Big Bus Tour, Dubai

the most numerous of the buses in Dubai Emirate is the tour bus. Dubai has lots of things to do and a lot of attractions and hence there is a proliferation of big tour buses for the large group tours that most tourists usually book. there all a variety of half-day, full day, night tours in and around dubai like the city tour, shopping tour, buffet lunch and dinner tour and more. But all of them use the big tour buses unless you hire the small van or SUV private tours which costs almost double for the regular mass based tour.

any travel and tour company that you choose to get a dubai tour package will use the ubiqitous big buses as the main mode of transport for between destinations.

RTA Public Buses are a cheap way to go around the attractions of Dubai at 2 AED per trip (less than 90 minutes with free transfers) but it can be time consuming to wait at the bust stops to take you from point A to Point B. If you want a slightly more expensive option but not the high prices of getting taxi or a private tour around, then your best bet will be the Dubai Big Bus Tours (which are Hop On Hop Off (HOHO).

they have different options for you like a 24 hour HOHO at 223 AED, 48 Hour HOHO at 293 AED, Night Tour at 124 AED and Dubai-Abu Dhabi HOHO Combo at 422 AED. Plus a free RTA water bus ticket to cross from Buj Dubai to Deira and a Dhow 1 hour cruise and free entrance to Shiekh Al Makhtoum House and Dubai Museum.

you can buy the tickets online at the webite below or at by geting inside their bus at the designated bus stops and paying the bus driver on the type of service you want.

they have big air conditioned buses and amphibian vehicles and offer free chilled bottled water to guests.

according to their website:

The Day Tour is a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tour of Dubai, with a personal recorded commentary available in ten languages.



The Tour’s two routes, the Beach Tour and the City Tour, provide the perfect orientation of Dubai. You can hop on and off as many times as you wish and explore 21 places of interest, discovering everything from the world famous Burj Al Arab to the traditional gold and spice souks.



To suit your itinerary, you can choose either a 24-hour or a 48-hour ticket, affording you plenty of time to visit all the attractions that interest you. Our fleet of purpose built vehicles enables you to interchange between the air-conditioned fore-cabin or open-air seating at the rear.



We are also pleased to provide several free inclusions with your ticket: an Arabian Dhow Cruise on Dubai Creek, entry to Dubai Museum, entry to Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum’s House, a ticket for the RTA Water Bus, a Walking Tour (October to April), Big Bus Reward booklet offering substantial retail, leisure and dining discounts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi - making the Big Bus tour your perfect introduction to Dubai.

Tours run every 20 minutes (November to April) and 30 minutes (May to October) on both the City Tour (Red Route) and the Beach Tour (Blue route). The first bus is at 9.00 am and the last departure is 5.00pm.

You can purchase tickets either on this website, on the bus, at most Dubai hotels, or from one of the main Big Bus departure points: Wafi City, City Centre, BurJuman Centre, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Festival City and Souk Madinat Jumeriah

Date of visit : February 18, 2010 :

We've just done this tour and thought it an absolute waste of time and money. I won't mention the lack of airconditioning, the iffy headsets with loose connections, and the absolute inability to hear anything on the Blue Route due to the sound of the wind whistling in ones ears, since other people have already mentioned some of these.

What really annoyed us the most was the "24 hour" spiel that was touted to us by the Big Bus Tour staff. The ticket may have a 24 hour validity, however this does not mean that you can actually use the ticket outside of 9am to 5pm/latest 6.15pm on the Red route. It's a bit longer on the Blue Route.

Therefore the TRUE validity of the ticket is only between 9am and latest 6.15 on the Red Route as we learned the hard way! So the 24 hour bit is really misleading.

They do not tell you that the last bus could be as early as 5.15 until after you've bought your ticket, whereupon you are stuck with it! We spent two hours on the bus with more than 40 minutes of it just sitting in the bus, stopped at Wafi mall. As a result we only arrived at the Gold Souk at 6.15 and were told it was the last bus back. We had no option therefore but to either forego the visit or take a taxi back, which we decided to do.

For the Dhs 440 ($ 120) we spent for 2 persons we could have hired a car for four days, plus we could have explored at leisure and actually got to see and do everything for a far longer time frame. In fact this is what we ended up doing since the Big Bus turned out to be such a washout.

I would not recommend this tour to anyone who really wants to see and experience Dubai by getting off the bus and exploring. The ONLY people who might benefit might be someone who just wanted to stay on the bus and complete the entire circuit in order to see from a distance the sights of Dubai due to a very short visit. No one else will benefit, as it is quite clear from the other reviewers.

hi
not sure about the running of the hop on hop off tours but just some advice
i have been to dubai quite a few times and despite being a fan of hop on hop off in other cities i dont suggest doing it in dubai .the stops seem to be further away from each other and not as regular .also realy hot most of the year so not suitable to be on top if bus .if you do do it i dont think you would get real value for money on it .anyway just my thoughts

One familiar site that we saw in Dubai were some red open-topped double-decker buses, just like the ones in London. These are part of the Big Bus Company's Dubai city tours, one of those hop-on-hop-off type of tours, where your ticket is valid for 24 hours and you can travel around the city hopping off at any of the 23 stops that take your fancy.

There are two routes - the red route, which stays more in the centre of town, and the blue route, which travels down to the beaches. The website has a map that shows you the route and all of the stops. Included in the ticket price is entry to places like the Dubai Museum, and also enables you to participate in a souq walking tour, and a tour on the Creek (there are details of this on the website too).

We had planned to use the Big Bus Company during our visit to Dubai, but ran out of time. I wanted to include this tip though, as I thought it may be helpful to those researching a trip to Dubai.

Its also in Dubai, The Big Bus tour has audio commentary as you go around dubai. 2 lines - red and blue. Blue along the coast and red in the centre. Everything covered and will cost you about £20 for 24 hours.