I always use the big bus tour group when I come to NYC with teenagers. The customer service is…read moregreat-- as we are checking in between 18 and 25 people. it's an easy way for us to travel around the city and let them separate off into some smaller groups but not get worried they don't know how to get back to the meet up. The open top is a great way to see the buildings especially when it's your first time to the city. The recorded running commentary is informative and witty. This year we again did one day on the red route and one day the blue route. Great experience- especially Denise and Wanda!

Big Bus Tours is a great concept with extremely poor execution and staff mentality of hustling…read morecustomers. Before even coming to New York we had already planned to do the Big Bus Tour through the New York Pass via Go City. As we wandered the streets, we were constantly hounded by their aggressive staff in the streets trying to get us to buy tickets. Chill, we already have tickets!! Honestly if we didn't already have tickets I would have been so turned off I wouldn't have gotten tickets for it. On the day we redeemed the Hop On Hop Off we went to the stop by M&M World as indicated on their map. And just for the record I have their App, so it SHOULD be simple. Since we wanted to do the uptown loop, we were directed by their staff to walk a few blocked the other way to a different stop. Then ran into another staff member who gave us the opposite direction. The first person gave us bad directions and wasted AT LEAST an hour of our time. And as I mentioned the App, there were buses that were synced without any updates for 20-30mins. What's going on?? And even when we asked their staff they didn't know when the next bus would come either. So frustrating!! In THEORY the value of this hop on hop off bus would be to help you explore the city. You can stay on the bus the entire time and do full loops of the uptown or down town loops OR you can get off and explore a little bit, and hop back on at a later time. All great... if it was actually reliable. Also they give you headphones to listen to their audio tours. Jeez who uses wired headphones these days? Give me something to sync to so I can use my airpods. The audio quality was so poor. It was be loud one moment and then hard to hear the next... and if you increase the volume, later it would be too loud in a painful way. And I've done a lot of these tours in many cities. Usually I have a PERSON telling me amazing facts about the city. This is a recorded unpersonal tour, I am expecting THE BEST FACTS. After being disappointed by the segment I listened to, I gave up on the audio tour. I enjoyed the view from the top deck, and being able to see things without the pedestrians in my way. Well the pleasant feeling soon ended because we were almost at our final destination when the bus stops WITH NO ANNOUNCEMENTS and we're all sitting there baking in the sun wondering what happened. People started leaving. MORE WASTED TIME. Awful operations. I was over it after a while and told my boyfriend we should leave too. When we got off we saw their staff in some deli nearby eating lunch. Obviously I want people to take their lunch breaks but an FYI would have been nice. They allegedly "gave" us a second day but I didn't even want to deal with it. Too unreliable of a service and too much wasting time. Is there another tour bus company that's better than this one in NY?

My husband and I love learning about history. Tour guide, Franky and Guy, are the original New…read moreYorker. "Youse guys." The stories the can tell about New York is non stop and rich in history. I used to think New York was a dirty and scary place as it is depicted in the news and movies. Boy, was I wrong. Very wrong. Thank you Small Bus Tours NYC Franky and Guy for opening my eyes and giving me a new appreciation of New York. They're worth the money. Trust me!

Great tour!!! The…read moreonly hiccup was the bus was unmarked and not parked in front of McDonalds as described on the website/email instructions. I had just explained to my son the importance of arriving early because arriving on time makes you late(he wondered why we left the hotel early though we were only a couple of blocks away from McDonalds.) The unmarked bus was parked across the street in front of the Paramount building. We were in line for a different tour who was parked in front McDonalds who informed us that we were in line for the wrong tour and pointed to the unmarked bus. We still arrived on time. I then explained to my son that situations like this is why you arrive early. I had a ton of missed calls and was contacted by email but a sign of some sort would've helped(a magnetic sign on the driver and passenger doors, or a foldable sign that can be transported on the bus) as I noticed the bus from across the street(the same side as Applebees and Ellen's Stardust Diner) but had no way of identifying it.

We were taking our kids to NYC for the first time on a quick weekend trip and wanted to do a…read moresightseeing tour so they could see a lot of famous landmarks from across the city in the short amount of time we had available. I researched various options and saw the many positive reviews for this company. After reading their itinerary and how they cover both uptown and downtown landmarks as well as a boat ride past the Statue of Liberty, we were sold and booked immediately. The day of our tour, we arrived at our meeting location that was outside of McDonald's. I knew from reading other reviews that we would be looking for a small unmarked van. We walked up to the driver and gave our name, he was able to check us in before I could even pull up our digital tickets. Our tour was small, a total of 10 people, plus our guide, Bryant, our driver, and their "supervisor" This was exactly what we were looking for; personalized service, access to many different points of interest, a knowledgeable guide who shared a lot of information with us and who had an awesome personality which made the tour very fun for everyone. This was by far the best sightseeing tour in NYC, don't get roped into the hop on hop off big bus tours, they simply don't compare.

This tour has a lot going for it. So here's a list of the pluses and minuses…read more - There's only 24 people so it's very intimate. Our bus held 42 people so you aren't crowded either. - Our guide Bryant was extremely knowledgeable, funny and made our tour very special. - In 6 hours we covered most of Manhattan with a few walking opportunities. - We really got a great feel for the neighborhoods and what sets them apart. - Our Staten Island Ferry experience was outstanding. - There is some walking required. Our step counter registered around 5300 steps. - The bus was hot. We had to ask the driver every time we got on to turn on the A/C.

Had a great experience on our tour with guide Rachel. She was very knowledgeable and gave us good…read moretips for the city. Highly recommend if this is your first time and suggest doing this on the first day of your trip.

We booked a 6 hour tour to encompass many of the must see things on our short agenda. The rest of…read moreour trip was scheduled around the activities on this tour. We began the tour with a small group of about 14 in a nice van. The guide was not very friendly and didn't "share endless details about the city" as described in all the tour reviews. It also appeared that the driver and guide were not on the same page either. Appeared to be tension there. We were in tragic about 1.5 hours into the tour when I began to see smoke coming from the engine and smell the distinct odor of an engine overly. I was sitting up front so I attempted to point this out to the guide. He was not concerned at first but after about 15 minutes he mentioned something to the driver. They then began to argue about who was going to call in to management and report the problem. They pulled over and left us in the van with no ac on an 85 degree day as they went back and forth with "the boss". Eventually, the determination was made that they could not send a second van to pick us up and continue the tour. We were told we would be refunded and we had to get out of the van right there. No idea where we were or where to go and no advice from the staff. It took us almost 3 hours to get back to where we needed to be due to a parade that closed off the street we had to cross to get over there. The worst thing is that we missed all the most important things on the tour and were not able to get to all of them on the rest of our short trip. This was an absolutely terrible experience and I feel it was handled about as badly as it could have been by all involved.

I've never rented a party bus before but I am SO glad I did so with Tour Rider. I was looking for a…read moreparty bus to take my friends to the Met museum for my bday party (the Met Gala, if you will). We started at my rooftop in Hudson Yards and took a Tour Rider party bus to the Met. Most tour companies make you book a 5-6 hour minimum and require a round trip, but Tour Rider let me do a one-way trip and only charged for one hour. They were super professional, respectful, and even provided water. They were by far the cheapest option, and still delivered an exceptional, premium experience. The MOST bang for my buck. Tour Rider helped me execute the best birthday I've ever had - I would recommend Tour Rider to everyone! Now I have a Party Bus guy

- very responsive - clean bus…read more- twenty person charter was available at 9pm on a Sunday for a ride at ten pm - the driver was courteous enough to put up with our lack of promptness

Service is bad. We waited over an hour at one of the stops and no bus ever showed up. The tours…read morewe were able to get on were not that great: the audio is not in sync with actual location. Salesman was aggressive. There are better hop-on hop-off bus tours in NYC

This experience was extremely disappointing and did not match what was advertised. We paid more…read morethan $250 for a family of four to take the 8:00 p.m. tour, including an additional fee for a live entertainer who was supposed to provide trivia, local knowledge, and interactive commentary throughout the tour. The confirmation email emphasized the importance of arriving on time, stating that the tour would depart promptly and would not wait for late customers. We arrived on time, only to find a very large line of people waiting for the same tour. When we asked about seating, we were told there would be multiple buses and that we could wait for another bus if we were unhappy with the available seating. Despite the strict departure policy communicated to customers, our bus did not leave until approximately 8:55 p.m.--nearly an hour after the scheduled departure time. Before departure, we were informed that the live entertainer we had paid extra for would not be present because "the guy called in sick." No substitute was provided, and there was no offer of a partial refund despite the fact that a key feature of the upgraded experience was unavailable. When we asked employees about the entertainer's absence and the additional amount we had paid for that experience, their response was apathetic and dismissive. There appeared to be little concern that customers were not receiving the service they had purchased. During the tour, we were provided headphones and listened to prerecorded narration rather than a live guide. Long stretches of music played between narration segments, and the commentary frequently did not align with our actual location. As a result, many landmarks were either missed entirely or discussed after we had already passed them. To make matters worse, the tour concluded around 10:00 p.m., giving us only a few minutes of actual sightseeing after finally departing. Between the nearly one-hour delay, the absence of the live entertainer we paid extra for, the dismissive customer service, and the poor quality of the prerecorded tour, the experience felt disorganized, misleading, and far from worth the price we paid. I would not recommend this tour to others.

From a Native NYer's POV--…read more It's been cold in NY! And it just so happens that my cousins have birthdays the first week of December. In order to make their day special, I wanted to take them on a tour of New York City. As a local, I would normally do a walking tour, but when the temperatures hit below, freezing, my Floridian cousins could not handle the cold. OK, I admit it. I couldn't handle it well either. So I was looking for an experience that would give me the tour. I wanted to share with them, but better than a hop on hop off bus. That's when I found The Ride! Honestly, the experience was exceptional! You get on the bus and you sit sideways to see the incredible cityscape of New York around you. We went around Times Square, radio city, Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, and the very bottom of Central Park. When you experience The Ride, you have two tour guides on the bus who tell you some facts about the city in a very funny and interesting way. The bus itself also gives you facts, because "The Ride" bus also has a personality of its own. My cousins had no idea we were doing this, and they absolutely loved it . Because it was called the holiday ride, we also saw some surprises along the way, including dancers, actors, and Freestyle rappers! It really made it feel like a true New York City Disney World attraction. You also can't control what you see on the street, so sometimes people wave at you just to wave and sometimes people make interesting gestures at you lol . Overall, as far as tourism goes for New York City , 10/10, 5 stars, and that's coming from a local born and raised. This was an awesome experience to bring my family to.

Based on the great reviews, I decided to book The Ride for my family during my children's first…read morevisit to NYC. Unfortunately, I was very underwhelmed. One of the street performers was a fantastic singer, but the rest were honestly a waste of time -- poor singing and awkward acting. It's far too expensive for what you get. That said, if you're celebrating a special occasion, it might be worth considering. They went out of their way to make a woman celebrating her birthday feel special, with repeated shoutouts from the performers.

I had about an hour left in the evening when I spoke with the agent. I asked him exactly when they…read morewere going to leave when they approached me about buying a seat on the bus tour. He said "right now" and that the tour would take an hour. Well, we sat on the bus 65 minutes and they still didn't leave. These guys insist on filling the bus before they take off so what they told me was garbage. Don't take one of these tours unless you have plenty of time to waste waiting for them to fill every seat. Very misleading. By this time it was 10:20pm. We left told the driver before he left l that it was too late for us and we wanted our money back. He said that I needed to take that up with the ticket agent. We exited the bus and found the person who took our payment and told us the bus was leaving right away. He said that he could do nothing more than put us on the next bus. He refused to reverse the charge and said "just ask your bank to take care of it".

From the owner: Hop On Hop Off Tours LLC is your gateway to exploring the iconic sights and hidden gems of New York…read moreCity in the most flexible and immersive way possible. As a premier sightseeing company, we offer a seamless and exciting experience, allowing you to hop on and off our comfortable buses at any of the city's must-see attractions. Whether you're admiring the towering Empire State Building, strolling through the lush greenery of Central Park or snapping photos of the *Statue of Liberty, our tours provide the perfect blend of convenience and adventure. Our routes are designed to give you the freedom to explore at your own pace, offering an in-depth, guided journey through the city's most dynamic neighborhoods. With live commentary and stunning panoramic views, Hop On Hop Off Tours LLCconnects you to New York's vibrant culture, history, and landmarks like no other. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a New York enthusiast, we ensure every ride is more than just a tour—it's a journey through the heart of the city.

This was good. We went here for my 24th birthday party years ago. I had seen each TV show one time,…read moreand knew only some of the trivia. I liked the places like Tao for Cosmos.

This tour was really well done. My friend and I LOVED it. We got priority boarding/seating for…read moreswitching to a different time and it was awesome. First on the bus and picked the front seats. We met outside the Pulitzer Fountain. We arrived early so we were there before the bus and the "blue umbrella" you are suppose to watch out for, so at first we weren't sure that we were in the right spot. It was a large white/grey bus and very comfortable. We found that even though it was quite a large group, everyone was very courteous and respectful which made the whole thing very pleasant. The tour took about 3.5 hours and I loved every second. It is mostly driving through NYC and discussing the locations and scenes that were filmed there. They then show clips either before or (mostly) after you drive past the location. It was great. There are three locations you get out of the bus for and they include: The Sex Shop: Least favorite of the drop off locations. Two buses pulled up at the same time and though we were the first ones inside, it filled up so fast to the point of just being stupid. Carrie Bradshaw's Apartment: Well organized. We came up to it in a line and the tour guide took your groups pictures in front. Magnolia's was too busy on a Saturday to have time to pick something up (they apparently move fairly slow), but from what I understand, on less busy days, people are able to get some treats. Steve/Aidan's Bar: $10 cosmopolitans! This space is GORGEOUS. I would love to come back. There is a cosmo station where they have a dedicated person serving the cosmos to the bus tour. I don't usually like cosmos but these tasted like delicious boozy pink lemonade. My friend and I were only here for the day, but there are multiple restaurants, bars and bakeries that were featured on the show that I would love to go back to on my own. They give you a list after the tour which will be helpful for next time. The tour ends at the HBO store. The store is nice but mostly Game of Thrones merchandise. I ALMOST bought the DVD series of Sex and the City because I desperately wanted to binge watch it, but I didn't. Thank God! It was $88 at the store and $50 via Amazon Prime.

I bought a tour with Groupon. So it was affordable. Nice ride on the top of the bus which was…read moremostly empty. They gave us headphones to listen to pre-recorded tour narration. The idea is great - there were multiple languages on the screen. But most of them didn't work. Mine had English coming on one side and Chinese on the other lol. It was also delayed. They recheck your tickets at the boat. Have your hats on and lots of sunscreen!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY WITH THEM! You have been warned! They don't care about lying to you, making…read moreyou wait 5 times what they quote you, or even if the tour bus is working properly. The only thing they care about is getting your money and running away to make sure you can't get it back. They quoted us 15 min for tour to start, we waited over an hour on the top level of a bus in blistering heat (and this was a night tour!) They made us switch buses because they said the first one wasn't working. Then, they sent us off in another bus that didn't have a working automated tour system- and that's all they do. They do NOT have any real tour guides because any normal company would've sent a live tour guide with us when we'd already been on 2 non-working buses. Then, they'll allow their employees to ride up top with paying guests- I wouldn't care except he decided to blast his highly inappropriate music (there were kids on the tour including mine) which we had to listen to because the tour system wasn't working. I asked him to fix it and he didn't even realize it was broken. He ran down to the driver and came back up saying they were working on it. Then, I called the co number and was promised they were working with the driver to fix it for us. When I called again (because it wasn't fixed) they ignored our calls. We were with this sh**ty company for more than 2 hours and all we did was sit for an hour then drive around the crappiest parts of NYC and stare. If I wanted to drive in a bus around the city and stare at trash, I could've taken public transportation. I'm so bummed because I've been before and had wonderful tours but this was my boys' first time. They think NYC was the worst part of our trip. And, that is what this tour company does. Takes one of the best places in the world and ruins it for first timers- makes them think all New Yorkers don't care and the only thing to see is dark streets, trash piled everywhere and one a couple of pretty bridges. My kids literally asked me to stay in Jersey the last part of our stay there. Don't let these idiots ruin NYC for you. If you see the Iconic tour guys trying to sell you tix on the streets, run away! Don't buy this crap on Groupon either (like I did).