The first time we visited San Francisco in October 2019, we prioritized visiting Alcatraz and and the Golden Gate Bridge, eating and drinking, and just walking around the city to see what all the fuss was about. But when we returned in September 2022, we decided to be proper tourists and spend our days ticking off San Francisco’s top attractions using both a SF CityPASS and a C3 Pass.
We’d already used CityPASS tickets to save money on attractions in New York, Seattle and Denver by that point, so we knew how to make the most of the passes. But you know what? When picking our attractions, we were left genuinely surprised that we’d save a massive $71.90 per person with our San Francisco CityPASS tickets, which was significantly more than we saved in other cities like NYC.
Hi, we’re Mark and Kristen Morgan. We left our scientific careers in 2018 to become travel writers and photographers, and since then our expert guides have helped millions of travel planners take better trips. Read more about us.
Why trust our review? We’ve reviewed attraction passes in cities all over the world, and we personally used both the SF CityPASS and C3 Pass in September 2022. As always, every photo in this guide is ours.
Back then CityPASS only offered two passes, but they’ve since added a third pass to include Alcatraz and we think it offers even more value. When we used our SF CityPASS tickets in September 2021, our 4-attraction total would have been $158.90 without the pass, and the passes cost $87, so we saved $71.90 per person. We also used the SF C3 Pass, the three attractions would have cost $82 and the passes cost $79, so we saved $3 each. The prices are slightly different today, and we’ll reflect that in our calculations.
In this honest San Francisco CityPASS review we show you what’s included, how we used the passes to save, our genuine pros and cons, and whether we thought they were worth the effort. No fluff, just our own real experiences. Overall, we think these passes do work for most first-timers, but we certainly don’t think they’re a perfect match for everyone, so read on to see if they’d be a good fit for your trip to San Francisco. Let’s dive in!
Disclosure: We each received a San Francisco CityPASS and C3 Pass 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.
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SF CityPASS vs C3 Pass vs Alcatraz Pass: Which Is Better?
Okay, let’s kick things off with our comparison between the three San Francisco CityPASS ticket options. Each pass has 9 days of validity after first use, and prices for each pass are subject change several times each year due to seasonality – prices are correct at time of most recent update to this guide. Here are the available passes:
CityPASS – $91.95 Adult / $71.95 Child (ages 4-11):
The original CityPASS is the gold standard and best-selling San Francisco attractions pass. It’s been around since 1997, we used it in 2022, and it saved us $71.90 per person because we visited the 4 most expensive attractions.
The pass came with 2 forced attractions – California Academy of Sciences and Blue & Gold Fleet’s SF Bay Cruise – and a choice of 2 more from the remaining pool of 6. We chose the Exploratorium and Aquarium of the Bay. But today, the pass is totally open, you can choose any 4 of the 8 total attractions. To be honest, we would have chosen those 2 forced attractions anyway, even if we had to pick 4 of the 8.
C3 Pass – $83.95 Adult / $66.95 Child (ages 4-11):
The C3 Pass allowed us to choose any 3 of a pool of 9 attractions. The extra one included with C3 that isn’t on CityPASS or the newer Alcatraz option is Bay City Bike Rentals, which we used to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge.
When we used the SF C3 Pass in 2022, we chose the de Young Museum, SF MoMA and the bike rentals – three of the cheaper attractions on the list. So although it only saved us $3 per person, that’s only because we’d already visited the most expensive attractions with our CityPASS. At best, picking the 3 most expensive attractions, this pass would save $44. That’s considerably less than CityPASS at $71.
CityPASS + Alcatraz Pass – $116.95 Adult / $86.95 Child (ages 5-11):
The newer CityPASS + Alcatraz ticket wasn’t available during our most recent trip to SF in September 2022. It’s basically exactly the same as the standard CityPASS, but it comes with a non-negotiable visit to Alcatraz – which is obviously fine because that’s the reason you’d choose this pass.
Just to be clear, this CityPASS + Alcatraz ticked includes the Alcatraz day tour, not the night tour. We’ve done both and we thought they were genuinely excellent. There weren’t many differences between the two, but the more expensive night tour did have a few bonus areas. Our Alcatraz day vs night tour review explains more about what to expect.
Which is best?
If we were first-timers heading to San Francisco, we’d definitely buy the newer CityPASS + Alcatraz Pass because it offers the best value overall. The Alcatraz day tour costs $47.95 through City Cruises (the official provider). We’d then pick CAOS, Bay Cruise and Exploratorium for a total of $172 all-in. The pass costs $117 so the savings would be $55. Now, that’s not as much as the standard CityPASS, but with the standard CityPASS you’d almost certainly be paying an additional $48 for Alcatraz on top of the pass price. We’d rather drop one attraction from the standard CityPASS like Aquarium of the Bay and replace it with Alcatraz, still saving $55 in the process.
Mark’s “save up to” tip: One thing that really annoyed us about using CityPASS in NYC was how they would use the most expensive box office price to calculate the supposed savings. Save up to 45% in reality was more like 25% in New York. But in SF, we actually did save 45%. This is because the prices at individual attractions didn’t fluctuate as much – things like premium add-ons, sunset slots, or peak times. One thing to mention here – CAOS now has off/peak prices which means the amount you’d save with an SF CityPASS will be $6 more during peak times like summer months and holiday weekends.
Our Experiences
Next, let’s take a closer look at how we used our San Francisco CityPASS and C3 Pass in the real world so you can see an example of how much can be saved vs paying for attraction entrance individually.
Here’s what we did with our passes (with prices updated to match current pricing):
CityPASS
| Attraction | Adult Price | Our Experience |
|---|---|---|
| California Academy of Sciences | $49 / $55 (peak) | 8/10 – Interesting, varied, great for kids |
| Blue & Gold Fleet SF Bay Cruise | $39 | 8/10 – Relaxing, easy, great views |
| Exploratorium | $39.95 | 9/10 – Awesome, nostalgic, great for kids |
| Aquarium of the Bay | $35 (inc. fees) | 6/10 – Great tunnel, but small overall |
| Pass Cost: $89.95 + $2 processing fee | Individual Cost: $162.95 | Savings: $71 per person |
Important: All prices reflect current rates. When we used SF CityPASS in February 2022, the pass cost $87 per person but it’s since risen to $89.95 + $2 processing fee. Individual attraction prices have also changed. CAOS was $44.95 back then, but it’s now $49 off peak and $55 peak. If you visited SF in summer and chose CAOS as one of your 4 attractions, you’d actually save $77 per person.
We were more than happy to save $71.90 per person as we ticked off a bunch of popular touristy sights around San Francisco. That was a $143.80 saving for very little effort. All we had to do was book time slots for the bay cruise and exploratorium, and scan our pass QR codes via the My CityPASS App to gain entry at each attraction. And because we’d saved a decent amount of money, we paid $10 each per person extra to upgrade to the sunset bay cruise.
C3 Pass
| Attraction | Adult Price | Our Experience |
|---|---|---|
| SF MoMA | $30 | 6/10 – Masterpieces, but not our scene |
| Bay City Bike Bike Rental | $32 | 9/10 – Fantastic, cycled to GGB & GGP |
| de Young Museum | $20 | 6/10 – Interesting, but niche |
| Pass Cost: $81.95 + $2 processing fee | Individual Cost: $82 | Loss: $2.05 each |
Important: Again, all prices reflect current rates. When we used SF C3 Pass in September 2022, the pass cost $79 per person but it’s since risen to $81.95 + $2 processing fee. So back then we actually saved $3 each. And like we mentioned earlier, this wasn’t the best use of a C3 Pass, but we’d already ticked off all the most expensive attractions.
Using the C3 Pass basically allowed us to see and do the other things on our SF wishlist. We didn’t save a lot of money, but having all the CityPASS and C3 Pass attractions all in one place on the CityPASS app showing dates and time slot reservations helped us plan our San Francisco itinerary more easily. So it was still worth doing.
What’s Included & What’s Missing?
To summarize, here are the San Francisco attractions included with CityPASS:
- California Academy of Sciences
- Blue & Gold Fleet SF Bay Cruise
- Aquarium of the Bay
- Exploratorium
- San Francisco Zoo & Gardens
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- The Walt Disney Family Museum
- de Young Museum & Legion of Honor
- Bay City Bike Rental (only on C3)
- Alcatraz (only on CityPASS + Alcatraz ticket)
Our honest opinion on each attraction: We really enjoyed the diverse learning areas in CAOS, we thought the bay cruise was excellent, Aquarium of the Bay was fine but there are much better aquariums out there, Exploratorium was surprisingly so much fun, SF MoMA was okay but modern art isn’t really our scene, de Young was better but felt a bit stuffy (we didn’t make it to Legion of Honor), the bike rentals were fantastic, and Alcatraz was superb. We didn’t visit the zoo because it’s so far to the southwest, and we’d like to do the Walt Disney museum with our kids when they’re a bit older.
So what’s missing? The CityPASS model is to only partner with a handful of the most popular attractions, whereas their main competitor called Go City offers 20+ attractions and they’re typically a bit more like unique experiences rather than standard attractions. We’ll talk about this more later. But top-level, CityPASS is missing things like Big Bus, GoCar tour, and Golden Gate Bridge bike tour.
How To Use The Pass
We’ve used CityPASS tickets in 4 different US cities, and it’s always been a breeze all the way through from buying the passes to using the app and scanning into attractions.
Here are the easy steps we’d follow if we bought a SF CityPASS ticket today:
- Buy the pass through citypass.com
- Download the My CityPASS App – Apple / Android
- Make any required timed reservations
- Activate the pass upon first use in SF
- Scan QR codes for entry at each attraction
Honestly, we always find it so much easier to have all our attraction QR codes stored in the one CityPASS app or Go City app than having to scroll through and find multiple emails from individual attractions that all display QR codes in a different way. The CityPASS doesn’t just save money, it’s also like having a personal attractions organizer.
Kristen’s time slot tip: If an attractions shows “reservations required” you must book a time slot in advance otherwise they might not let you in, and this is especially true during peak visiting months. We’d be pretty annoyed if we forgot to book a time slot for the bay cruise and they wouldn’t let us join one.
Our Pros And Cons
Pros ✅
- Genuinely good savings to be had
- One purchase, one app, all QR codes
- Alcatraz option is really good value
- One year refunds make it risk free
- No forced inclusions (unlike NYC)
- Valid for 9 consecutive days, no rush
- Buy now, choose attractions later
- Strong savings for kids (perfect for families)
- Widely accepted and established
Cons ❌
- Limited attraction pool (SF isn’t NYC)
- Means long sightseeing days
- CAOS, de Young and zoo aren’t easy to reach
- C3 savings are less significant
Who Should & Shouldn’t Buy The Pass
Still not sure if the San Francisco CityPASS is right for you? Here’s what we recommend:
Perfect for:
- First time visitors – major attractions included, especially now with Alcatraz option
- Visitors with 2-4 days – easy to spread out 4 attractions over several days
- Families with kids – great child prices at kid-friendly attractions (aquarium, exploratorium, CAOS)
- People who hate admin – one purchase instead of multiple individual bookings
- Visiting Alcatraz – best value way to see the prison plus a few other top sights
Not ideal for:
- Short stays – Stays under 2 full days might be tough to squeeze in 4 attractions
- Repeat visitors – very few major attractions in total, likely see them all in one trip
- People with niche interests – pass only covers museums and mainstream spots
- Visiting on a budget – there are lots of free and very cheap things to do in SF
SF CityPASS vs Go City SF
Is CityPASS the best attractions pass to use in San Francisco or are there better options? Well, there used to be three major attraction pass competitors battling over US cities, but Sightseeing Pass ceased operations in 2025, so there’s now only CityPASS and Go City left to consider. We’d say CityPASS is best for only seeing major attractions, but Go City offers more niche and experiential attractions that might suit some visitors.
Now, we haven’t used the Go City SF Pass specifically, but we have used Go City passes in NYC, London, Paris, and Rome – so we know how they work and what makes them different to the CityPASS model. Go City’s model is different because they include far more attraction options. And they give you a choice between buying a pass to see a specific number of attractions (Explorer Pass), or a pass to see as many attractions as you can squeeze into a set number of days (All-Inclusive Pass).
Number of attractions: With CityPASS you’ll only see 3 attractions with C3, 4 attractions with CityPASS and 4 attractions with CityPASS + Alcatraz. Whereas with Go City you can pay to see 2, 3, 4, or 5 attractions (Explorer Pass), or pay to see unlimited attractions across 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 days (All-Inclusive Pass).
So with Go City there’s more flexibility, more unique tours and off the beaten path experiences, and the day-based passes are better for fast travelers who can fly through an action packed itinerary. That said, we have found that CityPASS works out cheaper when we go head to head with the exact same attractions. The 4-attraction CityPASS is $91.95 and the 4-attraction Go City Explorer Pass is $129. That’s a big difference. But for that extra cost you gain flexibility with greater attraction choices.
Mark’s tip for serious attraction-hunters: If you have 7+ days in SF and love to tick off attractions, buy the CityPASS + Alcatraz Pass ticket to do 4 major attractions over 3-4 days, then buy a 2 or 3 day All-Inclusive Go City SF Pass to cram in lots of fun guided tours and lesser-known attractions.
Our Top Tips & Advice
Seasonality: Prices for these passes go and up down all year based on seasonality and demand. Visiting in peak months will likely mean slightly higher pass prices vs the off season.
Avoiding crowds: Visiting attractions early in the morning is usually an easy way to avoid massive crowds at attractions. To be honest, we can’t imagine any of San Francisco’s attractions being uncomfortably overcrowded like we’ve experienced in places like NYC, Paris, or Rome. Alcatraz will be the most likely, but even that is limited by a set number of ferry passengers at any given time.
Weather: Most of the attractions included with SF CityPASS are indoors, which means weather won’t play as much of a role as it might in other cities. The bay cruise and bike rentals obviously wouldn’t be ideal in rain, but 9 consecutive days gives flexibility to wait out bad weather.
Logistics: If you get a CityPASS or Go City ticket, plan an efficient itinerary geographically by clustering nearby attractions together. For example, you could easily do Alcatraz, Exploratorium, and Aquarium of the Bay all in one day because they’re so close to one another.
Kristen’s top money saving tip: To get the most value out of your pass, choose the most expensive attractions. There’s not much point spending $91.95 on a CityPASS and then visiting the 4 cheapest attractions that only totals $104. Make it count, go for the big-ticket stuff.
Is The San Francisco CityPASS Worth It?
We saved $71.90 per person visiting attractions that we wanted to see, so for us the San Francisco CityPASS was definitely worth buying. When used correctly, we think it’s a no-brainer for people who love to tick off attractions when they travel. But it only worked so well for us because we visited the most expensive attractions available and planned an efficient itinerary.
For first timers heading to San Francisco, we think the C3 Pass is good value, the CityPASS is great value, and the CityPASS + Alcatraz ticket is excellent value. We know Alcatraz is on everyone’s bucket list, and by choosing this specific pass which covers the $47.95 cost of visiting Alcatraz, you’re basically saying “okay, we can now go and see three more top attractions for just $69 per person.” That’s where the real value comes in.
That said, we don’t think this pass is suitable for people who would prefer to just hang out in San Francisco’s diverse neighborhoods, be a bit more spontaneous, or don’t feel like they can commit to sightseeing-heavy days. Conversely, we think the Go City SF Pass is a much better option for first-timers who want to see the top attractions AND get off the beaten path with guided tours or obscure lesser-known spots.
Take a look at these CityPASS reviews left by real people on both Tripadvisor and Trustpilot. They’re mostly positive with a few exceptions, but we always find the exceptions are reviews left by people who didn’t plan properly and then got annoyed when they couldn’t get into an attraction. Buy the pass, plan your trip, book reservations, read the fine print, save money. Then it’s well worth it.
If you like the sound of using a CityPASS for your trip to San Francisco, head over to the official CityPASS website and choose a pass. We wouldn’t buy a CityPASS through any third-party seller or other company because they will charge more and take a cut. We’d only use the official site.
Next Steps
We hope our review helps you decide if the SF CityPASS is a perfect fit for your upcoming trip. Remember, this is just a review of our personal experiences using these passes.
If you’d like more personalized help, we offer expert travel planning video calls where we answer any questions you have, help you avoid tourist traps, and map out your perfect California trip. See our packages and reviews.
Still researching for your trip?
- These are our top San Francisco experiences.
- Here’s our 3-day San Francisco itinerary.
- This is how to visit Coit Tower.
- Here’s how to visit the Exploratorium.
- This is how to visit the SF Japanese Tea Garden.
- Here’s our SF to SD road trip guide.
Finally, if you’ll be visiting more places on the same trip, read our first-timers California travel guide for more helpful tips and advice.
Happy Travels,
Mark & Kristen
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Mark and Kristen spent 6 years traveling the world, visiting over 40 countries across 4 continents and more than 30 US states. They created Where Are Those Morgans in 2018 to help others plan the best possible vacations by writing authentic travel and hiking guides based on their real experiences.
Since the arrival of baby Maya in late 2024, Mark and Kristen’s extensive travels have slowed down but they still take plenty of trips. Where Are Those Morgans now helps millions of travelers each year to visit new places and hike new trails through information-packed blog posts and expert travel guidebooks. Read more about Mark and Kristen.