Is the Go City Boston Pass Actually Worth It? Let’s Do the Math.
Go City Boston All Inclusive or Explorer Pass
You're coming to Boston.
You want to see the Museum of Science, maybe get above the city at View Boston, take a cruise on the harbor, or walk the Freedom Trail with somebody who actually knows what happened there instead of wandering around reading plaques.
Then somebody tells you to buy a sightseeing pass because you'll "save up to 50 percent."
My first reaction to claims like that is always the same: Will I?
Because saving 50 percent on six things you weren't going to do isn't saving money. It's spending money with excellent marketing.
So let's forget the biggest possible savings for a minute and figure out whether a Go City Boston pass makes sense for the way you're actually going to see Boston.
First, What Is Go City Boston?
Go City sells two different kinds of Boston sightseeing passes, and the difference matters.
The Explorer Pass lets you choose a certain number of attractions and gives you time after you first activate the pass to use those choices.
The All-Inclusive Pass works by days instead. You choose the number of days and can visit participating attractions during that period.
The Boston lineup includes some genuinely good choices: the Museum of Science, Museum of Fine Arts, View Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Freedom Trail experiences, USS Constitution Museum, sightseeing cruises and more.
Prices and participating attractions can change, so always look at the current lineup before you buy.
Want to see today's prices and attraction list while you read?
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Let's Start With the Person Who Should NOT Buy It
You're coming to Boston for three days.
You want to walk the Freedom Trail on your own, wander through the Public Garden, eat in the North End, walk the Esplanade, explore Harvard Square and maybe pay for one museum.
Don't buy an attraction pass just because somebody told you that's how tourists save money.
Boston is unusually good at giving you things to do without charging admission. The Freedom Trail itself is free to walk. Boston Common is free. The Public Garden is free. The Esplanade is free. Harvard Square doesn't charge admission for wandering around wondering how much all those buildings cost.
You can have a terrific Boston trip without stacking paid attractions from breakfast until dinner.
If that's your trip, keep your money.
Now Let's Take a More Typical First-Time Visitor
Suppose there are three things you really want to do:
Museum of Science — up to $33
View Boston Observation Deck — up to $34
Boston Sunset Cruise — up to $59
At those listed prices, buying all three separately could cost as much as $126.
Now compare that with the current price of a three-attraction Explorer Pass.
That's where this starts getting interesting.
You're not racing around Boston trying to manufacture savings. You're doing three things you already wanted to do and checking whether there's a cheaper way to pay for them.
That's the kind of comparison I care about.
Don't Play Games With the Math
Here's where sightseeing-pass calculations can get slippery.
You'll sometimes see sample itineraries cramming an extraordinary number of attractions into a day because that's how you produce a spectacular savings percentage.
Technically possible isn't the same thing as enjoyable.
Could you rush from an observation deck to a museum to a walking tour to a harbor cruise while staring at your watch and congratulating yourself on extracting maximum value from your pass?
Sure.
You could also enjoy Boston.
I wouldn't come here and spend the whole trip sprinting between admission scanners.
Boston is a walking city. Some of the best moments happen between the attractions you planned to see.
You turn down a street in Beacon Hill because it looks interesting. You stop because something smells good in the North End. You sit beside the Charles longer than you intended.
You discover a cemetery containing people whose names you vaguely remember from high-school history and suddenly want to know more.
Leave room for Boston to interrupt your itinerary.
Explorer or All-Inclusive?
For a lot of visitors, I think the Explorer Pass is the easier one to evaluate.
Make a list of the attractions you genuinely want to visit.
Look up what they would cost separately.
Compare that total with the current pass price.
Done.
The All-Inclusive Pass can make more sense if this is your first Boston trip and you're planning several ticketed attractions during a relatively short visit.
That can become a very good deal if your itinerary is packed.
But that's the important part:
Your itinerary.
Not Go City's sample itinerary. Not mine. Yours.
What About a One-Day Pass?
This can be interesting if you've got one serious sightseeing day.
A Museum of Science visit and a Boston harbor cruise, for example, can add up quickly when purchased separately. Add another included attraction you genuinely wanted to see and the math can change considerably.
But check reservation requirements and schedules before trying to stack too much into one day.
A cruise leaving at a particular time doesn't care that you spent an extra hour staring at something fascinating in a museum.
Boston traffic doesn't care either.
Neither does the Green Line.
Plan accordingly.
What About Families?
This is where I'd get out a calculator before buying anything.
Go City has separate children's prices, but attractions define children's ages differently and some Boston attractions are inexpensive—or even free—for younger children.
Don't assume that because the adult math works, the family math automatically works too.
Price the trip for the people who are actually traveling.
Yes, this is less exciting than a giant flashing SAVE!
It's also how you find out whether you're actually saving money.
There's Another Boston Pass You Should Know About
Go City isn't the only game in town.
Boston CityPASS is another option, and it's structured differently.
CityPASS gives you a smaller menu of major Boston attractions and a longer period in which to visit them.
That's a very different product.
If the attractions on the CityPASS list happen to be exactly the things you want to do, it deserves a look.
If you want a much larger menu that includes tours, cruises and attractions, Go City may fit your trip better.
Don't become loyal to a sightseeing pass.
Become loyal to your wallet.
So, Is the Go City Boston Pass Worth It?
Yes—for the right trip.
I'd seriously consider it if you're a first-time visitor planning several paid Boston attractions, particularly if some of the more expensive experiences on the Go City list are already things you want to do.
I'd also look closely at the Explorer Pass if you have a definite handful of attractions in mind and don't want to spend the trip racing around trying to squeeze value out of a pass.
I'd probably skip it if most of your Boston plans involve walking neighborhoods, eating, visiting free historic sites and choosing only one or two inexpensive paid attractions.
And I wouldn't buy any sightseeing pass until I'd done one ridiculously simple thing:
Write down what I actually want to do.
Then do the math.
That's it.
A sightseeing pass should bend itself around your Boston trip.
Your Boston trip should never bend itself around a sightseeing pass.
Ready to Check Your Own Math?
Go City changes prices, promotions and occasionally its participating attractions, so check the current offer against your own list before buying.
CHECK CURRENT GO CITY BOSTON PRICES →
This is an affiliate link. If you buy through it, GoBoston may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I only want you to buy the pass if the math works for your trip.
And once you've saved whatever you're going to save, please don't spend your entire vacation trying to beat your personal record for attractions per hour.
You're in Boston.
Look around.
Love Boston? I write about the history, places, people and wonderfully strange things that make this city Boston. Join me on the GoBoston Substack at @goboston.