Passes to New York Attractions

MAITLAND, Fla. - Sept. 17, 2013 - PRLog -- Each visitor to New York City has a different idea about how they’d like to spend their time in what is one of the most fascinating cities in the world. Some come for the world class shopping, others to see historic and famous landmark buildings. Many tourists put museums and art galleries at the top of their list. Parents traveling with their children will seek out family friendly attractions. If you want to see and do it all (or at least most of it), especially if it’s your first trip to New York, an attraction pass might be the best way to go. Attraction passes are sold by several different sources, so check and compare.

New York Pass

The New York Pass is offered by the municipal government. Whether you’re visiting for just one day or an entire week, you can purchase a pass for the appropriate number of days that will admit you to up to 40 of the most sought after sights, such as the Statue of Liberty, Madame Tussaud’s, the Circle Line river tour, Top of the Rock Observatory and the Central Park Zoo, to name just a few. Anyone who hates waiting in line (a pretty all inclusive category) will appreciate the VIP treatment that allows special accelerated entrance to popular attractions.

City Pass & New York Explorer

The City Pass gives you admission to six top sites, including the Empire State Building Observatory, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cloisters, the American Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Modern Art. The itinerary is completed with choices of Guggenheim Museum or Top of the Rock Observatory, and a Circle Line sightseeing cruise or the Statue of Liberty plus Ellis Island. Good for nine days, this pass can be used at a more leisurely pace than the New York Pass. The New York Explorer is the most flexible, a customizable pass, which lets you select up to ten attractions from a total of 48 and is good for 30 days.

Should You Go for It?

City attraction passes are great for helping you plan an itinerary and see some of the best that New York has to offer. Avoiding long lineups is certainly one of their major advantages. You will also appreciate only paying once and not having to reach for your credit card every time you want to enter a site. All this must be weighed against some of the not so positive aspects. Admission to the Met and the AMNH is by suggested donation and MOMA is free on Friday afternoons, so if these are the focus of your New York visit, you won’t be saving as much money as you hoped. With the New York Pass in particular, the limited validity period means that you will have to go, go, go to see all the attractions and may not have time to explore in a more leisurely way.

New York has so much to see and do that you’ll appreciate staying in a comfortable hotel with easy access to everything. The nicer New York hotels tend to fill up fast, though, so it’s a good idea to reserve in advance (http://crshotels.com/).