You’ve seen them in almost every big city you’ve traveled to, ads for them on the official tourism site, half the unofficial sites, and on half the travel blogs with an article about things to do in that destination. For one price, these city passes you buy get you admission to a whole slew of museums and attractions. Maybe they cover the local public transportation system and provide discounts or guided tours.
Deal or no deal?
The short answer is that it depends on how much sightseeing you will do. You usually have to cram a lot of sightseeing in a short amount of time to make the numbers work. Like “48 hours in __(insert city here)___” not “My leisurely week of unhurried sightseeing.”
Some require a lot of cramming in, others not so much.
What do you get with that city pass?
You really need to dig into what these sightseeing passes and city cards include to evaluate whether they’re a good deal for you or not. Some of them are a better value than others and in most cases, you need to be on the move a lot in a short period to come out way ahead. That’s because most (but not all) have a clock that’s running as soon as you start using it.
You usually buy them for 48 or 72 hours, though others have options that start at 24 hours and go up to 96. That’s great for a short visit, but not so great if you’re renting an apartment as a digital nomad and want to just go see one thing every day or two over time.
The deal equation depends a lot on what the card includes. Would you go to those attractions and take advantage of the extras normally or are you doing them to “get your money’s worth” because you have the card? Do you point to things on the list and say, “Wow, that sounds cool!” or do you look at the list and say, “Meh.”
Some include a line-jumping option, which can be especially helpful in a busy city like Paris. Some include unlimited local transportation, which can be useful and make life easier in a city where you may need a bus one time, a tram another, and then a subway ride.
In some cities, some major attractions aren’t part of the deal, despite a high price tag. The Istanbul Museum Pass, for instance, is a hefty €105 and has some questionable stops for your itinerary in this fascinating city. It does include the Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam (high on your list?) but does not include the Basilica Cistern, Dolmabahce Palace, or the Byzantine-era Chora Church Museum pictured above. For the record, the price has also more than doubled in 10 years, despite the severe decline of the value of the Turkish lira.
I reported on this Cheapest Destinations Blog about the Prague Visitors Pass, in comparison, which I used a couple of months back. We only had three days in the city anyway, so we were cramming things in before we got on a train to Budapest. We saw a lot in that time with the pass and it included public transportation. So we could hop on a tram or subway and go anywhere we wanted, including out to the cool Dox Museum in an up-and-coming arts district.
That 48-hour pass is about the same price as the Istanbul one but has a lot more than just museums. We went on a boat tour on the river (including a free Czech beer), took a Charles Bridge tour, and climbed to the top of an ancient astronomical observatory to get the view below.
We came out a bit ahead in spending, but gained a lot in convenience. Plus if we had been staying further out and used the metro more or went to even one more attraction than we did, the gains would have been significant.
Other examples of city attraction cards in Europe
I was one of those long-stay visitors when I was in Budapest recently so we didn’t get the Budapest Card in Hungary. We didn’t want to be pressured to do a lot in one day, plus some of the places we wanted to visit weren’t included anyway. We bought a monthly transportation pass for just $23, so we didn’t need a card for that.
That pass is €63 for 72 hours as I write this and includes some places we did visit, like the National Gallery in the Budapest Castle building and Memento Park, which was quite cool. Maybe with the card we would have paid to go into St. Stephens Basilica instead of just seeing it from the outside on a walking tour.
However, some of the most popular spots are not on their list, such as the House of Terror Museum, the Retro Museum, the Ethnography Museum, or the Opera House. It doesn’t get you into either of the two most famous bath houses and some of the included attractions are third-tier at best.
The Lisboa Card is a better deal at €54 for 72 hours. The transportation part alone is worth 30 euros if you were to buy three one-day passes. (A monthly one is only €40 though). So hit a good number of the museums and attractions that are free–like the tile museum, Belem Tower, and the Santa Justa Elevator–and it’s worth it. If you just want to take the occasional cable car, sip wine, and eat pastel de nata tarts all day though, take a pass.
Who goes to Paris without visiting any museums though? The Paris Museum Pass is worth buying for most visitors, especially during the busy summer months, because it lets you skip the long lines. Priced from 70 (two days) to 110 (six days), the longer you’re there the better deal it is. With the four day option coming out to €22.50 per day, you don’t have to run around like an Amazing Race contestant to get your money’s worth.
With 50 museums included, you’re sure to find plenty you’ll like and you can even go back again to the same one another day. And yes, it includes the biggies like D’Orsay and The Louvre. Plus it gets you into a lot of amazing historic castles and mansions.
Stockholm from the water
I really enjoyed having the Stockholm Pass when I visited Sweden in the summer years ago. I went on two boat rides that I probably wouldn’t have ponied up for normally and used the ferries and metro to get around. This is a pricey one though, as in €104 for 48 hours and €125 for three days. Here’s another version you can research to compare.
There’s an alternative version for that city called the Stockholm Unlimited Attractions Pass that’s a bit less costly. Which brings up another point: in some of these cities there are multiple cards with varying inclusions. It may be worth it to do some research first on what gets you excited before you lay out the cash and order one.
For example, the TurboPass is available for Naples, Florence, Munich, Hamburg, Paris, London, and others. Their Barcelona city passes are €160 for three days, but as someone who was just there in December and spending a lot of money, I can tell you it wouldn’t take long to break even and then some. It includes two of the Gaudi sites, a hop-on/hop-off bus, a tapas tour, a catamaran sunset tour, and much more. It also lets you skip some lines.
This other Barcelona pass is more than 200 euros for 3 days, but it includes some places the other one doesn’t. like Gaudi’s Park Guell.
The most worthwhile pass purchase I’ve made in Europe was the Athens Archaeological Combo Pass. For around $37, this lets you skip the lines to see the best and most famous attractions in the capital of Greece, starting with the Acropolis and Parthenon. You can hit all of these in two days easily without venturing too far. Follow that link and you’ll see some other pass options with some add-ons, like the impressive National Archaeology Museum or a hop-on bus.
City Pass Cards in the USA
While more people seem to buy these cards for Europe than the USA, there are plenty of popular ones for American cities as well. The more packed with attractions the city is, the more likely it is that that you’ll find at least one city card offering. In the case of New York City, multiple competing ones.
The more specific the card’s attractions are, the easier it is to figure out if it’s a good match for you or not. Then having a family in the mix usually tips the equation more in your favor.
The CityPASS cards, for instance, usually only include the greatest hits in that city, the ones most visitors will end up in. If you were going to those places anyway, it’s a no-brainer. If more than two of the attractions are iffy, then maybe it’s not worth buying. The one for Tampa, for example, only makes sense if you’re going to visit the Busch Gardens amusement park. Take that out of your plans and you’re better off buying individual tickets.
I wrote a whole article on my experience with the Atlanta CityPASS when the three of us hit all but one attraction on the list (the zoo). Even skipping that we came out ahead. If we had left out another though, it would have been a bust.
I also used the CityPASS in San Antonio when I visited there for the first time last year. One big advantage of these is their timeline is not so compressed. You usually have a week or more to use them.
Another option is the Sightseeing Pass, which sometimes overlaps destinations with the one above and sometimes doesn’t. They operate in big cities like NYC and LA, but also smaller ones like Key West and the Smoky Mountains region.
The NYC Sightseeing Pass can be a great deal that keeps the budget at a predictable level, especially for first-time visitors. That’s because it gets you from the airport to the city then gets you around on bus tours, boat tours, and guided walking tours. It includes admission to the Empire State Building and other observation decks, two zoos, and much more for adult prices of $214 (two days) to $299 (four days). Longer options are available, see all prices here.
As someone who used to live in Nashville though, I’d say their one for that city is a bust. Sure, it includes a couple of good Tennessee music museums: the Country Music Hall of Fame and Musicians Hall of Fame, but most of the other inclusions are far less interesting. Who is really going to go on a scavenger hunt and visit three escape rooms on one trip?! Spend that $229 for three days elsewhere.
A third company with multiple locations is Go City. They have some European cities (including Amsterdam, Dublin and Barcelona), some USA ones (including Boston, Chicago, and Miami), and even Cancun, though the need for a pass there seems dubious since most people plop down at one resort and maybe take one excursion.
As with the others, whether the city pass is a good value depends on what you think is worth doing. The San Diego Card at the top tier will cost a family of four the equivalent of a few plane tickets, but that’s because it includes the top attractions in the region: Sea World, Legoland, Knotts Berry Farm, and the San Diego Zoo. But there are more than 50 other options included too, like a water park, a harbor boat tour, bike rental, and kayak or paddleboard rental.
The 5-day one for two adults and two kids would come out to a whopping $1,686 if there’s no sale going on, but you’d actually spend far more than that just doing the amusement things included and a tour or two. So it’s a big vacation investment, but one that works out on paper if you do it right.
If you don’t want to see so much, you could bring that down under a grand with the San Diego CityPASS that only has the three most popular spots on that list and two other inclusions instead of 50+.
Pricing out city tourist card deals for your next vacation
Figure out how many true sightseeing days you have for the next city that offers a sightseeing card. On arrival and departure days, for instance, you probably don’t want to be doing anything structured and jet lag can sap your stamina for at least 24 hours.
Decide which attractions/sites are your biggest priority and look up the rates for those if you paid individually. You may find they cost far less or far more than the card total.
Don’t factor in the restaurant and shop discounts when doing the math. These are usually at tourist traps and the most expensive shops. You’re better off avoiding both. A free cocktail is not worth much if the restaurant costs twice as much for everything as the ones three blocks outside the tourist zone.
Do value the intangibles, like how much time you will save if your pass lets you cut the line to get in famous places. Flashing a transportation pass is much simpler than keeping track of exact change in a foreign currency or buying individual tickets each time from a kiosk. We loved just showing a QR code on a phone for the attractions in Athens and Atlanta when we used those cards. We waltzed right past the ticket lines with 50 people queued up.
Price out a local transportation card too. If you enjoy strolling in parks and exploring cafes more than looking at paintings and artifacts, a subway or bus pass may be all you need. For cities with excellent public transport systems like Sofia, Budapest, and Madrid, this can save you a bundle.
Don’t forget about oldie but goodie Groupon either. Where I used to live in Tampa, there’s a steady stream of sightseeing boat tours, jet ski rentals, kayak rentals, manatee snorkeling trips, and fishing trips for up to half off. Remember that you can visit any Groupon site anywhere and look for deals: it doesn’t have to be your home city.
So to wrap this up, the answer to whether buying one of these city attraction cards is a good idea or not depends a lot on you. Your style of travel, the time you have, and what kind of sightseeing you like to do will determine if you’ll save enough for a nice dinner or be better off just winging it.
Have you found a city card that was a particularly good deal? Or did you waste money on one that wasn’t?
