Vienna Sightseeing Bus – All You Need to Know

Thinking of taking the Vienna sightseeing bus?

Here’s what you need to know, including costs, timings, routes and tips from me to help you get the most from your trip.

Vienna Sightseeing Bus

If you are looking to take a hop on hop off Vienna sightseeing bus then check out my guide to this bus and also a video I took along the way.

If you want to jump straight to booking then just click here.

Vienna Sightseeing Bus – Pricing

The first thing to say about the sightseeing bus in Vienna is that it isn’t cheap. I had a whole day in Vienna and I rode both routes and also hopped on and hopped off a couple of times.

If you aren’t going to be using it alot then you may be better using public transport, which is fantastic in Vienna. It’s all integrated and easy to navigate with subways, buses and trams.

However, if you want an everything done for you type of transport where you can learn some history along the way then the sightseeing bus is a good option.

I used the Big Bus Vienna.

Here are the prices (correct at time of publication) – I visited in March 2025

Route	Discover	Essential	Explore
Hop On Hop Off	Yes	Yes	Yes
City Route	Yes	Yes	Yes
Palace Route	Yes	Yes	Yes
Self guided walking tour	Yes	Yes	Yes
Guided Inner City Walk	No	Yes	Yes
River Cruise	No	No	Cruise or
Live Evening Walking Tour	No	No	Walking Tour
Westfield Shopping City (Sat & Sun Only)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Valid For	1 Day	2 Days	2 Days
Adult Price (Euros)	41	51	61
Child Price (Euros)	25	30	40
Family (2 adults & 2 children) (Euros)	119	144	179

Vienna Sightseeing Bus Video

Here’s a video of various parts of my journey on the sightseeing bus

Hop on and Hop Off Vienna – Big Bus Operational Times

The first red route bus of the day starts at the Opera House at 9.30am and finishes at 4pm.

The first blue route bus of the day starts at the Opera House at 9.45am and finishes at 4.15pm.

It takes 1.5 hours to ride the whole of the red route.

It takes 1.5 hours to ride all of the blue route.

City Tour Bus Vienna – Danube River Cruises

The Big Bus includes a Danbue river cruise in it’s ticket price.

However, when I visited in March the river cruises were not running.

The cruises are operated by City Cruises. You can see all the details of the cruise and the cruise boats on their cruise tour website.

The cruise is a 75 minute round trip.

The boat trips depart from the red route stop Schwedenplatz at 11am, 1pm, 2.30pm and 4pm.

The last red bus from Schwedenplatz leaves at 4.43pm.

Buses run every 20 to 30 minutes.

City Tour Bus Vienna – Routes

The Big Bus Vienna operates two routes during the daytime – red and blue.

The red route covers the following stops;

• Opera
• House of Music
• Lower Belvedere
• Museums Quarter
• Museums
• City Hall
• Votive Church
• Schwedenplatz
• Prater
• Blue Danube
• Blue Danube River Cruises
• Danube Tower
• Old Danube
• Uno City
• Danube Island
• City Park

The Blue Route covers the following stops;

• Opera
• Museums Quarter
• Museums
• Mariahilferstrasse
• Technical Museum
• Schonbrunn Palace and Zoo
• Main Train Station
• Upper Belvedere
• Lower Belvedere
• The Hundertwasser House
• City Park

Changing Between Tours

There are several places where blue and red route buses stop, enabling you to switch from one route to the other;

• Lower Belvedere
• Museums Quarter
• Museums
• City Park

You can also easily walk between red and blue bus stops at the Opera stops as both stops are within sight of each other.

Vienna Sightseeing Bus – Things To Note

Announcement of Stops

I enjoyed listening to the commentary along the way and learned much about the history of Vienna that I wasn’t aware of before.

However, I missed a stop and so did other guests because the commentary was slightly out of sync with the stops.

At one point it announced the next stop after we had stopped and left again which was quite confusing.

Also some of the stops were announced but by the time people had unplugged their earphones and got downstairs the bus was moving again.

My tip would be get downstairs well ahead of the stop if you particularly want to get off somewhere.

Open Topped Busses

Some of the busses had open air sections at the top and some were completely covered in.

When I visited in March it was 20 degrees and the covered in busses looked as it they were quite hot inside.

If you are going to be riding around on the bus all day then I would recommend having a hat and sunscreen as it is very easy to burn.

Drivers Breaks and Changeovers

During my time on the bus the drivers changed over or took breaks. At one stop the driver stopped for a 20 minute break. This wasn’t announced on the commentary so it was a bit confusing as to why the bus had stopped.

Thankfully we were easily able to change to the other bus route. I managed to speak with the driver to find this out and was able to pass this information onto other guests. However, there wasn’t an announcement to advise that you could do this.

Drivers Tips

When the driver changed over there was an announcement that you might like to tip your driver.

There were some Australians on the tour bus that I was on and they commented loudly that given the price of the tour they felt it was cheeky asking for a tip as well.

I have to say I agreed.

Vienna Sightseeing Bus – Conclusion

• I enjoyed the city sightseeing bus and rode the bus routes for most of the day. I learned alot about the history and enjoyed seeing some different parts of the city – such as the canal area.
• Given that the price included a boat trip, which I didn’t get time to take, I thought the price was reasonable value.
• I missed a stop due to it being announced after we had left which was a little frustrating.
• I loved the Hundertwasser House – although it wasn’t too clear where this was from the bus stop on the street.
• There were some quite big gaps between buses, perhaps because it was out of season a bit and also a Sunday. I chose to walk quite a bit between stops rather than waiting 30 minutes for a bus to come.

Book your sightseeing bus online here.

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