Good value for transportation while in Vancouver! Highly recommended. It's $37 for adults per ticket which is good for 2 days. It takes you around town, including Granville Island, you can hop on & off as many times as you like within the 2-day period. We thought this is a far better way to travel around Vancouver than taking a cab (which can easily cost you 12~15 bucks 1 way)! You sit on the bus, see something you want to go check out - get off the bus on the next stop and hang out for as long as you like before the last bus leaves... P.S. sometimes the bus gets full and you'll need to wait another 10~20 minutes until the next one arrives, so be sure to allow extra time where ever you are going, and makes sure to arrive WAY before the very last bus takes off for the day! read more

Where to begin? I've taken other bus tours of this kind, but none were this disorganized. Of the 5 buses I took, two used recorded information, two used the ramblings of the driver, and one had a commentator mor interested in "high-end" shopping, than in imparting knowledge. We waited for over 30 minutes to be picked up from one stop, which is 15 minutes more than we were told we would need to wait. Twice we had to change buses after only one stop because it was time for the driver to take his lunch break. One bus had the driver's son taking money for tickets. Two of the driver/assistants had heavy accents and poor English, so information was painfully provided. No, I would not recommend this company, at all. read more

This is less a hop on/hop off tour than an extremely expensive hotel shuttle service. Most of the stops are to downtown hotels, and it takes for ev errr to complete the hotel circuit. The hotel circuit portion of the tour had next to no commentary associated with it. One driver kept asking the bus whether people were getting off at such-and-such stop, if not, he'd just avoid it "to save some time." Usually I'd feel as if I wasn't getting my money's worth if a tour cut certain parts short, but the commentary was so nonexistent and uninformative that, meh, who cares? Our last guide used a combination of a mistimed prerecorded guide (uhh, didn't we cross that bridge like 5 minutes ago?) and his own remarks, which ranged from uninformative and impromptu to downright offensive. For example, when explaining why he now uses a Chinese doctor, he explained that while Chinese people age gracefully, when Caucasian people hit 60, they turn "old and ugly." My 60-something-year-old-mother was, shockingly, not amused. And what this has to do with Vancouver? Nothing, obvs. And then I realized that my pants were stuck to gum on the side of the bus. Worst tour ever!! read more

We got the Capsilano & Big Bus Route combo tour. $72 per person. I don't recommend it. There is a recording in the bus to explain highlights and the sound is quite bad. I didn't learn anything because I could barely hear. Ground transportation in the city is quite good and easy, so I would skip using this bus if I go again. The city is not THAT huge, so this bus was not too useful. Capsilano is not THAT far away, and quite easy to get to. Big Bus makes it sound like they are giving you a free shuttle. Capsilano itself offers a free shuttle - and taxis and buses also go there. (Tip: from Capsilano, take a city bus to Grouse Mountain). I also took the Stanley Park excursion. A total waste of time. 45 minutes turned into 3 hours with all of the waiting for buses. The tour itself was about 20 minutes with two 15 minute stops at only mildly interesting areas of the park. read more

Just a normal hop-on-hop-off tour. Most of the buses use a tape to explain the buidlings and views. Some drivers also turn it off and explain by themselves. This makes it much more funny and interesting for the customer. Two big minus points: 1. Some buses wait at some points for not generating too much timespace between two buses. If you don't have much time in the city, you really don't want to wait ten minutes beside a hotel stop f.e. 2. Very less space between the rows. Tall guys have problem to put their legs anywhere. The price of $40 for one day or $45 for two days is normal standard. read more

This is a decent way to see Vancouver, although it helps to be able to do its route in one day rather than splitting it into two. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. The buses are spacious and pretty clean, and two-thirds of the ceiling (at least on all the ones I saw) are retractable plastic sheeting that can be opened to the sky. The recorded tour narration is decent and the expected bad jokes aren't too annoying. There's a surprising amount of 'dead air' during the narration, but perhaps that's intended to allow you to take things in on your own or talk freely to those you're traveling with? The tour is pricey but it seemed to be around the same price as immediate competitors. The base ticket is good for 24 hours and the route around the city is great; however, the single direction is limiting if you are doing different parts on different days because you end up duplicating your previous stops instead of having the option to take another route or ride it in the opposite direction. Although Vancouver is pretty, I felt like this was a waste of precious vacation time. (My family and I knew what would happen, but we were stubbornly determined to make the most of our tickets. Next time we'd take an Option B.) read more

The service was really good. We bought a Groupon so the tickets were half-price. Positive things: - Both drivers were friendly and helpful - The route is fine, specially if you are in Vancouver for a few days Neutral/Negative: - One of the buses was old, noisy and cold. read more

The tour guides/drivers are extremely nice. Some are more informative than others. A couple played an audio recording at times which I found confusing. Larry was my favorite and if he had a Yelp then I would give him 5 stars. Loved him! I took the trolley one a couple years ago and it seemed like I saw more with that one like Stanley park. We didn't get to see Stanley park because the "free Stanley park excursion" included with ticket isn't running until next week despite the beautiful day. The buses are older than the trolleys and they advertised a pink double decker which I never saw. The scheduling is somewhat unclear and I had to call the main office at least 3x to get my questions answered but the staff was very helpful. I have been on at least 5 HOHOs and this was not the worst. They were pretty much on time and there was always a seat. read more

Don't waste your precious vacation time on this tour. Ask how many buses are running in winter as we had to wait over an hour in each location. It was not worth the money and one of our guides was so ill informed he was borderline making stuff up. Worst hop on hop off we have ever been in and we have been on a lot. read more

I finally did it. I caved and was the cliche tourist - and you know what, it was pretty dang fun! I had not been to Vancouver in roughly a decade, so needless to say, the city has changed (and my memory is far from perfect). We wanted to see the beach, Stanley Park, Gas Town, the Olympic Village and everything in between - however we also knew that we were not about to walk that distance considering the extensive liver damage we had done to ourselves over the previous days! The concept: For $37 you get a map and a ticket. That ticket is good for 48 hours to hop on and off at any of the 22+ locations the buses stop at. This enables you to get off the bus and walk around at the places you are interested in and pass on by those you could not care less about. It is a great idea. With the back half of the bus being open air, it is pretty great for site seeing and taking it all in (unless it rains, which it did a bit on us, oh well). The downside: We had to deal with ridiculously ignorant southerners sitting right behind us. They were complaining and saying the most annoying things the entire time - no wonder my fellow Canadians have a bitter taste in their mouths about Americans...this is what they deal with! Then, we got to deal with the obligatory, "ha ha look at those people, they are on a big red bus tour." every time we stopped, so eventually, when we would stop, we would just do it for them, "HEY, look - we are the nerds on a bus - and it is AWESOME!" :) Lastly, the hours of the tour only go until 5 PM. While I understand that makes sense for traditional business, the sun does not even set until 9 PM in the summer, so it would have been nice to be able to see more of the city and locations at dusk. After all, it is tourists that utilize this service, they are not likely to need to head home to put dinner on the table or turn in for the night at 5 pm. read more

our a big-bus experience was rather mixed. first of all the vessels: semi-open busses, in some you can hear the driver (or recorded audio guide) at each and every seat, in others you are happy when understanding something in rows 8-10 schedule: it takes about 30-45 minutes until a bus arrives at the points marked in the map drivers: we had a great driver (Steve - he makes 5 stars alone) at the first trip and luckily staid in the bus: he told live all the big and small stories to know about Vancouver, the buildings around, celebrities, economy, government, where to go and what to do next and he really took care of all passengers. our next driver talked about 10% of Steve and our last driver used pre-recorded sound files every now and then. so try to get Steve as Guide & Driver (the guides on ground should be able to locate him) all other drivers we had were rather a waste of time and money (as already despicted: slow and unrelieable transport through Vancouver) read more

This is a business that survives mostly on visitors who arrive by cruise ship. With that being the focus, and the published arrival information, you would think they would have their full fleet of busses running on days when there are multiple ships arriving. The published 15 minutes between busses is a very optimistic estimate. Plan for 30-45 and it taking a couple cycles to get on at popular stops. Overall the price is high for the experience. Staff is friendly but the busses are weathered and have seen better days. read more

Our experience with big bus was a positive one. We got off our cruise in Vancouver waterfront terminal at 8 AM; Got CDS baggage to transfer our luggage to the airport so we can be hand free to use the big bus. Since the 1st trip does not start until 8:45AM; we walked to the gas lamp and china town. We then boarded the Stanley park excursion which took us directly to the Stanley park bus at 9:30AM. We were able to tour around the Stanley park; our driver was very informative about the park. After that we were transferred to another bus to visit the town. Another fantastic driver... We finally got back to the gas lamp for lunch and took the sky way train (Canada lines) to the airport to get our luggage from CDS and board our flights... read more

During our first visit to Vancouver, we had a $125 gift voucher from the hotel to use at the tourism office for local attractions. Seeing as we did not hire a car but still needed a form of transportation to get around town, we figured the Big Bus 2 day pass would be a great way to save us some taxi fare. Unfortunatley, it was raining and during their 'off season', so we ended up waiting in the rain for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Once, when it finally came, it was their half bus with an open roof - DURING POURING RAIN! Needless to say we were cold and wet.... Another time, at Stanley Park, we could not find the bus station and ended up taking the local transportation instead. Overall, not a good option for tourists looking at sightseeing. read more

Big Bus is a poor excuse for a bus tour. The ground staff seemed unorganized and mildly annoyed that we wanted to give them our business. Heard several calls on the driver's walkie-talkie that there were Big Bus patrons left stranded at stops, with no one to help them. The pre-recorded audio sounded like story time for toddlers, with dubious facts and figures about the city's history. When we did have a live host on board - hit and miss - he was too preoccupied with mapping short cuts to avoid the city events and festivals, and made patrons feel like we were inconveniencing them for being on board. Several of the stops were at hotels... I did not pay to ride a shuttle bus around town. Not worth the time or money - give this company a pass. Vancouver is too beautiful to be seen on board a Big Bus. read more

I had reviewed my very bad experience I had with Big Bus over Trip Advisor and my review has never been published!!! It appears to me Trip Advisor is working for the benefit of the companies they have registered as tourism members. Only good or fair reviews show up. It is a lie and a shame. During the week I was in Vancouver (Canada Day), I noticed lots of customers where complaining about Big Bus service over the phone and at stops, waiting for a bus to arrive. I went at their office in Gastown to complain in person but it was crowed like hell with unhappy customers then I gave up. I believe Big Bus and Trip advisor match well all together. They are same fake. read more

I've never done a HOHO, but it was a decent 1st experience. Great for the old, people with kids, and nervous travelers, which I am none of these & still had s good time. I had a groupon & probably wouldn't have paid outright. Overall, a very relaxed way to scope out the city for areas you want to visit. read more

I read the other reviews for this service, and sometimes me thinks they're written by their own employees. Our experience with Big Bus was awful. Their claim that buses arrive every 30 minutes is categorically false. It's more like they arrive every 45 minutes and then wait for another 20 before departing. More than half of the sightseeing areas we stopped were useless - mostly hotels. On our bus from Granville Market, the bus driver had the audacity to talk on his cell phone while navigating the busy Vancouver streets. If we could do it again, we would definitely take taxis and metro to all the places of interest. It's a shame that Vancouver tourism authorities don't do a better job of regulating this industry. Big Bus was the one blemish on what is otherwise a beautiful city. read more

A lot of fun! There is a ton to see in Vancouver and this bus tour really covers pretty much all of it. The buses come by fairly frequently, so we never had to wait too long to catch the next one. I totally recommend this bus tour to anyone new to YVR. It's the best way to get your bearings in this growing, modern city. No, we didn't see them filming Twilight. Bummer:) Did pick up some cool Olympic pins though! read more

Ok I'm not sure how to start because I have nothing good to say about the big bus hop on hop off tour bus. Too expensive for what you get! Many times I found my self catching a city bus or taxi to get back to my hotel. Bus driver on bus 415 was very rude on 9/22/2013. To sum things up. I paid 80.00 for a two day pass and found my self catching a taxi or bus to get back to the hotel. A better bag for your buck is to pay 2.50 for a city bus at least it will take you where you want to go and when your done you can jump back on the bus for free as long as its within two hours. Save your money not worth it! read more

Don't book with this company...we waited 1hr and 45 mins everytime for pickup. Only one bus and it was ridiculously slow. Use the trolley company, these guys were terrible. read more

My husband and I had a great experience on these buses. It was a convenient way to travel around and see what Vancouver had to offer without killing our feet. We got a killer deal & the bus drivers were super friendly. I highly recommend this if you're coming to Vancouver without a car! read more

The concierge at our hotel told us the Big Bus was a great value instead of taking taxis everywhere and she was right! We had a blast stopping and hopping off, shopping, then hopping back on! Enjoyed Granville Island. Skip Chinatown, it's seedy and depressing - go for Stanley Park, English Beach and shopping on Robson. A good way to see the city, especially if it's your first time in Vancouver. read more

This was my first trip to Vancouver. I found this bus tour to be a good introduction to Vancouver and the different parts of the city. I took notes about which stops I wanted to go back to. As far as this being a hop on and off bus route - maybe. If you want to see things close together, then it could work as long as you are willing to wait for the bus to come back by. If you want to see parts of the city far apart, then be prepared for a long bus route to get there. The entire bus trip is 1.5 hours. There is also a good 1-hour tour of Stanley Park. You'll need to hop off the bus and hop on the park bus to get the tour. That was a nice intro to the park. I got a 2-day pass, but only needed one day on the bus. I had a rental car so I could get around; however parking fees are ridiculously expensive. read more

Just ok. We had a tour guide gal for our first hop on. She was interesting and put effort into it. After a hop off we hopped back on to the recorded message of the points of interest. We ended up walking back to the hotel from Gastown area. It was faster then waiting for the next hop on bus. You can do a lot better with a local map, a little effort and public transportation. read more

Always take tours first day in a new city, this company has no other competition therefore they charge what they want without offering good service. Too many stops, uncomfortable, poor visibility, poor sound, dirty and old bus. read more

We were standing at the petting zoo stop waiting to be picked up and the bus didn't even stop, he just drove right by. First of all, it was 5:26pm and on the schedule the last stop says pick up at 5:29pm. Why would he just leave without even stopping when we were standing right there? We waved him down and everything. He looked right at us and kept driving. My family was stranded at the park and had to buy a cab back to town. This is unacceptable. I can't believe you would run a bus tour this way. We paid for a trip we didn't even get to fully use. We never got to see the entire tour because we were stranded by your company. Very frustrating and disappointing. read more

Horrible! Don't do this tour! Waited forever...and makes vancouver seem 1000 times less interesting than it actually is...

I do agree with some of the previous reviews. Don't waste your precious vacation time and money on this tour. There is not many bus running during the winter as we had to wait over an hour in one location. The Vancouver trolley compagny sounds a much better option as we saw 2 of those one while waiting for our bus for more than an hour. In addition there is no schedule time available so basically you have to ask it to the bus driver for the location you want to hop on. not to mentioned that they advertise the tour in multiple languages but everything was in English, was disappointed specially when you go with kids and have to translate!!! This is definitively the worst hop on hop off we have ever been used. read more

We were on a family tour and we've decided to try BigBus instead of the trolley. Well, we were wrong. Buying tickets was easy at Canada Place; there are lots of folks around ready to sale. Next the nightmare has begun. First bus was full before we can get in and we had to wait another 20 minutes under the sun. Next came a pink double decker bus. It was a sunny day and we were not happy to be inside. That bus was looking old, noisy and was smoking quiet well. So we waited another 20 minutes. It took us 2 minutes to buy tickets and almost ¾ of an hour to board a bus! What a shame!! Finally, we left Canada place and after 2 stops, the bus was full and the driver didn't made the scheduled stop anymore. He waived the guys waiting showing it is full; try a chance with the next one! Was funny (we were on board, sic) When back the aquarium at the park or garden; the same waiting story for seats has repeated. 2 buses were passing by full and the third one, only 2 seats left! We had to split our family with 2 different buses. And the driver said: it is good for a couple to be apart once in a while. Is this a Canadian joke, Mr. Driver? It seems ironic to me and shows no respect for a paying customer. Vancouver is a large city and it deserves more than that. Is there too many tourists or not enough buses? Well there is a problem for sure. I believe because they deal with one-shot customer, they are still on business. They made tourists pay; 100$ for a family it is not cheap. And for what we get it is almost stealing. It is a shame for Vancouver. The city should be concerned by this kind of service provided to visitors. read more

we had company from out of town and the 4 of us did the big bus tour in Vancouver and even though two of us were from Vancouver it was a fantastic and easy way to see the city. We had a great tour guide named Emanuel Fappas he was so personable, funny & knew a lot of information about the city. I would recommend this tour to others and hopefully they will be lucky to be on Emanuel's bus. read more

Absolute chaos! I've taken these tours in many cities around the world successfully - but for this one. We were on several buses. What for buses breaking down. Tour guides who hated their company, their city and sometimes their passengers - it was a rough experience. The company would to well to spend some of the money we pay them to upgrade their fleet and put mystery shoppers on the buses. read more

After researching hop-on hop-off tours of Vancouver, I had planned to purchase tickets for the Vancouver Trolley Company, but a salesperson in front of Canada Center talked me into buying tickets for Big Bus Tours because he said they had one continuous route with buses coming more often (every 15 minutes). I explained to him that my fiance and I had reservations to eat brunch at Tea House Restaurant in Stanley Park. He said that we would be able to transfer buses in Stanley Park to their Stanley Park excursion bus, and he said that would take us where we needed to go. That should have been my first clue that this was not a good tour company since he was already telling me they had two bus lines. After getting on the bus, there was a recorded tour and most of the stops were hotels. Unfortunately, the bus stop in Stanley Park was nearly a mile from the restaurant, and my fiance had to walk the whole distance with his forearm crutches. Then after we ate brunch, we waited over an hour for another bus to come before finally calling the company in frustration. (We saw at least three trolleys from the Vancouver Trolley Company in this much time.) The operator explained that the excursion bus in Stanley Park is not hop on/off and that it only runs every hour. When I explained that my fiance would not be able to walk out of the park to another stop due to his disability, she tried unsuccessfully to reach the bus driver to see if he could pick us up. Because she couldn't do anything and we couldn't walk any further or wait any longer, we ended up getting a taxi back to our hotel to drive ourselves around the city. What a waste of $80!!!!!!!! Definitely go with another tour bus company. read more