Is a Sightseeing Pass Worth It? Decide Quickly with This Easy Tool!

Are Sightseeing Passes Worth It?

In my experience, sightseeing passes are worth it if you want to see a lot of popular things in a fixed, usually short period of time.

You should always do the math, check your itinerary, and confirm it’s worth it for you, but if you’re a go-go-go traveler, they usually check out.

I have run into a few that weren’t worth the money in the past, which is why I made a sightseeing pass cost analyzer that I now use every time I’m considering a new sightseeing pass.

A quick 10 minute check can save you a good chunk of change, or it can give you that savvy, confident feeling you get when you know you avoided wasting money.

Both are worth the 10 minutes.

I personally love a good sightseeing pass. You don’t have to get 12 different tickets and wait in 12 different lines. You buy one pass, usually before your trip, and skip the line to get in to all 12 places with the one pass.

The convenience is hard to beat.

If there’s a pass that I may or may not break even on cost, I always consider the mental health cost of how many lines I’ll have to wait in if I don’t get the pass. If it’s more than 2-3, I’ll probably get the pass anyway.

That’s a personal decision but one that has served me well over the years. Vacation is not the time to be standing around, waiting in lines!

So, let’s look at the types of sightseeing passes that are usually worth it, including a list of ones I’ve used and recommend.

Then, I’ll show you how I check each new pass and decide if it’s worth the cost for my trip. Depending on the trip, it’s not always worth it!

Good to Know: I should clarify that these are not annual passes to a single site or season passes to a theme park. For the purposes of this discussion, sightseeing passes are a card (usually a mobile pass these days) that get you into a variety of locations for one, prepaid price. I use GoCity passes the most.

Deciding if annual passes to a single site are worth it is a different discussion.

Is This For Me? Quick List of Pros & Cons

If you’re a slow traveler, meaning you prefer to wander and spontaneously explore a new place, then sightseeing passes are probably not worth it for you.

Most passes were made for explorers that want to see 3-4 sights per day, often several days in a row.

Pros

• Cheaper than paying individually
• Often includes skip the line access
• Easy to plan an itinerary with their app’s help

Cons

• Most have to be used on consecutive days
• Not good for slow travel/only 1-2 sites per day
• Might not include everything you want to see

Getting Your Money’s Worth

It’s not hard to determine if a sightseeing pass will be worth the cost. It’s just tedious. That’s why I created my Sightseeing Pass Cost Analyzer: to speed up the tedious process.

Most passes will have a cost comparison on their sales page. They’ll list the normal cost of a few activities and show you that you’ll save money if you buy their pass.

That’s great, but always double check at least a few before you take them at their word.

Once you’ve confirmed they have real prices listed, simply copy the info into the cost analyzer and check off the sights you plan to visit.

The analyzer will add them all up for you, and tell you if you’ll break even or save money by using the sightseeing pass.

Here’s a video of the pass analyzer in action:

Don’t forget intangible costs like time saved not standing in line. If you’re close but don’t quite break even on the cost of the pass, will you at least be able to skip a few long lines?

If I can skip 2-3 long lines, I’ll still get the pass, even if it’s not quite saving money. Saving time is my second favorite type of savings.

Types of Sightseeing Passes

Will this pass cost analyzer work for all types of sightseeing passes? Yes.

Do all sightseeing passes make it easy to copy/paste the prices for the included attractions into the analyzer? No.

There are generally 3 types of sightseeing passes:

1. Multi-Attraction passes
2. Museum passes
3. Hop on, Hop off Tickets

I’ve used all three in various spots around the world. Sometimes, a hop on, hop off ticket is included in a multi-attraction pass. They all have pros and cons and ideal scenarios for use.

Multi-Attraction Passes

What you get: access (usually base entry) to a set number of popular attractions in a city

Ideal Scenario: 2-7 days in a new-to-you city

I use these the most, and you’ll find they’re the most common. Companies like GoCity and CityPass have perfected these types of sightseeing passes.

They’re a good introduction to a new place, but they rarely include everything you want to see. They likely have a handful of the biggies (think top 5 must-see places) and then a collection of lesser-known but still cool things to see and specialty tours.

Museum Passes

What you get: access to several museums, usually all managed by one owner but spread out throughout a region rather than concentrated within city limits

Ideal Scenario: multiple days in one spot with easy transit options or a rental car

Think of these like combo tickets. Because the museums are usually not all in one complex, you have to go out of your way to get to the other places, so the museums are trying to reward you for taking the time and effort to see multiple locations.

These usually aren’t a huge cost savings, but they can be amazing if you’re in an area with a lot of history or art. They often won’t save you time in a line because they usually don’t have lines.

Hop on, Hop off Tickets

What you get: usually 24-48 hours unlimited use of a trolley or bus service that drops off and picks up at 10-20 points of interest in a city, sometimes includes basic entry or discounted entry to some or all of those points of interest

Ideal Scenario: limited time, often just 1 day, or you just want a general overview of a city

A solid sightseeing option for those that aren’t huge sightseers! You want to spend most of your time on the beach, at the spa, or on the golf course, not sightseeing.

This gets all the sightseeing done in one, full day.

Example of Passes that Paid for Themselves

I often use GoCity passes because they’re always a good mix of popular things and smaller, less well-known things.

For example, a weekend of fun in Boston was fully covered by a 2 day GoCity pass. We took a trolley tour, saw tons of historic sites, ships, and museums, enjoyed an observation deck, and toured two famous college campuses.

Even in places like London and Washington, DC, which have a lot of free things to do and places to visit, a sightseeing pass can be super helpful for skipping lines and still break even on cost.

I love the London Pass! I’ve used it on week-long trips more than once because it includes so much that I was able to use it twice without too much overlap.

But again, those worked out for me because I saw a lot in a short period of time. If you only saw 3 things in 2 days in Boston, that pass probably wouldn’t be worth it for you.

When a Pass Isn’t Worth It

It’s ok if you discover a sightseeing pass that isn’t worth the cost for you. That’s good! You saved yourself from wasting money, which was the goal in the first place.

Have I personally ever found one that wasn’t worth it? Afterall, I’m the busiest traveler I know!

Passes usually at least break even for me because I play the volume game. I can visit 4 or 5 sites in a day and do it again the next day. Not everyone wants to do that.

But even I have found some sightseeing passes that aren’t worth it for me. One that stands out wouldn’t break even unless you visited all but one of the included offers. That’s not a good sightseeing pass.

Now, I’m not going to name specific sightseeing passes that didn’t work out for me because this is completely subjective based on time available and activities chosen.

The activities I choose may not be the same ones you choose, so even if we both pick 6 things to do from a 2 day pass, that pass may be worth it for me but not worth it for you based on the cost of the individual activities chosen.

Red Flags to Watch Out For

Here’s a few red flags that should tip you off that the sightseeing pass may be more of a hassle than it’s worth, even if it technically breaks even on cost.

Discounted admission rather than fully-covered (free) admission

The math almost never works out if it’s only a discounted admission covered by the pass.

The exception is if it’s a mix of places fully covered and places discounted. You’ll have to do the math (or let the analyzer do it for you) to see if it’s worth it.

This also means you more than likely have to stand in a regular ticket line to pay your discounted admission. Losing both time and money is no bueno.

Blackout Dates

This is common on public holidays or for special events. Tour operators may not honor a sightseeing pass on certain blackout dates.

You’ll have to check the fine print of your pass. If there are blackout dates, they have to list them so you can decide before you purchase.

Keep in mind that if you’re traveling internationally, they have different public holidays than you’re used to. Do a quick search for “public holidays in May in London” or whatever your dates and destination are.

We were in the Bahamas over Whit Sunday one time. We had no idea what Whit Sunday was or that it was happening until all the restaurants and shops started closing early. We almost didn’t eat dinner that night.

Always check your travel dates for overlapping holidays before you book.

Having to scan your pass to get a ticket, rather than your pass acting as your ticket.

Some museums don’t have more than one ticket line, but also, some passes aren’t big enough companies for the museums to offer a separate ticket line just for them.

That could mean you end up waiting in line for 45 minutes just for them to scan your pass for free entry.

It’s always better if your pass is your ticket. Saves time and hassle. 

Not a lot of choices.

Fewer choices means fewer chances to save money. You won’t have time to see everything on a good sightseeing pass, or, more often than not, you won’t be interested in trying to see everything.

If they don’t give you at least 5-10 options of things to do for every 2 days of pass validity, you probably won’t find enough things you want to see to make the cost worth it.

This is just a gut check, not a hard and fast rule.

You may find a small pass that delivers exactly the mix of history and art for adults only that you want to see, but that’s the exception, not the rule.

Having to book a timeslot, even if it’s fully covered.

Some passes will include a really cool food tour or history tour or ghost tour for free but then note that you are subject to booking a timeslot with the tour provider. Beware of these!

The value can be there if you can book a spot.

Tours always have a limited number of spots, and if they’re included in a well-known sightseeing pass, like a GoCity pass, they will probably sell out. Sometimes months ahead of your trip.

Keep that in mind when considering the breakeven point of your pass. If you have a lot of tours chosen but you only end up booking one of them, you may lose money on your pass.

Once you’ve bought the pass, you usually can’t return it or refund it, either. Most give you a year to activate it, though, so you could push your trip back to dates with tour availability, but that seems like a big hassle. Do your research before you buy the pass.

Happy travels!

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