Big Bus

Our Big Bus tour was great! So convenient, and so informative. Faith was one of our tour guides and she hit it out of the park with a great mix of humor and interesting facts! She really made it that much better. All the other tour guides were knowledgeable, but Faith was the most engaging.
The tour probably takes 2 hours, but we made a day of it, getting off to see the sights and do some shopping.
Big Bus tours are our go-​to now when we’re visiting other cities.

Thanks to salesman Kevin and the tour guide Josh for the fun 2 hours of exploring Chi town. Very informative view of the city. If your traveling by and in Chicago town see these lads and they will show you a true locals view of the amazing city.

Had a great time on the big bus tour with my family. I like that the top of the bus is covered during the winter. The lower level of the bus is heated so that’s great. We got the holiday lights tour package but really didn’t see any lights downtown. The tour seemed rather short but we enjoyed our family time together.

This tour stopped at all the key vantage points in Chicago. We stopped at the Planetarium with the best lake views, navy pier and the Hancock Building at the observatory.
All the guides were knowledgable and welcomed questions.
A special shout out to Tokyo Williams that we spent 20 minutes with waiting for our bus at stop no. 3. She give us great advice on the planetarium with the best views. When I started to move back to get a better picture of the Sears tower, she asked for my camera and laid down on the pavement to get a picture straight up!
All in all a fun day however I’d skip the observatory at Hancock. It is not a good value at $ 20 a pop when I think the max you need here is an hour.

Great way to get the highlights of Chicago. The Big bus goes to 10 tourist attractions that include the Ellis tower and observation deck, magnificent mile, shedd aquarium, just to name a few. We were staying at a Chicago hotel and the pick up point was conveniently located 1 block from our hotel. The tour guide was entertaining and gave us ideas of where to eat at a drop off point. A day for this hop on hop off bus is $ 35 for an adult. A guy sitting next to me bought his ticket thru Go Card, which included the Big Bus and admission to several places along the Big bus route ($ 85) day. I sort of had buyers remorse wishing I knew about the GoCard. we got off at Willis tower for the observation tower, but it was raining and gloomy so we didn’t spend the money to go to the deck. We were provided with rain ponchos by Big Bus, so I was grateful since I hadn’t brought an umbrella in my travels. My advice would be to start early, I think the bus starts at 9am. We started at 1 pm so time ran out pretty quickly.

My wife and I stayed downtown Chicago for 3 days and doing the two day pass for $ 44 each turned out to be a great idea. Not only do u get great insight about this great city but their operators are very personal giving tips from great spots for photos to restaurants. It’s a must!
Check the fine print for vouchers for additional things like free coffee at cafes, etc

Love the Big Bus tours. We did the two day pass ($ 44) which was worth it. You can’t get the essence of the city in one day unless you’re The Flash! The bus stops at many of the major sights like the Art Institute, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium (hop off the bus for the best photo view of the city-​scape hands down), 360° Chicago observation deck etc. The tour guides we experienced were very informative and humorous as well as friendly. Overall a great experience and one of the best ways to get and eye and earful of the city of Chicago.

Starting at 8am their buses park along south bound Wacker near Michigan causing major congestion. There are restrictions all over the city that prevent parking on streets in the same direction as rush hour traffic but these guys don’t care. A better business would find a way to be a better neighbor while still serving the tourists. Will update with pictures.

It is so worth it to go on this tour. The guides are great– informative and funny. It’s very convenient with lots of stops all over the city. It’s perfect for the tourist who wants to feel like they have gotten to know Chicago.
We bought online so we saved some money. We bought a two-​day pass. The first day we explored. The second, we were easily able to go back and see the things we missed the first time. A two-​day pass was just a few dollars more. So worth it!

I have mixed feelings about Big Bus, but for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. We picked up the tickets inside the gift shop at the Palmer Hotel. The worker was watching a video on his phone, and it seems like we interrupted him. He seemed bored out of his mind, and one could only assume he does not like his job.
The actual tours are either a hit or miss. The quality of service truly depends on which tour guide you get. By far, Manny stood out, not only for his knowledge about the city of Chicago, but because he was passionate. He was excited about so many landmarks and had the most interesting facts to say.
Some of the other tour guides were monotone, seeming like they were reading off note cards. They had no character, and were practically robots. One guide just kept naming buildings and restaurants as we passed by them. Maybe if I was blind, that would be great. But I am not, and can read the signs on the buildings myself.
All in all, I liked the fact that the buses take you to major tourist sites. I do wish they had bus service running in both directions. I would also love to see their hours of operation extending later into the evening.

Loved the Big Bus! Great tour, but make sure you get Faith or Craig as your tour guide! Very knowledgeable and entertaining! Andy… not so much!

Our tour was lead by Fank and Frank (the driver). It was informative and funny and even though we got stuck in some Nast traffic around navy pier, Frank was able to keep it lively.

I highly recommend taking a ride on the Big Bus tour when in Chicago. this gives you an amazing view and tour of the entire city. The hop-​on hop-​off comes in handy when you want to get from place to place, easy to navigate maps and easy to find red booths to identify the stops.
One full circle of all fourteen stops takes about two hours as there are tons of people getting on and off at stops, as well as all the traffic on the city streets. We opted for the 48 hour pass and used it both days.
Our first guide, Joshua was entertaining and gave us a great tour of the city. the other guides were not quite as lively but still explained every building and landmark we passed by.
One setback is that the last bus ends around 5pm-​6pm depending on the stop which was surpisingly early. so make sure you plan your time well otherwise you could be stranded on the other end of town.

We are huge fans of Big Bus. My husband and I have used the company in several cities. However, the Chicago tour is subpar.
Only one of the three guides seemed genuinely knowledgeable of the tour route. The other two lacked personality and were very obviously reading off note cards. Even with the notes, one guide kept mixing up facts. You know a tour is bad when the tourists are correcting the guide.
None of the guides discussed much history. Instead, the tour consisted of, «This condo costs two million dollars,» «Oprah funded_​_​_​_​_​_​_​, «or «this is a great place to eat/​shop.» On the other hand, I think we got a good visual tour of Chicago.
Overall, I think there are better options for touring Chicago.

I thought it was great. We got to see allot of the city and being able to get on and off was super convenient. Most of the tour guides were and funny. Most of them had interesting facts about Chicago. The only two negatives was that we had to wait a half hour for a bus to show up at one stop and then one of the tour guides was not as personable as the others. We picked up the bus at the Palmer house in the morning. If you get etickets you have to go to the gift shop at the Palmer house on Monroe and Wabash.

Fantastic tour and our tour guide, Josh, was AWESOME! He was knowledgable, funny and a good guy. There were a group of us from Napa, California who had one afternoon to do something in Chicago during a conference. We chose to get a tour of the city and it was great. Definitely recommend.

We love Big Bus! We travel often and make it a point to take the Big Bus tour in every city they are located. We have taken Big Bus tours in the following cities: Washington DC, New York, Miami, San Fransisco, Paris, London and now in Chicago!
They offer a great tour! Very informative and the buses are top notch!!! This is the best way to see the city:):)
Highly recommend Big Bus!!! They are the BEST!

Big Bus tour was great! Tour guide Joshua was entertaining, engaging and fun. Very knowledgeable and interactive! We really enjoyed it !

Big bus is an ABSOLUTE MUST do people!!! I’m from Miami and this is my first time in Chicago and the tour us worth every single penny.
Josh was our tour guide, and his vibrant personality, and awesome knowledge of this beautiful city is just the icing on the cake!
Thx for an awesome time to both, Big bus and Josh!

Absolute worst tour that I have ever been on. The bus advertises 17 different stops, but don’t count on it actually stopping. We told our tour guide we wanted to stop at Lincoln Park for the zoo but the driver couldn’t find the stop so we just kept going (not even kidding). In addition, don’t count on learning any information about the city of Chicago. The tour guide even stated, «I can’t even pretend to know, I have no idea where we are,» and stopped talking. The bus driver took a tour of the Home Depot parking lot before having to turn around twice before going into alleys. They claim the buses run every 20 minutes but I have been waiting at a stop for the past 40 minutes and am still waiting. I have never encountered a company so ill-​professionally run and would not recommend this experience to anyone.