Front Row, Upper Deck: London Bus Rides That Are Worth the Slow Lane
The Tube gets you there. The bus lets you watch the city arrive. That is the whole argument, and it holds up on almost any route that crosses the middle of London — but a handful of them are genuinely worth planning a day around rather than just tolerating on the way to somewhere else.
Treat these as sightseeing legs, not slow transport. You are not failing at London by sitting upstairs for forty minutes with a coffee; you are doing the thing the city is quite good at.
Why the top deck earns its fare
A bus fare is roughly the price of a mediocre flat white, and it buys you an hour of unlimited changes on buses and trams under the Hopper rule. No booking, no headset, no commentary telling you the Queen lived there. Just the street at first-floor height, which is the height London was designed to be looked at from — shopfronts, first-floor windows, hanging signs, the tops of doorways you would never notice at pavement level.
The trick is to board with intent. Pick a route, pick a direction, pick a stop to get off at. Otherwise you end up on the 73 from Angel to Oxford Circus at 8.15am, wedged against a buggy, wondering why anyone calls this fun.
Route 24: the gentle introduction
Hampstead Heath to Pimlico, via Camden, Tottenham Court Road, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Westminster. It is the one to do first because it strings together the postcard bits without any dead stretches, and because Hampstead Heath gives you somewhere pleasant to start with a coffee in hand.
Board at the South End Green end and take the front row upstairs. The run down Haverstock Hill into Camden is the warm-up; the real business is Charing Cross Road and the sweep past Trafalgar Square. Get off at Whitehall for the river, or ride to the end and walk back.
Bail-out: Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery has decent loos and a café, and if the weather turns you can vanish indoors for an hour.
Route 11: Parliament, then the river
Fulham to Waterloo, through Victoria, Parliament Square and Whitehall. It is short, it is dense with the things people come to London for, and it finishes within a ten-minute walk of the South Bank.
Sit upstairs on the side the water is on as you approach Westminster — watch which way the bus turns and move early. In November the light goes by about quarter past four, so aim to be on this stretch between one and three in the afternoon if you want photographs rather than silhouettes.
Bail-out: Westminster, for the bridge and a slow walk along the north bank to the South Bank.
Route 9: Hyde Park on your left
Hammersmith to Aldwych, via Kensington High Street, the Royal Albert Hall, Hyde Park Corner and Piccadilly. This is the polite London route — stucco terraces, embassy flags, a park so large it takes several minutes to pass.
The moment people remember is the Albert Hall, which appears suddenly on the left-hand bend and looks exactly as enormous as it should. The other reason to ride it is that it terminates at Aldwych, which puts you five minutes from Covent Garden without ever touching the Piccadilly line.
Bail-out: Kensington High Street for the Design Museum, or Hyde Park Corner for a park walk and the loos by the Serpentine.
Route 15: the City and the Tower
Trafalgar Square to Blackwall, via the Strand, St Paul's, Tower Hill and into the Docklands edges. There is no prettier way to see the seam between old London and new.
Be ready just after Ludgate Hill — the dome arrives at an angle you cannot get from the Tube, because there is no Tube there. Keep going east and you get the Tower, the river at Wapping, and the sudden quietness of Limehouse. It is a long ride; it is worth it in daylight and pointless after dark.
Bail-out: Tower Hill, where there are toilets, coffee and a view of the bridge from the pavement.
Route 88: finish on the Heath
Clapham Common to Parliament Hill Fields, through Vauxhall, Westminster, Whitehall, Oxford Circus and Camden. The pleasure here is the geography: you start south of the river, cross it, cut through the West End and end up on a hill with a view over the whole thing you have just travelled through.
Bail-out: Parliament Hill, for the view and a coffee on Hampstead High Street. Bring a coat; the top of that hill has its own weather.
Which seat, exactly
Front row, upper deck. That is the answer ninety per cent of the time — the windscreen gives you an uninterrupted sweep, and you can see round bends before anyone else. Two caveats. First, the front window reflects cabin lights after dark, so it stops being useful in winter evenings. Second, if it is raining, the wipers and the glass are a poor combination; move back a few rows.
For river and landmark views, sit on the side the feature is on and move before you get there rather than at the moment. If you are not sure, ask the driver which side the water is on for the next few stops — they will know, and they will not be surprised by the question.
Avoid the seats over the rear wheel arches if you can. They are the ones where your knees find the ceiling.
When to ride and when to walk away
Weekday rush hour — roughly half seven to half nine and four to half six — is not the time. Neither is the school run between three and four. Saturday mornings before ten are quietly excellent; Sunday is better still, though Sunday timetables are thinner and engineering works push more people onto the roads.
In mid-November, plan your ride between about ten and half two. Daylight ends around quarter past four, and the top deck is considerably less magical in the dark.
Fares, caps and the practical bits
London buses are contactless only — no cash. Tap the same card or phone every time if you want your daily cap to work properly, and remember that unlimited bus and tram journeys within an hour count as a single fare. Fares and caps are reviewed most years, so check the current numbers on the TfL site before you build a day around them.
One more thing: routes get diverted. Roadworks, events and the changing shape of London mean the 24 you rode two years ago may not be the 24 running today. Check the destination blind and the TfL Go app before you commit.
A half-day that actually holds together
Start at South End Green around half ten with a coffee, ride the 24 to Trafalgar Square, and get off. Look at something indoors for an hour. Walk down Whitehall to Westminster, cross the bridge, and pick up the 11 heading back west if the rain has held off — or take the 15 east to St Paul's if the sky has cleared and you fancy the dome.
That is two bus fares, one lunch, and most of the city's greatest hits seen from a window seat at a pound or two a go. The Tube would have been faster. It would also have been a tunnel.
