I love a good deal.

I also love trying to visit as much as possible when I’m travelling.

So a city sightseeing pass or card – which offers entrance into participating attractions for discounted prices – sounds totally up my alley.

Some city passes even offer discounts on transportation, restaurants, and souvenir shops.

On a recent trip to New York, I planned on seeing as much as possible during the 7-odd days I had. A city pass seemed exactly what I needed.

While there are a few options out there, I opted for the New York Pass by Go City’s All-Inclusive 7-Day Pass.

Was it worth it? Keep reading to find out!

Types of passes offered by Go City

There are two types of passes offered by Go City – the Explorer Pass and the All-Inclusive Pass.

The main difference between passes (apart from price):

• For the Explorer Pass, you pay by attraction
• For the All-Inclusive Pass, you pay by day but have no limitations on the number of attractions you visit (as long as they’re included in the pass, naturally)

Check out some additional information about the two passes below.

	Explorer Pass	All-Inclusive Pass
What you pay for	Pay by attraction (up to 10 attractions)	Pay by number of days the pass will be valid, no limit on number of attractions to visit (up to 10 days)
How long it’s valid for	60 days starting from the first attraction you visit	1-10 days (depending on which you purchase) starting from the first attraction you visit
Are all attractions offered?	No	No
Difference in attractions between the two passes	Both passes offer entrance to major NYC attractions, including but not limited to: – Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry – Empire State Building – 9/11 Memorial & Museum – MoMA – American Museum of Natural History Offered in Explorer Pass, but not in All-Inclusive Pass: – The Best Speedboat Ride – Secrets of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Walking Tour – Woodbury Common Bus Tour (Round Trip + VIP Booklet)	Both passes offer entrance to major NYC attractions, including but not limited to: – Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry – Empire State Building – 9/11 Memorial & Museum – MoMA – American Museum of Natural History Offered in All-Inclusive Pass, but not in Explorer Pass:   – Dino’s Wonder Wheel at Coney Island – Museum of Arts and Design – Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum – Free beer from Brooklyn Brewery – Fraunces Tavern Museum – Museum at Elridge Street – New York Hall of Science – South Street Seaport Museum – Staten Island Zoo – MoMA PS1 – Staten Island Museum – Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden – The Paley Center for Media – Solve the Murder by the Empire State Building – NYC Boroughs: Brooklyn, The Bronx, Harlem, Queens and Coney Island Bus Tour
Is transportation included?	No	No
Are discounts at gift shops offered?	No	No
Are discounts at restaurants offered?	No	No

Real world case study for the All-Inclusive Pass

As mentioned, I purchased the New York Pass by Go City’s 7-day All-Inclusive Pass.

This means that I could visit as many of the pass’s attractions as I could physically manage in 7 days.

The numbers (and how much I saved)*

As of the time of writing, the full price for the New York Pass by Go City’s All-Inclusive 7 Day Pass is US$509. (Be sure to check the website for the most up-to-date price.)

However, I managed to buy my pass on sale.

Price I paid for the New York Pass by Go City, 7-day All-Inclusive: $379

Attractions visited using the pass and their regular price:

Attraction Name	Prices for one Adult**
American Museum of Natural History	$30
Empire State Building	$44
Top of the Rock Observation deck	$40
One World Observatory	$44
9/11 Memorial & Museum	$33
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum	$30***
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)	$30
Madame Tussauds and MARVEL Universe 4D	$44
Edge	$40
Intrepid Museum	$36
Harbor Lights Cruise	$45
Madison Square Garden tour experience	$37
Radio City Musical Rall tour experience	$33
Total	$486

*All prices are based at the time of my visit (see next point for more details).

**Based on cheapest available ticket price per the venue website around the time of my visit. Some ticket prices may be higher based on date, add-on experiences, or whether tickets are purchased online or in-person.

***At the time of my visit, the Guggenheim was preparing for a new exhibition and the building’s famous ramp was closed. As such, the museum was offering a massive discount on admission. The price listed here is the regular admission price.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $107

Attractions I didn’t use the pass for

Activities available the pass, but I opted not to use the pass:

• Broadway & Times Square Walking Tour – normally $39
• Statue of Liberty – normally $25.50
• How Money was Made: Wall Street Walking Tour – normally $39
• Central Park Bike Tour – normally $63.18
• High Line, Chelsea, Meatpacking Walking Tour – normally $39
• St. Patrick’s Cathedral Tour – normally $25
• Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO Walking Tour – normally $39

Why skip out on these activities when they were included in the pass?

First of all, most of these attractions are some of the best free things to do in NYC. Sure, the tours would have given me more insights into these places, but I was willing to forgo that this time.

Secondly, I was more interested in visiting these locations at my own pace and in my own time. I also wanted the flexibility of taking as many or as few photos without disrupting the tour.

Attractions I paid for independent of the pass

There are some attractions that are completely worth paying full price for, even if they’re not included on the New York Pass. The two that I visited were:

• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Crown access at the Statue of Liberty*

*While the New York Pass includes the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty, it doesn’t include access to the statue’s crown or pedestal. Since the Crown Access ticket includes the ferry ride as well, I didn’t use the New York Pass for this attraction.

Want to know all there is to know about visiting the Statue of Liberty? Check out my article here!

While I didn’t get a chance to visit on this trip, other attractions I’m willing to pay full price for (and you might want to too!) include:

1. SUMMIT One Vanderbilt
2. The Cloisters (part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
3. The Bronx Zoo
4. New York Botanical Garden

Did buying the New York City Pass influence what attractions I visited?

In a word – yes.

Once all the “must-sees” such as the Statue of Liberty and the Top of the Rock were out of the way, I was free to explore whatever I wanted.

Wanting to make the most out of my pass, I choose activities that I normally wouldn’t have paid for. For example, I’ve been to or lived in cities around the world that have a Madame Tussauds museum, but had never visited one. Since it wasn’t going to cost me extra with the pass, I figured I’d finally make my first visit. (It was quite fun.)

Also, with the exception of the Statue of Liberty Crown Access, I didn’t opt to do any extras at any of the attractions, such as:

• Empire State Building: 102^nd floor observation deck. I just stuck with the 86^th floor observation deck, which is included in the pass.
• Top of the Rock: The Beam Experience or Skylift.
• Edge: City Climb. I did consider it, but decided not to after seeing the $150 per person price.

I might have done these experiences were they included in the pass, but I wasn’t willing to pay extra for them. At least not with the All-Inclusive pass, where I was prioritizing seeing the greatest number of attractions over see each attraction more in-depth.

Finally, I skipped out on attractions that I might otherwise have chosen to visit, such as SUMMIT One Vanderbilt. Instead, I focused on attractions included in the pass over those I would have to pay extra for (with the exception of the two mentioned above).

How to choose the right pass for you

Here are a few questions you may want to ask yourself to help you decide which pass is right for you:

Question	Explorer Pass	All-Inclusive Pass
Is this your first time to New York City?	Yes	Yes
Are you a seasoned NYC traveler?	Possibly*	Possibly*
Will you be visiting for less than 3 days or less?	Maybe	Maybe
Are you visiting for more than 3 days?	Maybe	Maybe
Are there specific attractions available through the pass that you want to see and you don’t care what else you see?	Probably better	Probably not
Are there specific attractions you want to see that aren’t available on the pass?	Maybe**	Maybe**
Do you want to see as much as possible and don’t care what (quantity over quality)?	No	Yes
Are you willing to spend a short amount of time at each attraction?	Probably not	Yes
Would you prefer to spend more time at each attraction, seeing each one more in-depth?	Yes	No
Are you willing to spend all day sightseeing (morning to night)?	Maybe	Yes
Are there other activities are you are doing in New York (attending a sports event or conference, doing a foodie trip that requires lots of visits to restaurants, doing a shopping trip) that leave you limited time for traditional sightseeing?	Yes	No

*I lived in NYC for several years and honestly, I would buy the pass again to visit some of the more off-the-beaten path attractions as well as for the more common attractions.

**If there are one or two attractions not on the pass that you absolutely must see, the pass may still be worth it, especially if you are visiting for a longer period. If most or all of what you want to see isn’t included in the pass, definitely skip it.

Other New York Passes

The New York Pass by Go City isn’t the only pass available for a trip to New York City.

I don’t have direct experience with the passes below, hence I’m not writing a review of them, but some of the other passes you may want to consider are:

• CityPass
• The New York Sightseeing Pass

Much like the New York Pass by Go City, these passes have options to pay by attraction or by day.

Why did I opt for the New York Pass by Go City over these other options? Simply because the New York Pass by Go City looked to have access to the most attractions. When you’re going for quantity, you want the pass with the most options.

Conclusion: Is the New York Pass by Go City worth it?

For me, the answer is yes – with a caveat.

As I mentioned earlier, I purchased my New York Pass when it was on sale. Had I paid full price, I would have probably paid more for the pass than for the entrance feeds of the attractions I did visit.

Luckily, Go City offers various sales throughout the year, so you should have a good chance of snagging the New York Pass by Go City at a discounted price.

In addition, I had flexibility in what I wanted to see, so I was more than happy to check out activities and attractions that were on the pass that otherwise I might not have opted to visit.

On top of that, I was willing to spend my entire day sightseeing, which means I could easily fit in three or more attractions a day. But I didn’t leave time for leisurely meals at restaurants and required a bit more of a frantic pace. (I didn’t visit every part of the American Museum of Natural History, for instance.)

Ultimately, whether the pass is worth it for you depends on the type of experience you want to have.

For me, I definitely found it worth it.

Still have questions? Let me know in the comments!

Do you also have one week in New York City? Don’t forget to check out my 1 Week New York City Itinerary!