There seem to be two competing companies, both with the British-looking logo and red bus. The Big Bus company is what the Visitor Center will sell you, because it seems to be the local company...do not confuse this with the buses leaving from the front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel, it is a different company. I'm not sure which is better, but the Big Bus company seemed to end much earlier than the other - it is always nice to support the little guy though! Whichever company you choose, be sure to ride the tour all the way around (about 80 minutes). The ocean-front property around Oak Bay was stunning, and a place we wouldn't have ventured out to on our own, being quite the opposite direction of the downtown. This tour gave us a great lay of the land, and both guides we had were very friendly and informative. The experience would earn 5 stars, were it not for its somewhat limited schedule. read more

The husband and I THRIVE off of double-decker bus tours whenever we travel to a new city and this particular tour ruined it for us. All of the previous reviews came to fruition for us as we also experienced the lack of accurate scheduling, an extremely run-down bus, and a poor audio recording of city details that could barely be heard from anywhere on the bus. Sadly, both my husband and I honestly fell asleep on the tour. Save your money and avoid this tour! Victoria was a Port stop during our Alaskan cruise and Expedia gave us $50 in excursion credits for booking through them. There weren't many cheap options and I got excited when I discovered this tour on the list at a decent price. In the end, it wasn't even worth $5. You don't EVEN get what you pay for! After taking the shuttle from the Port into downtown, we had to walk just a few blocks to "Stop One" and waited an extra 40 minutes past the time stated for the first bus to show up. How disappointing it was though that the first bus to show up was a covered bus with no open windows and definitely not a double-decker. What a scam! I asked what seemed to be a Supervisor about this and she said they put this bus in rotation as it was "raining" that morning and that an open-top bus would arrive at 2:15. We decided to wait and grab coffee at the shop next door to kill time. (Quick note: The coffee was excellent and they provided free WiFi and clean restrooms. See my review for more information.) At 2:40, the promised 2:15 open-top bus arrived and the Husband and I boarded. I greeted the driver and asked him how he was doing and he replied, "I will be better in just a few hours." Fortunately, that was the last that I ever heard him speak as unfortunately this tour just pops on a dated recording. Again, avoid this tour and pay the extra amount to do the Greyline tour. I honestly cannot believe this company is still in business and it is an embarrassment to this city. read more

Big Bus Victoria - Worst bus tour we have ever been on! Save your money and go elsewhere. I would have rather walked! - Bus Tours Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

AVOID WASTING YOUR MONEY!! Unfortunately this hop on hop off bus is terrible, you are better off walking. It is a hop on hop off for an hour!!! When I purchased the ticket they didn't tell us the castle was closed, we didn't know until we were on the bus. Take the brochure and just walk, the bus is boring the audio is terrible. Don't let this discourage you taking these tours in other cities it does not compete. We literally got off at the church stop and walked 5 mins back to our hotel. read more

An excellent way to see this beautiful little city in comfort. It was a very hot weekend in the summer and we actually did it two days in a row. read more

DO NOT CONDUCT BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY. THEY RUINED MY VACATION. As part of a weekend getaway to Victoria, BC from Seattle, I purchased tickets via their website on 8/25 for their "Butchart Gardens Saturday Fireworks Combo" that evening. I arrived at the pickup point specified on the confirmation e-mail at the specified time... and waited and waited as no bus appeared. Concerned, I called their phone number to ask if the bus was late, and I was rudely told that the company had stopped offering that excursion a few weeks ago because they no longer had a driver for it. When I explained that it was still being offered on their website that day and I had bought a ticket, they said I was lying and there's nothing they could do. So my trip to Victoria was pretty much ruined. Multiple follow-up e-mails have brought no response either... so instead I've had to just report the transaction as fraud to my credit card company and follow-up with the Better Business Bureau. read more

This tour provided access to the City of Victoria with a great view of the water. But beware there is no live tour guide, just a recording that was difficult to hear over the noise of the bus. The company needs to spend the additional money and hire a live tour guide. Also even tho it is a hop on/off bus they come every 45 minutes. I'd definitely choose the other competitor bus tour even tho it is more expensive. read more

Do not take the last tour which is a stay on bus tour. Since we arrived in Victoria at 7pm in September most of tour was in the dark. Could not see half of the points of interest. Driver was adding his own commentary to the recording but he had no microphone so we weren't able to hear most of it. Very disappointed. read more

I was so excited to get to see Victoria, B.C. from a hop on hop off tour bus. This was my first full day of my cruise, and our first stop. I was eighteen the last time I visited Victoria. Now I am seventy, and I wanted eagerly to see this historic and beautiful city again. Would I recognized any of the streets or be able to find the bed and breakfast where my cousin and I stayed so long ago? I purchased my ticket for the bus months ago, and looked forward to having a great time. I was so disappointed!! The bus was very old. It smelled of gas. The seats were so narrow that I couldn't sit straight which was very painful. Adding to my pain was the fact that the bus lunged, shook, and shuddered at every stop and corner it turned. I got off bus long before the end. It was much too uncomfortable to continue. I didn't even get to shop in downtown Victoria. This "tour" was a huge mistake. My one day in Victoria and all the expectations I had ended in disappointment with the Big Bus Victoria!! read more

Booked our 'Combo Pass": Hop On-Hop off Bus Tour & Butchart Gardens Shuttle & Pass through Viator. Called one day prior as requested to insure seat availability. Met the "15 passenger van" at 9:30 a.m. (which arrived 30 minutes late) then loaded with 14 + 1 driver, an extremely tight uncomfortable fit. Great self-tour of Butchart Gardens on Sunday June 9, 2019 then returned in same van being cramped, boring driver. The following day we saw the city of Victoria on the spacious open-air Hop On-Hop Off Bus with "Derwyn" as our driver, he was very informative and personal. The bus was very comfortable and a great way to photograph the city sights. With only one bus running if you Hopped Off it would be 1-1/2 hours before the bus would return, we made one loop making only one stop at the Craigdarroch Castle, passing on 19 other stops due to the schedule. We wish the larger bus was used as transportation to and from the gardens and city "Hop On-Hop off" pick-up points were more frequent, otherwise it was pleasant and a fair value for the cost. read more

Hopped off at fisherman's wharf and was told the bus will be back at 2:34. We got back here at 2:25 no bus. Waited and waited and waited and finally called and she said that time should have been crossed off and that the next bus would be here at 3:04. It's now 3:11 still no bus. read more

The wonderful city tour I highly recommend it！ If you want to know, Victoria, it is a good chance. read more

Big Bus Victoria - Bus Tours Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

See all

DO NOT PURCHASE ANY TICKETS! My husband and I purchased 2 tickets on Tuesday, October 4th online. We were planning to take the Big Bus on Wednesday. We called the office of Big Bus Victoria to get additional information but no one answered and the message system was full. We went to their location and no one was there or any sign stating they are closed. Our hotel concierge was able to get a hold of their representative McKay Wood. McKay stated the owner decided to close early for the season due to bad sales and anyone who purchased tickets will get a full refund. Not once did I get an email or phone call from Big Bus Victoria to inform me of their decision to close early and that they will be refunding me. FINALLY (Oct. 7th) AFTER MANY CALLS AND EMAILS, i was able to get a hold of McKay who apologized for the situation. He promised to give me a full refund. He ask me to check my account if I don't see the refund within 2-3 days to call him back. It is October 13th, I am no longer in Victoria B.C. and I HAVE NOT RECEIVED A REFUND! I've called and left messages and no one is responding. THIS COMPANY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR SALES AND THEIR CUSTOMERS. DO NOT PURCHASE ANY TICKETS FROM THIS COMPANY. *Update: 10/13 I was able to get a hold of McKay and once again he apologized. He will be sending me a refund through an email. *Update: 10/17 as of today I have not received my money back nor an email like it was promised. It is time to submit a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. read more

Big Bus Victoria - website states their last day of operation is Oct 7th. However they decided to close early on Oct 4th due to bad traffic sales. - Bus Tours Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

Instructions were somewhat confusing with two possibilities to follow. The bus was 45 minutes late and calling the numbers listed went to voicemail. We almost gave up. Nobody was waiting to greet us. The tour consists of listening to a recording in an open air bus. Overall this tour was disappointing considering the beautiful town. read more

Very poor company. Arrived on a cruise and pre booked thru Shore excursion. After we arrived at the location to be picked up along with 50-75 other we waited for well over an hour for the bus. Tried to call the company and received a recording that said mail box was full. Call shore excursion and they tried to get a hold of them. They also called and had trouble reaching someone. Finally they did and the bus company said it would be there in ten minutes. Now we are at an hour and fifteen minutes with no bus that is suppose to run every 30 to 45 minutes according to their advertising. We finally left after I called our travel agent and they said just do what you want and they would get our money refunded. Keep in mind the company only runs from 9:30 to 5:00. Our ship arrived in port at 11:00 am. At the point we left there was about 12:30 pm. We walked in the direction of where the bus was to come from "Fisherman's Wharf" and never saw the bus. That was a 15-20 min walk. As a matter of fact we never saw one of these buses all day and we walked the City for 5 hours. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY WITH THIS COMPANY read more

Perfect sight seeing bus, takes you around pretty much the entire Victoria, every half an hour service makes it convenient if you want to explore some stops more. Check out coupons on Groupon, usually 50% off. read more

This was an awesome bus tour. The audio was hilarious and so was our driver. The thing i liked most about this tour was that you could get off and on on various stops and each bus is about 45 minutes. This way we got to visit all the attractions that we wanted to in one day. We looked on groupon for a discount and luckily they did have one. read more

We took our out of town relatives for the tour and were pleasantly surprised. After reading some of the comments we were sceptical but thank goodness still decided to try it. We enjoyed just about every moment of the tour with special thanks to our driver who was exceptionally friendly and informative. I believe, if memory serves, his name was Derwyn. We hope next time we take the tour we will hook up with this same driver. read more

Was on a cruise with limited time before the ship sailed. six people from the cruise ship waited for 1.15 hours pickup with a no show by the tour operators. We had to walk into town and missed all of the attractions that we wanted to see. It was too late to start another tour as we tried with another tour company. Our whole day of travel was ruined. We desire the big bus Victoria to provide a full refund and fly us back to Victoria (air, hotel, food, etc) to complete what they promised. This should not cost more than $5000.00. I have disputed the charges on my credit card for lack of service. read more

Yikes. Avoid. We bought a Groupon deal. Sis and I got on the rickety, converted ancient, rumbly, bus (stinky from exhaust) and were greeted by a very cheesy recorded, dull narration. After two blocks we got off. Couldn't stand it. That was a waste of money. When I booked it I thought it was the Grey Line Tour which is great/live narrated and aactually a real double decker with the top floor open to the elements. Oops. It wasn't. Don't book this one. read more

A group of 6 of us purchased tickets to Butchart Gardens that included the transportation to and from the gardens by Big Bus. We were told that the bus had set pick up times at 2:00, 4:00, and 6:00. We chose 4:00 pick up time for our group but were assured that if we changed our minds all we had to do was call. One of the women in our group became very sick and had to leave early. She called the desk around 1:20 to arrange a 2:00 pick up - no one answered the phone and it went straight to voicemail. After finally reaching someone around 1:50 she was told that Terry, our bus driver, wasn't coming back for her since there were no other scheduled pick ups and that she'd have to take the city bus. The woman from Big Bus had no excuses for why she never called our friend back earlier and didn't seem to care. The poor sick woman ended up breaking down in tears and the staff at Butchart Gardens helped her catch the city bus. When the rest of our group got on the bus at 6:00 (we had changed our pick up time with no problem) Terry asked what happened with our friend saying he went to pick her up and couldn't find her. What?! Clearly this company has a huge communication issue! Terry sounded very annoyed and said this is an ongoing problem. When we got back to the pick up point, 2 young men were on duty. Terry started yelling at them for their horrible communication skills, the young men started yelling back and throwing out excuses about how it wasn't THEIR fault. None of us cared whose fault it was, we just wanted someone to acknowledge the problem and fix it! The screaming match got us nowhere and all the young men offered was an email address for their manager, Jennifer. We wrote an email and never heard back. So frustrating to pay for a service and then get the run around. I would never recommend this company to anyone. read more

Do NOT use this company! Purchase their Combo package online. Places would not take their receipts! Rafael, there main location rep just laughed and said "not his problem, you didn't buy from me." Tried to call the two numbers on the pandflet, but they both go to Rafael and he thinks it's funny. One bus is okay, half open half covered. The second bus is a nice looking trolley but it smells strongly of gas fuel. The drivers are grea early in the day, tell more detailed stories about the places you'll see and are friendly but by the end of the day, they just drive and point. If you buy online, and get on anywhere other than their downtown location, understand you have to take the entire tour back to the downtown station to get your tickets offered in their combo packages, that's a loss of up to 1 1/2 hours. And if Rafael is working that day, he will just laugh, be rude, then he will print your tickets. read more