The Best Los Angeles Open Top Bus Tours: Review & Comparison

An open top bus tour of Los Angeles is a great way to see the sights of LA without having to rent a car. AKA, how to see LOADS of Los Angeles in a very short amount of time!

With only about 48 hours in the mega-tropolis that is Los Angeles, I’d decided I wanted to see as much of it as possible. 

When you have a LOT to take in in a small amount of time with no real knowledge of the city, a sightseeing bus tour can be a fantastic way to get your bearings, see all the major ‘bucket list’ bits and generally get an overall feel for where you’re at. Plus, having an audio or live guide is a great way to learn more about what you’re seeing

Despite the stormy skies and intermittent rainstorms, I was determined to sit on the top of the bus – even when it included putting a map down over the wet seat and tying my hood tightly round my rain-smeared face. And, despite the conditions, I LOVED my day seeing the sights of Los Angeles.

Not sure which open top bus tour to take in LA? I’ve compared five of the top rated excursions, including two hop-on-hop-off buses and three fixed itinerary tours.

Contents show

1 Hop-on-hop-off bus tours in Los Angeles

2 CitySightseeing Los Angeles

3 Big Bus Los Angeles

4 Celebrity Homes and Hollywood Open-Air Bus Tour

5 Hollywood Film Freak Movie Locations Tour

6 Full Day: Famous Neighbourhoods and Celebrity Homes Tours

7 More Los Angeles travel articles:

8 More California travel inspiration:

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Hop-on-hop-off bus tours in Los Angeles

There are two main companies who operate the hop-on, hop-off bus tours in Los Angeles: CitySightseeing and Big Bus.

I took the CitySightseeing Bus, which is slightly cheaper and has a wider choice of routes and stops. However, if you’re looking for a more simplified route that runs more regularly, consider Big Bus as an option.

CitySightseeing Los Angeles

One-Day Pass Price: Adults: $51 / Children $37 (two and three day passes also available)
Operating Hours: 10am – 4.30pm
Stops: Unlimited
Bus Frequency: Every 45mins-1hr
Audio Guide: English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean
Children allowed? Yes
Wheelchair accessible? Yes (lower deck) – notify at least 24hrs in advance

This is the exact Los Angeles bus tour I took, and I found the buses to be reliable and comfortable. The commentary on the bus was actually really useful, as otherwise I’d have just been gawking at everything without a clue about some of the lesser-known sights – including one of Marilyn Monroe’s favourite hotels.

The Citysightseeing Los Angeles bus has three routes that connect at key transfer points on the route, which makes it great for planning your own route for the day. View the map and full bus timetables here.

• Red Route: Hollywood and Beverly Hills
• Purple Route: Downtown LA
• Yellow Route: Santa Monica and Venice Beach

With a couple of stops at essential points, you can easily complete two of these routes in one day. I actually managed to complete a section of all three routes with stop-offs at Beverly Hills and Hollywood Boulevard, and got an Uber back to my hotel from Downtown after the last bus journey.

Big Bus Los Angeles

Another popular hop-on-hop-off bus tour in Los Angeles is run by Big Bus. Honestly, it’s pretty similar to the one I took in terms of what you can see in a day. With a more condensed amount of routes and stops, this tour doesn’t do the full downtown loop, but makes it easy to hit the highlights of Los Angeles in just a day.

The buses run slightly more frequently than the CitySightseeing tour, so if you’re keen to pack in as many stops as possible, this might be a slightly better option for you.

• Red Route – Hollywood Loop (13 stops) – full circuit time approx. 2hrs (view timetable)
• Blue Route – Beach Loop (5 stops) – full circuit time approx. 1hr 45min (view timetable)

The two routes link up at Beverly Gardens Park. The Red Route visits the Hollywood classics including the Walk of Fame, Sunset Strip and Melrose. The Blue Route visits Santa Monica and Venice Beach.

There are also options to add on a TCL Chinese Theater Walking Tour and 2-hour Celebrity Homes and Lifestyle Tour for an additional charge.

Hollywood Film Freak Movie Locations Tour

Price: From $39.99pp (no reduced price for child tickets)
Tour Length: 2hrs
Departure Time: 9am, 12pm, 3pm
Tour Guide: Yes
Children allowed? Yes
Wheelchair accessible? No

Movie fans will love this LA bus tour that visits iconic movie locations around Los Angeles! Perfect for film fans who are more interested in the films themselves than the stars – although there’s plenty of celebrity gossip to be picked up on this one too.

Hosted by expert Hollywood Insider Leo Quinones, the Film Freak Hollywood Tour visits locations from iconic movies such as  The Bodyguard, Back To The Future and Iron Man 3. Leo’s 20-year national radio career has seen him interview the world’s biggest celebrities, so he has all the inside gossip on your favourite movie stars!

An interactive and immersive tour, there are chances to win prizes; and every guest gets an exclusive VIP laminate badge with local discounts.

Full Day: Famous Neighbourhoods and Celebrity Homes Tours

This full day tour actually incorporates two seperate bus tours. Firstly, you’ll tick off the bucket list sights: Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

A one hour stop in Santa Monica gives you time to explore the iconic pier and play some traditional seaside arcade games. You’ll also get another hour at The Grove, also known as The Original Farmer’s Market, which is the ideal place to pick up lunch (not included in the tour cost). The final stop of this section is at The Griffith Observatory, where you’ll have an hour to take in the views over Los Angeles and the Hollywood Sign.

Finally, you’ll jump on another bus and spend two hours touring the homes of the rich and famous in West Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills.

If you’re looking for a fixed itinerary guided tour to do in one day in Los Angeles, this combo tour hits all the major sights, for an affordable price.