I love doing these when I go to different cities. I’ve done the ones in Chicago 8 years ago and was back with my daughters on a road trip. The evening tour was cool and definitely worth it, but the second day they only had ONE bus running. We didn’t see it the ENTIRE day (once passing us between stops). Total waste of money now.

My girlfriend and I took this tour on the first available bus in the morning. The driver was Alicia (sorry if the spelling is incorrect), and she was AMAZING. She was the driver and had so much great knowledge about Chicago and we greatly enjoyed the first leg of the tour. We then hopped out at Millennium Park to look around, rejoining the tour bus afterwards. The tour went a bit downhill from there. The prerecorded audio and music was not enjoyable at all. It relied on factoid games and fake conversations instead of giving prompt interesting facts about the area of the city we were in (as Alicia was doing excellently). In the hour and ten minute remainder of the journey, we got maybe (or at least what felt like) 13 minutes of decent information from the tour with anything else being fluff, or music. The audio didn't need characters, the city should be the character. We switched buses towards the end and managed to get onto Alicia's bus again! The remaining fifteen minutes of the tour was literally night and day, with her narration and pointing out interesting landmarks being the absolute greatest part of the tour. We wish we had stayed on the bus with her as our guide for the entire tour. Please rerecord the prerecorded audio segments with Alicia, and make the prerecorded sections play much much more often.i can't get over how empty the tour felt without an in-person guide. The route did show a lot of the city we wanted to see, but we are very letdown by the content of the tour. The only reason I am giving such a decent rating is due to the route, the frequency of the buses and Alicia's amazing work.

Did the whole loop with the driver William Fields who was amazing . He added to the taped recording which gave more insight and made it so much more enjoyable. After we did the loop we hopped off at different locations for pics. When you don’t have a lot of time in a city I highly recommend the big bus tours

I really enjoy this type of tour. You can get a overall feel for the place and then get off to explore more. The drivers are friendly.

Great experience. They give you earbuds to listen to the prerecorded audio portion of the tour. Stops are located close to major sites and pick up times are every 30 min. Roughly half of the roof is covered on the top if you want to stay warm.

We purchased the one day pass for our family trip and it was more than enough, if you are staying in or near the loop! You can always take a walk to explore the areas you visited within a brief walk. The other good thing about the day pass is that it’s good for 24 hours. That gives you a chance to take the full route in 2 hours and then go back the next day to the specific spots via bus again. The second day we had a more interactive tour guide that added some flare to the drive in addition to the bus taped audio. It’s worth it for the first time visitors to Chicago to give you a little flavor of everything. Should do at least once!

buses in chicago super late been waiting for an hour in stop 3 willis tower line is piling up people are already tired waiting

AVOID!! Horrible!! Not informative at all. They just played music most of the time. Plus they stop and stay too long. We got off early. This is NOT a good value.

I could ride around with Candice all day. She is knowledgeable and animated. Her stories were delightful and you will definitely remember the points of interest because of her great stories. She brought sunshine to a cold dreary day.

We had an unexpected 24 hour layover in Chicago. We purchased these tickets on a whim. We spent the entire time with Candice as our guide. She was entertaining and informative. It was money well spent.

As we drove past major universities and major architectural sites, I got a story of the Chicago fire and silly stories. I was surprised at how poor it was considering my experience in other cities. This was poor.

Please save your money and also how do i rate this negative stars

Purchased 2 Day Tickets . Great Value Great Customer Service from Booth Staff to Bus Drivers and Staff @ each stop . Kudos to Gabriel. Friendly informative knowledgeable regarding Chicago restaurants attractions directions ect... Awesome Bus Tour of Chicago attractions sites and historical venues. Great tour to see Chicago for the first time and Great transportation to get around town. only downfall last bus trip starts @ 500 from Stop 1.

This was a cool tour! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about Chicago, it’s history and made it extremely entertaining along the ride! It was very helpful to be able to get off the bus along the tour and then jump back on and pick up right where we left off. I liked that the stops were many of the tourist attractions, especially when most parking lots charge a lot of $! I thought it was also generous of them to provide every rider with a set of earphones to hear some more interesting facts about some of Chicago’s buildings/monuments/sculptures/etc. The only thing I would ask for them to improve is to fix all the earphone jacks so that they all work. I recommend this bus tour for tourists of Chicago.

On my mission to do every tourist thing in Chicago and eager to ride a doubledecker bus, I decided to buy a ticket and hop on board for the twilight tour since it stopped near my hotel. I definitely recommend this tour because you get to see many areas where the sightseeing boats can't go like The Chicago Board of Trade Building. They cover a lot of area in a decent amount of time. If you're doing the night tour bring a hoodie because it can get brisk near the water. In closing, this tour is worth every penny. I want to give a special thanks to Matt, Ryan and Eddie. They were awesome and really made the tour fun and entertaining. It was nice meeting some fellow railfans as well.

sightseeing on the big bus was pretty awesome around Chicago. I had a good bus driver for explaining everything in Chicago and all the stops to check out. Chicago is a breath taking city!

Terrible our first driver (Antwan) was great actually narrating and making sure we got great photos second driver never spoke and just drove and left it to the horrible pre recorded audio and the screens/wraps will ruin many photos.

Best money spent! I did the 2 day ride, and it was so worth it. I was able to do everything on my fav. list and so much more. I was worried that it was close to 5, and I was far from my hotel, but they kept going, and I made it safe to the hotel without having to walk 40 mins.

It was a valuable hop on hop off tour, one of the better ones we have experienced, especially from a schedule perspective. The staff was courteous and helpful, and the tour was as good as advertised. They did skip over a couple of stops – Alder Planetarium and the Museum Campus, due to the Chicago Bears playing at Soldier field in Museum campus, but they did communicate this ahead of time. But nonetheless, the tour operated in a very timely manner. We took this a few times over the weekend as we had the 48-hour pass. One could realistically just do the 24-hour pass to get a good feel of the loop, because there is only one route. We did notice staff stationed at pretty much all the stops along the way, helping people towards the bus and checking people in, which we thought was great. The pre-recorded audio guide commentary was good and informative, with some quiz a & humor such as – “anyone? Bueller?”

Our experience was great! Chicago is such a beautiful city with so much rich history. Our tour guide was awesome and very informative. At the end of our tour we stop at a perfect location, where we got off and took amazing pictures of the city skyline. Highly recommend for anyone traveling to Chicago for the first time.

Amazing experience! I’ve been to Chicago many times and thought I saw most of the downtown area, but after this ride I learned I was wrong 😩. I was with a friend who was a Chicago newbie so we figured a Bug Bus Tour would help us knock out most of the must see sites! The plan was to ride the entire route but we got MAJORLY detoured in the shopping district!! 😌

Very good to get to know the city

Very very bad reference, my wife bought the tickets online and when we arrived at the address they gave us we never found the offices. We called the number they gave us when we bought the tickets and they never answered, only one machine. Then we downloaded the application to follow the bus and the bus never arrived at the meeting place. I don't know if it's a scam but judge it and I find it very similar.

Waited an hour for pickup only to be told a bus broke down and no more rides for the day. So we had to pay for a Lyft home. Definitely don't recommend this company.

The Big Bus tour was amazing! We were very glad we did it! I bought the one day tour on Groupon for the two of us, and we were able to ride a 2 hour loop through Chicago and see some great areas. On the bus there is a sign to upgrade to a two day for $10. I called the number and they would not do it because I bought it on Groupon, but the driver and a worker at a stop said they can upgrade any kind of ticket and they are glad for people who buy through Groupon. It was worth it to quickly see all the different places in Chicago and have a great view. We got a feel for the town. In the winter buses do not come as often, but it was still worth it. We were also able to use Public Transportation to later get to places we did not have time for on the tour. The drivers were very nice and the people at the stops as well.

Commentary...(. what little there is )is a block behind. I never know if we are at a stop or just sitting in traffic. Really What you get is just a bus ride. That's it. The commentary is very very limited. The total content of the information would maybe be 2 paragraphs. 98 % of it is music.

We rode the Big Bus in mid February 2024. It happened to be a beautiful 60 ish day in Chicago. We stayed on the bus for the entire ride, boarding at 10:15am just south of the Sears Tower. Sitting on the second level gave a wonderful view of the places and items being talked about on the audio tour, I would recommend it.

First 4/11 stops was ok. From the 5th to last stop the audio tour stop working. I hop on the last tour and bus driver took the route she wanted to (different from the map in the app). No sense at all to pay for this. This was the most expensive uber i’ve ever taken.

The audio portion was horrible. It tried to be funny/entertaining but just wasn’t .

The bus was great. It stopped at the major attractions so we didn’t need to take public transport to each place. The next bus came in an hour which usually gave us enough time to finish the attraction in time for the next one. I want to give a shout out to Versetta who was a wonderful bus driver and made everyone feel welcome.

Purchased a one day pass and river cruise ticket. Really enjoyed both! There was an issue with one of my cruise tickets but your employee Griffin made sure it was taken care of. Definitely will use this company again!

Great views of the skyline at night.

Diasappointing experience, we had gone on Big Red Bus tour in the past with a guide that was so enjoyable. This experience was a very corny recording that didn’t even share important high lights of our beautiful Chicago.

I wasn't impressed as it seems others (from previous reviews) were not as well. They have a cheesy recording on some of the buses, others have a tour guide talking but there is not much information about the city. I wish it would have given me more information about the city and its history. I have been on other BigBus tours that were much better. It is too bad Chicago.

If I could not give it any stars I would worst experience of my life, I was so disgusted by the way the employees have no basic manners and don’t know how to treat their guests and tourists. You scan your ticket but then they give you a paper receipt if you loose it you can’t ride back on, they don’t give you time to find it. The bus driver acted like he was driving the metro bus after you pay for such expensive bus tickets. There’s no number to reach customer service that’s why their employees treat guests horribly. DONT RIDE !!

We took the night tour early September and really enjoyed our time there. Our driver -Sarai made the ride enjoyable with her fun commentary. Views at night 10/10.

I had taken this tour about 10 years ago and loved it. The woman who was the “tour guide” at that time was hilarious and informative. I took the tour yesterday with my husband and was disappointed to learn there are no “tour guides”. Only an audio tour that you plugged into. Luckily for us we had Anton. We listened to the audio for a couple of minutes before we realized Anton narrated the whole time he was driving and it was awesome! It’s hard to even express the difference when having a live person pointing out special landmarks and buildings, as well as, his favorite places to eat etc. vs. an audio recording that was just awful. Cheesy music and cheesy dialogue. We had to switch buses towards the end and the new driver didn’t say much. We missed Anton! If you take this tour ask the person checking you in if Anton is the driver. If he is take the entire tour with him. Don’t get off! You won’t be sorry.

Have used similar operators in other cities and was not disappointed in Chicago. Used the bus over 2 days as a way to get about town whilst learning about it. Guides were amusing and knowledgeable, even when you passed the same spot with a different guide we learnt something new. Drivers were friendly, professional and courteous. Highly recommended and well worth the price. A great way to see a city from a different perspective.

Purchased tickets online to see Chicago. Wasted more than an hour waiting at a stop. Ended walking everywhere. After reading a few more comments here seems like a regular issue. Not only a waste of money since they denied our refund, but extremely unpleasant experience and chat with their customer representative.

The tour is educational and fun. They give you a pair of earbuds to keep for the audio tour and you can get off at stops that interest you, then get back on another bus every 30 minutes.

This bus tour was fantastic. Our guide Anton did an amazing job and was very informative! It was so cool to see all the sites of downtown and around.

U need to provide audio tour in many languages (NY has more then 15+). Also printed colored brochure/guard with fare description of of stops (not just a list of stops). It is a shame for such great city do not have such supply.

This hop on/hop off bus is awesome! The staff is very helpful and nice. Buses were clean and only once did we need to wait for another bus because the one we were on was full. Takes you to or by a TON of great Chicago must-see destinations. Also have multi day passes and can add on an architectural cruise up the river. (I recommend the one leaving from Navy Pier) Was a great value for where all they take you and the ability to take great photos from the open top of the bus. Would definitely use it for another visit.

We have been on Big Bus in several cities and have loved them all. We rode again today while in Chicago. This was our first time taking our son who is 3. He had such a fun time and our driver Candis was fantastic! She was so fun to listen to and was awesome with our son. She remembered us when we rejoined her bus after doing some exploring. Riding a double decker bus (like Peppa Pig) was the highlight of our son’s trip and Candice made it even better. She took a picture of us on top of the bus from the sidewalk and we were so appreciative!

Nice tour just like all good big bus tours. Nice pre-recorded guidinf tour. Gives ample knowledge about the city.

I was waiting at a diesel pump in line behind someone. While they were finishing up, I went in and prepaid for that pump. After I come out, I go to pull up to the pump and the bus driver quickly pulled up to my pump on the other side. I told him that I prepaid and had been waiting and he started to yell at me saying that he was waiting (which he wasn’t even there). I had to go back in and let the clerk know to hold off on my pre pay. The lady even said she saw what happened and he was not there and was in the wrong. When he was finally done he pulled out of the spot, but instead of going around (where there was plenty of room to do so) he intentionally got close to me to try to intimidate me and being aggressive. So close that he couldn’t move until I moved. Just a heads up…these are the aggressive bus drivers you will be riding with when you go on these tours.

Knowing the accurate bus schedule. We blindly waited at our bus stop inside McDonalds then had to run for it when we saw it coming because we had no idea when it arrived