With so many different sightseeing passes out there, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. This New York Pass comparison guide is here to help you easily spot the differences between all major New York attraction passes so that you can quickly determine the very best NYC pass for you.
I have visited New York more than twenty times and have tested every sightseeing pass multiple times on my many visits. None of the pass providers have paid me to write about them; my reviews of New York attraction passes and my experiences are 100% authentic. If you have any questions, always feel free to contact me at steffen@loving-newyork.com!
In my New York pass comparison, I’ll show you which attraction pass is the best for you. With it, you will not only save money but also time!
Attention, the prices will increase in June!
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Depending on how many attractions there are, this limits the choice of the right passes considerably.
In the first case, attraction-based passes are ideal. They are valid for 2 to 12 attractions.
In the second case, day-based passes are better. With them, you can visit as many attractions as you like on 1 to 10 consecutive days.
Quite simply, they save you a ton of money! There are nine different New York Sightseeing Passes available which are all slightly different, meaning that you will be able to find one that suits your specific needs. As you will see here, they can make your NYC trip much easier and help you save money & time.
Before my many trips, I often found it hard to know beforehand how much I would save with each of the attraction passes for the city and whether they would be worth purchasing. Here I will share my knowledge and experience with you so that you don’t have the same issues I had.
All New York Attraction Passes function identically. After you purchase a pass, you have 12 to 24 months to activate it, which will automatically happen when you visit your first attraction.
You can visit each attraction only once when using a pass; the only exception to this is the New York CityPASS. With this pass, you can visit the Empire State Building twice within the same day!
Once you purchase an NYC pass, you will be able to select from several delivery options. The easiest way to obtain your pass is the mobile pass, as it will be emailed to you right away. To use your pass, simply present it at your selected attraction. Attendants will then scan the QR Code and give you your ticket!
So, what is the best attraction pass for visiting attractions in New York City? Let’s find out by comparing them:
Best Offer
My rating
My rating
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews
Type
Type
My personal review
My personal review
For those who want to see as much as possible
If you want to spread the attractions over several days
If you want to spread the attractions over several days
For those who want to see a lot
For those who are first-time visitors and want to explore New York's must-sees
Discount
Discount
Save additional 5% with code "GO5LOVING"up to 42% off with code "LNYOFFER"
up to 42% off with code "LNYOFFER"
Attractions available
Attractions available
Valid for
Valid for
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 daysPrice
Price
from $142
from $79
from $74
from $144
from $138
Pros
Pros
Cons
Cons
ATTRACTIONS
ATTRACTIONS
Edge Hudson Yards Edge Hudson Yards Empire State Building Empire State Building Top of the Rock Top of the Rock One World Observatory One World Observatory SUMMIT One Vanderbilt SUMMIT One Vanderbilt 9/11 Memorial Museum 9/11 Memorial Museum American Museum of Natural History American Museum of Natural History Museum of Modern Art Museum of Modern Art Circle Line Landmarks Cruise Circle Line Landmarks Cruise Circle Line Best-of NYC Cruise Circle Line Best-of NYC Cruise Statue of Liberty Cruise Statue of Liberty Cruise Ferry to Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Ferry to Statue of Liberty & Ellis IslandHop-on Hop-Off?
Hop-on Hop-Off?
Official website
Official website
Save up to 31% with code "NYP5LOVING"
Save up to 31% with code "GO5LOVING"
up to 42% off with code "LNYOFFER"
up to 42% off with code "LNYOFFER"
Price comparison
Price comparison
The New York City tourist passes are the best way to save money on entry fees at the NYC attractions. Many museums and exhibitions in New York City like The Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the 9/11 Memorial and even the Fotografiska New York are included in the different sightseeing passes. But which are the best museum passes for New York City? Here is a quick overview:
Museums included in the New York Attraction Passes
Museums included
Museums included
27 of 32
17 of 32
23 of 32
23 of 32
5 of 32
9/11 Memorial Museum 9/11 Memorial Museum American Museum of Natural History American Museum of Natural History Brooklyn Children's Museum Brooklyn Children's Museum Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Museum Copper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Copper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum El Museo del Barrio El Museo del Barrio Fotografiska New York Fotografiska New York Fraunces Tavern Museum Fraunces Tavern Museum International Center of Photography International Center of Photography Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) Met Cloisters Met Cloisters Museum at Eldridge Street Museum at Eldridge Street Museum of Arts and Design Museum of Arts and Design Museum of Chinese in America Museum of Chinese in America Museum of Ice Cream Museum of Ice Cream Museum of Jewish Heritage Museum of Jewish Heritage Museum of Sex Museum of Sex Museum of the City of New York Museum of the City of New York New York Historical Society Museum New York Historical Society Museum New Museum New Museum Skyscraper Museum Skyscraper Museum Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum South Street Seaport Museum South Street Seaport Museum Staten Island Children's Museum Staten Island Children's Museum Staten Island Museum Staten Island Museum Whitney Museum of American Art Whitney Museum of American Artextra 6% off with code
"LNYOffer"
up to 20% off with code
"LNYOFFER"
up to 30% off with code
"LNYOFFER"
It depends on the attractions and your sightseeing pass. At the Empire State Building, you ALWAYS need a separate ticket (it’s free) because you must commit to a specific time and date. For most attractions, you just go to its location and you will receive the next free time slot. You can also choose the time slot that suits you best. From my experience, I have found that this is always in periods of 15 minutes to 4 hours.
I have been to NYC more than twenty times and have tested every attraction pass multiple times, so you can be sure that these are real and honest reviews from me!
For those who want to visit many attractions and plan with a fixed budget, the New York Pass is the best day-based sightseeing pass. With it, you can visit as many attractions as you like and take as many tours as you want. It is the best “all you can eat” pass in my opinion, also providing the most ‘fast lanes’ and attractions.
👇 Don’t forget to use my promo code “NYP5LOVING” to get an extra 10% off 👇
If you want to spread your visits to attractions out over several days, or you want to take a break from sightseeing for a day, the Explorer Pass New York is perfect. For me, it is the best attraction-based pass because it includes all the major attractions and tours in NYC!
Note: If you don’t want to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, get the New York Sightseeing FLEX Pass – it will be much cheaper!
Finding the right New York attraction pass is not as hard as it looks. Due to the different makeup of each pass, each one serves a specific purpose!
It’s important to understand a key difference: some New York City sightseeing passes are attraction-based, meaning you choose the number of attractions you can visit beforehand, while others are day-based, meaning that you choose the number of days you can visit attractions beforehand. Besides the type and validity, other differences can be found when it comes to included attractions, advantages, pricing, and discounts.
When purchasing NYC day passes, you will select the number of days you would like to go sightseeing in New York City. During the selected time frame, you can visit as many attractions as you want! You could also say that these types of passes are all-inclusive passes.
If you want to see a lot in a short period of time, you should go for a day-based pass!
Please note that day-based NYC passes work on calendar days, rather than 24-hour periods, meaning that if you activate your pass at 7:00 pm, you only have five hours left on your first day. Your New York Attraction Pass will only be activated when you visit your first attraction.
Pros
Cons
These are all day-based NYC Tourist Passes that are currently available. For each, I’ll show you which attractions you can visit with it, how much it costs, and if the pass is worth it!
Attraction-based passes are sightseeing passes such as the New York Sightseeing Flex Pass, CityPASS, and the Go New York Explorer Pass. They allow you to visit up to twelve attractions and are very flexible in terms of time; from the first use, the passes are valid for up to 60 days.
If you want to be flexible and do your sightseeing spread out over several days, then this type of New York Attraction Pass is the way to go!
Pros
Cons
Here are all current attraction-based passes for New York City. For each, I’ll show you which attractions you can visit, how much it costs, and if the pass is worth purchasing!
Then our New York Pass Savings Calculator is the answer to all your questions! It calculates instantly which New York Pass is the best for you – individually tailored to your sightseeing. He will also show you if a NYC pass is not worth it.
For these attractions, you must book a separate ticket and present it TOGETHER with your respective New York Attraction Pass at the ticket counter:
Extra ticket required?
Extra ticket required?
Extra ticket required?
Extra ticket required?
Extra ticket required?
Extra ticket required?
Empire State Building
not includedStatue of Liberty & Ellis Island
not includedAmerican Museum of Natural History
Top of the Rock
Edge Hudson Yards
not includedOne World Observatory
not includedIf you are looking for a shortcut to the best NYC attraction pass right away, here is my list of the best, including alternatives:
Especially if you are in New York for the first time and want to see as many of the attractions and sights as possible, the day-based passes are a good idea. My favorites are the Sightseeing Pass NYC and the New York Pass.
They are quite similar, and you will not go wrong with either one. The good thing about these sightseeing passes is that you can see as many attractions as you want!
If you already know exactly what you want to do in New York City, then I recommend the Sightseeing FLEX Pass, New York Explorer Pass (now called Go New York Explorer Pass) or the CityPASS New York.
All three sightseeing passes are attraction based and you can choose exactly how many attractions you wish to see.
In my opinion, the best sightseeing pass for families is the Sightseeing FLEX Pass, which I have used several times with my family. With it, you can be flexible with your time, and it offers a 50% discount on children’s passes.
For each of the passes, I’ll show you which attractions you can visit with, how much it costs, and if the pass is worth purchasing! At the end of the section, you can compare which is the better pass for you in the New York Pass vs. Sightseeing Pass comparison.
NOTE: The newest observation deck SUMMIT One Vanderbilt, is not yet included with any attraction pass for New York. Tickets for the One Vanderbilt observation deck can be purchased here.
The New York Pass gives you access to all included attractions during the duration that you select. You can select between 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 10 days and choose from over 110 attractions while saving up to 50% compared to regular ticket prices.
The New York Pass includes an extensive list of attractions, museums, walking tours, bus tours, and cruises. The Empire State Building, the 9/11 Memorial Museum, The Edge at Hudson Yards and the One World Observatory are included.
Here is a small selection of the 110+ attractions:
New York Pass prices start at $142 for the 1-day pass and go as high as $399 for the 10-day pass. You save more, the larger your pass is and the more attractions you visit.
New York Pass for Price Adults Price ChildrenYes! If you visit at least 2 attractions a day, the New York Pass will be worth the money. Compared to other passes, the New York Pass offers most fast lanes, including main attractions like the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, MoMA, and Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises.
Just like the Sightseeing Pass, the New York Pass includes over 100 unique attractions and tours. The biggest advantage you’ll get when you buy the New York Pass is the access to fast lanes. It offers fast tracks for many of New York’s top attractions, such as the Empire State Building and the Top of the Rock.
New York attractions
Price (adults)
Empire State Building
Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
SoHo, Little Italy & Chinatown Walking Tour
Top of The Rock
9/11 Memorial & Museum
One World Observatory
American Museum of Natural History
Circle Line Landmarks Cruise
Woodbury Common Premium OutletsTotal price without pass
$436
New York Pass for 3 days
$249
Savings
$187 (43%!!)
The New York Pass is a great unlimited pass option, ideal for seeing a large number of attractions in a short period of time. Purchase the pass online to receive your mobile pass. You can then show this at the counter when entering the attraction in order to receive your entrance tickets – simple!
👇 Don’t forget to use my promo code “NYP5LOVING” to get up to 31% off! 👇
The New York Sightseeing DAY Pass gives you access to over 100 attractions during the number of days you purchase. You can choose between 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 10 days and save up to 50% compared to regular ticket prices.
On top of that, our promo code LNYOffer can save you up to an additional 40%!
This day-based pass also has a lot to offer; with it you can visit more than 100 of the most popular attractions. You can visit four observation decks, use the hop-on hop-off buses, and visit the American Museum of Modern Art or the Guggenheim Museum.
How much does the Sightseeing DAY Pass cost?
New York Sightseeing Pass for Price (adults) Price childrenYes! The New York Sightseeing Pass can save you a ton of money, provides you with a lot of flexibility in terms of attractions, as well as removes a lot of the hassle from your NYC Sightseeing trip. As the pass with the best value for money of the lot, it is definitely worth it if you are planning on up to 10 days of consecutive NYC sightseeing.
In order to get the most out of your sightseeing pass, you should plan on visiting around 2-3 NYC attractions with your pass each day.
The longer you purchase the pass for the fewer attractions you need to visit per day to make sure the pass is worth the money. If you purchase a Sightseeing Pass for 6 days for example (~$334, you get unlimited sightseeing for ~$56 per day, which is below the price of many attractions tickets purchased on their own. This means that you only need to visit one attraction a day for 7 days to make this pass worth it! This is what makes this the best value for money pass of the bunch.
New York attractions
Price (per adult)
DAY 1 DAY 1Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
Empire State Building
DAY 2 DAY 2Ferry to Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
9/11 Memorial & Museum
One World Observatory
DAY 3 DAY 3American Museum of Natural History
Radio City Music Hall Stage Door TourCircle Line Landmarks Cruise
Top of The Rock
TOTAL SINGLE TICKETS
$405
New York Sightseeing DAY Pass for 3 days
$244
Your savings $161 (40%. )The NYC Sightseeing Pass is a piece of cake to use! After purchasing the pass online, you will receive an email with your pass. You can from here print the pass or save it to your phone. Once you are in NYC and ready to go sightseeing with your New York tourist pass, choose which attraction you want to visit on the go and head towards it with your Sightseeing Pass in hand. Choose as you go, simply show your Pass at each attraction for free admission; easy!
I often get the question whether the New York Pass or the New York Sightseeing Pass is better. While there are differences, both passes are worth the money and you won’t go wrong with either of them.
For both New York Day Passes, the attractions and included tours are almost identical. You can visit all the major attractions, except for SUMMIT One Vanderbilt and The Met. Both include a 1 Day Classic Hop-on Hop-off bus ticket and many of the boat and walking tours!
So, what are the differences between the two? New York Pass is a little better in terms of boat tours because it’s the only one that includes the Circle Line Best-Of Cruise (which takes you all the way around the island of Manhattan). The Sightseeing Pass is better in two aspects: first, it is cheaper than the New York Pass with our exclusive discount code (as you can see in the table), and it’s also available in a 6-day version!
. in Sightseeing Pass NYC?
. in New York Pass?Hop-on Hop-off 1 Day
Edge Hudson Yards
Empire State Building
Top of the Rock
FAST LANE
One World Observatory
9/11 Memorial Museum
American Museum of Natural History
Museum of Modern Art
Statue of Liberty Cruise
Price with my discount
Price
$129
$182
$207
$239
$269
$284
$299
$349
The All-Inclusive Pass is managed by the same company as the New York Pass. It functions the same as the New York Pass in how it works, the available attractions and tours, and prices. Since it is quite new compared to the New York Pass, I would recommend the original.
Note: The newest observation deck, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt, is not yet included with any NYC pass. Tickets for the One Vanderbilt observation deck can be purchased here.
The New York Sightseeing FLEX Pass can be used as a pass to visit 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, or 12 attractions from a list of over 100. It is a great option for visitors to NYC who are looking to spend non-consecutive days sightseeing in NYC. The NYC Sightseeing FLEX Pass is a great option if you are interested in visiting major attractions, museums, or taking the hop-on hop-off buses.
It also gives you a large amount of flexibility since you do not need to decide on which attractions to visit beforehand. All that you have to do is show your Sightseeing Pass at the first attraction (included in your pass) that you wish to visit.
Attractions included in New York Sightseeing FLEX Pass
These are what I consider to be the top attractions and tours you can visit with the Sightseeing Pass FLEX (there are over 100 in total):
How much does the Flex Pass cost?
Sightseeing FLEX Pass for Price Adult Price ChildrenThe NYC Sightseeing Flex Pass is most definitely worth it if you are looking to visit up to 12 NYC attractions on non-consecutive days, all while saving money and remaining flexible during your trip. If you visit all of the attractions you have purchased with your pass, it is definitely worth it alone for the amount of money you can save. It is however also extremely worth it because of the flexibility that the New York tourist pass gives you. Choose as you go, simply show your NYC Sightseeing Pass at each attraction for free admission, for as many attractions as you purchased!
Compared to the cost of tickets individually, you save over 40% with the Sightseeing Flex Pass for 10 attractions. This is quite relaxed possible, because you have 30 days to visit these attractions.
DAY 1
Price per adult
Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
Empire State Building
Circle Line Landmarks Cruise
American Museum of Natural History
Top of The Rock
SoHo, Little Italy & Chinatown Walking Tour
Guggenheim Museum9/11 Memorial & Museum
One World Observatory
$414
FLEX Pass for 10 Attractions
$264
Savings per person
$150, you save 36%
The NYC Sightseeing Flex Pass is super simple to use. Once you have purchased the pass you will receive an email with a QR code (that you can either print or save to your phone), which you can then scan at attractions to gain free entry.
Yes! The New York Sightseeing FLEX Pass includes the Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tours (Uptown & Downtown Bus Loops) which count as just one choice and are valid for 24 hours.
The Go New York Explorer Pass is a great option if you already know how many attractions you want to visit. Choosing between 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 10 attractions from the list of over 100, this NYC Pass offers you a 60-day window to visit the number of attractions you selected. The New York Go Explorer pass gives you the freedom to explore New York at your own pace, choosing from an extensive list of NYC attractions and tours.
Attractions included in Go New York Explorer Pass
With the Explorer Pass, you can visit many amazing attractions like the Empire State Building, the Top of the Rock, and the observation deck Edge Hudson Yards, as well as take walking tours, the hop-on hop-off bus tours, and boat tours.
Also included are major museums like MoMA, the Guggenheim, the 9/11 Memorial Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History. Here is a selection of the most popular attractions and tours you can visit with the Explorer Pass (there are over 110 in total):
How much does the Go New York Explorer Pass cost?
The prices depend on the number of attractions you want to visit with it:
