When you start researching destinations you’re planning to visit, there’s a good chance that some kind of city pass will pop up. From Amsterdam to Zurich, there’s often a pass being promoted. These typically include entrance to attractions, transport, or sometimes both, for one set price.

In some cases, these passes are from the city itself. Often though, companies like Go City and CityPass will partner with different attraction providers in a city and put together a pass.

So is it ever worth getting a city pass? Unfortunately, it’s tricky to give a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. There are so many passes around the world and it’s tough to evaluate all of them.

As someone who has used city passes a few times, though, I can say it’s definitely possible to save money and time. Whether or not that’s the case for you really comes down to the type of tourist you are. Here’s my attempt at putting every traveller into three broad categories:

1. The fast-paced pre-planner: If you’re the kind of person who has a set itinerary for each city and wants to see as many things as possible, I think a pass can very often be worthwhile.
2. The average-paced sometimes-planner: If you have a few things you want to visit but are otherwise pretty flexible and move around at a normal pace, a pass may be worthwhile.
3. The slow-paced no-planner: If you turn up to a city with no plans other than to chill and take things in slowly, it’s unlikely a pass will be worthwhile.

City pass considerations

Whichever of the above categories you fall into (or if you’re somewhere in between), I’d suggest looking up what city passes are available for your destination. You can check what attractions they include and how much they will cost for you and your group.

First, make sure that the pass includes enough attractions you actually want to visit. You may see that the quality drops off significantly after scrolling past some big name attractions. Don’t fall for their tricks!

If you’re happy with the attractions, now check the price. Buying direct can sometimes give you a discount. Otherwise, consider using a cashback site to save.

Some passes include a set number of attractions for you to visit. For this post, I’ll be focusing on passes that let you visit multiple attractions over a chosen number of days. Pricing is usually on a sliding scale, with a lower price per day for a longer pass.

With this information, pre-planners can crunch the numbers and figure out whether a city pass is right for them. They can compare the total price of the attractions they want to visit with the price of the pass.

For everyone else, a good rule of thumb is that you’ll need to visit around three attractions per day to get solid savings. That number can vary based on different factors, but it gives you some idea without doing maths!

If having three things you need to do every day is your idea of a nightmare holiday, maybe pass on a city pass. If you’re on the fence, know that you won’t necessarily lose money by visiting less things. In fact, some passes guarantee you’ll save money, although I don’t have any experience with that.

Let’s run through a couple actual examples of how I’ve used city passes in the past.

The London Pass

I’ve used The London Pass twice and saved money both times. On my first visit in 2017, I just aimed to see as many sights as possible. However, on a visit in 2023, I had a fairly specific plan in mind.

I picked up a three day pass which currently sells for $344 per adult and $219 per child. The itinerary was fairly fast paced with an aim to visit five attractions per day. I don’t think this is anything too crazy and hopefully it gives you a picture of what is possible.

This trip took place during summer which was definitely beneficial. Longer days mean you can squeeze more in and some attractions may even be open longer.

Here’s my itinerary for The London Pass along with the cost of an adult ticket at each attraction, all in Australian dollars and correct at the time of publication:

I ended up paying half as much as buying tickets at each attraction. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily have gone to all of those places if they weren’t part of The London Pass. But you could also maybe see that as being a benefit of using a pass?

Notably, if I had gone to only the three most expensive attractions each day, that still would’ve meant a saving of around $150. Just going to the two most expensive attractions would have meant basically breaking even.

Saving money and time?

The other factor to consider apart from cost is the potential time saving. I’ll be honest, I don’t see this as a huge benefit of a city pass. Yes, you can usually just turn up at an attraction and can sometimes even skip the line.

Processes do vary between attractions and passes though, and you can still end up waiting in a lengthy queue. The specific entrance details for each attraction are usually on the city pass provider’s website and in their apps.

Timed bookings may be necessary for certain popular attractions. Looking at The London Pass, currently The London Eye, The View from The Shard and Madame Tussauds all require bookings, along with a number of others.

Basically, you should be looking at the cost savings rather than the time savings. As my example above shows, there really is money to be saved when using a city pass right.