Hop-On Hop-Off Bus or Bike Tour in Warsaw: Which One for a Day?
4 min read
For most people the 3-hour guided bike tour is the better way to see Warsaw. It costs €35 per person and has 923 reviews at 4.8 stars. The hop-on hop-off bus has more reviews, 1,772, but a lower rating of 3.8 stars.
The three options
| Option | Length | Format | Price per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour | ticket for 1 to 3 days | Open-top bus, two routes, audio guide | €36 |
| 3-Hour Guided Cycling Tour | 3 hours | English-speaking guide, about 8 miles (13 km) | €35 |
| Warsaw Bike Tour: Old Town and City Centre | 1.5 or 3 hours | Small group, up to 10 people | €29.64 |
The bus
The hop-on hop-off bus starts at the Palace of Culture and Science and runs two routes, red and blue. The red route stops at the Old Town, the POLIN Museum and the Pawiak Prison, among others. The blue route lists the Norblin Factory Museum and the Warsaw Rising Museum. The blue route stops at Royal Łazienki Park; the Wilanów Palace, which the listing mentions in its highlights, lies on neither route. Commentary is in ten languages, including German, French, Italian and Spanish. One blue-route stop, the Warsaw Brewery, is marked as closed and out of service on the booking page. The ticket is valid for one to three days, so you can use it as transport between museums rather than as a single circuit. Plan around the timetable, though: the operator currently lists three departures a day per route from the Palace of Culture, the red at 10 am, 12:40 pm and 3:50 pm, the blue at 11:15 am, 2:30 pm and 5 pm, each loop taking about an hour (warsaw.city-sightseeing.pl); the booking page still shows six. The listing describes bus travel and audio commentary, so budget for museum entry separately.
The bike tour
The three-hour guided bike tour starts at Koźla 16/18 and covers about 8 miles (13 km) at a relaxed pace. The listing names the Warsaw Uprising Monument, Castle Square, the Royal Route, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Saxon Garden, the Palace of Culture and Science and the Vistula Boulevards, with a 30-minute café break in the middle. A reviewer says it reached places that a walking tour could not. English is the guide language. The listing names people under 150 cm as not suitable, asks you to confirm that you can ride a bike and know the Polish road rules for cyclists, and says child seats and trailers are not available; if you bring children, contact the provider first.
The shorter bike tour offers the Old Town or the City Centre in 1.5 hours each, or both in three hours with a 30-minute break. The operator says most of the route follows bike lanes and flat ground. It starts at Segway Point on Chmielna 2 and lists children under 8, people with mobility impairments and anyone who cannot ride a bike as not suitable.
Which one
Take the bus if you want to see sights from a seat, travel in your own language or move between museums. Take the bike tour if you are comfortable cycling, want a guide and a lot of ground in three hours. Choose the short ride if you only have 90 minutes. In heavy rain the bus is the safer plan; one reviewer of the short tour reports being able to change the date because of showers. For a slower look at the district itself, see the Old Town walking tour and Royal Castle, or browse all walking tours.
