kathymt

Hi,
I was looking into either the city pass available at www.citypass.com or the go-Boston card available at www.gobostoncard.com. Which is a better deal? I am planning to go to many of the attractions that are on both of these cards. Are there any catches to either one? If anyone has any tips on using either of these cards that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Anonymous

If you are interested in the specific attractions, rather than in all the other things offered by the goboston card, then the citypass would be a better value for you. The gobostoncard's tours, restaurant discounts, etc., do seem to add up but only if you really want to do those things.

escargot

The advice I usually give friends or relatives visiting us who as about these cards is this: only you can decide - you need to be realistic about what you will and will not do, and then add the prices of what a regular admission or purchase would be ( are you an adult, child, student, senior, any other discounts etc) - and see if it comes close to or exceeds either card purchase and is economically worth your while.

Sometimes, people think they are going to do everything and do not, and then it ends up costing them to purchase the card - although mostly I find the difference works in the favor of a purchase - of course, anything can happen - esp ifyou are a family with children and they get sick, tired, etc - and plans and schedules change due to that or weather -

My recollection was the city pass gave you more days to use it for less money than the same (say 7 or 9) day pass from go Boston, but I haven't done the math in awhile - but basically they are both fine companies, it is just a matter of choice and what works for your schedule.

Also, as far as extras (restaurant discounts, etc)
just make sure those are the places, like ANonymous mentions above, that you really want to go while in town - if you don't have preferences, thas is fine - again, whether or not you are going to actually take advantage of things or if you want to go it on your own, depending on what area you are in, etc -

without discounts, there are plenty of reasonable choices in town -

no catches - just preferences!!

gail

As a Boston-area resident, I have never actually looked at these websites. Seems goboston for almost $200 with a zillion places you could not/could not go to in a reasonable amount of time is a ripoff.

The citypass says is it $44 and 6 places one can visit would then be half price. That says to me that you would have to visit 4 of the 6 to come out ahead, and then not by much. Few people I know who visit Boston would visit 4 of 6 of these places.

As far as discounts on restaurants, etc - I have never found this sort of thing very useful.

If you have any museum type memberships at home, check to see if there is reciprocity with any Boston museums - or a discount. AAA, AARP and a number of other organizations also give discounts - but rarely discounts on top of discounts.

I would say skip it unless you have some special visiting preferences that would make it financially worthwhile.

kathymt

Hello again,

Thanks for all your help. Thanks to your advice I have decided on the citypass. It is true that the boston card has a lot more attractions on it, but I probably won't have time to visit them all, and the restaurant discounts that are on the boston card are not restaurants that we plan on visiting. With the Citypass we are planning on going to 5 of the 6 sites, so that will be advantageous for us to have it. Thanks again.

escargot

great Kathymt: try and post back and let us know how your trip was and what you enjoyed most/least, etc !
Have fun -

socialworker

I have lived in Boston for many years--ever since my 20s--and just cannot wrap my (adopted) New England sensibilities around the idea of our venerable old city being thought of as a city full of "attractions". Makes me imagine being in line to ride Space Mountain.