Edinburgh Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tours
Three hop-on hop-off bus tours loop through Edinburgh, from the castle and the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia in Leith.
Here's what each tour covers, how often the buses run, and which ticket to buy.
Written by local guidesUpdated 29 October 2026
See tickets
- Tickets
- From £27.90
- 48 hours, all three tours
- Buses every
- 12 to 30 min
- One full loop
- 65 to 80 min
- Hop off as often as you like
- Commentary
- Live or audio
- Audio in 9 languages
Edinburgh hop-on hop-off bus tickets and prices
One ticket covers all three tours for 48 hours. Buy it on its own, or get it with the castle, the palace and Britannia in the Royal Edinburgh Ticket.
Bus tours only
£27.90per adult, 48 hours
Seniors 60+ £26.10, children 5 to 15 £13.95, under-5s free
- All three tours for 48 hours, with the live guide on the green bus and audio commentary on the red and blue ones.
- Free cancellation on Tiqets up to 24 hours before the day you choose.
Prices from Edinburgh Bus Tours, checked 29 October 2026; on the bus each costs more. A family ticket for 2 adults and up to 3 children is £67.50, and 24-hour tickets cost less.
Best value
Royal Edinburgh Ticket
£81per adult, 48 hours
£96.40 bought separately
The same 48 hours of buses, plus three royal sights:
- Unlimited hop-on hop-off buses for 48 hours, on all three tours.
- Edinburgh Castle, with your time slot booked for you, even on days the castle is sold out online.
- The Palace of Holyroodhouse, on any day it opens, even after your 48 hours are up.
- The Royal Yacht Britannia, at the blue bus's stop in Leith.
Visiting the castle, the palace or Britannia too? Then don't buy the bus on its own. The Royal Edinburgh Ticket costs £81 per adult for all four, which bought separately cost £96.40, and the buses are what get you between them.
Choose your date
Pick the day your 48 hours start. They only begin when your ticket is first scanned on a bus.
Calendar not loading? Open the booking page instead.
The Royal Edinburgh Ticket: hop-on hop-off buses, castle, palace and Britannia
- 48 hours of hop-on hop-off buses on all three tours, plus Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia. The buses as often as you like, each sight once.
- £81 per adult, £76 for seniors, £43 for children. Under-5s go free.
- Book online, swap in Edinburgh. Your voucher arrives by email; take it to the first sightseeing bus stop (until 30 November 2026, Stop GG on George Street, opposite the Assembly Rooms, because of roadworks; from 1 December, Waterloo Place) for your bus and attraction tickets.
- The 48 hours start the first time your ticket is scanned, so start them in the morning to get two full days on the buses.
- The buses stop near all three sights, and only the castle needs a time slot, which the agents book for you when you swap your voucher.
The three Edinburgh bus tours: red, green and blue
Edinburgh Bus Tours runs three hop-on hop-off tours, each with its own colour of bus. They all start from the same stop in the city centre, and one ticket covers all three, so you can switch between them.
The red bus
CitySightseeing Edinburgh
- Commentary
- Audio in 9 languages
- One full loop
- About 75 min
- Buses every
- 12 min in summer
- Every 20 min in winter
The Old Town classic and the most frequent tour: Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile and St Giles' Cathedral, Greyfriars Bobby, the National Museum of Scotland, Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament, then back past the Scott Monument and the National Gallery.
Children can switch to the Horrible Histories commentary, by the author Terry Deary.
The green bus
The Edinburgh Tour
- Commentary
- Live guide in English
- One full loop
- About 65 min
- Buses every
- 20 min in summer
- Every 30 min in winter
The only tour with a live guide. A local on board tells Edinburgh's stories as you ride, from the castle and the Royal Mile down to Holyroodhouse, with the humour and local knowledge a recording can't match.
The best first ride if you speak English: one loop with a guide and you know your way around the city.
The blue bus
The Regal Tour
- Commentary
- Audio in 9 languages
- One full loop
- About 80 min
- Buses every
- 20 min in summer
- Every 30 min in winter
The only tour that leaves the centre: past Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament, out to the Royal Botanic Garden, Newhaven harbour and the Royal Yacht Britannia at Ocean Terminal, then back by Calton Hill.
The one to take for Britannia, and for fish and chips by the sea at Newhaven.
Edinburgh hop-on hop-off bus route map
The red and green buses loop through the Old Town and the New Town; the blue one heads north to the Royal Botanic Garden, Newhaven and Leith. The royal sights the Royal Edinburgh Ticket covers are marked with a crown.
Hop-on hop-off bus times: how often the buses run
The buses run every day, most often in summer. In winter the last ones leave around 16:00, so start your loops in the morning.
| Tour | Summer | Winter |
|---|---|---|
| Red, CitySightseeing | 8:45 to 18:00 every 12 min | 8:55 to 15:55 every 20 min |
| Green, Edinburgh Tour | 8:50 to 17:50 every 20 min | 9:00 to 16:00 every 30 min |
| Blue, Regal Tour | 8:40 to 17:20 every 20 min | 9:10 to 15:40 every 30 min |
Summer times are 2026's, from late March to the end of October; winter runs from 1 November 2026 to 20 March 2027. Times can change over Christmas and New Year, so check them the day before.
Good to know before you ride
How the ticket and the commentary work, where to sit, and who rides free.
Your ticket
Board at any stop and show your ticket to the driver. A 48-hour ticket starts the first time it's scanned, and you can hop off and back on as often as you like.
The view from the top deck
The best seats are upstairs. From the open top deck you see the castle on its rock above Princes Street Gardens, the Scott Monument and the Old Town's spires, and on the blue bus the sea at Newhaven.
The commentary
Headphones are handed out on the red and blue buses, for audio in nine languages, and screens downstairs show it as text. The green bus has a live guide in English.
With children
Under-5s ride free. On the red bus children can listen to the Horrible Histories commentary instead, full of the city's gorier stories.
Accessibility
Every bus has a low floor, a ramp and two wheelchair spaces, and takes Class 2 mobility scooters when a wheelchair space is free. The top deck is up a stair. Dogs are welcome on board.
Rain or shine
Edinburgh looks good from a bus in any weather. On a bright day, bring a layer for the breeze up top; on a wet one, the lower deck keeps you dry, with big windows onto the city.
Where the Edinburgh bus tours start
All three tours start from Stop 1 in the city centre, where Royal Edinburgh Ticket holders swap their voucher. Until 30 November 2026, roadworks close Waterloo Place, so Stop 1 is Stop GG on George Street, opposite the Assembly Rooms, and Royal Edinburgh Ticket holders can ride any tour bus to get there. From 1 December, Stop 1 is back at 19 Waterloo Place (EH1 3BG), a few minutes' walk from Princes St and Calton Hill.
- With a ticket in hand, you don't need Stop 1: board any of the three tours at any of their stops.
- Find your nearest stop on the route map, or download it to keep on your phone.
Edinburgh hop-on hop-off bus: your questions answered
What visitors ask us most about the buses and their tickets.
Is the hop-on hop-off bus worth it, or should I use a Lothian day ticket?
For a first visit, it's the easiest way to see Edinburgh. From the open top deck you take in the whole city with commentary along the way: a live guide on the green bus, and audio in nine languages on the red and blue ones. Buses come every 12 to 30 minutes, and between them the three tours stop at the castle, the Royal Mile, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia, so there's nothing to work out and your time goes on the sights. They're also the easy option if walking uphill is hard: the Old Town is steep and cobbled.
If you're happy to walk and work out the city buses, that's a good option too, and it costs less. The castle, the Royal Mile and Holyrood are a mile apart. A Lothian Buses day ticket costs £6 (£5.70 if you pay by tapping a contactless card) and covers the city's buses and trams, and the tram runs to Ocean Terminal, where Britannia is moored. A 24-hour ticket for the bus tours costs £23.40 online. Fares checked on 29 October 2026.
Visiting the castle, the palace and Britannia too? Then the Royal Edinburgh Ticket costs about the same as the three bought separately with two Lothian day tickets, and you get one ticket for everything, with the sightseeing buses and their commentary in place of the city buses.
Is the bus included in the Royal Edinburgh Ticket?
Yes. The Royal Edinburgh Ticket includes 48 hours of unlimited travel on all three tours, the same as the Grand 48 bus ticket, along with Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Do I need to book the sightseeing bus in advance?
With the Royal Edinburgh Ticket, no: swap your voucher at the first stop (until 30 November 2026, Stop GG on George Street, opposite the Assembly Rooms, because of roadworks; from 1 December, Waterloo Place) and you get your bus ticket there and then.
For the bus on its own, booking online is cheaper: a 48-hour adult ticket costs £27.90 online and £31 on the bus.
Which bus goes to the Royal Yacht Britannia?
The blue Regal Tour. It stops at Ocean Terminal in Leith, where Britannia is moored, and passes Holyrood Palace, the Royal Botanic Garden and Newhaven harbour on the way. The red and green buses stay in the city centre.
How often do the buses run?
In winter, from 1 November to 20 March, the red bus comes every 20 minutes and the green and blue ones every 30. In summer they run every 12 to 20 minutes. The first buses leave at around 9:00 and the last ones at around 16:00 in winter and 17:20 to 18:00 in summer.
How long does each bus tour take?
A full loop without getting off takes about 65 minutes on the green bus, 75 on the red one and 80 on the blue one. With a 48-hour ticket you can do all three and still have time for the sights.
Can I get on and off at any stop?
Yes. Once you have your ticket you can board any of the three tours at any of their stops, and hop off and back on as often as you like until it runs out.
Do the sightseeing buses have a live guide?
The green Edinburgh Tour does, in English. The red and blue buses have recorded commentary in nine languages, with headphones handed out on board, and the red bus has a Horrible Histories commentary for children.
Are the sightseeing buses wheelchair accessible?
Yes. Every bus has a low floor, a ramp and two wheelchair spaces, and takes Class 2 mobility scooters when a wheelchair space is free. Only the lower deck is step-free. On the red and blue buses, screens downstairs show the commentary as text for deaf and hard-of-hearing passengers.
Do the buses stop at Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace?
Yes. All three tours stop near both, so with the Royal Edinburgh Ticket the buses take you between the sights it includes. See our guides to Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace.
The buses are one of four
The Royal Edinburgh Ticket covers 48 hours of hop-on hop-off buses, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia. The buses take you to all three.
Choose your date
