Australia · HOP-ON HOP-OFF BUSES
Good hop-on hop-off buses tours fill up weeks ahead; the great ones go first. Below: the 15 to book early, what each includes and how they differ.
See Sydney and Bondi by open-top bus, then add a harbour cruise for bridge, Opera House, beach, and skyline views.
“Great got to. Do both the lines took about 3 hoird easy to. Hop on and off”
Big Bus Sydney review covering red and blue routes, Bondi Beach, timing, stops, commentary, value, cruise upgrade, and practical tips.
“Very good. Well worth the rice. Good route(red). Saw all the majority sites. Loved the New Sydney Fish Market and St. Mary’s Cathedral was beautiful.”
Review of Hobart’s $31 Red Decker hop-on hop-off bus, with route highlights, stop-by-stop advice, value tips, accessibility, and practical planning help.
“Was a great experience but it is not 24hr hop on hop off. Tickets are only valid for the few hours that the buses operate. 7hrs total.”
See Perth and Kings Park from an open-top bus with multilingual audio, hourly departures, flexible hopping, and excellent city views.
“Really informative, even second time doing this activity. We love to take visitors from the UK to show off our lovely city”
Review of Hobart’s Red Decker hop-on hop-off bus, with stop-by-stop advice, pricing, timing, commentary, and tips for cruise visitors.
“Hop on Hop Off is always a good experience and makes sightseeing very easy. Only thing to watch out for here (and this may be seasonal - for me this was November) they only run hourly and finish quite early.”
Review of the Katoomba Lyrebird pass, with hop-on hop-off buses, Scenic World rides, walking tips, prices, timing, and honest drawbacks.
“It was a fun activity with an excellent guide. Scenic World was great.”
Perth’s hop-on hop-off bus links Kings Park, the Swan River, Optus Stadium, and 15 city stops with multilingual audio.
“We chose to travel on the double-decker bus to see a lot more than we would have seen if we tried to drive around, we were not disappointed and would recommend the hop on hop of bus when visiting Perth”
See Darwin’s key sights by open-top bus, with useful commentary, flexible 24 or 48-hour passes, and practical tips on timing and stops.
“Punctual, friendly service. Very informative dialogue as we travelled between stops. Would highly recommend this service to anyone.”
Review of the Barossa Valley Hop-On Hop-Off Wine Tour from Adelaide, with winery choices, costs, timing, guides, tips, and drawbacks.
“Our driver forgot to pick us up for our next stop and asked us to call an Uber. Turns out there are no Ubers in the area. Luckily we found a very kind, random man to drive us to our next stop otherwise we would have missed our next tasting that we had already paid for.”
Ride Hobart’s Explorer Bus to kunanyi/Mt Wellington for summit views, local stories, flexible bushwalk stops, and practical mountain tips.
“What an awesome trip. We are taken by Dave to the top and he was full of awesome info on the way. Then he gave us great walking tips to get down . We did 2 walks and stopped for coffee at the springs before we got to fern glade and were picked up.”
Explore the Blue Mountains by bus for three days, with 29 stops, local commentary, scenic lookouts, and optional unlimited Scenic World rides.
“This was a great investment. Besides access to most of the sights, trails, and attractions, the drivers are first rate. I was on the last bus of the day. After the last stop the driver offered to drop off anyone at their motel/hotel. I thought this went above and beyond and my tired feet were so grateful!”
Review of Brisbane’s daytime Glow Worm Caves and Tamborine Mountain tour, with scenic stops, flexible exploring, costs, tips, and honest drawbacks.
“The best way to experience the area, got to do so many things and loved the freedom of being able to explore the mountain. Glow worms were surreal, beyond what I imagined”
Review the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus, with practical tips on stops, walks, timing, value, accessibility, and the best way to see Katoomba.
“We had an amazing day, our guide was so nice, passionate, funny and friendly! With this tour we had the freedom to do the hikes we wanted, in the order we wanted and at our own pace! Really a great option for visiting the Blue Mountains !”
See Sydney Harbour from the water with a flexible 1 or 2-day cruise linking Circular Quay, Manly, Watsons Bay, Taronga Zoo and Darling Harbour.
“Thoroughly enjoyed the Hop On Hop Off. Although next time I think we'll buy a 2 day pass. One day at the zoo is just not enough time.”
See Darwin from an open-top double-decker bus, with 12 stops linking Crocosaurus Cove, Mindil Beach, museums, markets, and East Point.
“Great idea to get an idea of what activities to do. We did the loop first then stopped off at a couple of places. The museum is free and has great exhibits and a cafe. The Big bus is the best idea and reasonably priced.”
Reef days, coast roads, wine country and the red centre.
