This post reviews the hop-on-hop-off boat and bus tours available in Amsterdam and includes prices, schedules and analysis of tickets.
There are 2 companies offering hop-on-hop-off bus service in Amsterdam, CitySightseeing, and Stromma.
Both offer 60-minute routes that allow you to hop on and hop off at various locations.
CitySightseeing
This tour is in an open-top double-decker bus that makes 12 stops at popular destinations. You can hop on or off wherever you would like.
If you want to stay on the bus for the full tour, it lasts 60 minutes.
You receive headsets with audio commentary is available in 6 languages. You also get free wifi!
And conveniently, you can download an app that allows you to see in real-time where their buses are, as well as be able to find nearby stops.
BUS STOPS
- Central Station
- Amrath Hotel
- Brewery Windmill
- Artis Royal Zoo
- Gassan Diamonds
- Jewish Historical Museum
- Sarphatistraat
- Heineken Experience
- Museum Square
- Vondelpark
- Westermarkt
- Amsterdam Museum
Departure Schedule
- Friday - Sunday from 9:30 am - 4 pm.
- Optional cruise runs from 10 am - 9 pm.
Tickets and Prices
24-hour pass - valid for a consecutive 24 hours from the first time you use it.
- €25 - Adult
- €12.50 - Child (aged 4-13)
- Purchase your tickets here.
24-hour pass + 1-hour canal cruise
- €37.50 - Adult
- €18.75 - Children (aged 4-13)
- Click here to purchase.
Reviews of CitySightseeing Bus Tours
Like with the boat tours, reviewers on TripAdvisor and Get Your Guide were happy with the bus tours as well (read the reviews).
Many people felt the audio guide provided in many languages was informative as it covers the history of what you see from the bus.
Stromma
If you’re looking for an alternative to other services, this company also provides a hop-on hop-off bus tour in Amsterdam that covers a lot of notable locations.
Stromma has a total of 10 stops, and you can hop off wherever you want to take a closer look at specific locations throughout the city.
The tour itself takes about 1 hour to complete and they offer audio commentary in 19 different languages including the following:
Arabic, Cantonese, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Turkish.
BUS STOPS
- Central Station
- Cruise Terminal
- Gassan Diamonds
- City Hall
- Skinny Bridge
- Heineken Experience
- Rijksmuseum
- Vondelpark
- Westerpark
- Prinseneiland
Departure Schedule
- Summer Season – Daily from 9:15 am - 18:30 (6:30 pm). Buses run once every 20-30 minutes on average.
- Winter Season – Daily from 10:00 am - 18:25 (6:25 pm). Buses run once every 40 minutes on average.
Tickets & Prices
24-Hour Bus Tour:
- €21/Adults
- €10.50/Children
48-Hour Bus Tour:
- €31.50/Adults
- €15.75/Children
NOTE: This hop-on hop-off bus tour is not currently available as of January 2023. We don't know when they will offer this service again.
Reviews of Stromma Bus Tours
This company has pretty decent reviews with an overall rating of almost 4 out of 5 stars.
Although some customers are not impressed with long waits, others enjoyed the service provided.
Some visitors felt that this was a good way to get a first impression of Amsterdam, and others described this as a comprehensive and well-organized bus tour.
DISCOUNTS AND DEALS
The following section provides details about the best ways to save money on tickets for the hop on hop off bus tours in Amsterdam, including information about tourist passes, combo packages, and more.
Tourist Passes
If you’re planning to enjoy several different attractions and tours in Amsterdam, you can save a lot of money on tickets by using a tourist pass.
There are a few passes that typically include a hop on hop off bus tour and cruise, allowing you to save anywhere from 10% - 25% off general admission.
Here is a list of Amsterdam tourist pass services which include either a free or discounted hop-on hop-off bus tour:
- I Amsterdam Card | 25% off City Sightseeing
- Amsterdam City Pass | 10% off City Sightseeing
The most popular option is an all-inclusive pass which includes admission to dozens of notable tours, historic locations, museums, and more for a specific amount of time (1, 2, 3, or 5 days).
While this type of pass provides the best opportunity for saving money, you pretty much have to use it for as many activities as possible to get the biggest discount.
Alternatively, there are also prepackaged passes which include specific attractions for free and 10% off on dozens of additional activities.
Here are a few of the more popular tours, museums, and locations included with various Amsterdam tourist passes that you might want to combine with your hop on hop off bus tour or cruise:
- Rembrandt House Museum |
€14 - NEMO Science Museum |
€17.50 - Heineken Experience |
€21 - Amsterdam Museum |
€15 - EYE Filmmuseum |
€11 - Amsterdam Dungeon |
€24 - Van Gogh Museum |
€19 - Diamond Museum |
€10 - A’DAM Lookout |
€13.50 - Rijksmuseum |
€20 - And more!
For more details about this discount opportunity, please read our post covering Amsterdam tourist passes.
Combo Packages
Both Stromma and City Sightseeing provides combo deals that combine their hop on hop off bus and boat tours with additional activities and attractions in Amsterdam at a discount.
These packages are a pretty good alternative to a tourist pass, as you aren’t required to pay for as many tours, museums, and other locations in order to get a good deal.
City Sightseeing
Combining a bus tour and boat tour is a smart idea as it gives you the convenience of going to many parts of the city.
It is entirely up to you when you want to travel by bus or by boat. You can switch between them as you like.
Like other CitySightseeing tours, you get audio commentary available in Spanish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Russian.
Bus & Boat Combo
24-Hour Ticket
- €37.50 - Adult
- €18.75 - Child (aged 4-13)
Purchase your tickets here.
Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour + Museum Van Gogh
- Includes a 24-hour ticket for the City Sights Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour
- Includes a ticket to the Museum Van Gogh
- €46/Adults | €12/Child
Purchase this combo package or learn more.
Stromma NL
Stromma, reviewed above, sells hop-on-hop-off boat tours combined with an attraction.
This allows for some additional savings and the convenience of having one ticket for two activities.
The boat ticket is good for 24 consecutive hours. Like their regular hop-on-hop-off tours you can leave or rejoin a boat at any one of 13 stops.
You also get a headset with audio commentary in Spanish, Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian.
NOTE: Since their hop-on hop-off boat tour is not currently available as of January 2023, these combo tickets will include tickets to a 1-hour cruise instead.
The nice thing is that these services cost less, so prices will actually be lower than usual!
Hop on Hop off Bus & Boat Tour
If you want to take both their bus and boat tour, you can combine both services with this combo package.
This combo deal is available for either 24 or 48 hours.
Prices
- 24-Hour Ticket: €29.50/Adults | €14.75/Children
- 48-Hour Ticket: €39.50/Adults | €19.75/Children
- Not Currently Available.
PROS AND CONS
There are a lot of great reasons to consider taking a hop-on, hop-off bus tour in Amsterdam. Even so, it's fair to say that some people will prefer to discover the city in other ways.
As such, we've made a list of pros and cons to give you a better idea of what to expect on these tours.
Pros
If you're still on the fence about this type of outing, here are a few reasons you might want to think about getting tickets.
Great Overview of the City
Hop-on, hop-off bus tours typically cover some of the most popular locations in the city, and they offer commentary which provides important information about many noteworthy landmarks.
If you're just looking for some general details about Amsterdam, and you need a service to help you find your way around the city, this is an excellent option.
Easy Way to Get Around
One of the best things about these bus tours is that you can hop on and off at your leisure, which means that this service can almost double as a form of transportation.
Considering that these buses make frequent stops at the most notable sites in the city, a hop-on hop-off bus tour could be a good way to get around Amsterdam.
Reasonably Priced
At around €20 - €25 per ticket, this service is a pretty good value.
It's an even better deal if you get the multiple day tickets, because you typically only pay an extra €10 - €15 per day!
Even better, you can save 50% or more on tickets simply by using an Amsterdam tourist pass. Learn more in our discounts section.
Cons
Although this kind of bus tour can be very useful for a variety of people visiting Amsterdam, it's not necessarily the perfect experience for everyone.
Before you buy your tickets, make sure to keep some of the following concerns in mind.
Commentary is Not Detailed
If you're interested in taking a deep dive into the history of Amsterdam, a hop-on hop-off bus tour probably shouldn't be your first choice, as the commentary they provide is very limited.
For those that plan to learn a lot while they are here, wee recommend a fully guided Amsterdam walking tour instead, as these services are usually more affordable and cover more ground.
No Assigned Seating
While some guided tours and day trips do provide their customers with an assigned seat, ensuring guests will always have a spot to sit in, hop-on hop-off bus tour seating is first come, first serve.
What this means is that during busier seasons, you might run into scenarios where they only have standing room and there might be no seating on the open air section of the bus.
Not Always the Most Efficient
Although it can be useful to hop on and off at your leisure, these companies are focused on both providing a good tour and transporting you from one site to the next.
Since they aren't always very concerned with transportation and they assume most people will hop off at least once to explore, the buses typically stop as infrequently as once every 15-30 minutes or longer.
It goes without saying that this isn't the most efficient way to get around Amsterdam, even if it is somewhat convenient.
ORGANIZED DAY TRIPS FROM AMSTERDAM
This is another type of bus tour that is frequently offered in Amsterdam, but it focuses on locations outside of the city rather than staying within the city centre.
If you're looking to explore other areas of the Netherlands, these day trips are definitely worth considering.
Volendam, Edam, and Zaanse Schans
- €32.50/Adults | €16.25/Children (4-11)
- Duration: 6 hours 30 minutes
- Availability: Daily at 9 am
- Includes stops in Volendam, Edam, and Zaanse Schans.
- Includes Hotel Pickup and Drop-off.
- Includes a tour of a Windmill.
- Includes visit to a clog maker.
- Includes visit to a cheese farm.
- Includes free cheese tasting.
- Purchase tickets or learn more.
- €75/Adults | €37.50/Children (4-13)
- Duration: 11 hours 30 minutes
- Availability: Mon, Wed, and Sat at 9:30 am
- Includes English, Spanish, and German speaking guide.
- Includes free time to spend in Bruges.
- Includes 1-hour walking tour.
- Includes map of Bruges.
- Purchase tickets or learn more.
Rotterdam, Delft, and The Hague
- €75/Adults | €37.50/Children (4-13)
- Duration: 10 hours
- Availability: Sun and Thu at 9:30 am
- Includes 1-Hour Rotterdam Cruise.
- Includes stop at Delft Blue Pottery.
- Includes walking tour of The Hague.
- Includes visit to Madurodam.
- Purchase tickets or learn more.
- €75/Adults | €37.50/Children (4-13)
- Duration: 9 hours
- Availability: Thu-Sun and Tue at 10 am
- Includes a boat tour in Giethoorn.
- Includes a photo stop at Enclosing Dike.
- Purchase tickets or learn more.
Keukenhof Gardens and Windmill Cruise
- €52.50 per person
- Duration: 7 hours
- Availability: Daily from Mar - May.
- Includes admission to Keukenhof Gardens.
- Includes a free Windmill Cruise.
- Purchase tickets or learn more.
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