Photo: Matej Kastelic (Shutterstock)
CityPASS is a pay-one-price bundle of tickets pass for select cities that gives you access to some of their main attractions for discounted prices: And right now, their tickets are up to 60% off.
While the tickets can give you a discount, don’t believe everything the website tells you: The savings aren’t as big as they claim to be (more on that later). Still, if you are planning to go to any of the cities available, you can get some savings if you plan correctly.
What cities are available for the CityPass deal?
Currently, the following cities have discounted CityPass deals from up to 40% to 60% off:
How much do you really save with CityPass?
If the passes were not heavily discounted, they would not be worth their price. However, with the current discount, you can save some money if you pick the certain attractions from the options available.
Every city will have their own price, attractions, and restrictions. Whether you save money on the pass and if it’s worth it will depend on the time of the year, if you have kids or not, and which attractions you choose. But this breakdown can give you an idea of how it works: The New York City pass costs $140 with fees and taxes. You get free access to the Empire State Building and the American Museum of Natural History, which cost about $44 and $28, respectively. Then you get your choice of 3 of the following:
Top of the Rock Observation Deck ($40), ferry access to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ($24.30), 9/11 Memorial & Museum ($29), Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises ($21-$24), Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum ($36), and Guggenheim Museum ($16 or free on Saturdays 6pm - 8pm).
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If you choose the most expensive options from above, you’d be experiencing a total value of $177. That would make the $140 ticket worth it by $37; granted, you’re limited to the options available in each city and that’s assuming you want to do those attractions and would have paid for them otherwise. If you picked the three cheapest options, on the other hand, you’d be overpaying $7 for the pass (it would be more if you ended up going to the Guggenheim Museum on a Saturday night).
The bottom line: Make sure you research the activities in the pass to calculate whether you are actually going to save money by buying the pass (taking into consideration the actual sights you want to see, of course).
