What's involved
You can have your cake and eat it too with this incredible Afternoon Tea in Edinburgh.
Not only will you be tucking into a full afternoon tea, you'll also be touring the sights and attractions of the city by bus! This is a truly unique event like no other!
Hop onboard the tour bus, sit down and feast your eyes upon finger sandwiches, mini quiches, petit fours, cupcakes and warm scones complete with cream, jam and fresh strawberries!
With a glass of prosecco on arrival and tea or coffee, you're given the utmost royal treatment here, making this ideal for anyone looking for birthday or
hen party ideas in Edinburgh.
The tour will guide you round Edinburgh from the famous and historic Edinburgh Castle, Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Old Town to name just a few of the sights.
Lasting 90-minutes, this Afternoon Tea Bus in Edinburgh is the perfect way to explore whilst enjoying some delicious food with your friends.
Important information
Available on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 12pm plus Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 12pm and 3pm.
Age restriction: 6+.
The bus is not private for your group. Other customers will be on board.
Depending on group size and table availability, some passengers may have to share tables with other groups.
Please let us know about any special dietary needs at the time of booking. We are unable to accept special dietary requirements within three days of tour.
Departs from and arrives back at Malmasion St Andrews Square Edinburgh.
Due to the design of the routemaster bus, we are unable to accommodate wheelchair users, although we can reserve seating downstairs for those who are unable to manage the stairs.
Please note that this activity is predominantly a dining experience and there is no recorded commentary for this tour, but you will see the sights of Edinburgh.
Reviews
Lovely afternoon tea. Excellent service
Bernadette
Our "Bride to Be" absolutely loved her surprise! Thank you for being so accomodating and for the great service! We had a real blast ^^
Victoria
It was very lovely experiance in there. We had small hen’s party, and realy enjoyed it! 🥰will definetley be back!
Sima
12 of us and everyone really enjoyed
Elaine
Lovely fun afternoon for my birthday
Deborah
Excellent service from all the staff. Great food and drink. Great entertainment.
Helen
Brilliant day out in Edinburgh on the Redbistro bus. Afternoon tea and a wee cheeky glass of prosecco whilst enjoying the beautiful city of Edinburgh .
Thomas
Just wow!! Everything was perfect - Helen and the other staff exceeded out expectations, thank you for making my friends birthday a little more special!!
Cerys
Excellent activity!
Gillian
We were a large hen party group and had a wonderful time. Would recommend the experience. I would say it was not clear that the dietary requirements had been taken into account.
Heather
We had a great time, lovely food, comfy seats. Was a great activity for a hen party group.
Jilly
It was a really great experience and the food was delicious
Mary
We had the best time would highly recommended definitely 5 stars from our group.
Eleanor
Was the best experience.
Lovely food. The waiters
Very friend and made sure you where happy with everything
Karen
Experience was excellent
Hannah
Great fun, the lass serving and doing the tour was hilarious
Laura
Our group had a fantastic time, the afternoon tea was lovely and the staff were great. Would highly recommend
Hannah
The whole experience was great and the staff on the bus were fantastic
Amanda
Great activity for hen party
Lisa
Lovely staff fabulous tour and service highly recommended.
Grainne
Excellent food and atmosphere
Highly recommended
Thank you!
Ian
Fantastic. Great tour of Edinburgh and food was perfect.
Sarah
Was a lovely afternoon. Food was amazing. Lots of fun. Staff were so goo
Sharon
Something different to the normal. Bus was an old London route master.
Afternoon tea was all laid out nicely on tables ready to start with a glass of Preseco, + tea or coffee. Staff were really friendly and helpful.
Had a stop to sit in drivers cab and get photos.
Helen
Great experience. Staff were fantastic, very friendly and attentive.
Rebecca
Lovely afternoon tea, and very friendly staff
Claire
We had a lovely time on the bus tour. All the staff were so lovely and really made us feel very welcome. Fantastic customer service and food was super fresh and tasty. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
Nicola
Absolutely brilliant! A wonderful experience! Driver Steve and the crew were amazing!
Ashley
Thank you for a wonderful time and for making my birthday so special.
Caroline
Great experience, friendly staff
Louis
A fun afternoon. Very pleasant staff. Took care of our dietary allergies perfectly.
Angela
Yea was great, all our dietary requests were fulfilled. Staff friendly, journey was bumpy but was warned by driver
Jane
We had an absolutely fantastic trip on the Afternoon Tea bus as part of a hen weekend. Brilliant food, drink and service.
Hazel
Stewart and all the staff were amazing
We had an excellent time and would Highley recomend
Mrs
Everything was great. One issue was I couldn’t hear commentary as I was upstairs front of the bus so microphone was hard to hear.
Miss
Lovely staff, great sandwiches and cakes. Great selection of music which created a lovely buzz on the bus.
Nitsa
We really enjoyed our Afternoon Tea Bus, would recommend the gin cocktails!
Katie
Totally fun way to see the sights of the city.
Rachel
Everyone courteous and trip went very well
Joan
The experience was very nice and different. However it wouldn’t take much to make it a lot better. The person that welcomed you to the bus had very faded trousers that made them look dirty. The serving area at the top of the stairs is in desperate need of a little bit of tlc. Staff smoking behind the bus during stops is not very professional. The food itself was lovely and the Prosecco a nice touch.
Marlene
Bus was great but the food was nothing like what it looked like in the photos
Carlina
Amazing experience. Afternoon tea was delicious! A selection of wraps and sandwiches, yummy scone and carrot cake. Beautiful vintage bus which takes you around some of the sites of Edinburgh with some knowledge thrown in along the way! Can be a bumpy ride so hang on to your prosecco! This just made the experience more fun! Would definitely recommend.
Laura
The staff were absolutely lovely. The food was amazing. Such a great time!
Lisa
Excellent service
Suzanne
The bus looked great! The service was brilliant and the food was really good! Had such a great time. However, I did previously specify that my vegetarian friend couldn't have mayonnaise and yet the 3 sandwiches she was given, all had vegan mayo in them so she barely ate anything and therefore wasn't worth her £30. She did say that the food she did manage to have was lovely.
Miss ailsa
Really enjoyed the bus trip, staff excellent, very friendly and hard working, food was great.Dont take lots of shopping or bags as not a lot of room to store things. Very good value for money
Andrea
Had a fantastic time on boozy bus for my sisters 40th birthday
High tea was beautiful
Ladies were very friendly and welcoming
Will be back
Thanks from Aberdeen ladies
Jacqueline
Great tour, well worth it
Vivien
The red bus was great, such a good day out, however when I booked I asked for 2 requirements 1. I'm vegetarian but there was no note to let the staff know, 2. We were put upstairs when I asked to be seated down stairs as my gran is in her 80s and struggles. As the time we went was busy we helped her up the stairs as we didnt want to cause too much of a fuss. I would book the experience again but I feel like if you had passed on my requirements that I'd made 2 months prior it would of been a more enjoyable experience.
Chelsie
Didn’t feel it was worth the money the sandwich selection was very poor there wasn’t just plain sandwiches for people that don’t like coronation chicken and cheese savoury . The staff were all very nice and so helpful.
Rose
Excellent value for money, staff very knowledgeable and friendly. Food was lovely and everything was presented amazingly
Gill
Great tour with a lovely afternoon tea and excellent service from the staff, highly recommend this tour
John
Really unique experience! All the staff were lovely and very friendly. The food was good and were generously sized portions. I would recommend to anyone!
Joanna
Brill time all went so well
Colin
It was really nice - I love the idea of having afternoon tea while sightseeing on a bus. It would be awesome if I manage to get a top seat next time.
Tsanislava
Very pleasant all round experience travelling about the Centre of Edinburgh with afternoon tea on board the red bus. Glass of Prosecco to start off with and the sandwiches, scones and mini cakes were just about right. Tea in protective plastic cups for safety - good! Staff very friendly and professional and we even got a complimentary drink from the bar - best gin I have ever tasted! Would definitely go again sometime in the future and this comes highly recommended. Thank you very much to the staff of the Red Bistro Bus.
Alexander
We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon tea on the Red Bus. We would recommend this to our friends. Thank you
Catherine
A very enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes!
Karen
Fantastic tour. Food was excellent. Staff were very nice and helpfull. I would recommend it to everyone.
Margaret
Absolutely fantastic experience for a hen do - great food and laughed the whole time. Thanks!
Gwenno
Really enjoyed this very different afternoon tea.
Joy
Lovely time only complaint was queuing system to get on the bus was non existent and as a result people barged on. Also love seats not the best for views. Food and staff were lovely.
Suzanne
The event was excellent and my party thoroughly enjoyed food was good and presentation lovely. Kind and helpful staff. Worth the money.
Marion
Great service from staff, who worked non stop. There was plenty of food and good value gin cocktails to purchase served in mini teapots.
The bus itself is quirky and fitted out with tables which were nicely set up as we boarded with a nice glass of Prosecco waiting for us.
Good route around the city but poor commentary. Staff were busy serving food, getting drinks, clearing away and washing up so we got a quick announcement of points of interest as we passed.
The only downside for us was we were seated downstairs and would have preferred a seat upstairs.
All in all we would recommend.
Julie
Excellent food and great views from the bus
Sandra
This is a fantastic idea !! We were super excited . The food was spot on and we loved the Prosecco. If I were to make a small criticism it would be that we ended up sharing the top deck with part of a hen party and a Gin birthday party so it wasn’t the quiet afternoon tea we expected. I also thought we would hear some interesting facts about the parts we drove past as “tour” was part of the package . Although I don’t think the guides would have been heard above the noisy ladies. BUT..... it hasn’t put us off booking again and we look forward to doing so. Thank you
Lorna
We both enjoyed it but it would of been better if there was more of a detailed guided narration.
Lisa
lovely staff! maybe more sandwiches would be nice.
Victoria
What a fab day, the staff were great , friendly and so helpful. The whole experience was perfect day out with friends
Ann
Great fun and we were well looked after by the staff on the bus.
Tricia
Afternoon tea was great. Staff were lovely. Commentary on journey was hard to make out and wasn’t great. We’re from Scotland so it was a bit boring
And it was hard to make out as the girl didn’t have a strong voice. If I was from another country I would have been very disappointed with the boring
Delivery and content.
We enjoyed the experience overall and staff made up for lack of fun information.
Margaret
Great experience! Would recommend it to anyone I know coming to Edinburgh. The staff were so friendly and helpful! Xx
Lauren
We had an excellent time on the red bus, food was amazing and staff were very friendly and helpful. We will definitely be back. Thankyou
Gayle
The staff was really good, especially the lady who was on the top floor serving us, she really engaged with people and was really friendly. I would do it again, lovely with the music. Loved having a sing along
Laura
Would of been good to have some way of knowing which quiches were for the vegetarian. Sandwiches more obvious.
Lynn
Staff were lovely and friendly and let me aboard to put up photos and banners for a 60th birthday. Something a little bit different
Caroline
We all had such an amazing time, thank you!!
Arlene
Had a great time food was excellent staff made you so welcome x
Joan
Had a wonderful time
The staff were amazing
Would recommend
Sara
We had a wonderful time. Lovely food and drink with a great atmosphere. Would definitely come back again.
Claire
12 very delighted peolpe. A lovely time and the food was awesome. Well done team.
Margaret
Excellent activity, good fun and great staff xxx
Leonie