The tuk tuk goes where the tour bus gives up. Lisbon, Bangkok, Jaipur, Central Park.
How long a ride really runs, what a driver-guide does for the money, and whether to take the whole vehicle or a seat in it. Reviews of tuk tuk, rickshaw, pedicab and cyclo tours worldwide.
Four rides that explain why anyone books a tuk tuk at all.
A Lisbon hill run, a Bangkok night circuit, the Angkor dawn and a pedicab loop of Central Park. What each one costs and what riders say afterwards.
01The Lisbon classicTrue 4Hour Private Tuk Tuk Tour: Discover Lisbon with a Local!Four hours through Alfama and the miradouros in a vehicle narrow enough for the lanes the coaches skip.
02After dark in BangkokBangkok by Night: Temples, Markets and Food Tuk-Tuk TourLit temples, a flower market near midnight and three food stops, all of it from an open back seat.
03The Angkor dawnAngkor Wat Private Tuk-Tuk TourYour driver is outside at half four, has you at the reflecting pool before the light, and waits out the morning.
04Central Park, pedalledCentral Park Pedicab Guided ToursA pedicab takes the park loop at talking speed, which is the only speed the stories fit into.
Portugal runs more tuk tuks than anywhere else. Lisbon runs most of them.
The hills did it: a capital built on seven of them, lanes too tight for a coach, and a tram queue that never gets shorter. Four Portuguese starting points, and what a ride costs from each.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · Private Guided Tuk-Tuk Tour with Hotel Pickup
LisbonAlfama, the miradouros, and every hill you would otherwise walk.
PortoOver the Dom Luís deck and down to the port cellars on the far bank.
MadeiraFunchal viewpoints and a mountain road with almost no straight bit.
SintraDriven up to the palace gates, so the walking is all downhill.
All 151 Portugal rides →
Two hours, or the whole morning
Two hours covers a compact old town at photograph pace. Three or four buys the ridge viewpoints and a stop you actually get out at. Whole days belong to islands and countryside, not city centres.
The whole vehicle, or a seat in it
Most tuk tuks seat four to six. Take it privately and the route bends to you: skip a church, sit longer at a viewpoint, get dropped at dinner. A shared seat is cheaper and runs a fixed loop.
A driver, or a guide who happens to drive
Some rides are transport with a very good view. Others come with a licensed guide who parks, walks you in and gets you back out again. The listing says which, and the gap in price is usually small.
Tuk tuk, rickshaw, pedicab, cyclo: four ways to be driven at street level.
They are not one ride with four names. One is an engine and a roll bar, one is pulled, one is pedalled from behind and one is a bicycle with an armchair bolted to the front. The most booked of each, worldwide.
- 1Private City Tour by Eco Tuk Tukfrom $28
- 2Tokyo Asakusa Rickshaw Tourfrom $42
- 3Central Park Pedicab Guided Toursfrom $38
- 4Chef Vu Cooking Class Plus Market Trip in Saigon Center (Pick up by Cyclo)from $46
Six cities where the tuk tuk is simply the obvious way around.
Hills, tiles, traffic and heat: the places where three wheels beat a coach, a taxi and your own legs. The best ride in each.
The tuk tuk and rickshaw rides more travellers take than any others.
Every ride we have reviewed →The eight that fill first, from a Lisbon hill run to a pedicab loop of Central Park, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
True 4Hour Private Tuk Tuk Tour: Discover Lisbon with a Local!
You’ll explore Lisbon in a private electric tuk-tuk with a local guide such as Nuno, Pedro, Miguel, or Eduardo. The route links Alfama, Graça, Belém, Chiado, and Bairro Alto, with photo stops, a church visit, Pastéis de Belém, and hotel pickup in central Lisbon.
From · $108
Read our review →
2
Central Park Pedicab Guided Tours
from $38
3
Private Central Park Pedicab Tour
from $38
4
Guided Tour by Tuk-Tuk & Optional Douro River Cruise
from $20
5
Private Guided Tuk-Tuk Tour with Hotel Pickup
6
Private Lisbon Sightseeing Tuk-Tuk Tour: Alfama, Belém & More
from $52
7
Bangkok by Night: Temples, Markets and Food Tuk-Tuk Tour
from $79
8
Private City Tour by Eco Tuk Tuk
from $28
The tuk tuk food tour: five stops, and no walking between them.
A driver who knows which stall opened tonight beats a map every time. Bangkok near midnight, hoppers in Colombo, the chaat lanes of Old Delhi, a Lisbon petisco crawl. The vehicle is the point, because the stops sit too far apart to walk.
What a tuk tuk ride actually costs, from a $3 seat upwards.
Every ride on the site, grouped by price. The distance between a metered three-wheeler in Colombo and a vintage tuk tuk hired for the afternoon in Lisbon is wider than most people expect.
Metered city runs in Colombo and Kochi, short old-town loops, and a seat on a shared circuit.
The standard half-day: your own vehicle, a driver who guides, three or four proper stops.
Whole-day island and countryside runs, vintage vehicles, and private hires with hotel pickup.
Three rides that exist nowhere else.
Any city will sell you a bus tour. A dawn run through Angkor, a pedalled loop of Central Park and a Saigon cyclo do not transfer anywhere.
The Angkor dawn run
Drivers wait outside the guesthouse from about half past four, because the gate opens in the dark and the reflecting pool in front of the main temple faces east. The pass is sold at the ticket office on the road out of town, never at the temple, so the run starts with a detour. Afterwards the same driver usually waits out the whole morning while you walk the causeways.
- 1Angkor Wat Private Tuk-Tuk Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,222 reviews
- 2Angkor Wat Private Tuk-Tuk Tour (sunrise Option) & more★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 439 reviews
- 3Angkor Wat Private Tour by Tuk-Tuk with English Speaking Driver★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 142 reviews
Central Park by pedicab
The park loop runs six miles and keeps cars out, which is why a pedalled cab works here and nowhere else in the city. Riders stop at Bethesda Terrace, the Bow Bridge and Strawberry Fields, and the driver talks the whole way because the speed allows it. Rates are regulated and posted on the cab; settle the length of the ride before you sit down.
- 1Central Park Pedicab Guided Tours★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 7,108 reviews
- 2Private Central Park Pedicab Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,981 reviews
- 3Central Park Celebrity Homes & Film Spots Pedicab Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 817 reviews
The Vietnamese cyclo
A cyclo puts the passenger out in front of the rider, at bumper height, in traffic that never entirely stops. It was the city taxi before the motorbike took over, and the surviving fleets now work the District 1 loop between the market, the post office and the old opera house. Slow enough to photograph from, close enough to smell the food carts.
- 1Chef Vu Cooking Class Plus Market Trip in Saigon Center (Pick up by Cyclo)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 477 reviews
- 2Small-group Saigon City Tour: 3-Hour Cyclo Ride to Hidden Stories★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 203 reviews
- 3Old Quarter Trishaw Cyclo Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 · 181 reviews
Four rides that will not wait for you to land.
Most tuk tuks can be waved down at the hotel door on the morning. These four run on temple gates, closing days and clocks that take no interest in your flight.
- 01Angkor Wat Private Tuk-Tuk TourThe pass is only sold at the ticket office out of town, and the sunrise run leaves in the dark, so the driver has to be fixed the night before.
- 02Tuk Tuk Tour of Taj Mahal With Experienced DriverThe Taj is shut every Friday, so an Agra day has to be built around which day of the week you land.
- 03Private Tour Sintra, Palaces and Mountain Tuk Tuk(2 to 6 people)The palaces on the hill run timed entry and the road up jams from mid-morning. The early slots go first.
- 04Bangkok Midnight Food Tuk Tuk TourThe night food run ends after the last train home, and it fills, because the stalls it visits only open once the heat drops.
The night ride is a different city, and usually the better one.
The heat drops, the temples light up and the markets finally open. In Bangkok, Colombo and Jaipur the evening circuit is the one a local would send you on; in Lisbon and Madrid it is when the viewpoints empty out. Open sides, and no glass between you and any of it.
Six cities where the ride is worth planning a day around.
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