As with most people reading this I’m sure you’ve taken a hop on, hop off bus at least once in your life. On our recent travels we had limited time in our destination so decided to take a bus to see as much as the city as we could. Not only did we learn a lot from the commentary it also showed us places we probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
It got me thinking, should we be taking a hop on / hop off in every location we go to?
It had been some time since we last did one, probably close to 10 years. What was great doing it now, is there was an accompanying app so we could see realtime where the buses where, where the stops were to be picked up from were located, amongst other information. This made the whole process compared to how I use to remember it, much more seamless and definitely took a lot of the stress out of it.
The downfalls to doing this are obviously it can be very costly especially if you are part of a large family. If you are solely using it to see all the attractions in a city you are limited by the arrival and departure times of the buses. It may also involve some waiting around time as you wait for the buses to arrive and depart. If you in a city for a short period of time the last thing you want to do is wait around for a bus!
They can also be extremely busy and if you are trying to immerse yourself in the local culture, are not really the right place for that. Certainly the stress levels can go up if you are trying to find a spot on a busy bus.
In short, it’s not for everyone!
But what of the benefits? You get to visit all the top attractions, so you can at least see them from afar or quickly hop on and off to get a quick sense of the attraction. You don’t have to worry about the local geography, the public transport systems, etc..
It can also take you to attractions you may not have known about or point out interesting things along the journey! Remember the journey is oftentimes just as important as the destination itself!
One thing I really enjoyed was the Birds Eye perspective from sitting on the upper deck of the bus. It really allowed us to see much more of the city than if we had been walking or using public transportation.
I don’t know if I’d use it as my sole way of visiting all attractions but I would suggest if you are in a new city then joining a hop on hop off bus on the first day is a good way to see all the sites. You can even use it as a way to see attractions that are maybe a little harder to get to. From there you can decide on what attractions you may want to spend more time at or may your way to via alternative forms of transportation.
It seemed like a really good way of understanding the geography of the location. Where things are located relative to other attractions, and can help you weed out the attractions that maybe felt like a good idea initially but when getting a little closer felt like something you could miss.
I think I’ll be doing this more often, where buses are available and if I suspect crowds won’t be an issue. It might not be for everyone but I think it’s a perfect way to understand a new destination.
Stay Curious and Explore!