Burned $60 on a city tour bus pass in Rome last summer

I figured the hop-on-hop-off bus was the smart move for seeing all the sights without spending a ton on taxis. But the lines at each stop were like 30-40 minutes long in the July heat, and half the audio commentary was broken. Ended up walking most places anyway and felt like I just threw that money away. Next time I'd just get a metro pass for like 15 euros and plan my own route. Anyone else had a city tour bus that was more trouble than it was worth?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_lee4d ago

wait but hold on, a metro pass isn't 15 euros for a whole trip in Rome, right? Unless you mean a single day pass or something. I remember the 48 hour pass was like 12.50 a few years ago but that only gets you on the metro and buses, not the hop on hop off bus companies. Those are totally separate systems. The city buses and metro are run by ATAC, the tour bus companies are private. So you can't just swap one for the other like that. I mean yeah, walking and using the regular metro is way cheaper and honestly faster if you don't mind a little planning. But you can't really replace the open top bus with a metro ticket. Different things entirely. Still sucks you got burned on the tourist bus though, the audio being broken is just bad luck.

emery_hall4d ago

Kinda makes me think back to when I tried to save money in Paris and bought a pack of 10 metro tickets only to realize I was standing at a bus stop for a private tour bus. The look on my face was probably the same as when you find out your phone charger doesn't fit in a rental car. But yeah you're totally right about the systems being separate. Still feels like a right of passage getting burned on tourist transport though. At least the metro pass gives you the real authentic experience of getting lost in a tunnel for an hour.