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Hop-On Hop-Off Las Vegas and Strip Sightseeing
The Big Bus is the default first-timer purchase and it is the one I have the most reservations about. Here is what the ratings actually say, and where I would put the money instead.
Almost every first-time visitor to Las Vegas considers the open-top double decker at some point. It is parked outside the LINQ, somebody hands you a flyer, and it looks like the efficient way to see everything.
I have lived here since I was five and I have watched a lot of visitors buy this ticket. Some of them loved it. The ones who did not all made the same mistake, which was treating it as transport rather than as a tour.
The night tour and the day pass are genuinely different products with different ratings, and most people book the wrong one for what they actually want.
So here is the honest read, with the real numbers attached.
What the ratings actually say
I include real review counts on every page and this is a case where they matter more than usual.
The hop-on hop-off is the best-rated way to see the Strip
It is not. The day pass sits at 3.84 across more than two thousand reviews, which is the weakest score of anything I recommend on this site. The night tour does noticeably better at 4.15 across nearly four thousand.
I’ll use it to get between hotels all day
This is the mistake. Buses run every thirty to sixty minutes and they sit in the same Strip traffic as everyone else. As transport it is slower than walking for anything within a few properties, and slower than a rideshare for anything further.
The night tour lets you hop off at the lights
It does not. The night route is one continuous two hour loop with no stops. You board at the High Roller, you ride, you come back to the High Roller, and knowing that in advance is most of what makes people happy with it.
Top deck in an open-top bus, in Las Vegas, will be warm
At night it will not. Reviewers mention this constantly. Moving at speed on an open upper deck after dark gets genuinely cold even in summer, and there is nothing to buy up there but water, sometimes cash only.
Day pass or night tour
Two different products under one brand, and the right answer is not the one most people pick.
Day pass, the Red Route
Loops the Strip and Downtown with stops at the Welcome sign, the High Roller, Resorts World, Excalibur, the Arts District and Fremont Street. Live guide plus recorded commentary in eight languages.
It works if you treat it as a narrated orientation loop on your first morning. It does not work as your transport plan for the day, and that gap is where the rating comes from.
Best for: first morning in town, getting oriented, families with a plan.
Night tour, the Green Route
Departs around 7pm from the High Roller at the LINQ Promenade, runs south past the Welcome sign, up to Downtown and the Golden Nugget, then back past the STRAT, Circus Circus and Wynn.
No stops, no decisions, no traffic frustration because sitting in Strip traffic at night is the point. This is the one I would book.
Best for: anyone who wants the neon without driving, couples, a first night in town.
Big Bus Las Vegas: Sightseeing Night Tour by Open-Top Bus
The better of the two bus products by a clear margin. Two hours of neon from an open upper deck with somebody else driving. Bring a jacket, seriously.
High Roller Wheel Admission Ticket at The LINQ
Rates better than either bus and takes thirty minutes. Five hundred and fifty feet over the middle of the Strip in an enclosed climate-controlled pod, which matters in July.
Happy Half Hour on The High Roller at The LINQ
The highest rated thing on this whole page at 4.49. Same wheel, same thirty minutes, open bar inside the pod with a bartender. If you were going to ride anyway, ride this one.
Hop-On Hop-Off Tour with 10 Stops by Double Decker Open-Top Bus
Being straight with you: 3.84 is the weakest rating I feature anywhere. It is a fine narrated loop and a poor transport plan, and the reviews reflect exactly that split.
The STRAT Tower Observation Deck Admission Ticket
Higher than the High Roller by a long way, and cheaper. The tallest freestanding observation tower in the country, with an indoor deck and an open-air one above it.
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas
Not sightseeing exactly, but it is the thing people actually want when they ask what is new. The 1939 film rebuilt for a 160,000 square foot wraparound screen.
Madame Tussauds Las Vegas Admission Ticket
Middling at 4.13, but it is indoors and air conditioned, which is worth a great deal in a Las Vegas August with kids who have run out of patience.
Eiffel Tower Viewing Deck Admission Ticket at Paris Las Vegas
Including it because people search for it, not because I would push it. A 3.70 rating is the lowest here, and the common complaint is that the deck is small for the queue.
The Strip is much longer than it looks
This is the thing that trips up every first-time visitor and it is the reason people buy the bus ticket in the first place. From the Welcome sign to the STRAT is about four and a half miles. Two hotels that look adjacent can be a fifteen minute walk apart, and that is before you account for the interior of each property.
The bus does not really solve this, because it runs every thirty to sixty minutes and sits in the same traffic you would. What actually solves it is the Las Vegas Monorail on the east side, the free trams between sister properties on the west side, and accepting that you will walk a lot.
Use the Big Bus app for live bus tracking if you do buy the day pass. Standing at a stop guessing is how a good ticket turns into a bad review.
Where the day bus actually stops
Nine stops on the Red Route, running the Strip and into Downtown.
Usually listed as Stop 1 and the south-Strip anchor. West entrance of the tour lobby at the south end of Showcase Mall. Convenient if you are staying at MGM, New York-New York or the Tropicana end.
The busiest boarding point and the only one that matters for the night tour, which departs from here around 7pm. Staff sell tickets right under the wheel.
The Harley Davidson front car park, at the far south end. This is the stop people specifically want, and it is a genuinely awkward place to reach on foot from anywhere.
The entrance rotunda. Puts you within walking distance of Luxor, Mandalay Bay and the whole south cluster.
On Resorts World Drive by the Conrad valet. The north Strip stop, and useful for the Sphere and the Fontainebleau end of the Boulevard.
Southeast corner of Main and Colorado. The stop that gets you off the Strip entirely, into the Arts District. Worth using if you want a real neighbourhood rather than a resort corridor.
The northern end of the loop, near Fremont Street and the Mob Museum. Roughly a twenty minute ride from the Strip stops, and the single best argument for buying the pass.
Sort these out in advance
A narrated orientation loop, or a way to get around. It is genuinely good at the first and genuinely poor at the second, and almost every bad review confuses the two.
Live bus tracking and arrival times at each stop. It turns a thirty minute wait from frustrating into planned.
Open upper deck, moving at speed, after dark. Reviewers mention being cold in summer. It is the most common complaint after wait times.
Two hours, one continuous loop, boarding and finishing at the High Roller. You cannot get off at the Welcome sign for a photo.
Twenty to thirty minutes ahead. Seats are subject to availability and the upper deck fills first, which is the whole reason you are there.
Water sold on board has been cash only, which comes up repeatedly in reviews. Food is not permitted and drinks need a locking cap.
Buses are wheelchair and stroller accessible, but riders with mobility impairments are restricted from the upper deck and electric scooters cannot be accommodated.
Child tickets cover ages three to twelve, and every child must be with an adult sixteen or over.
Free trams
Between Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur, and between Bellagio, Aria and Park MGM. No ticket, no wait.
The Monorail
Runs behind the east-side resorts from Sahara to MGM Grand. Faster than the bus, and it never sits in traffic.
Just walk
Between neighbouring properties, walking usually beats waiting. Bring the shoes you actually walk in.
Book the night tour, skip the day pass, and put the difference toward the High Roller. That is the version of this I would actually give a friend.
Lori BallenThe ones I get asked
Is the hop-on hop-off bus worth it in Las Vegas?
It depends entirely on why you are buying it. As a narrated orientation loop on your first morning, it works. As your transport plan for the day, it does not, because buses run every thirty to sixty minutes and sit in the same Strip traffic as everything else.
That gap is why the day pass sits at 3.84 across more than two thousand reviews, which is well below most Las Vegas attractions.
Which is better, the Big Bus day tour or night tour?
The night tour, and it is not close. It rates 4.15 against the day pass at 3.84, and the reason is simple.
At night the product is exactly what you expect, a two hour panoramic loop of the neon with somebody else driving. Nobody is frustrated by wait times because there are no stops.
Can you hop off during the Big Bus night tour?
No. The night route is one continuous loop of roughly two hours with no stops. You board at the High Roller at the LINQ Promenade around 7pm and return to the same place at the end.
Where does the Big Bus stop in Las Vegas?
Nine stops on the daytime Red Route, including MGM Grand and Showcase Mall, the High Roller at the LINQ, the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Excalibur, Resorts World, the Arts District and Downtown near Fremont Street.
How often do the buses come?
Every thirty to sixty minutes on the daytime route. Use the free Big Bus app for live tracking rather than standing at a stop guessing, because wait time is the number one complaint in the reviews.
What is the best way to get around the Las Vegas Strip?
A combination. The Monorail on the east side runs behind the resorts from Sahara to MGM Grand and never hits traffic, and free trams connect Mandalay Bay to Excalibur and Bellagio to Park MGM on the west side. Everything else is walking or rideshare.
The Strip is about four and a half miles end to end, so two hotels that look adjacent can be a fifteen minute walk apart.
Is the High Roller better than the bus?
By the numbers, yes. The standard High Roller ticket rates 4.40 and the happy hour version with an open bar in the pod rates 4.49, both well above either bus product. It also takes thirty minutes instead of two hours and the pod is climate controlled, which matters a great deal in summer.
What else should I see on the Strip?
Plenty. Start with my things to do in Las Vegas roundup or the Las Vegas city guide. For a ready-made plan there is 24 hours in Las Vegas, and for the tower itself I have a full guide to The STRAT and the SkyPod.
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Lori Ballen
REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty Las Vegas, leading The Ballen Group. A lifelong Las Vegan sharing the best of the valley.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this site are affiliate links. Portions of this content are generated by AI.
