Saving money on vacation – it’s a goal for most people, right? Trips can cost SO. MUCH. MONEY!

To start with there’s:

• Flights (or fuel for road trips)

• Hotel or other accommodations (gotta sleep somewhere!)

• Transportation (I know my feet don’t last long enough!)

• Food (kinda necessary, right?)

Are you having flashbacks of expensive trips you’ve taken?

And I haven’t even mentioned shows and attractions yet!

Stressful, right?

It doesn’t have to be. There ARE ways to save money on vacation.

The Sightseeing Pass is just one possible way.

Scroll down for an honest review of the Sightseeing Pass so you can see if it will fit your needs and help you have the best vacation!

Vacation planning doesn’t have to be stressful. There ARE ways to save money on vacation. Click To Tweet

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WHAT IT IS

A Sightseeing Pass is a virtual ticket to tons of attractions in any given destination.

For example, if you’re going to New York City, you might want to see the following:

• The Statue of Liberty
• One World Observatory
• 9/11 Memorial and Museum
• National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey
• New York Botanical Garden

And a bunch more, right? There is so much to see in NYC!

With this pass, you won’t have to purchase admission to each of these attractions individually.

You just purchase a pass for each person and they use that pass as their entry ticket to each attraction. It can either be printed or easily pulled up on your cell phone.

In addition, some locations even have discounts on restaurants, shops, theatre tickets, rental cars, and more!

In addition, some locations even have discounts on restaurants, shops, theatre tickets, rental cars, and more! Click To Tweet

HOW IT WORKS

There are two types of passes you can purchase depending on your needs and your budget – The Flex Pass and the Day Pass*:

THE FLEX PASS

With this pass, you choose how many attractions you would like to visit. There are plenty of options (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, or 12 attractions*).

It’s a great idea if you have a very limited time for sightseeing or are visiting a place you’ve already been to and only have a few attractions in mind.

Once you use the pass for your first attraction, you will have 30 days to use up the remainder of attractions on your pass. Once you’ve used up the amount of attractions your pass is good for, your pass is done.

Which brings me to the beauty of the day pass!

THE DAY PASS

This pass is good for a set number of days (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 10 days*) and has NO LIMIT on the amount of attractions you can see in those days.

So, if you have 3 days in New York City and purchase a 3-day Day Pass, you can see as many of the 100+ attractions you can in those 3 days (and NYC was surprisingly easy to get around in using the subway so you can see a LOT in 3 days).

*Please note that not all options are available for every destination. Be sure to see what’s available for the specific vacation destination you have in mind.

OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE PASS

We recently used the Sightseeing Pass to save money on vacations to New York City and Orlando, Florida.

We saved some money on one both trips and I’ll show you exactly how much here:

NEW YORK CITY

We purchased the 2-day Day Pass since we were on a short trip, but wanted to see as much as we possibly could.

Our cost for the Sightseeing Pass:

• 4 adults x $151.20 ($189.00 with 20% sale discount) = $604.80

• Ripley’s Believe it or Not – $29.95 x 4 adults = $119.80

• Nat Geo Encounter: Ocean Odyssey – $39.50 x 4 adults = $158.00

• Hop On / Hop Off Bus tour – $59.00 x 4 adults = $236.00

• Buca di Beppo – 20% off our dinner bill of $145.00 = $29.00 (I don’t think they offer this specific discount anymore)

• Buffalo Wild Wings – Free lunch – $17.50 x 4 adults = $70.00

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art (this was closed for an event when we arrived, but I’m including it because we spent the time getting to it and would have toured it) $25.00 x 4 adults = $100.00

• Dylan’s Candy Bar – 15% off our purchase of $60.00 = $9.00

Total savings of $117.00

ORLANDO

We purchased the 3-attraction Flex Pass since we already had other plans in the area and didn’t have much time for other things.

Our cost for the 3-day Flex Pass:

4 adults x $69.30 (30% off regular price of $99.00) = $277.20

• The Escape Game – $37.26 x 4 adults = $149.04

• Wild Florida – Air boat and Wildlife Park admission – $30.10 x 4 adults = $120.40

• The Escape Game (yes, we did this twice!) – $37.26 x 4 adults = $149.04

Total savings of $141.28

HOW WE COULD HAVE SAVED EVEN MORE

NEW YORK

We spent $604.80 for our passes and ended up saving money, but not as much as we could have. We went to NYC on our 15-month RV road trip across the country and didn’t take into account the fact that we might be too tired to do as much as we wanted with the pass.

Sadly, that’s what happened. If we had done the other things we wanted to (and, yes, we definitely had time for them), we would have saved even more.

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island – $18.50 x 4 adults = $74.00

Escape Game New York – $41.99 x 4 adults = $167.96

SPYSCAPE – $42.46 x 4 adults = $169.84

We could have saved an additional $411.80 if we would have done these other 3 things (ouch, I’m really wishing I didn’t have to look at those numbers!)

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If you want to find out why we left Hawai’i to RV across the country, find out more here!

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ORLANDO

In Orlando we could’ve saved a lot more money if we had done these 3 things instead. We mainly bought the pass because we wanted to do the air boat ride so we could have arranged things a little differently to maximize our savings (instead, we furthered our addiction to escape rooms – more on that in another post).

Pirates Dinner Adventure – $73.43 x 4 adults = $293.72

Helicopter Sightseeing Tour – $59.00 x 4 adults = $236.00

If we would had done these 2 things and the air boat, we would have ended up saving $372.92 instead of $141.28.

So, you can see that it’s important to see what your main attractions are going to be so that you can see if the cost of the attractions would be more than the cost of the pass.

WHERE IT WORKS

As of December, 2019, passes are available for the following destinations (and I’ve included some of the top attractions for each one):

• New York (9/11 Memorial and Museum, Statue of Liberty, The Ride)

• Washington D.C. (Spirit of Mount Vernon cruise, Big Bus tours, Int’l Spy Museum)

• New Orleans, Louisiana (New Orleans City Tour, Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour, National WWII Museum)

• Orlando, Florida (I-Drive NASCAR, Pirates Dinner Adventure, Air Boat Tour and Wildlife Park)

• London (Tower of London, Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tours, Encore Theatre Passport)

• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia Zoo, Adventure Aquarium, Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial)

• Nashville, Tennessee (Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, African American History Tour, Monster Truck Tour of Nashville)

• Miami, Florida (Jungle Island – General Admission & Escape Room, Little Havana Adventure, Miami Seaquarium)

• Fort Lauderdale, Florida (FunDimension Family Entertainment Center, Jungle Queen – 3 hour Sightseeing Cruise, Exquisito Chocolates – Chocolate Factory Tour + Tasting + Make your own truffle)

• Key West, Florida (Sunset Water Sports – Paddleboard Rental, Sunset Water Sports – Rise & Reef Snorkel / Dip & Sip Snorkel, Ripley’s Believe it or Not)

• Las Vegas, Nevada (The Mob Museum – Crime Lab and Firearm Training Simulator, Hoover Dam Bus Tour, Night Strip Tour with Champagne Toast)

• Los Angeles, California (Celebrity Home and Rodeo Drive Shopping Bus Tour, Summer Whale Watching Adventure, Disneyland Transportation)

• Puerto Rico (Bacardi Rum Distillery and Old San Juan Tour, Barefoot IV Catamaran – Castillo Tours, San Juan Snorkeling – Aqua Adventure)

• San Francisco, California (Escape Game San Francisco, Golden Gate Park Guided Bike Tour, USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum)

• Smoky Mountains (Smoky Mountain Rafting – Upper Pigeon River, Titanic Attraction, Country Tonite)

• Malaga – Costa Del Sol (Malaga 24-hour Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour, Jaleo Flamenco Show, Malaga Boat Tour)

THE USA PASS

If you’re going to be going on vacation and visiting multiple destinations, then the USA Sightseeing Pass may be for you!

You can visit 15, 20, 25, or 30 attractions in 13 USA destinations. These include New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, Key West, Los Angeles, Smoky Mountains, Nashville, and San Francisco. The pass is good for 30 days from the first date you use it.

It’s great for road trips to multiple cities (one of our favorite activities)!

FUN EXTRAS

I mentioned this before, but it’s definitely worth mentioning again.

If you are a Sightseeing Pass holder, you can get discounts at restaurants in the destination you’re visiting (sometimes even free lunches!).

You can also get discounts at shopping locations and sometimes you’ll get free gifts if you spend a certain dollar amount.

The website even has downloadable PDF guides to most of their locations with maps and guides to the attractions you can visit.

And they even have suggested itineraries to help you save the most money on your vacation!

They even have suggested itineraries to help you save the most money on your vacation! Click To Tweet

WHERE YOU CAN GET IT

Below this you’ll find a logo link to The Sightseeing Pass’ website. Just click and check out all the destinations you can go to and what the options are for each one.

And they’re always working on adding more locations, so if you click on the link below, you can shop the website and see if your desired location is there.

Their site even conveniently lists the entrance fees to each attraction so you can do the math and see just how you can save money on your vacation – and how much you’ll save!

Be sure to check out their website for tons more information and lists of attractions for each destination.

MY OVERALL OPINION

We’re still happy with purchasing the Sightseeing Pass even though we didn’t end up saving as much money as we could have. Any money we save on vacation is awesome, so we’re happy!

As I’ve shown, however, be sure to look at the attractions you want to visit and weigh that against the price of the pass. There’s usually a good chance you’ll save money on your vacation!

Just be sure to take into account the costs of all your desired attractions and try to buy a pass when they’re offering a discount to save the most money on your vacation. Especially because there are a few of their passes that don’t offer as many attractions (luckily most of them have a bunch!).

And you have 12 months to activate your Sightseeing Pass so you can definitely buy them in advance!

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And my opinion on which city’s pass is the best? New York City for sure! There are over 100 ways you can use your pass there.

And you can take multiple Hop-On Hop-Off Tours when your feet are sore. But, all of the cities do have fun options!

My opinion on which city’s pass is the best? New York City for sure! Click To Tweet

Have you used this pass before? If so, drop me a comment with your thoughts on it! And please share if you found this helpful. The share buttons are right below this.