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Big Bus Washington DC

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Review Highlights

“ I would recommend that they add on the night tour to pass the MLK memorial, it's beautiful at night!! ” in 81 reviews

“ We chose the red loop , and the tour was very good, but we were not warned of a 12-minute stop outside of spy museum. ” in 13 reviews

“ We purchased a day pass , my wife and I didn't make it before the last bus left at 4pm. ” in 20 reviews

Location & Hours

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Located in:

Union Station

50 Massachusettes Ave NE

Washington, DC 20001

Serving Washington, DC Area

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About the Business

Business owner information

Big Bus Tours is the leading operator of open-top, hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tours in the Washington DC. As the official concessioner of the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior, Big Bus Tours provides you with the official sightseeing tour of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. We are committed to providing the perfect introduction to great cities through our excellence in service and innovation. …

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Overall rating

650 reviews

My family and I were visiting DC for Father's Day weekend. We saw that Big Bus was on Groupon and decided to buy it since our group included children and my dad who is low mobility. We started our tour at the Spy Museum where we encountered one of their employees, Devanghn. He was super nice and was really patient with our group and answered all of our questions. He was so great he even gave us recommendations of places to see apart from the Big Bus Tour. The tour was really good and if you don't want to get off you can see most sites from the bus. They make sure to stop at the visible sites for a few secs for everyone to get a good view. We really enjoyed the tour and would do it again.

Wow, 1.9 stars with 639 reviews at the time of this writing. I stupidly didn't check Yelp before booking this thing, and worse, booked through Groupon leaving me with zero options since doing a chargeback with Groupon will cause me to loose my account and stored credits I have there. So anyway, was in DC for Memorial Day weekend. This is an important weekend in DC, so one would think a tour bus operator might staff appropriately for expected demand. Not the ol' Big Bus, in fact, they didn't bother to staff up to what I'd suspect is even a normal weekend. I book at ~9:30am for same day, via Groupon for the red loop. We walk to the pickup point, hop on. Turns out our next stop is the Union Station primary starting point, where we'd got on at 16 near the Grand Hyatt DC. First stop was a long one, and they made us change busses for whatever reason. Okay, move to the next bus, which had already begun to load, so all the better seats were taken since our bus was put on it after everyone else. After pulling away, they inform us that this would be a mostly driving tour as they did not have all the normal staff active yet at 1030am, so only two of what should have been sixteen stops will be occurring. I mean WTF seriously; sixteen stops turns into two. They said we could get off and do it later when they'd be back to normal. And remember, this is a tour ticket that stops at 459pm, so it's not like they were going to extend our use of the service even though the product purchased was not yet available. We got off and did our own tour via Spin scooters which have an excellent $13/hour (of actual in-use time) rate. Groupon was useless, best they'd offer is $20 gift card, even though the product we purchased through them was not what was made available. F both of them.

The tour we paid for, versus the two stop tour that was offered when we got on the bus.

We took a big group on the Big Bus red loop on Monday April 1. The beginning of the tour was nice, but when we got off the bus at the Washington Monument and tried to get back on, we got incorrect directions from the bus driver as where to go to get down to the Tidal Basin. They told us to cross the street, and that bus ended up taking us the wrong direction, and it was explained to us that we had to find the temporary pink loop. So we decided to walk a mile back to the monument and try again. We waited and waited for the bus, and it finally came. That driver then said that the bus immediately behind him would pick us up and take us to the tidal basin for sure. The bus finally came and the driver said that he was off of work, and to wait for another bus. The following bus came, and he said he wasn't doing the pink line as it was only certain times. All in all, we ended up walking with 4 children way more than anticipated, and barely got time on the bus because of the confusing directions from drivers and the app was confusing as well. It doesn't seem worth the price for upwards of $60 per person.

Buses were crowded and twice we could not get seats. The hop on off sounds good but in practice, not so much. Our first driver -well she was a rock star. The next 2 drove like a 90 yr old with jerky stops and questionable driving ability. Plus, the buses stacked up and would all show up back to back - likely due to the aforementioned NOT rockstars. The audio was a bit cheesy but informative. Overall I would choose different transportation especially on a busy day.

The buses were in horrible working condition. NO A/C in the afternoon (95 degrees out). The scheduled arrivals were late and the buses full. Definitely Do NOT book with this provider!!! I 1 rating is too generous....

We waited an hour at the bus stop the ac did not work We did not enjoy this tour It was cooler off the bus

Worst tour I've ever done... It's advertised as a wait of 15-20 minutes between pick ups and we waited in excess of 30 minutes at multiple locations today. We say the trolley buses every few blocks whereas your buses were nowhere in site except at Union Square where 3 of them were just sitting! The stops are advertised to run until nearly 6pm, but Arlington's last time is 4:30p and it's the farthest location which made it impossible to visit without paying for my own return trip. The narration was subpar at best with it repeating the same things with the 2 detours throughout the tour. I would not recommend this tour to anyone in the future. Spend $3 more and do the trusted trolley tour.

This is the worst experience ever ! Don't do it. Besides the narration it's total bs. Hot hot hot no water. Older people could definitely get sick: stops take 1/2 each and so there are 17 stops . So basically 6 hours.

We wasted half of our day waiting for this bus... we bought a ticket, rode to the wash memorial: although the bus was dirty, and the canned tour bits being played didn't correlate with the actual location, It was no big deal. Then after a lot of walking we went to a stop near the MLK memorial and waited. And waited. And waited. We downloaded the app and watched the bus detour around our stop and skip us! So we walked all the way back to the wash monument and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally got a bus to Chinatown area. Then when we tried to catch the bus again the bus kept dying at stoplights, the narration would stop, and the bus crawled across the city at 5 mph. By the time we finally got to the museum, it was no longer selling tickets.. what a waste of time and money! Don't do it.

We took our friend, who'd never been to DC, on the Big Bus tour. It takes about 2 hours to do the entire loop, seeing the most prominent attractions along the way. I do miss the live tour guides of the past. Sadly, it's prerecorded and earphones now. All and all, a good day meandering through our nationa capitol.

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Top Reasons to Take a Big Bus Tour in Washington, DC

Discover why a hop-on, hop-off bus tour is a great way to experience the nation’s capital..

When it comes to sightseeing in Washington, DC, there’s a lot to see and do and often not enough time. One of the most efficient ways to cover all of your bases, while also offering an opportunity to explore museums, monuments and other points of interest, is to take an open-top sightseeing bus tour. With all new cleaning protocols and safety measures,  Big Bus Tours offers customers a stress-free ride in a clean and safe environment above street and sidewalks. With a new departure point at L’Enfant Plaza, and recently added stops at Black Lives Matter Plaza, Senate Park and others, Big Bus also offers the official National Mall tour ( Red Loop ), and a Night Tour which includes the National Mall, Pentagon, Arlington, Va. and Georgetown.

Get an exclusive discount and save on your next Big Bus Tour. 

Catch the monuments and the memorials from a unique vantage point

Big Bus Tours Washington, DC

The Red Route is the official National Mall tour, and it goes past the major monuments, memorials and museums in DC.  The Big Bus Tours app will give you the exact location and stop times for the day you travel. With frequent and varied stops throughout the tour, you can always step off for further exploration. And if you want to capture the scene from a unique vantage point, nothing beats the photo-ops from the rooftop.

Get more sightseeing done in two hours than most do in two days

Visitors on a Big Bus sightseeing tour taking photos of the U.S. Capitol - Open-top bus tours in Washington, DC

If you want to pack in as much as you can, we recommend staying on the bus. A full route on the Red Loop lasts an hour and thirty minutes apiece.

The night tour on the Mall is a must

@abpanphoto

If you haven’t seen the DC skyline set against a night sky, you’re missing out. One of the best ways to experience the beauty of the nation’s capital is during a night tour. You’ll encounter fewer crowds and the monuments and memorials take on an even more awe-inspiring feeling when lit up at dusk. Note: This tour is not a hop-on, hop-off, however the tour provides photo stops at the Lincoln Memorial and the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, Va.

There’s a Big Bus Tour stop near you

Big Bus Tour in downtown Washington, DC - Sightseeing options in DC

Convenience is key when visiting any city, and as the official tour of the National Mall, Big Bus has its advantages. With varied stops strategically placed at major locations throughout the Mall, downtown, and near hotels, you can easily find a stop near you and begin your adventures in no time.

You can never get lost

Big Bus Tours

With added features like Real Time Bus Tracking and an Interactive Route Map, you can experience the Big Bus Tour without the hassle of getting lost or confused. Keep it simple. Download the Big Bus Tours app and choose Washington, DC. Someone will always be available via chat to answer questions and point you in the right direction.

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