London hop-on hop-off bus tours: a pass or a timed tour?

The $33 listing shows no duration because there is none to show: you buy a pass valid for 1 day, 24, 48 or 72 hours and use the bus within that time. The $33 is the starting price; the longer passes are priced on the listing. The description does not give the route, the stops or how often the buses come, so read those on the listing before you decide how many hours to buy.

The three other bus listings work the opposite way. Each is one loop with a fixed length: 75 minutes on a vintage open-top bus with a live guide at $17, 90 minutes on a 1960s Routemaster converted to open top at $27, and 90 minutes on a luxury double-decker with onboard service at $53. None of the three descriptions mentions getting off along the way.

The $73 combo sits in between. It names a hop-on hop-off double-decker, London Eye entry and a Thames river cruise, but gives no validity period for the bus part. Check how long it lasts on the listing.

For a single afternoon, the numbers say no. The pass starts at $33, while the 75-minute vintage tour costs $17, about $13.60 an hour, with a live guide and a top-deck seat. The two vintage tours also rate well, 4.7 and 4.6, and the $27 one has 4,372 reviews behind it.

The pass earns its price when you use its hours. It is the one listing here valid for more than a day, and it carries the most evidence, 8,774 reviews at 4.3. The combo costs $40 more than the starting pass and adds Eye entry and a cruise; if you were buying both anyway, one booking keeps it simple, and at 4.4 it rates a little above the pass.

All 68 tours are compared by price band on the main page.