Lisbon Hop-On Hop-Off Tours | Bus, Tram & Boat Passes

NEVER get the hop on hop off bus at the cruise port. Bus sign was for Belem. Tour operator told us when asked that yes it would go straight to Belem. Total lie, we were on the bus two hours before we gave up and got off in town. 90 mins tour of some parts of the city with no interest at all only to be told to get off at the terminus to change bus for Belem. The touts at the port are obviously just interested in their commission and will tell you what you want to hear just to get your money.

Everything went wrong right from the purchase of the tour. The girl at the kiosk in Praça do Comércio was more busy talking on her cell phone than answering our questions. We purchased all the tour routes including the trams in a single package. Departures are punctual from the terminals, but the arrival time at other stops is a mystery, as there is no tracking system and no timetable. We were left waiting for the red line tram for more than an hour and in the end we opted to get around using public transport to reach the next attraction. We also had to wait a long time at the bus stop without knowing when it would pass. There is a convenient WhatsApp channel where Yellow writes the news....well every morning the list of canceled tour times was reported... One day the purple line canceled half of the trips, so instead of leaving every half hour, the tours left every hour, for a tourist this is madness!!! Obviously the cost of the package was paid in full while receiving half the service. All this was obviously not said by the kiosk operator, we were not informed of the possible inconveniences caused by the reduction of trips before the purchase, which, for the price paid, is very serious!!!! Terrible!!!! Never again with them. Better to opt for the original. If you just want to take a ride around the city on the bus it is also nice, but it is absolutely not a hop on hop off!!! With their service you will barely be able to get off to visit a couple of attractions, the rest of the day you will be at the stop waiting for them.

The Yellow bus tour was a good overview of the city. I went on three of the tours and enjoyed them all especially the boat trip. I found that the boat/buses were available quite frequently and they also have a WhatsApp channel with updates which was really helpful

On the Hop and hop off ride and the tram experienced issues with the headphones plug in not working on both. Both full so could not move to another seat to hear sightseeing narration. Even the one of ours that was working on the bus and tram was spotty, in and out. Boat was great, nice leisurely boat ride. Bus and tram were a good was to see city, but wish the narration plug in worked.

Pros: - The staff were EXCELLENT, super kind and knowledgable about the city and ready to give advice. Great at explaining the routes and timetable, etc. - The buses were clean and comfortable. - The historic tram tour was great, and our guide added a lot of great additional commentary during the tour. The Con: The tours themselves are mostly audio narrated by a pre-recorded track. In not a single audio guide we experienced was the transatlantic slave trade ever mentioned. The audio guides went on and on about Portugals expansion and exploration - never once did the fact Portugal was the pioneer and dominant force in the transatlantic slave trade from the 15th to the 19th centuries come up. Portugal transported an estimated 6 million enslaved Africans, with 3.2 to 3.9 million arriving in Brazil. Enslaved Africans were primarily used for sugar production on plantations. This is the unpaid labor that fueled Portugal's economic expansion. The fact that this is completely ignored in the audio tours feels like a huge disservice to us, the audience, in learning a large part of Portugals true colonial history. That felt quite uncomfortable, and we didn't end up using all of the tour routes for that reason.

The service was spotty. They were short a bus, cancelled some times for some reason, wait times were over an hour for our last bus of the day. We had to take an Uber to get back to our apartment and that was not hood.

Thoroughly enjoyed each of the tours that we did over three days on the 72 hour ticket. Two different bus tour routes, two different tram tours (only found out about the “golden tour” by chance) and a river cruise. Audio guides on all except the river cruise, which had announced information. There didn’t appear to be as many yellow buses as the Red Bus, but we never had more than 20 minutes wait other than for the river cruise. Not a lot of communication at the dock, watch out as groups are given preference over individuals for the river cruise. Ticket also valid for travel on some local services as well, although we didn’t try that. Great value all round, would definitely recommend.

The tours were good, but unfortunately, one had to wait a long time for the buses. The red buses of the competition were more frequently on the road.

We were disappointed at how much time we had to wait between buses. This is really for a one time experience, not hop on hop off. Having the tram and river cruise included is nice.

Got 72 hour ticket. Good value as includes yellow bus, red tram tour, boat ride and can also use ticket on yellow trams over 3 days. Nice way to see city when too hot to walk! Staff very helpful and gave suggestions where to get off bus with our time limit etc