Our Honest Review Of The NY Sightseeing Pass: Is It Worth Buying?

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Photo of the New York City skyline taken from Top of the Rock observation deck at sunset on a clear day

Sightseeing Pass is one of three companies selling New York City attraction passes, along with CityPASS and Go City. Together, they offer a combined total of 8 different types of attraction pass, of which Sightseeing Pass has 2: Day Pass and Flex Pass. We tried the Day Pass when we lived in New York and everything about it was top-notch including customer service, ease of use and booking timed entry slots.

In this honest review of the New York Sightseeing Pass we explain the two passes, what’s included, prices, the pros and cons, and if it’s worth buying.

Disclosure: We received New York Sightseeing Passes in order to share our opinion about this product but this is not a sponsored post and our honest opinions are based on genuine first hand experiences.

Our Experience

Photo of Mark and Kristen Morgan from Where Are Those Morgans standing together for a photo on the Edge observation deck in NYC
Here we are on the Edge at Hudson Yards observation deck

Passes: We’ve used attraction passes through Sightseeing Pass, CityPASS and Go City in Paris, London, Rome, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco and of course New York, so you can rest assured we understand the nuances of how these passes work. They’ve saved us a ton of money over the years, but only because we know how to use them effectively.

NYC: We lived in New York for 4 months in early 2021 and we’ve visited more times than we can count. So you can rest assured we know the city incredibly well from a tourism perspective. Here’s our guide on visiting NYC for the first time. We used our 3-Day Sightseeing Passes in April 2021 to see a bunch of New York’s top attractions and lesser known spots. Read more about us.

Discount: We really enjoyed our experience with Sightseeing Pass as a company, so we teamed up with them to offer our readers an exclusive discount: 5% off adult tickets and 10% off child tickets. Any link you click in this guide automatically applies the discount so you can save even more money. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you and it helps to keep our site running. Finally, this partnership in no way affects our review of the product, which you’ll clearly see in our list of pros and cons.

What You Need To Know

Mark and Kristen Morgan taking a selfie at the top of One World Observatory on a cloudy day ironically pointing to the Statue of Liberty shrouded in cloud
Here we are on a very cloudy morning at the top of One World Observatory

Okay, let’s dive right in! Here are the most important things you should know about using attraction passes:

  • It’s only worth getting a pass if you make the most of it.
  • These passes do save money but only if you visit enough expensive attractions.
  • Prices for all New York passes change frequently and deals are always running.
  • Passes are either day based or attraction based.
  • Day based means you do unlimited attractions over a set amount of consecutive days.
  • Attraction based means you do a certain amount of attractions with no time limit.
  • Generally speaking, the more days or attractions you do, the more you save.
  • After buying a pass you receive an email and have 12-24 months to activate.
  • You can download the pass to your phone and print a hard copy.
  • The pass is active after being scanned at the first attraction via QR code.
  • Major attractions might require timed entry reservations.
  • You must book a timed entry slot in advance if it’s required.
  • Not all attractions can be booked in advance with a pass.
  • There might be lines at attractions if you visit in peak season.
  • The passes work best when you do the most expensive attractions.
  • Visiting attractions close to each other allows you to do more in less time.
  • The Met and Summit One Vanderbilt are not included on any pass.

It’s important to know this review is for New York Sightseeing Pass only, not Go City, CityPASS or the New York Pass. They are different companies, but you can read our comparison of the 8 NY passes here to learn more.

We’ve seen other reviews online claiming to have used the Sightseeing Pass but they don’t include real photos of themselves, so we’ll let you do the math. It’s important you know that we have actually used the pass we’re reviewing in this guide.

 
 

Day Pass Or Flex Pass?

Infographic created by Where Are Those Morgan comparing the NY Sightseeing Day Pass vs Flex Pass
The day pass vs the flex pass

Sightseeing Pass offers two types of pass for New York:

Day Pass – You buy a pass for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 days and you can visit as many attractions as you want within those days. There are more than 100 attractions available on this pass, so you won’t run out of things to do. The cost of the pass increases the more days you add, but because you can visit more attractions you actually stand to save more money.

Flex Pass – You buy a pass for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 or 12 attractions and you can visit them within 60 days of purchase. Again, there are more than 100 attractions to choose between, and again the more attractions you buy the more money you save. It’s like buying in bulk.

The Day Pass works better if you want to see and do as much as possible when you visit New York because you can cram attractions into each day. Our favorite thing about getting a Day Pass was guilt-free visits to lesser known attractions that we’d never pay for otherwise. The downside was feeling like we had to rush around to make the most of our money, but that was a trade-off we didn’t mind.

The Flex Pass is a better fit if you don’t want to feel rushed or spend too much time on attractions each day. And we also think it’s better if you only want to see a select few attractions, especially the most expensive things to do like guided bus tours and observation decks. That said, depending on the exact attractions you’re interested in, it could be cheaper to get a different pass (we’ll explain more later).

What’s Included?

Photo of a tourist pointing to a painting in an art gallery
Here’s Kristen with Van Gogh’s Starry Night at MoMA

So what can you actually see in New York with a Day Pass or a Flex Pass from Sightseeing Pass? Well, pretty much everything that’s on your NYC bucket list plus a ton of lesser known places you’d never even know existed if you didn’t get a pass. How do we know? Because we hadn’t heard of most of the attractions included and we explored the city non-stop for months.

But there are one or two things not included with the NY Sightseeing Pass that might be an issue for you. We’re not going to list 100+ attractions here but we’ll cover the highlights of what’s included or missing:

Top Attractions Included

Lesser Known Attractions Included

  • Brooklyn Children’s Museum
  • Fotografiska
  • Madame Tussauds
  • Museum of the City of New York
  • National Lighthouse Museum
  • New York Historical Society Museum
  • Rise NY
  • Whitney Museum of American Art

Walking + Bike Tours Included

  • 9/11 Ground Zero Walking Tour
  • Best of Brooklyn Walking Tour
  • Brooklyn Bridge All Day Bike Rental
  • Central Park All Day Bike Rental 
  • Hush Tours – Hello Brooklyn
  • Various Inside Out Tours

Special Offers

  • Discount on Charm Manhattan Helicopter Tour
  • 20% off Broadway Comedy Club
  • BOGO Draft pours at Bronx Brewery
  • Discounts and free souvenirs in museum stores
  • 15% off entire purchase at I LOVE NY shops
  • Discounts in Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s

What’s Missing?

  • 9/11 Museum
  • Statue of Liberty Ferry (not included with Flex Pass)

Unfortunately, the 9/11 Museum is no longer included on the NY Sightseeing Pass. But active or retired US military can visit for free, and anyone can enter for free on Mondays from 5:30pm-7:00pm.

Tip: You can visit certain museums for free with a valid ID if you’re a New York State resident. Check museum websites to see which you can enter for free, so you don’t use your pass to gain entry and waste an attraction (with a Flex Pass).

Pass Prices

It’s all well and good listing a bunch of attractions, but how much would all this cost you? It’s important to know that adult tickets are for ages 13+ and child tickets are ages 3-12. Kids below 3 enter for free.

Let’s take a look at two graphs we created to show the Day Pass and Flex Pass prices along with the price you’d pay by taking advantage of our exclusive discount (prices correct at time of most recent update to this guide):

Infographic created by Where Are Those Morgans showing the prices for the New York Sightseeing Day Pass
Blue is the regular price and red is the price with our discount applied

As you can see in the chart above: The more days you buy, the more money you save. Let’s say for instance you bought a 4 Day Pass which works out at $71 per day with our discount, all you have to do is visit one of the more expensive attractions each day and you’ve already broken even.

But you’re not going to just do one attraction each day, right? It’s so easy to rack up three or four attractions each day and by then you really are saving some serious cash, which is better spent on pizza, bagels, beer and wine!

Infographic created by Where Are Those Morgans showing the prices for New York Sightseeing Flex Passes
Blue is the regular price and red is the price with our discount applied

As you can see in the chart above: The more attractions you buy the more money you save. But even if you just buy a 2-attraction Flex Pass for $79.80 with our discount and then book two of the most expensive attractions (like Big Bus and City Lights Sail), you already stand to save a good few bucks.

How We Used Our Day Pass

Photo of a tourist sat on a replica Friends couch in Madame Tussauds
Here’s Kristen on the replica Friends couch in Madame Tussauds

Let’s take a look at how one of these passes works in the real world. We visited 12 attractions in 3 consecutive days with our Day Pass. It was so much fun and we covered a lot of ground, but we had to plan it out and make timed entry reservations for certain attractions.

Here’s the itinerary we created, along with how much each attraction would have cost if we paid individually without using a pass (prices include taxes and processing fees):

Day 1

  • One World Observatory – $52.91
  • 9/11 Tribute Museum (closed in 2022) – $17.00
  • Madame Tussauds – $42.45
  • Escape Game New York – $48.98

Day 2

  • Fotografiska NYC – $24.00
  • Rise NY – $47.90
  • SPYSCAPE – $53.35
  • St Patrick’s Cathedral audio tour – $25.00

Day 3

  • Top of the Rock – $53.35
  • NY Botanical Garden – $35.00
  • Bronx Zoo – $39.70
  • Edge at Hudson Yards – $54.44

The total cost of this 3 day itinerary without a pass would have been $494.08/adult. A 3-Day NY Sightseeing Pass costs $259.00/adult (or $246.05/adult with our 5% discount).

So if you followed this exact same itinerary you’d save $248.03. That’s over 50%! And bear in mind we didn’t include many of the most expensive attractions, so you could save even more.

Need help planning your visit to NYC?

Our popular New York City travel guidebook will help you with planning every aspect of your trip, including airport links, the subway, top attractions, itinerary ideas, restaurants, hotels and map!

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Where Are Those Morgans NYC travel guidebook

Pros And Cons

Photo of a tourist walking through a greenhouse at New York Botanical Garden
Here’s Kristen walking through the NY Botanical Garden

After using the pass ourselves, here are our pros and cons to buying a New York Sightseeing Pass:

Pros

  • Over 100+ attractions to choose between.
  • Lots of exclusives and special offers.
  • Almost all top attractions included.
  • Lots of cool lesser known attractions included.
  • Especially great attractions for kids.
  • Easy to use the pass once downloaded to smartphone.
  • Easy to book timed entry reservations through Sightseeing Pass website.
  • Customer service was timely and helpful in our experience.
  • The savings are huge when buying lots of days or attractions.

Cons

  • 9/11 Museum not included.
  • Statue of Liberty Ferry not included on Flex Pass.
  • Not the cheapest pass to use for only seeing 1, 2 or 3 top attractions.
  • Can’t book time slots at all attractions.
  • List of attractions and prices are subject to change.

The biggest downside to attraction passes including the New York Sightseeing Pass is not being able to reserve times at certain attractions. It means there’s a chance you could have to wait in long lines to get in if you visit in peak season or at popular times like sunset.

That said, you can take steps to avoid this. We used our Sightseeing Passes when we were in New York in April so we had no issues with lines at any attraction. We also didn’t try turning up at an observation deck one hour before sunset. Be smart and you’ll have a good trip!

Want To Save Money In NYC?

Click the button below to automatically apply our 5-10% discount on all NY Sightseeing Passes.

Timed Entry Reservations

Tourist walking into the Bronx Zoo entrance on a sunny day
Here’s Mark walking into the Bronx Zoo

This is a review, not a how-to guide, so we’re not going to harp on about the different ways you can use a New York Sightseeing Pass (although you absolutely should read all the fine print).

But there’s one thing we must explain as part of this review: you must reserve timed entry slots at certain attractions like the Empire State Building, the premium guided bus tour, Bronx Zoo or the various walking tours.

We strongly recommend looking through this attractions list to see if reservations are required, recommended or not required. It’s also another easy way to look through all the available attractions so you can start planning what you’d like to see.

Here’s another way you can book timed entry reservations for specific attractions:

  • Head over to the official website
  • Select either DAY or FLEX Pass (whichever you bought)
  • Click on attractions
  • Find each attraction you plan to visit and see if it has a timed entry requirement
  • Follow the instructions provided to book your time slot (see image below)
Screenshot of instructions on how to book timed entry reservation for Empire State Building on the New York Sightseeing Pass website
Example of how to book a reservation for the Empire State Building directly through the Sightseeing Pass website

The good news is that even in peak season you won’t have to wait in line at any attraction requiring an advanced time slot reservation. All you need to do is show your Sightseeing Pass along with your timed entry reservation.

Is It Worth It?

Photo of Kristen Morgan standing on Top of the Rock in NYC with views over the skyline behind on a sunny day
Here’s Kristen at the Top of the Rock

In our honest opinion, we think attraction passes are a fantastic way to save money but only when used properly. If you’re organized, choose the right attractions, plan an effective itinerary and actually turn up to each attraction, then yes 100% the passes are worth it. That said, if you’re not a planner by nature or you doubt whether you’ll be able to make the most of a pass, don’t get one.

In terms of the New York Sightseeing Pass, we definitely think it’s worth getting because they have tons of attractions available and along with our extra discount you can really see a lot of top sights at bargain bin prices. But again, only if you plan it well.

If you’d like to take a look at the other attraction passes available in New York, head over to any of the official sites below:

We’ve also used the CityPASS in New York (read our review here) and it’s another good pass but for different reasons. You can only choose between a select few specific attractions but the price is a bit lower. Go City and the New York Pass are owned by the same company and offer the exact same passes, which are all very similar to the two Sightseeing Passes.

The Morgan Conclusion

Screenshot of the 3 Day Sightseeing Pass mobile ticket used by Mark and Kristen Morgan
Here’s a screenshot of our pass for proof of use!

We saved $235 per person on attractions in New York by using the 3 Day Pass with Sightseeing Pass, so overall we were very happy with the outcome. We’d already seen most of the top attractions, so it gave us a cool opportunity to visit some lesser known and unique places which we wouldn’t have done without a pass.

Like all things that save you money, there is a catch when using a New York Sightseeing Pass: You have to be organized. We’ve saved a bunch of money with passes all over the world because we plan our trips effectively.

If you read reviews about this pass online you’ll either see 1 star or 5 star reviews. The 1 star reviews were left by people who didn’t plan well and the 5 star reviews were left by people who did. It’s that simple. Be a 5 star person and you’ll save money with this pass!


We hope our review of the New York Sightseeing Pass helps with planning your trip to NYC!

Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Happy Travels,

Mark and Kristen

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2 thoughts on “Our Honest Review Of The NY Sightseeing Pass: Is It Worth Buying?”

  1. I’m trying to figure out if the sightseeing flex pass exclusives like the Central Park Zoo count as one of your attractions or are they in addition to the # of attractions you purchase.

    Reply
    • Hi Heather, yes the exclusive attractions with Sightseeing Pass are included with your total number of attractions with a FLEX Pass. It just means that Sightseeing Pass are the only NY attractions pass that include Central Park Zoo. Hope that helps and have a great trip to NYC.

      Reply

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