Hop On Hop Off NYC Map: Every Big Bus and TopView Route and Stop

All 13 Stops In Order

The Downtown Loop has 13 stops, a full circuit of about 90 minutes if you stay on board, and a bus every 30 minutes. The first bus leaves Stop 1 at 9:00am and the last full circuit departs at 4:30pm. On the first run of the day the bus reaches Stop 13 at Circle Line Sightseeing at 10:18am, 78 minutes after leaving Stop 1.

The first bus is listed at Stop 7 Brooklyn Bridge at 9:45am and Stop 8 Wall Street at 9:50am. The commentary is pre-recorded and announces each stop by number as the bus approaches, in 6 languages through free headphones. This pass from $62 on the Open-Top Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour with Night Option covers both loops.

Where To Start And Where To Hop Off

Start at Stop 1, M&M's World, because the first bus of the day leaves there at 9:00am. Stay on through the first few stops to see how the loop works, then get off at Stop 3 for the Empire State Building or Stop 4 for the Flatiron District. Stops 7 and 8 are the pair that reward a longer pause: the Brooklyn Bridge stop is on Park Row at Beekman St, and the Wall Street stop is labelled Wall Street / Statue of Liberty.

Get back on at the same stop and ride to Stop 10 for the World Trade Center. If you want the waterfront instead, Stops 11 and 12 along 11th and 12th Aves serve Chelsea, Pier 57 and Hudson Yards. One full ride without hopping off takes about 90 minutes, so with two or three stops you should plan half a day on this loop.

The stop names, boarding corners and addresses above are the ones the operator prints on its own route map.

All 7 Stops In Order

The Uptown Loop has 7 stops, a full circuit of about 75 minutes and a bus every 60 minutes. It starts at Stop 14, the Hope Sculpture on 7th Ave and W 53rd St, with the first bus at 10:00am and the last bus at 4:00pm. The first bus reaches Stop 16 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 10:45am, and the last bus there is 4:45pm.

The same ticket from $62 that covers the Downtown loop on the Open-Top Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour with Night Option also covers this one.

Planning Around The Hourly Gap

Because the Uptown Loop runs only every 60 minutes, a missed bus costs you a full hour, and the day ends at 4:00pm from the first stop. Two habits fix this. First, check the live bus arrival times in the free operator app before you walk to a stop, so you are standing at the corner when the bus comes.

Second, do the museums in the order the loop allows: ride from Stop 14 to Stop 16 at the Met, spend your time there, then continue south on the next bus to Central Park Zoo at 5th Ave and E 66th St and finish at Columbus Circle or Carnegie Hall. If you miss the last bus, the Downtown loop's Stop 2 at One Times Square is shared by both routes, and it is served until the Downtown day service ends with the last full circuit at 4:30pm.

The Named Stops

TopView Downtown tours run every 20 to 30 minutes daily from 8:00am to 6:00pm, and TopView says a Downtown loop takes about 2.5 hours if you stay on. Uptown tours run every hour daily from 10:00am to 4:00pm, with a full loop of about 2 hours. Downtown and Uptown are hop-on hop-off routes with GPS-narrated audio at every seat in several languages (TopView's pages say 11).

The New York Premium Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Pass, from $75, covers Downtown and Uptown with unlimited rides and one ride each on the Brooklyn route and the night tour.

The Brooklyn Route And The Night Tour

The Brooklyn route is not hop-on hop-off. It is a nonstop ride that passes Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Park and the Barclays Center, and the narration is English only, unlike the day loops. The same applies to the night tour, which is also nonstop with no hop-off.

The live-host night tour departs daily at 6:00pm and 8:00pm from Times Square North on 7th Ave between 47th and 48th St and takes about 1 hour 30 minutes, with highlights that include the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Grand Central, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Flatiron Building, Washington Square Arch, Chinatown and Little Italy. Audio-narrated night departures run 6:00pm to 11:00pm Monday to Thursday and Sunday, and 6:00pm to 12:00am Friday and Saturday. If you only want the night ride without the day pass, the standalone Open-Top Double-Decker NYC Night Bus Tour at $69 covers the same Manhattan Bridge crossing with a live guide.

First Bus, Last Bus, And The Traffic Reality

On paper the Downtown Loop takes about 90 minutes and the Uptown Loop about 75 minutes. In practice the first run takes longer: the 9:00am bus from Stop 1 reaches Stop 13 at Circle Line at 10:18am, 78 minutes for the first 12 stops. The last full Downtown circuit leaves at 4:30pm, and the last Uptown bus leaves at 4:00pm.

Work backwards from those times. If you want both loops in one day, take the Downtown loop first at 9:00am, return to the transfer point by early afternoon and board the Uptown loop with time left before its last bus at 4:00pm. Big Bus runs every day except Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve.

Check the traffic notes in the practical section of NYC Bus Tours before setting your schedule.

Changing Loops At Times Square

Stop 2, One Times Square, at 42nd and Broadway in front of the Knickerbocker Hotel, is served by both Big Bus loops, so it is the only transfer point between them. The Downtown Loop calls there second, and the Uptown Loop calls there second as well, after the Hope Sculpture start at 7th Ave and W 53rd St. A change costs you waiting time on one route or the other: the Downtown bus comes every 30 minutes, the Uptown bus every 60. If the Uptown board shows a long wait, you can board at Stop 14 at the Hope Sculpture instead, where the loop starts.

Keep the printed stop numbers in mind, because the pre-recorded commentary announces each stop by number and location as the bus approaches.