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When planning your trip to New York, you will quickly come across the term “pass”. There are 6 different passes: the New York City Pass, the New York Pass, the Explorer Pass, the à la carte Explorer Pass, the New York City FreeStyle Pass and the New York Sightseeing Flex Pass. To find out what we are talking about, here is a short presentation of this famous pass concept.
What is a New York City Sightseeing Pass?
- A pass is a package that you must book in advance and that allows you to take several visits to New York sites, monuments and museums at a preferential price. This package is cheaper than if you had to buy all your tickets at the normal price. With the passes, you are therefore always a winner!
- A little history: the first New York pass was created in 1996. It is the New York City Pass, which remains the best-selling pass in New York today. This pass includes entry to 6 places for a price almost 40% lower than the normal price! For more information on this pass, go to the New York City Pass presentation and reservation page.
Why are there different passes?
- There is therefore not a single and unique pass in New York but 6. These passes are in fact published by private companies which seal agreements with the places, monuments and museums of New York. These companies are therefore in competition.
- To make the difference, each pass tries to differentiate itself, by programming this or that attraction or by adopting a different operation.
- The New York City Pass thus includes 6 fixed visits, with a few possible choices between certain visits.
- The New York Pass offers you to determine the precise number of days of use of the pass, giving you access to all the attractions included.
- The operation is again different for the Explorer Pass, the New York City FreeStyle Pass and the New York Sightseeing Flex Pass. These passes invite you to determine the precise number of attractions you want to do in New York and to choose freely, as you go, your visits from the list of attractions included.
- Finally, the à la carte Explorer Pass allows you to precisely determine the visits you want to make and to benefit from a discount at the time of payment, depending on what you have selected.
- It’s up to you to choose according to the use and attractions you want! To find the pass best suited to your needs, I invite you to use our pass comparator, an exclusive tool that will allow you to directly find THE pass that will allow you to make the most savings, depending on what you want to see and make. Note that, if you plan to make few visits, the comparator may not offer you a pass but direct you directly to normal tickets. The comparator adapts to your visits!
How do I use the pass?
- Once your pass has been reserved, the operation is very simple: all you have to do is go to the places, monuments and museums that are included in the pass you have purchased and present your pass. You will then be asked either to present the confirmation of purchase of the pass (print the exchange voucher which you will receive by e-mail immediately after the purchase of the pass), or to present the pass directly on your phone, in the case passes that can be displayed on a smartphone. And that’s all ! If you lost the confirmation email or made a mistake in your contact details, don’t panic: by booking the pass via my blog, I receive a copy of your pass and can therefore help you 😉
- With the passes, you obviously don’t need to pay anything extra at the entrance. The pass IS your ticket! 🙂 On the other hand, you can add extras, for example to revisit the Top of the Rock on the same day or to access the observatory on the 102nd floor. Incidentally, as much as revisiting the Top of the Rock in the evening is worth the extra, as much as the 102nd floor of the Empire State building brings nothing more compared to the 86th floor.
- No need to book the tours either! Just show up at the entrance with your pass. Note also that passes such as the New York City Pass, the New York Pass or the New York Sightseeing Flex Pass offer skip-the-line access to certain attractions. Head straight for the entrance topped with the pass logo or stamped “fast track”.
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