Hop On Hop Off

Myself and my party of 5 used the hop on hop off bus tour recently whilst in Amsterdam and what a mistake that was! We were mid-sold the route to begin with as the brochure that is plastered all around Amsterdam is in fact out of date, the route is completely different and we were not notified of this by either the ticket provider or the bus driver. At multiple points the bus stopped and we had to wait at least 15 minutes for the bus to start going again. Some of the stops were completely missed meaning once we had realised it was too late to get off and walk back to the places we wanted to go. On the way back our bus driver collided with a taxi that was waiting at traffic lights, no body knew what was going on and we weren’t told whether we should stay on the bus or get off. After a while people started to vacate the bus so my family and I did the same. We were in the middle of a busy road trying to avoid oncoming traffic and police cars that had come to the scene due to the accident. We went back to the ticket office to request a refund where we were told ‘we only sell the tickets and can’t refund you, contact customer services via email’ my husband did this and provided as much detail as possible. He received an unprofessional reply from customer services saying because no one was injured during the collision it wouldn’t have been traumatic and we should have downloaded the app if we wanted to see the most up to date bus route (we were never told about the app let alone the thousands of brochures all over Amsterdam that were in-correct but still being given out) false advertising, waste of money, dangerous bus driver, rubbish audio, the wrong route taken I could go on.. avoid at all costs, much cheaper and easier to walk or use the local trams!!! Appalling customer service team and rude responses. Don’t waste your time or money!!!!!

Quite disappointed. Wouldn't do it again. Stops not well posted, ended up walking once we got off at our first disembark. Unless you're not able to walk, it's easier to walk to most sites. I've used these sort of buses before so quite disappointed really.

I think the first negative is the limited hours 10am - 5 pm ..really limits if trying to get into one of the museums first thing ..or scheduling a later afternoon tour to avoid big crowds ( and we’re here in September.. can’t even imagine the crowds in July /Aug)
The city does not allow signage .. so you never know where bus stop is .. we had to ask locals every time ! Basically bus stops are in general location of attractions .. walking is still very much involved.
We ended up several times using either Bolt (ride-share) or train system

Worst hop on hop off ever

Could not find initial stop

Got on stop 8 near museum

When we got to stop 1 driver waited 10 mins to go again

Then travel on outskirts of town

Stop at the diamond center for another 10 mins or so

Looks like next stops are all to try and sell me on something

Rip let’s etc

Hope the boat cruise is better

Excellent trip! Beautiful country lovely people. Stayed at Hotel Mevlana YH clean and central. Trans easy hop on off. Travelled by train to other small towns great shopping lovely restaurants and cafes. Van Gogh worth a visit amazing!

Linda and Roxy were great and informative! Had fun! We seen a lot of interesting things, very interesting city!

If I could give less than 1 star for this experience I would.

We did the Hop On Hop Off bus tour yesterday afternoon and I can honestly say it is the worst experience I have ever paid for in my life. We have done HOHO bus tours in a ton of cities as it’s usually a great way to see the place and learn more about the history. Unfortunately not the case in Amsterdam. As mentioned in other reviews there are no sign posts for bus stops, we were just lucky that a bus was parked outside the station when we arrived (although this bus drove off and we had to wait for the next one.. at least we knew where to wait!)

Our female bus driver appeared to be having some kind of breakdown when she pulled up at the stop. She had her head in her hands and was shouting at everyone, this continued throughout the tour. If anyone tried to get on or off at the ‘wrong’ door she was screaming at them ‘NO, NO, NO!!!’

I was hoping to learn lots about Amsterdam’s history but there was very little information and half the pre recorded commentary seemed to be a sales pitch ie ‘if you want to explore the canals, go on one of our boat tours.. if you want to learn about beer, go visit the Heineken experience’ etc.
The commentary did not appear to be timed correctly, for example we would be told ‘look at the square building on the left’ when there was no square building on the left.

We got to the diamonds factory and the bus parked up for 25 minutes. I thought the whole point of a HOHO bus tour was that people can hop off to see the attractions if they want to, and then hop on the next bus. Instead we sat on the hot, crowded bus and waited for everyone to get back on before leaving.

It felt like we could have walked the route quicker as we were just sat in traffic for most of the tour. I don’t think this is the way to see Amsterdam and wish we had booked a walking tour with a guide who really tell us about the history and answer any questions we had.

I’m absolutely gutted we wasted 48 euros of our holiday money on this terrible experience. We honestly just couldn’t wait for it to end. DO NOT waste your money.

The stops are not sign posted at all so after following vague instructions from hotel staff, waiting at a bus stop for 45 mins (supposed to run every 20-25 mins, ringing the client service number only to be told they cant take the call due to covid, and then having the bus drive straight past because we werent at the right (unmarked) spot, we finally got on. After an hour waiting, we used chat bot to try and cancel only to be told couldnt do it on the day - and then the bus went flying past. Bus stop instructions are available on the app but that relies on you having access or once you actually get on the bus - not much use when youre trying to find how to get on. Finally got on only to find there are only 9 "stops" - except its difficult to know when to get off and worried about being able to get back on. While we were waiting at least 6 people gave up and left. Then at the diamond museum, the bus parked for 20 mins without any warning so we and others were just sitting there. In short, the worst HOHO experience out of the many we did over a 7 week period. Save your money - get the tram.

There needs to be clear information about where the stops are and when buses are running. We had to walk a long way and ask 6 people before we found that the bus would stop in a lay-by marked 'taxi rank'. Then we waited over an hour for a bus to arrive. It would have been quicker to walk. Also the commentary needs to state where to get off for the most popular sights and when the bus has reached each stop. We stood up to get off and the bus lurched forward, causing my granddaughter to fall against the seat and resulting in severe bruising. This is unsafe, upsetting, a waste of money and ruined our day.

They advertise everything where but good luck finding where to get on a bus. No signage anywhere. What a rip off!