Go City New York Explorer Pass – Is it worth it?
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We visited New York City in October half term, spending six nights there before moving on to Washington DC. We had a fantastic trip and treated it like a once in a lifetime holiday – we did everything and anything to have the best experience we could.
A big part of the holiday was planning where we would visit, where to buy tickets, whether we had to book in advance or could just turn up and making sure we maximised the time that we had.
During our planning we discovered Go City New York and researched it heavily before signing up. But, in the end we chose to use the Go City New York service to visit a few attractions during our NYC trip. So, the question is, is Go City New York worth using?
What is Go City New York?
Go City New York is part of the Go City brand, a service that lets you visit multiple attractions for just one fee in so many cities across the world. But, is it worth it?
What options are there with Go City New York?
With Go City New York you have three different options to choose from. The Essentials Pass which lets you visit three attractions from a list of 13, the Explorer Pass which lets you visit any number of attractions from a list of 106 – the most you choose, the more you pay – and the all-inclusive pass where you pick how many days you want to explore and can visit as many attractions as you like across those days.
How do you use Go City New York?
Go City New York could not be easier to use. Once you choose your pass option you download the Go City app, pick which attractions you’d like to visit and follow the instructions.
Some attractions need to be prebooked and others you can just turn up. To book, you just follow the instructions on the app.
Our Go City New York experience
We booked a five choice Go City New York Explorer Pass for our trip to New York. This gave us access to five attractions from a huge list that we chose ourselves and we picked Top of the Rock Observatory at the Rockefeller Center, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Intrepid Museum, the Edge NYC and the Empire State Building.
Out of those attractions we had to prebook all of them aside from Intrepid where we just turned up. The list of attractions included so many top sights in New York City that there really are attractions for everyone.
Is Go City New York easy to use?
We found the Go City New York system really easy to use. All the attractions were aware of the pass and knew how to make it work with their internal systems but, the attractions where we had prebooked we simply turned up as if we had booked the tickets ourselves. It could not have been easier and literally just adds one small step to the booking tickets process.
Is Go City New York worth it?
For us, as a family of four with children aged 12 and 14, the Go City New York pass that we chose was well worth the investment. The attractions booked individually would have cost a minimum of:
- Top of the Rock Observatory at the Rockerfeller Center – $43 per person ($172 for our family)
- 9/11 Memorial & Museum – $106 for a family of four ticket
- Intrepid Museum – $38 per adult, $28 per child ($142 for our family)
- Edge NYC – $39.20 per person ($163 for our family)
- Empire State Building – $46 per person ($170 for our family)
The total cost for our family, if we’d booked the tickets individually, direct with the attractions, would have been $753. However, the standard Go City New York 5 choice Explorer Pass price for three adults and one child, based on the children’s ages, is $676, giving us an instant saving of $77.
However, there are also often discount codes available to reduce the price further and, depending on which attractions you visit, you might save even more – we booked direct and used a discount code, saving us a further 10%. We chose the above five attractions because it worked with our plans and other attractions we had already booked individually but, depending on the attractions you choose, you could save even more.
Alternatives to Go City New York
Although we used Go City New York, there are other similar services available which may also save you time and money when planning your New York trip – Go City just worked the best for us.
The main alternatives are CityPass New York and the New York Pass. The main differences are that with CityPass you pick the number of attractions you’d like to visit and can see them at any point across a nine day period. New York Pass is powered by Go City so has a very similar offering to the Go City service explained above.
Would we use Go City New York again?
We would definitely use Go City New York again in the future – or a Go City service in another major city. It’s a great way of having all your attraction tickets in one place, helping you stay organised and saving money in the process.
You can find out more about Go City over on their website.
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