get a good history lesson. Instead, the narration focused on everyday life...like "Megan" running along the Seine and continually boasted about being an electric tour bus (great but...???). We passed significant sites with not a single word said about them while listening to a song about "man funk" over and over again. I was extremely disappointed!! I cannot recommend this tour if you care at all about learning about Paris and want to avoid getting scammed by a shady salesperson. We'd have been far better off skipping it.