New York City Attraction Passes: Which Pass is Best for You?

New York City is not what you might call a budget destination. Whilst there are many free sights and attractions in the city, most of the popular locations charge an entry fee, and this can be quite high. In our experience, attraction fees are one of the main costs of travel in the USA.

The good news is that if you plan on visiting a number of attractions in New York, you can take advantage of one of the various New York city attraction passes that are available.

If you take advantage of these passes, you can end up saving a lot of money. However, you will have to decide if each pass is worth it for your visit, based on the attractions you really want to see.

In this post, I’ll go through and compare the main attraction passes you can choose from when visiting New York City, to give you an idea of what’s on offer. I’ll also share an idea of how much you can save with each pass, based on some suggested itineraries for a visit to New York City.

By the end of this post, you’ll have an idea of whether a city attraction pass makes sense for your visit to New York, and which New York attraction pass is going to be the best option for your trip.

Prices are correct as of time of writing, and as with all our content, we’ll do our best to keep them updated.

Note that pass prices usually increase in April each year. However, the passes are normally valid for one or two years from purchase, so you can save by investing in advance!

Table of Contents

Overview of the Main New York Attraction Passes

There are a number of attraction passes available for visitors to New York City. They each offer different things and are available at different prices.

Below, you’ll find an overview of the main passes you can choose from, and what they offer. There are two main types of pass – those which include a larger number of attractions (around 100) over a shorter time period (usually 1-10 days), and those which offer a limited number of attractions (2 – 10) over a longer period (30 – 60 days).

Which will work for you will vary very much depending on your trip and travel style, and what you hope to see.

If you are visiting for only a couple of days and want to fit in as much as possible, then a pass that lets you visit a lot of attractions can be a good idea. Many New York attractions are open fairly late, so you really can see a lot if you have the stamina for it.

On the other hand, if you want to go a bit slower and just see a few attractions, or you plan to sightsee over a longer period of time, then a pass that offers fewer attractions over a longer time period might be best.

We’ve included both types of attraction pass in this round-up so you can get an idea of what’s available.

The New York Pass

If you want a pass that has pretty much everything included, the New York Pass is an excellent option. This is our favourite pass for sightseeing in New York City, simply because it offers so much.

In fact, at the time of writing, the New York Pass offers free entry to over 100 attractions across the city. These include a lot of high value and popular attractions like the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, Hop on Hop Off Bus, Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial Museum, One World Observatory, and many many more.

The card also includes walking tours, bike rentals, boat cruises – even a Yankees stadium tour!

Of course, all of these attractions come at a price, and the New York Pass is definitely one of the more expensive passes on our list. A 2 day pass, such as you might need for our two day New York itinerary, costs $232 per person as of April 2023.

However, if you were to visit all the paid attractions in that itinerary, including taking the Hop on Hop Off bus tour, you would be looking at around $325 in attraction entry costs. So straight away the New York Pass would save you almost $100!

See further on in the post for some suggested itineraries and examples of cost savings for each of the passes in this guide.

What we really love about the New York Pass is just how much it includes. When we use an all-inclusive pass like this, we find that it means we often end up doing things we might not have done, just because they are included. So we don’t need to think twice about adding a museum or two to our tour, or taking a walking tour, or hiring a bike.

It also includes skip-the-line access at a wide range of attractions so in addition to saving you money, the pass can also save you time.

Finally, the pass also includes discounts, which include shopping, theatre tickets and dining options.

Overall, if you plan on visiting many of New York’s top attractions, we can highly recommend the New York Pass to save money.

The pass is available either as a physical pass or as a mobile pass. You can check prices, and buy yours in advance of your trip from the official site here.

We also recommend checking prices on GetYourGuide as sometimes they have better deals. Check prices for the New York Pass on GetYourGuide here.

Passes can be activated up to 24 months from purchase.

New York Explorer Pass

If you aren’t sure you want to commit to a pass that includes most of the attractions in New York, then you might instead consider the New York Explorer Pass from GoCity.

This pass has you choosing how many attractions you want to visit in New York. You can choose 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 10 attractions, and the pass is priced from $92 to $400 depending on how many attractions you choose.

The pass actually covers over 90 attractions in New York. However, you can only visit the number of attractions you pick. You don’t need to pick the exact attractions in advance – just the number you want to visit.

The pass is also valid for quite a long time—up to 60 days in fact. So if you are in New York City for a little bit longer, you don’t need to feel quite so rushed to see everything in two days.

To get the most value out of the New York Explorer Pass you will want to make sure you use it for the highest priced attractions that you want to visit. In addition, the more attractions you choose, the greater the savings.

It’s possible to save up to 50% on attraction entry using the pass. However, this will require you to think carefully about exactly which attractions you want to visit, and plan your use of the pass accordingly.

We think the New York Explorer Pass is a good option if you are a well organized traveller who likes to plan carefully. It’s also a good option if you have a little bit longer in the city, as you can spread out your sightseeing over a bit more time.

The New York Explorer Pass is only available for purchase as a digital product, which you display on your phone. However, you do have the option to print the pass if you prefer a physical pass to carry with you. We would advise this as a good idea anyway, so you don’t have to rely on your phone battery for a long day of sightseeing.

You can check prices for the New York Explorer Pass, and book yours in advance from the official website online here.

We also recommend checking prices on GetYourGuide as sometimes they have better deals. Check prices for the New York City Explorer Pass on GetYourGuide here.

New York CityPASS

We haven’t used the New York CityPASS, but we have used CityPASS products in a number of other cities in the United States, and find they offer great value for money.

The CityPASS products generally offer admission to a specific set of attractions, which are usually the most popular attractions in a city.

The standard New York CityPASS for example, offers the following:

Empire State Building
American Museum of Natural History
Top of the Rock Observation Deck OR Guggenheim Museum
Ferry Access to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island OR Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises
9/11 Memorial & Museum OR Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

The pass comes in three versions. There’s the standard CityPASS which offers five attractions as outlined above. This costs $138 for adults and $118 for children.

There’s also a C3 version, where you can visit 3 attractions. This additionally includes the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), City Cruises, and Edge at Hudson Yards, as well as the options on the 5-attraction version. The 3 choice C3 Pass retails for $96 for adults and $74 for children.

Finally, there’s a C-All version. This includes everything with the exception of the American Museum of Natural History, and means you can visit 10 attractions. This 10 choice pass retails for $194 for adults and $144 for children.

Obviously, to take full advantage of the pass savings for either pass you will need to visit five attractions on the CityPASS, three attractions on the C3 Pass and all ten attractions on the C-All Pass.

For the CityPass and C3 Pass this shouldn’t be too hard if you have at least 2 or 3 days in the city, however we’d recommend the C-All Pass for those with at least 3 or 4 days in the city to be sure you have time to do everything.

The passes are valid for nine days from first use, so you will have plenty of time do so. If you visit all the attractions, you can definitely make significant savings. This pass does cover many of the most popular paid attractions in the city, but it is obviously limited to just these attractions.

Passes are available either as a booklet or as a mobile pass. You can check prices, and buy your New York CityPASS online in advance from the official site here, and here for the C3 pass.

We also recommend checking prices on GetYourGuide as sometimes they have better deals. Check prices for the New York City Explorer Pass on GetYourGuide here.

The New York Sightseeing Pass

The Sightseeing Pass company offers two types of passes for New York. They have an all-inclusive attraction pass where you choose how many days validity you want, and they have a pass where you can choose from a number of attractions you want to visit. You can compare these two passes here.

For most visitors, we’d say that the day-based pass would make the most sense. It includes access to over 80 attractions in New York, so should cover the majority of attractions most visitors will want to visit in NYC.

It also includes walking tours, Hop on Hop off sightseeing bus tours, and more. You can see the full list of included attractions and activities here. Note that as of April 2023 it does not include the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

It also has some exclusive inclusions, like the Bronx Zoo. Passes range in price (as of April 2023) from $159 – $509 for an adult, and passes can be activated up to two years from purchase date, giving you plenty of time to use one.

One advantage of this pass over the New York Pass is that they offer a six-day version, which the New York Pass does not.

The New York Sightseeing pass is a digital only product, however you can print out the pass at home if you prefer a physical pass you can use at attractions.

You can check prices and buy your New York Sightseeing pass in advance from the official site here.

We also recommend checking prices on GetYourGuide as sometimes they have better deals. Check prices for the New York Sightseeing Pass on GetYourGuide here.

Which New York Attraction Passes Include Transport?

Many attraction passes around the world actually include public transport.

For New York, none of the attraction passes we are aware of include any public transport. The good news is that public transport in New York is not expensive. See our guide to getting around New York here for more information.

However, most of the New York attraction passes do include Hop on Hop off bus tours, airport shuttles, boat tours, and bike rental. So you still have options to get around with the pass, even if it’s not by public transport.

Which New York Attraction Passes are Family Friendly?

If you’re travelling as a family, you will no doubt already be aware that visiting attractions can quickly become a costly exercise. The good news is that many attractions offer lower prices for those travelling with children. However, free admission and child discounts vary a lot in terms of age requirements from attraction to attraction.

For example, the Empire State Building offers free admission for those under 6 and discounted admission for those age 6-12. Those age 13 and older pay the same adult admission price.

Some passes might make less sense for families, depending on the child’s age and the specific attractions you want to visit. In terms of pass availability for children, they are as follows:

The New York Pass – child pass available for children ages 3-12 inclusive.
New York Explorer Pass – child pass available for children ages 3-12 inclusive.
New York CityPASS – child pass available for children aged 6-17 inclusive.
New York Sightseeing Pass – child pass available for children ages 3-12 inclusive.

As you can see, the New York CityPASS might be a good deal, depending on the age of your child as the age range it considers as a child is wider. So if you are travelling as a family, definitely keep this in mind when planning your trip. Many attractions in New York are free for those aged 5 and under, so a pass wouldn’t make sense in these cases.

If you are travelling with a child, or anyone else who qualifies for any kind of discount, make sure to have ID or other proof so you can prove eligibility if required.

Comparison of New York Passes: Prices & Features

Here’s an overview of each pass, and some of the highlights it includes, as well as the price range.

	The New York Pass	New York Explorer Pass	New York CityPASS	New York Sightseeing Pass
Attractions included	100+	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 from 99+ attractions	3, 5 from 8 or 10	80+
Discounts included?	Yes, discounts on shopping, dining and shows	Yes, discounts on shopping, dining and shows	Yes, discounts at stores at listed attractions	Yes, discounts on shopping, dining and shows
Public transport included?	No	No	No	No
Skip the line access?	Yes, at some attractions	Yes, at some attractions	Yes, at some attractions	Yes, at some attractions
Hop on Hop off bus included?	Yes	Yes, optional	No	Yes
Walking tours included?	Yes	Yes, optional	No	Yes
Boat cruise included?	Yes	Yes, optional	Yes, depending on pass	Yes
Best suited for?	Someone looking to visit all the major attractions and to fit a lot into their visit	Someone on a longer trip or with specific attractions in mind	Someone on a longer trip or with specific attractions in mind	Someone looking to visit all the major attractions and to fit a lot into their visit
Separate adult and child passes?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Length of pass validity?	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 days	60 days	9 days	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 days
Price range	$156 – $528	$92 – $400	$96-$194	$159 – $509

Of course, an attraction pass is no good if it doesn’t cover the attractions you want to visit.

Here’s a list of the main attractions passes for New York along with the top ten most visited paid attractions in the city.

	The New York Pass	New York Explorer Pass	New York CityPASS	New York Sightseeing Pass
Top of the Rock	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Metropolitan Museum of Art	No	No	No	No
American Museum of Natural History	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Empire State Building	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
9/11 Memorial Museum	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)	Yes	Yes	Yes*	Yes
One World Observatory	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Whitney Museum of American Art	Yes	Yes	No	Yes

As you can see, most passes cover the most popular attractions, with the CityPASS having a few exceptions. The New York Sightseeing Pass does not currently include the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

Also note that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was removed from all the passes we are aware of in April 2022. The CityPASS includes the Museum of Modern Art on the 3 and 10 attraction versions only.

Choosing the right pass for you will likely be a question of which attractions you really want to visit, and ensuring your pass includes those attractions.

It’s also worth noting that whilst the passes include entry to many attractions, some attractions like the Empire State Building for example have multiple ticket types. So you will want to check exactly what is included when purchasing your pass.

As an example, standard entry to the Empire State Building is included, but if you wish to visit at sunset there is a small additional fee to pay as these tickets are more expensive. You pay this when reserving your timeslot.

Finally, I wanted to provide a comparison specifically of the New York Pass and the New York Sightseeing Pass, as these are the two most comparable passes on the list. These both offer a similar set of attractions and work in a similar way. The New York Pass has a few more attractions, including the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

Here’s how they compare as of April 2023. Note that these are the full retail prices, and do not include any promotional pricing. Both passes do run deals from time to time, so always check their websites for the most recent prices.

	The New York Pass		New York Sightseeing Pass
	Adult	Child	Adult	Child
1 Day Pass	156	121	159	129
2 Day Pass	232	152	239	194
3 Day Pass	317	216	319	250
4 Day Pass	354	254	364	285
5 Day Pass	396	285	404	309
6 Day Pass	N/A	N/A	434	320
7 Day Pass	460	348	464	350
10 Day Pass	528	385	509	399

I’ve highlighted the lower cost passes in bold above. Again, you will want to compare prices when you book.

At the time of writing, the New York Pass offers lower prices for nearly every option. It also includes the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

2 Day New York Itinerary Price Saving Example

Understanding which pass works for you might be easiest if you look at a sightseeing itinerary for the city. I’ll base this on our 2 day New York itinerary, which has you visiting the following:

Day 1: Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island, Wall Street, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, World Trade Center Station, Brooklyn Bridge, Boat Tour, Times Square, Top of the Rock
Day 2: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Central Park, Museum of the City of New York, Grand Central Station, New York Public Library, Empire State Building

Obviously, some of these attractions are free. However, you have to pay for the following. Prices are correct as of April 2023, but they can vary so do always check when making your own calculations.

We’ve tried to ensure we include the full price you pay including any taxes or service fees to make it as accurate as possible.

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island – $24.5 USD
9/11 Memorial & Museum – $33 USD
Boat Tour – $49 USD
Top of the Rock- $43.55 USD
The Metropolitan Museum of Art- $30 USD
Guggenheim Museum – $25 USD
Museum of the City of New York- $20 USD
Empire State Building- $51.17 USD

I think this is a fairly representative set of attractions that covers the highlights that most visitors to the city would be interested in.

I will also add that this is a very busy itinerary, and whilst achievable, some visitors will likely want to take a slower pace. When considering the value of a pass, you definitely need to weigh the cost against a reasonable list of attractions that you plan to visit.

However, assuming you do follow our itinerary, let’s see which pass offers the best cost savings. I’ll base this on 2 adults visiting.

The total attraction price for all the above would be $276.22 USD per person, or just over $500 for two adults. Let’s look at the prices for each pass we recommend and the associated savings. Specifically, for these attractions you would need:

A 2 Day New York Pass
A 7 Choice New York Explorer Pass
A standard CityPass + individual attraction tickets
A 2 Day New York Sightseeing Pass

	The New York Pass	New York 7 Choice Explorer Pass	New York CityPASS	New York Sightseeing Pass
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island	FREE	FREE	$24.5	FREE
9/11 Memorial & Museum	FREE	FREE	FREE	$33
Boat Tour	FREE	FREE	FREE	FREE
Top of the Rock	FREE	FREE	FREE	FREE
The Metropolitan Museum of Art	$30	$30	$30	$30
Guggenheim Museum	FREE	FREE	$25	FREE
Museum of the City of New York	FREE	FREE	$20	FREE
Empire State Building	FREE	FREE	FREE	FREE
Total Attraction Entry Without Passes for 2	$552.44	$552.44	$552.44	$552.44
Cost of 2x Adult Passes	$464 USD	$564 USD	$276	$478 USD
Total Additional Cost for 2	$60	$60	$199	$130
Total Cost With Passes and Attraction Entry for 2	$524	$624	$475	$608
Total Saving	$28.44 USD	None	$77.44 USD	None

As you can see, in this scenario two of the passes offer cost savings.

For the CityPASS, you have to pick and choose between some of the options, in which case I opted to use the pass for the higher priced option if both were on the itinerary. It offers the greatest savings for this specific example.

The all includsive New York Pass come next in terms of savings. The day-based New York Pass would be my pick in general as it offers good savings and I have the option of visiting an extra attraction.

The New York Sightseeing Pass doesn’t offer savings on this itinerary, largely because it doesn’t currently include the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

I would suggest that for this 2-day itinerary, either the New York CityPASS or the New York Pass would be my pick. If I wanted the flexibility of being able to add on more options, then I would definitely go with the New York Pass.

As always, there’s no one size fits all – savings are always going to come down to your own itinerary and what you plan to see.

3 Day New York Itinerary Price Saving Example

Let’s look at a longer trip now, and a 3-day itinerary example. What we’ll do is take our 2-day itinerary and add some sights.

Of course, you can change this itinerary around to suit, but I think visiting these attractions in three days would work for most visitors to the city who don’t mind a busy time sightseeing.

We also have a 3 day New York itinerary if you’d like some more ideas.

Day 1: Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island, Wall Street, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, World Trade Center Station, Brooklyn Bridge, Boat Tour, Times Square, Top of the Rock
Day 2: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Central Park, Museum of the City of New York, Grand Central Station, New York Public Library, Empire State Building
Day 3: American Museum of Natural History, Whitney Museum of American Art, Hop on Hop off bus tour, Walking Tour

The prices for all the above paid attractions are as follows (as of November 2022):

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island – $24.5 USD
9/11 Memorial & Museum – $33 USD
Boat Tour – $49 USD
Top of the Rock- $43.55 USD
The Metropolitan Museum of Art- $30 USD
Guggenheim Museum- $25 USD
Museum of the City of New York- $20 USD
Empire State Building- $51.17 USD
American Museum of Natural History – $28 USD
Whitney Museum of American Art – $25
Walking tour – $35 (varies but this is an average)
Hop on Hop off bus tour – $80 (also varies depending on company)

In total you are now looking at $444.22 per person, or $888.44 for two adults. That’s a lot of money for three days of sightseeing!

Let’s look at the prices for each pass we recommend and the associated savings. Specifically, for these attractions you would need:

a 3-day New York Pass
A 10 Choice New York Explorer Pass
A CityPass + individual attraction tickets
A 3-day New York Sightseeing Pass

	The New York Pass	New York 10 Choice Explorer Pass	New York CityPASS	New York Sightseeing Pass
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island	FREE	FREE	$24.4	FREE
9/11 Memorial & Museum	FREE	FREE	FREE	$33
Boat Tour	FREE	FREE	FREE	FREE
Top of the Rock	FREE	FREE	FREE	FREE
The Metropolitan Museum of Art	$30	$30	$30	$30
Guggenheim Museum	FREE	FREE	$25	FREE
Museum of the City of New York	FREE	$20	$20	FREE
Empire State Building	FREE	FREE	FREE	FREE
American Museum of Natural History	FREE	FREE	FREE	FREE
Whitney Museum of American Art	FREE	FREE	$25	FREE
Walking tour	FREE	FREE	$35	FREE
HoHo tour	FREE	FREE	$80	FREE
Total Attraction Entry Without Passes for 2	$888.44 USD	$888.44 USD	$888.44 USD	$888.44 USD
Cost of 2x Adult Passes	$634 USD	$800 USD	$388 USD	$638 USD
Total Additional Cost	$60	$60	$478.4	$126
Total Cost With Passes and Attraction Entry for 2	$694	$860	$866.8	$764
Total Saving	$194.44	$28.44	$21.64	$124.44

When we add in the extra day and some additional attractions, things change up a bit. The 3-day New York Pass offers the best savings for this specific itinerary, whilst the New York CityPASS offers the lowest savings.

The savings are high enough for some of these passes that even if you skip quite a few attractions for a more leisurely visit, you will still save a considerable amount.

Of course, your savings will vary depending on what you choose to visit, so it is well worth doing a little research to check for your planned attractions.

So Which New York Attraction Pass is Best?

The bottom line is that most visitors will save money with an attraction pass if they plan on visiting a number of attractions in New York city.

However, there is no one size fits all answer. As this post has hopefully shown, it depends on the type of trip and how much sightseeing you want to do.

If you are visiting New York for 2 or 3 days, and plan on seeing 3 – 4 paid attractions each day, then I would normally recommend the New York Pass as in our experience it offers the greatest flexibility and most inclusions.

You will just want to check to be sure that what you want to see is included. I’d also add that all the passes regularly run special offers, so just see which has the best offer for your trip.

If you plan on visiting fewer paid attractions each day, or are visiting the city for longer and want to spread out your sightseeing, then you will probably find that the New York Explorer Pass or New York CityPASS is a better choice. You may have to pay for some additional attractions, but the total cost saving will probably be better.

Finally, if you are planning on visiting a number of cities during your time in the USA, consider the Sightseeing USA pass. This lets you choose from 5 to 30 attractions (from a list of 300) across a number of cities in the USA, so might work out to be a good option for you depending on your overall itinerary.