NYC Bus Tour: Empire State & More
3.4
78 Ratings

Experience the best of New York City with a Hop-on Hop-off Tour and access to the iconic Empire State Building. Explore famous sights, museums, and more!

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights

Explore Downtown (Red Route) (Route)

Operating Schedule: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (starting from Stop #1 - M&M’S World)
Buses arrive every 10 to 15 minutes, with the entire route taking approximately 90 minutes.
Download the free Big Bus app or visit the website for route details, customer support, and real-time bus tracking.
1. M&M’S New York…

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What's Included
  • Big Bus 48-hour Hop-on Hop-off Tour on Downtown & Uptown Loops
  • Digital commentary aboard hop-on hop-off tour
  • Wi-Fi on board
  • Entry to the Empire State Building
  • Statue of Liberty Ferry (if option selected)
  • Bike Offer: Rent 1 hour, Get 2 hours free
  • Free Butterbeer Ice Cream at Harry Potter Store
What's Not Included
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
Additional Information

Discover the enchantment of New York City with an Open-Top Sightseeing Bus Tour, offering stunning views from the legendary Empire State Building, the skyscraper that epitomizes the Manhattan skyline. Enjoy unlimited rides across the city, with the freedom to hop on and off at your convenience to explore the premier attractions in Midtown, Downtown, and…

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Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
3.4
(78 Ratings)
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Penelope_k
Jul 2, 2025
Best money spent - We did the whole loop. Didn’t hop on/off. Interesting but not overwhelming info with the earbuds. Great sights. Set us up for where we then knew we would want to spend more time. Highly recommend. Including the Empire State made this a fantastic deal. Go early.
Review provided by Viator
Burumble
May 6, 2025
A must do experience when in NYC! - What a fantastic day out exploring the Boroughs of New York!! Our guide Jorge and driver Raf were absolutely amazing! Through Jorge’s commentary we discovered so many new facts about life in this fascinating melting pot of the USA and how so many have settled here and shaped New York life today! A great way to get around, we could never has seen even half of this if we were on our own, thanks to Raf’s skilful driving! Highly recommend!!
Review provided by Viator
Susannemy2150bv
Sep 9, 2024
Best bus driver - Great to hop on and hop off, we went the whole day through N.Y. City, amazing! Very nice service all around but the best bus driver is Miguel, he talled us he is from Equador - he explaines his tours (!) and that very detailed, wonderfull, he is very friendly and he loves his job, that's great, thank you! We’ll come again!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jj_w
Aug 28, 2024
Summer vybes with the best tour operators - My 11 yo was so mesmerized by the open bus experience. We enjoyed the sights & sounds of the mighty NY city with its breathtaking views. The highlight of our tour was at the Empire State Building. This was super amazing. We will do this again soon
Review provided by Viator
F6405ndsarahh
Jul 9, 2025
Great way to see the city - Highly recommend you familiarize yourself with the app before you travel/buy tickets, on there you can use it to plan your visit in advance. They do advise last bus times on the app - I've seen some reviews regarding this issue. I do think considering this is a city that never sleeps that the buses could do with running late. I think its very early for a lot of the buses to stop. However saying that, it's a great app, gives live updates and includes a photo of the bus stop. We used the 2 day one and never had an issue with the bus. We enjoyed the commentary, it was helpful and included some interesting facts. Some bus stops are obviously busier than others so there are times its just easier to wait for the next bus than it is to cram onto the bus at the stop. They are frequent enough. The staff were very helpful at the bus stops. We went last week and it was ridiculously hot in New York so the bus was a welcome relief to walking. We didn't find we were stuck in traffic either.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lucarl1345xa
Oct 5, 2024
Average bus tour - Very interesting this solution of HopOn HopOff BigBus 1+1 days free. Too bad for the Staff both on the ground and on the unkind and helpful buses and shame for the stops changed/added/cancelled not communicated in advance (perhaps due to the commemoration of 9/11). Average.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
James_h
Apr 11, 2024
Don't bother with this Hop-on/Hop-off! - We have thoroughly appreciated previous Hop-on/Hop-off buses in other cities but I was very disappointed in the Manhattan experience. We were introducing NYC to family visiting from another country but we were unable to view most of the buildings and other sites mentioned. Even though our purchase also included Empire State Bldg entry, there was NO time available to take advantage of that. It took over an hour waiting for a bus that had space for us so we didn't even begin until after 10:30 am. You should consider only selling a 48-hour experience since the bus schedule starts late and ends early.
Review provided by Viator
Katherinepn3124cn
Jun 28, 2025
Never go with them! - The guy sold us tickets at 3.30 and didn’t tell that the last bus is at 5pm! And at 5 pm the bus didn’t come!!! And we leave the city next day, so with just lost our money!!! Don’t buy their tickets!!! They are scammers!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stephanie
Jun 11, 2025
Big Bus FAIL!!! - 1- Big Bus did not make it clear on website that DAY TIME bus tours end at 5pm and you have to make a SEPARATE booking for evening tours. 2- Big Bus allowed us to make a booking to Ellis Island for 2pm, and later in the day sent an email saying 2 or 3pm tours will not be enough time to see Ellis Island. 3- Big Bus rescheduled our Ellis Island Ferry for the next day, and when we showed the QR code at the ticket counter, it was INVALID and did not work. We had to buy new tickets for the ferry, $25 each.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
E9045qwcolinm
Aug 16, 2024
Misleading Online Booking Form - From UK, and visiting family in Connecticut, we visited New York on Sunday 11th August. 4 adult tickets and 2 child tickets were purchased online for the Red & Blue bus tours, to include the Empire State Building ANYTIME entry. The bus tour was a disappointment. The onboard commentary was mostly unsynchronised with the landmarks, and consisted mainly of music. Many of the landmarks were not near the route, and the stops were not announced by the driver. Most importantly, on arriving at the Empire State Building at approximately 6pm we were refused access because the tours were full and we had not made a reservation. The BigBus booking form clearly says ANYTIME. There is no mention that a reservation is required for a tour time slot. Either BigBus are unaware of this requirement (unlikely), or they couldn't care less (likely). So what did we get for our $580? Not much: an uninformative bus ride tour with little relevance to what we were seeing, and refused entry to the attraction we'd booked. An absolute waste of money. BigBus might possibly give their usual fatuous reply. What they need to give is refunds, especially since the booking form is inaccurate and misleading.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).
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