Catch a hop-on hop-off Madrid bus to easily explore the city. You have several alternatives as two companies operate several touristic bus routes.
Combine your city sightseeing bus ticket with a Madrid Card to save time skipping waiting lines and take advantage of priory access in the main museums and monuments.
If you are already familiar with open top bus tours, also know as hop on-hop off, the available services in Madrid are pretty much identical as to what you could find in other city across the world.
Nevertheless, if you haven’t heard of theses buses or have taken one of them, here is how they work:
Here are some valid reasons that support the idea of catching a bus to visit a city.
1. An open top bus tour is an interesting idea if you are going to spend little time in town. For example, if you land in Madrid as a first stop before heading south on a road trip around Andalucía. The tourist bus allows you to have a sneak peek of Madrid.
2. If you are going to spend a few days in the city, you might take one of these buses on your first day to have a complete summary of what’s worth visiting. Then, in the following days you can spend time going to the places that interest you more.
3. A double deck bus offers a new perspective compared to what you can see on a walk.
4. It’s worth considering if you’d like to take advantage of the bus route and easily reach far away sights.
On the contrary, you shouldn’t go on a city sightseeing bus if you:
The company operates two routes:
Both of them can also be extended routes (2 departures per day) and there is also a night route (only available from June 16 to September 15).
Your tickets are valid for 24 or 48 hours from the first time you use it, and you only need to wait for 15 minutes at every stop for a bus to come.
Get now your Madrid city hop-on hop-off tour tickets »
The company operates a single route covering highlights of both old and modern areas of Madrid.
However, this is not a regular hop-on hop-off service. Once you get on the bus you tour around the streets of Madrid for 1h30. During this time, the bus won’t stop and you are not allowed to leave the vehicle.
In my opinion, this is a much less interesting option as you don’t have the freedom to stop as soon as you spot an interesting sight or area of the city. You are forced to see the whole thing and then, come back on your own to explore it.
If you are still interested and want additional information, go to the Madrid Bus Visión website.