If I could have written a review with ZERO stars I would have been happy. So So DISAPPOINTED in my tour on Victoria’s Day long weekend. The worst $200 spent on a tour or better said NO TOUR AT ALL!! We got on the tour bus kids all excited to learn about the history of our capital city with the site’s of course….NOPE that didn’t happen!!! They told us we might want to sit below because there will be a little rain fall, so we did but others went ahead, shortly after the bus took off every one got an alert on their phones about a high wind storm and it started pouring rain, at this point we couldn’t get off I had my senior mom and a baby plus two children under 11yr. We stayed on but what else could we do it was our first time in Ottawa. Guess what??? It was a hurricane and our bus was going side to side, everyone from above came down soaked, thunder and lightning, trees falling down, it got uncomfortably warm, you couldn’t see out of the windows it because loud and they still carried on. How unsafe and ridiculous was this??? They didn’t offer to stop the tour and return and offer people their money back or a voucher to return the next day or a next time. People were drenched from head to toe and stood uncomfortably for an hour or more. Beyond the worst experience and customer service EVER!!

This past summer, I decided to play tourist in my own city and took a bus tour with my family. The experience was very cool, as we really enjoyed riding on the top of the roofless double decker bus. Another thing that I enjoyed was that the tourism guide was very accurate on places to visit and key Ottawa highlights. Note: While the photos I took for this review are from October, I went on the tour in mid-summer.

I had a great day touring with Gary Line tours: I got to hop-on hop-off to some locations I want to visit. Sitting on the upper level gives you a nice view of the city. Their tour is bilingual and very informative for locals and tourists!

My and family had a great time using this service. It is a convenient way to see the most important places around Ottawa. The departure point is beside Parliament Hill, so after the tour, we also take a walk. The information provided by our guide was short, interesting and funny. My kids liked it—the price was also ok compared to other attractions.

Gray Line was decent, the tour guide was knowledgeable, personable, and was engaging. The locations/stops were a bit naff, because I got on at 3pm and a lot of them were closed by 4, or simply weren't open- In which case why even stop there at all? The open top double decker buses are great, but for the autumn months it can get quite chilly up there, especially if it's a cold and windy day. Just something to be aware of. We also got stuck in rush hour traffic, which turned a 1.5hr trip into 3hrs. I'm not sure how or why, since it's not like rush hour is a new thing, and they have set journey times. I would have expected a route that avoids the traffic, or if that's not possible, let the passengers know that on the way back we're going to experience delays.

It was a really nice experience to take a tour through out the City

Great way to see the city and not worry about driving or parking. The guides were good and funny

We were so excited for this tour and perhaps we misunderstood what Gray Line Tours in Ottawa intends, but it ended up being a big disappointment for us. We took the 1.5 hr round trip. Pro's: - The driver and guide were very friendly and polite - The actual route and length I thought was great, not too long and you do see many noteworthy attractions from various sides/angles Cons - I found the information provided on the buildings/landmarks extremely lacking in any substance. The guide would tell us what the building was and often nothing more. There was the odd anecdote, but was often not historical in nature or of very low substance. - Also, they do not stop for pictures except at the one location to see parliament across the water. In fact, they barely slow down on most. If you are taking this tour as we did to learn about the history of the buildings or landmarks you are passing, or even take pictures of these landmarks, you are going to be disappointed. Lastly, multiple guests were hit by a tree branch going 35+km/hr, so be careful up top.

Be very careful with the Hop-on and Hop-off aspect... we were told we could get off by the Tulip festival stop - not true. They dropped us of at Landowne Park - a 20 minute walk to Commissioners Park... with 2 kiddies and two seniors. Plus, impossible to get back to hop back on with a long walk back... so 200$ down the drain. And we specifically asked will this take us to the Tulip Festival "yes" "yes" "yes". NOT LANDOWNE PARK ! You're better to take an uber there for 20$ folks.

Tours were not running so could not rate. Contrary to what your reply states they resumed operations on May 3rd the day we left The young lady in the booth was apologetic but not much help. It was out of her hands. Sadly ALL tourists activities in Ottawa were closed Monday and Tuesday. Disgraceful for a world capital.

Extremely disappointed in the experience with Lady Dive tours. This was our first time in Ottawa as a family. The tour guide on the hop on hop off tour had a very thick French accent. She spoke too fast and not loud enough for us to even hear where to get off! We missed all of the tourist attractions we wanted to go to, as she did not announce the bus stops clearly. It was a complete waste of our time and money, as we were only in Ottawa for one day. I will not be recommending this tour bus to anyone. In addition, the lady on the Rideau Canal cruise was clearly racist and lacked crowd management skills. She yelled at my mom for not standing in line (we are Indians) while a bunch of tourists (group of white people) in front of us were standing as a group.She only asked my mom to move out of all the people who were standing in groups. She created a scene and embarrassed us in front of the other tourists. Again, extremely disappointed in the customer service. I live in Toronto and I always believed that Canada was respecting and open to other cultures. I am upset that my family got to see this side of Ottawa on their first visit. I do not recommend using this tour bus if this is your first time traveling to Ottawa. Time of travel: August 13, 2019 - 10.30 am tour bus Rideau Canal Cruise - 4.30pm ride.

Thoroughly enjoyed the tour, the guide was great and you could tell he knew his stuff. I feel like a few things weren’t pointed out however which I why they’re not getting 5 stars. Dress sensibly as some parts are fast and it gets very windy. If you have long hair wear a hat or put it up!

Great way to see a pile of cool things but honestly. I undertand a bit of "French" and can tell you that the English speaking portions missed out on a lot of details that were discussed in "French." I think that it can be great to perhaps ask in advance of the tour if everyone speaks English. Would enhance the experience rather than having a 3 to 6 minute "French" narrative and then a 30 sec mini version in English. Definitely feel like I missed out a lot on the history aspect of things.

It's a nice alternative if you have little time and can't walk around the city. The bus goes to a lot of places, the guide provides you with short info and in 1.5 hour it's like you visited everything. Would definitely recommend.

One of the Pathetic Experiences. The tour price is reasonable but the quality of the service is null. One bus driver drops you at one point and when you reach the same spot for pick up, there is no bus. You call and you are told that it is a different spot. We wasted hours waiting for the bus and if the bus is full , they dont even stop. Wont recommended to anyone. Lady Dive tours and Grayline tours compliment each other.

Think twice before you take this ride. We made a stop in the fourth stop to enjoy one hour in the park before our next schedule at the museum BUT once we got back at the bus stop the driver didn’t stop, and he saw us! He just decided to not stop probably bc he was already 15 min late. It’s not our problem “ we where in 4 people plus 4 from another group “ I asked for a refund but at the kiosk they have a plate saying no refunds, but I didn’t know that it apply when they make a mistake

Hop on and hop off is the best choice 👍🏼 You have 24 hours to do it $39.79 Adults / $36.79 Students & Seniors / $26.79 Kids ( 3 - 12 años ) - before taxes

nice tour must visit. we took hop-on-hop-off day tour. 1.5 hour duration. in which one can hop off on one of the location of their interest and hop back on. they give you bus time schedule so you know when the next bus is coming. peak season is every half hour, off season every one hour. they have other options in bus tour as well. check website for that. good brief history and nice presenter in both languages. ticket price $37+tax. one can pay online or at the kiosk too. kiosk person usually busy so if you call they won't answer. parking is difficult and paid. I would suggest take local transit to reach here.

A great way to tour a little bit of Ottawa at such a reasonable price. Wish it ran longer hours! The tour guides are clear with their descriptions, with a touch of their own personality, humour and performance. There’s a schedule for hop on hop off times at each stop, which made it easy to plan your day. What a great experience we had!

If your looking for a historical taste of down town ottawa, look no further than this tour. Not only will you have the opportunity to hop on and off the bus as you require, it also provides a historical look to the city Our tour guide spoke very clearly and was funny at time The driver did and exceptional job moving threw the busy streets

Good tour to take if you’re looking for a geographic overview of the city. Our tour guide was more focused on sharing restaurant suggestions than giving historical anecdotes, so I’m giving this tour 3 stars. I think the commentary could have been more informative/interesting than just a surface level pointing out of buildings, bars and restaurants.

We had the best trip experience on the bus with my toddler.

Really good staff and service

The tour was amazing but my 3 year old Had to pee and he was crying for a whole hour but they refused to stop. So he had to get off and miss the whole tour. I should've given 0 stars but I can't.

Excellent way to see the city. You get to hop on and off at different sites, it serves as transportation and as a tour. Couldn't ask for a better way to explore Ottawa.

Took the bus with my dog. Awesome experience. Shout out to Abdullah. He did a fantastic job explaining the locations. My family loved. Its worth what you pay for!!

Their no refund policy is fine - however there was a severe thunderstorm and was not able to stop and get down to the lower level while the tornado warning is in effect with crying children aboard is very dangerous. I’m not asking for a refund I’m just saying that safety precautions must be taken into place when driving in severe weather conditions.

My friend and I took the hop on/off on Monday Sept 25th and wanted to visit both the History and Aviation museum. Sadly both were closed on Monday, in addition to 2 other museums on the Tour. Had we known this, we would have taken the tour on Tuesday when they were open, as they were the primary reason for buying tickets. The Tour organizer might want to apprise patrons of this fact as there were several other disappointed people on the bus who planned on visiting them too. We didn't even think to ask, as they were designated stops so assumed we'd be able to hop off and visit. Its likely not an issue in High season but in off peak you should let people know when purchasing or post a notice at the booth.

Good enough to get around once you are on but getting back on the bus is another story. Next bus was late and just about full, a handful got on then everyone had to wait another hour, although the drive said it would be about 20 minutes.

Wonderful tour! Our bilingual tour guide Sarah was very entertaining and informative. What a beautiful city! The waterways, parliament buildings and museums abound. A must when you visit Ottawa!

Definitely one of my favourite Ottawa attractions and the best way to get to know the city. As a local, its the first thing I take my out of town guests to, and I also enjoy doing the tour a few times in the summer.

Great journey out to Tulip festival stop. Very informative guide. Pick up to go History Museum not so good, driver revved engine a lot, drowned out the commentary, didn't stop at museum, had to shout down to get them to stop. Pity as the trip was going so well.

Good idea to do a quick tour of the whole city and see the main places. The narrator was fun and gave lot of good info (the voice though is not as clear in the front of the bus as in the back). Would have given a 5 but the bus was late 45 minutes to arrive and we had kids with us...

Just great. The right duration and the right information. Thank you. October 5th, 3 pm

This was not a good choice for us given the combination of the schedules of the service and the sites visited. It's hard to fit visits in when the bus only runs hourly and you are expected to be at the stop 15 minutes before its scheduled arrival. We left the national gallery 15 minutes before the bus arrived and it was 20 minutes late, That's 35 minutes of our viewing time. Given the close proximity of sites and the cost of the ticket per person, we would have been better off just taking a couple of Ubers combined with walking. The plus side is the commentary provided by the guide and it's kinda fun to ride an open air double decker bus.

Good option to visit Ottawa city, tour guide information was good , 1.5 hour tour duration

If you have just one day stop over at ottawa, this open roof top double decker OTTAWA city tour is for you. Courteous staff at the starting point. Knowledgeable guides. Take a full round from starting point to return back n then decide where to get down at your point of interest & explore those places, whether it is market place, royal mint or museums.

I felt that this tour didn’t have enough stops. It also felt like a super rushed tour. I bought this one for the hop on hop off feature but would rather have taken the other tour as I didn’t even get the chance to hop on and hop off. I didn’t feel confident that they’d be back to get me. It wasn’t really worth the money. It was an informative tour but not what I expected as I have done another hop on hop off tour that was much better than Thai one

(Translated by Google) Interesting (Original) Intéressant

(Translated by Google) City tour, Good option to know the most important points of a City. (Original) City tour, Buena opción para conocer los puntos más importantes de un Ciudad.

Good tour of interesting places.

Great way to see the city

Nice city Bus trip

(Translated by Google) In Ottawa really recommended. Not too many stops and you could see a lot of the city in one day. The guide was very nice and tried hard and the rest of the staff was nice and organized. The information point in the city was easy to spot and you were quickly informed about what you should book the best. A very pleasant tour! (Original) In Ottawa wirklich zu empfehlen. Nicht zu viele Stops und man konnte an einem Tag sehr viel von der Stadt sehen. Der Guide war sehr nett und bemüht und auch das restliche Personal war nett und organisiert. Der Info Point in der Stadt war einfach zu erkennen und man wurde schnell darüber aufgeklärt, was man am besten buchen solle. Eine sehr angenehme Tour!

Guide was so informative

(Translated by Google) Probably interesting tour but sitting in the last row on the upper level floor with the sounds of the street, the wind, and people who were talking to each other, it was possible for me to understand only rare bits of narration made live in both official languages ​​simultaneously by Marcel and his microphone. Even if Marcel seemed well acquainted with his subject, I would never sell myself any more without making sure I was served by a recorded narration requiring headphones whose volume adjustment was my sole responsibility. In addition, the earpieces will guarantee the isolation of others' voices and surrounding noises. (Original) Tour probablement intéressant mais assis dans la dernière rangée sur l’étage du niveau supérieur avec les bruits de la rue, du vent, et des gens qui se commentaient entre eux, il m’était possible de ne comprendre que des rares bribes de la narration faite de vive voix simultanément dans les 2 langues officielles par Marcel et son micro. Même si Marcel semblait bien connaître son sujet, plus jamais je ne me ferai vendre de tours sans m’être assuré d’être desservi par une narration enregistré nécessitant des écouteurs dont le réglage du volume est de mon seul ressort. De plus, les oreillettes me garantiront l’isolement des voix des autres et des bruits environnants.

(Translated by Google) Super take the bus without a roof (Original) Super prendre l'autobus sans toiture

It was an OK tour

Easy to navigate!

Enjoyed tour like the hop on/off service Get you mint tickets from them it's cheaper

Amazing tour. Very helpful..

Does not honour the Access2 program or offer discounted pricing for people requiring support workers. Many tours/mueseums recognize that people with disabilities require assistance - this tour does not offer a pricing system which accommodates an affordable option for them.

Best tour bus company to find out about the city you are visiting!

Took the hop-on/hop-off Ottawa-Gatineau tour. A little disappointed that the water tours weren't available due to the flooding / high and dangerous water, but at least they're not operating due to safety concerns. Took the bulk of the tour and even learned something about the Canadian War Museum we hadn't learned on two previous trips inside. Chrissy was a wonderful tour guide. Facilitating those who were on the bus and wanted to be upstairs first chance was much appreciated. Lots of places to hop off and would have loved to have the time to explore a couple of the places we hadn't been able to visit on our previous Ottawa trips. We did hop off at the tulip festival and received easy directions on how to get there and where to be picked up again. When we got back on, enjoyable with new tour guide (older gentleman - don't remember his name). Discovered a nice bonus: one of the last hop off points was right near where we were staying. Super bonus when we weren't back more that a couple minutes and it started to POUR! Overall, well worth it. Take the hop-on/hop-off option, two days if you have the time. Really explore some of those stops.

Absolutely the best! After a day of rides they gave us a ride to our hotel.

Very nice place to visit

Lots of interesting places on the tour, but for $73 for 2 people we expected the tour guide to be much better. Her French was awful, and her English wasn't that great either. I missed half of what she said because she spoke too fast or didn't pronounce all her words. My québécois wife didn't understand 90% of the French. The bus had no heat and the 2nd floor was open with no door so all the cold air blasted in our face for 1 1/2 hours. You're better off getting a copy of the route and driving yourself while looking up everything in Wikipedia on your phone.

Worth it!

Great time for my 6 year old to see Ottawa

Had an awesome time, great tour. Takes care of the main sites. Get there early and book your time or book it online to save time.

Very good tour but it finishes too early

Ok tour but lots of space for improvement. Obviously, guides point out city’s main attractions but, for the price, I expect more in terms of additional info (historical facts, trivia, touristic information…) in these kinds of tours. One guide was better than the other in that sense. One major flaw is that there are absolutely NO signs clearly identifying the bus stops (and pick up spots) along the way.

We did not listen to the advice of the staff and instead of taking the tour at 1 pm we ended up taking the one at 4pm and a thunderstorm had just started! We should have listen!😅 Lucky us we were able to still take the tour and we were the only 2 so it was like a private tour!. Even though it was raining and foggy, we still were able to see everything. The staff was so nice with us I recommend it to everyone coming to Ottawa.

As a first time mother living in Ottawa, during a pandemic where services are limited, I was searching for fun and new things to do with my daughter and best friend (and her two kids). We decided to be a tourist for a day and hopped on the Gray Line Bus for a tour of Ottawa. The kiddos absolutely loved riding on the top of the bus feeling the wind in their hair. The tour is not that invigorating for young children so bring a 'city search' scavenger hunt with you (easily print one offline; we also suggested that Gray Line create an Ottawa City scavenger hunt!!) After the tour we had lunch at a restaurant on Sparks street and the kiddos we so happy. I definitely recommend a city bus tour followed by lunch on Sparks street. Those few hours will be fun and it will be a lasting memory for you and your family.

Good and very up to time, good commentary.

I had a great time on my tour. The staff are great and the tour guides are excellent. If you want to see the biggest attractions in Ottawa, this is definitely the way to go.

Really dull and way overpriced. They need to rewrite the script and inject some interesting commentary instead of pointing out the obvious. Also $200+ for 6 people that included 2 young kids, a senior, and a student, for a late in the day tour is larceny.

(Translated by Google) Different, you can take the bus overland, or you can. Take a water tour and the bus is amphibious, I had not seen anything like it elsewhere (Original) Diferente, se puede tomar el bus por tierra, ó se puede. Tomar un tour acuático y el bus es anfibio, no había visto nada igual en otro lado

(Translated by Google) No planning to provide an alternative meeting place during a day when an event was planned. I had to come back on my own. The guide speaks too quickly, incomprehensible. (Original) Aucune planification quant à fournir un lieu altertif de rencontre au cours d'une journée où une manifestation était prévue. J'ai dû revenir par mes propres moyens. Le guide parle trop vite, incompréhensible.

Great tour! We had a lot of fun!

(Translated by Google) very good for a general visit of the city with its stops discovered (Original) très bien pour une visite générale de la ville avec ses arrêts découvertes

Nice experience.

Great Tourist Guides and drivers, magic tour.