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Hop On Hop Off Vienna Bus Tours

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Updated: July 14, 2023

The following post will cover each of the hop-on-hop-off bus tours available in Vienna, as well as discounts and the pros and cons of these services.


IS A HOP ON HOP OFF VIENNA BUS TOUR WORTH IT?

There are a lot of different types of bus tours, but this variety is probably the most popular in the world.

That being said, you might want to consider a few factors before purchasing tickets.

To start things off positively, let’s look into the pros of a hop-on-hop-off bus tour.


PROS

If you’re looking for a great way to get around the city with ease, a hop-on-hop-off bus tour might be exactly what you need.

Vienna Sightseeing Double Decker Bus

Here are a few benefits you can expect to enjoy with one of these services:


Jump off at your leisure

The main advantage of this type of bus tour is that you can get off at several stops and explore the area at your leisure.

Once you are done looking around and experiencing various landmarks, you can jump back on the bus and continue your tour.


Live Tour Guides

Most hop-on-hop-off bus tours will have live guides to point out notable landmarks and historic sites in Vienna.

They may also provide interesting facts about these locations if they have the time!


Enjoy an overview of the city

In addition to offering the opportunity to hop off and explore, a hop-on-hop-off bus tour also includes both live commentary and an audio guide with a lot of useful information about Vienna.

This photo of Vienna is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Although they won’t go into great detail, these tours can serve as an excellent general overview showing you highlights of the city.


Great way to get around

Why pay for taxis, car rentals, or other forms of transportation?

Visitors who plan on taking a hop-on-hop-off bus tour will enjoy anywhere from 9-12 hours per day of transport to each of the major landmarks and other notable areas in Vienna.

After taking the tour, you can continue to use the bus service to get around the city with ease.

This is especially helpful if you end up getting either a 2 or 3-day ticket!


Reasonably priced service

Depending on the length of your ticket (1-3 days), prices typically range from €27 - €49 per person.

Considering that you’ll enjoy both a bus tour and transportation around the city, that’s a pretty good deal.

The longer your ticket is valid, the less you’ll pay per day of service.

For instance, while you might pay €27 for a 1-day hop-on-hop-off bus tour, you’ll only pay a bit more than €16 per day for a 3-day ticket!

As if that weren’t good enough, the 2 and 3-day tickets usually include additional tours and services at no extra cost.


CONS

Although there are a lot of great reasons to take a hop-on-hop-off bus tour, there are some aspects of this service that you may want to consider before making your purchase.

Big Bus Vienna Double Decker

Basic commentary

While on these bus tours, you will have access to live commentary and an audio guide which provides a very limited amount of information about the city.

For many people, the details included in these tours will be more than enough.

However, if you’re looking for a more expansive outing that will cover additional historical facts, you may want to combine this service with a guided walking tour of Vienna.


Not the quickest transportation

Due to all of the information provided on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour and all the stops they must make, this is one of the slowest forms of transportation around Vienna.

This photo of Vienna Ring Tram is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Whether you’re looking for a quicker tour that won’t take as long, or you want to get around the city at a faster pace, you may want to consider other forms of transportation and/or another type of guided tour.


Seating is Not Assigned

Although some bus tours allow you to pay for the specific seat you’ll use while onboard, hop-on-hop-off bus tours offer first-come, first-served seating.

This may not be a concern during slow tourism seasons.

But, if you’re planning to visit when there will be a lot of people using these services, it could become difficult to find a good seat on the bus.


BIG BUS TOURS

If you’re looking for a trustworthy and reliable service, this is one of the biggest names in hop-on-hop-off bus tours around the world.

Their service in Vienna includes more than 20 different stops spread across three routes which cover all of the major historic sites in the city.

In addition to visiting popular sites such as Belvedere Palace and Danube Tower, this tour also includes stops at the Museum of Fine Arts, the Natural History Museum, the Leopold Museum, and more.

This bus tour includes pre-recorded commentary in the following 13 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Turkis, Korean, Hindi, Hebrew, and Russian.

Although their 1-day bus service does not include any additional activities, all of their multi-day bus tours feature free walking tours, night tours, and more.


Ticket Prices

The prices below reflect a 10% discount that you get when purchasing directly through their website.

Discover Ticket

  • 1-Day Bus Tour
  • Red & Blue Routes
  • VOX Digital Walking Tour
    • €31.50/Adults | €18/Children
    • €90/Family (2 Adults + 2 Children)

NOTE: This ticket is included at no extra cost with the Go City Vienna Pass and the Vienna City Card.

Essential Ticket

  • 2-Day Bus Tour
  • Red & Blue Routes
  • VOX Digital Walking Tour
  • Guided City Walking Tour
    • €40.50/Adults | €22.50/Children
    • €112.50/Family (2 Adults + 2 Children)

Explore Ticket

  • 3-Day Bus Tour
  • Red & Blue Routes
  • Green Route (Hundertwasser)
  • VOX Digital Walking Tour
  • Guided City Walking Tour
  • Historic Tram Night Tour
  • DDSG River Cruise
    • €49.50/Adults | €31.50/Children
    • €144/Family (2 Adults + 2 Children)

Purchase tickets or learn more.

TIP: Save an extra 5% off using Tiqets!


Big Bus Vienna Map and Routes

Red Route

This bus line will take you to most of the major sites in Vienna and it includes 16 different stops.

The entire route, if you do not get off the bus, is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete.

You can expect a bus to service each stop at least once every 15-20 minutes.

Just a few of the stops on the Red Line include:

  • Museums Quartier
  • Vienna State Opera
  • Hofburg Imperial Palace
  • Beethoven Pasqualati Haus
  • Mozart Museum
  • St. Stephen's Cathedral
  • Vienna City Hall
  • and many more!

Blue Route

If you’re more in the architecture of this city, hop on this bus line to visit 11 different stops including, but not limited to:

  • Schönbrunn Palace and Schönbrunn Zoo
  • Museum of Military History
  • Upper and Lower Belvedere
  • Parliament
  • St. Michael's Church
  • Heroes' Square
  • And any more

If you do not get off the bus, this route takes 85 minutes to complete with buses available every 15-20 minutes.

Green Route (not currently available)

This line is only available with either the premium or deluxe ticket, and it provides a tour of Hundertwasser which allows you to visit Albertina.

The route takes 1 hour to complete and service is provided once an hour.

Click on the map to enlarge.

If you want to stay close to the city and you’re planning to take care of additional activities on your own, Big Bus Tours is one of the best options in Vienna.

The multi-day tickets also include walking tours and/or night tours, so they’re almost like combo packages.

You can make your purchase up to 6 months in advance, allowing you to plan out your itinerary well before your trip to Vienna.

Tickets come with a free cancellation policy that allows you to receive a full refund if you cancel up to 24 hours before the day of your tour.

Purchase tickets or learn more.


How long do Big Bus Vienna Hop-on Hop-off tours last?

  • Red Route is approximately 1 hour & 45 minutes.
  • Blue Route is approximately 85 minutes.

How frequently do Big Bus Hop-on Hop-off tours run in Vienna?

Both the Red and Blue routes service each stop at least once every 15-20 minutes.


VIENNA SIGHTSEEING (Gray Line)

As with its competitors, this company also offers a popular hop-on-hop-off bus tour in this city.

What sets Vienna Sightseeing apart is the fact that they provide 50 stops across 4 different routes!

In addition to the much wider service area, each ticket option (yes, even their 1-day ticket) also includes a free walking tour.

Stops include sites such as the Imperial Palace, Danube Tower, Belvedere Palace, the State Opera, Parliament, and more.

Their pre-recorded audio guide is available in 16 languages: German, English, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Romanian, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic.

Each of their multi-day tickets features additional activities such as a night tour, a boat tour, or a ride on the Vienna Ring tram.


Vienna Sightseeing Ticket Prices

Classic

  • 1-Day Bus Tour
  • Red, Yellow, and Blue Routes
  • City Walking Tour
    • €25/Adults | €16/Children
    • €68/Family (2 Adults + 2 Children)

NOTE: This ticket is included at no extra cost with the Vienna Pass, the Vienna Flex Pass, and the Vienna City Card.

Royal

  • 2-Day Bus Tour
  • Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green Routes
  • City Walking Tour
    • €29/Adults | €20/Children
    • €79/Family (2 Adults + 2 Children)

Imperial

  • 3-Day Bus Tour
  • Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green Routes
  • City Walking Tour
  • Night Bus Tour
  • Vienna Boat Cruise
    • €43/Adults | €24/Children
    • €111/Family (2 Adults + 2 Children)

Purchase tickets or learn more.


Vienna Sightseeing Map and Routes

Red Route

This is their main bus line with 15 stops and it covers notable sites such as the State Opera, City Park, National Theatre, and the Strauss Monument.

It will take 1 hour to complete the route and there are buses every 6-15 minutes on average.

Yellow Route

With 9 new stops, this line will take you to historic locations like Belvedere Palace, Heroes’ Square, and Schönbrunn Palace.

The route takes 90 minutes to finish and buses run every 15-22 minutes.

Blue Route

Much like the Yellow Route, this line has 9 stops across the city including Danube Tower, the Giant Ferris Wheel, Imperial Bridge, and more.

The Blue Line takes 75 minutes to finish and runs every 18-25 minutes.

Green Route

This bus line will take you to the wine village of Grinzing and it includes 12 stops.

The Green Line is only available with multi-day tickets. It will take 1 ½ hours to complete this route and buses run every 30-45 minutes.

Vienna Sightseeing City Map Route

As you can see, Vienna Sightseeing is very similar to the other major hop-on-hop-off bus tour in the city.

The major difference is that their prices are almost exactly the same, but they actually offer more services.

If you’re looking for more than just a hop-on-hop-off bus tour, the addition of a walking tour with every bus tour is definitely nice.

Considering their multi-day tickets also include night tours and cruises, this service is almost like a combo package!

Should you need to cancel for any reason, you can do so up to 24 hours before the tour to receive a full refund.

Purchase tickets or learn more.


How long do Vienna Sightseeing tours last?

  • Red Route is approximately 1 hour,
  • Yellow Route is approximately 90 minutes,
  • Blue Route is approximately 75 minutes.
  • Green Route is approximately 1 ½ hours,

How frequently do Vienna Sightseeing tours run in Vienna?

  • Red Route buses run every 6-15 minutes on average.
  • Yellow Route buses run every 15-22 minutes on average.
  • Blue Route buses run every 18-25 minutes on average.
  • Green Line buses run every 30-45 minutes on average.

NIGHT TRAM AND BUS TOURS

There are currently two-night tours via tram or bus available in this city: one offered by Big Bus Tours and the other offered by Vienna Sightseeing. 

Although each outing can be taken individually, they are also included with multi-day tickets from each company.

Here are some additional details about both services that are unique to each individual tour:


Big Bus Tours | Historic Tram Night Tour

As the name implies this tour actually takes place on a tram instead of a bus.

Live guides will provide a lot of useful and interesting information about various historic sites in Vienna.

Big Bus Night Tram in Vienna

This is not a hop-on-hop-off tour, and you will be expected to stay on board for the entire trip. The Historic Tram Night Tour begins at 7 pm each night.

The prices below reflect a 10% discount you receive when purchasing tickets directly from their website.

As with their bus tours, these tickets can be purchased up to 6 months ahead of time.

If you need to cancel, you can do so up to 24 hours before the date of the tour for a full refund.


Vienna Sightseeing | Night Bus Tour

This opportunity is very similar to the service offered during the day with one exception: this is not a hop-on-hop-off bus tour.

Vienna Sightseeing Bus

Although you will have to stay on board, they include an audio guide that is available in the following 16 languages:

German, English, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Romanian, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic

From April - October, this tour is conducted at 8 pm each night. Throughout the rest of the year, the night bus tour begins at 7:30 pm.

If necessary, you can cancel this service at any time up to 24 hours before the tour for a full refund.


DISCOUNTS AND DEALS

This section covers the best ways to save money on hop-on-hop-off bus tours in Vienna.

We include details about tourist passes, combo packages, and more.


Tourist Attraction Discount Passes

Services from both Big Bus Tours and Vienna Sightseeing are included with at least one tourist pass offered in this city.

While some of these passes provide access to a variety of different activities over the course of a specific number of days, others allow you to pay one flat price for just the attractions you want.

There are also travel discount passes that focus on providing public transportation and include smaller discounts on hundreds of popular things to see and do in Vienna.

Depending on how you use these services, you could save 50% or more off general admission prices.

In addition to saving money, you’ll also receive skip-the-line access at several historic sites and attractions.

Here are the tourist passes that currently include hop-on-hop-off sightseeing buses:

Vienna Tourist Passes

Vienna Sightseeing

These passes ask you to pay one flat price for dozens of different attractions.

All you have to do is present your pass in order to get tickets for the Vienna Sightseeing hop-on-hop-off bus tour.


Big Bus Tours

This travel discount pass does not fully cover the cost of the Big Bus Tours hop-on-hop-off service.

That said, it is one of the most affordable tourist passes in Vienna, and it includes deals on 200+ activities and attractions.

For more details about each of these services, make sure to read our post covering all of the tourist attraction discount passes in Vienna.


Combo Packages

In addition to other discount options, there is also a selection of combo tickets you can purchase which include access to Vienna hop-on-hop-off bus tours.

One of these deals actually includes a tourist pass!


Vienna Sightseeing

Vienna Sightseeing Logo

Although this hop-on-hop-off bus tour is included with two tourist passes, you can actually combine your ticket with the Vienna City Card if you’re more interested in saving money at hundreds of different locations.

This combo pack features the classic hop-on-hop-off bus tour from Vienna Sightseeing, and it can be purchased with either a 1, 2, or 3-day travel discount pass.

  • 1-Day Vienna City Card + Classic Ticket
    • €44 per person
  • 2-Day Vienna City Card + Classic Ticket
    • €52 per person
  • 3-Day Vienna City Card + Classic Ticket
    • €56 per person

Purchase tickets or learn more.

You can also add an airport transfer to these combo packages, ensuring that almost all of your travel expenses are paid for in advance.

If you want to learn more about how much money this deal can save you, please read our post about the Vienna City Card.


Big Bus Tours

Big Bus Vienna Tours

This company offers three different combo deals which include their premium ticket along with one additional service or attraction.

Here are the current discounts available:

Premium Vienna Tour + Belvedere Palace

  • Vienna premium bus tour
  • Upper Belvedere Palace entry
  • Guided Vienna walking tour
  • Hundertwasser bus tour

Premium Vienna Tour + Madame Tussauds

  • Vienna premium bus tour
  • Guided Vienna walking tour
  • VOX Digital walking tour
  • Giant Ferris Wheel admission

Classic Tour + Vienna City Card

Considering that the premium ticket on its own is €35 for adults, these packages can easily save you a lot of money by combining a hop-on-hop-off bus tour with additional activities for less than €10 more.


Discount Sites

Aside from combo packages and tourist passes, you can also save money on hop-on hop-off bus tours by using a site such as DailyDeal

This service offers a variety of discounts on popular activities and attractions in Vienna.

This service currently offers up to 50% off some Vienna bus tours, but the deals will vary depending on when you access DailyDeal

You may also be able to find additional coupon codes that could improve your discount.


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About The Author

Stephen Pickhardt

Stephen is the CEO of Free Tours by Foot and has overseen the transformation of a local walking tour company into a global tour community and traveler’s advice platform. He has personally led thousands of group tours in the US and Europe, and is an expert in trip planning and sightseeing, with a focus on budget travelers. Stephen has been published and featured in dozens of publications including The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Yahoo, Washington.org, and more.
Updated: July 14th, 2023
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