Departing locations vary depending upon the length and breadth of the tour. For longer trips in England, many tours begin in London, while in Ireland, major cities including Dublin are often the starting point.
One of the major bus tour destinations is London, where typical stop-offs include the Houses of Parliament, the Millennium Eye, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Tours run all over the country, however, with popular destinations away from the capital including famous tourist sites such as the ancient Stonehenge monument and historic towns including Bath, Oxford and Cambridge. Regional tours are also available to picturesque counties such as the Cotswolds, Dorset and Kent.
Along with Dublin, many bus tour operators include the Irish towns of Galway and Kilkenny---all popular with tourists---on their typical itineraries. You might choose a tour which takes in areas of natural or historic interest such as the Ring of Kerry, Blarney Castle with its Blarney Stone, or the Cliffs of Moher. Longer bus tours are also available to take you further afield to areas such as the Aran Islands.
Big Bus Tours offer open-top sightseeing tours of London, taking in all of the major sights. After you pay for a ticket, you can hop on and off the tour bus as many times as you like within a 24 hour period, so you've got the option to explore an attraction further and then rejoin the tour later on.
Something similar is available in cities such as Cambridge, through services such as the Hop On Hop Off City Bus Tour, which stops at around 20 points throughout Cambridge for tourists to depart or rejoin the tour.
For specific events, such as the Chelsea Flower Show or crafts fairs, companies including Road Trip offer a variety of overland bus tours which include several attractions along a themed route.
Well-known Irish bus tour companies include Paddywagon Tours, which offers trips of varying lengths, ranging from one day tours to longer excursions which can last from three to 10 days. Paddywagon's emphasis is on offering "luxury budget" tours.
Meanwhile, CIE Escorted Tours offer smaller trips as well as longer tours, lasting between ten and 15 days in length. Themed itineraries available include "Adventure" and "Spirit" tours of Ireland.
