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NYC: Empire State Building & 48-Hour Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.30 (91 reviews) 36% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/21

Duration1h 30m

Audio guideEN · DE +3

Mobile ticketAccepted

Two Days, Three Routes, One Ticket—See New York Without Planning Every Stop

You get 48 hours of unlimited bus access across Downtown and Uptown Manhattan, with entry to the Empire State Building observation deck included and a live 2-hour night tour departing at 7 or 8 p.m. Activate your ticket via the Big Bus app or at the first stop, hop off whenever something catches your eye—the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Wall Street, the Met—and catch the next bus when you're ready to move on. The whole experience runs on your schedule, not a fixed itinerary.

1h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Hop on Downtown Red Route bus
Visit Times Square East stop
Stop at Empire State Building
Explore Flatiron District
Visit Chinatown and Little Italy
See Wall Street and Trinity Church
Hop on Uptown Blue Route bus
Stop at 7th Ave & W 53rd St
Visit Central Park and Columbus Circle
Explore 5th Avenue and museums
Return to starting point
Enter Empire State Building Observation Deck
Enjoy 2-hour Night Tour with guide

The Experience

The app wouldn't load the first time I tried to activate the ticket, which honestly felt like a bad omen standing outside M&M's World on 7th Avenue at 8 in the morning with a line of tourists behind me. But the driver at Stop 1 just scanned the voucher code on my phone, handed me a ticket, and pointed to the next bus pulling up. That's the thing about this setup—it's built to be flexible enough that a small hiccup doesn't derail the whole day. You get 48 hours of unlimited hop-on, hop-off access across two loops: the Downtown route hits Times Square, the Flatiron Building, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge; the Uptown loop runs through Central Park, Fifth Avenue, and the Met. The buses come every 10 to 15 minutes, so if you miss one, another's right behind it.

The Empire State Building observation deck is included, which saves you the separate ticket and the line—you just show your pass at the 86th floor entrance and walk straight up. The view from there is the kind of thing you can't quite prepare for; the city spreads out in every direction, and you can actually see how the neighborhoods fit together instead of just walking through them at street level. After you've done the main stops, there's a 2-hour guided night tour that leaves at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. from the same spot where you started. The guide points out the landmarks lit up after dark—Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Center—and it's a different city at night, quieter somehow, even though it's still packed with people.

The digital audio commentary on the buses is decent; it tells you what you're passing without being intrusive, and the Big Bus app lets you track the next bus in real time so you're not standing on the corner guessing. Wi-Fi is on board, which matters if you want to look up a museum's hours or check if a restaurant's open before you hop off. The whole thing is designed so you don't have to plan every detail—you just pick a stop, get off, explore for as long as you want, then catch the next bus when you're ready to move on. It's not the cheapest way to see the city, but it's the least stressful, and that's worth something when you're trying to fit a lot into a short trip.

What’s included

Big Bus 48-hour hop-on hop-off access on Downtown & Uptown loops.
entry to Empire State Building 86th floor observation deck.
2-hour live guided night tour departing at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
digital audio commentary on board.
Wi-Fi access.
Big Bus app for ticket storage, live bus tracking, and route information.
Statue of Liberty ferry option (if selected at booking).

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Big Bus Tours - USA

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to see the main Manhattan attractions without booking separate tickets or planning a fixed schedule—the 48-hour window and frequent buses mean you set the pace, and the included Empire State Building and night tour cover two of the things most visitors want to do anyway.