New York City Explorer Pass

New York City, United States of America

Create your own New York sightseeing itinerary with the New York City Explorer Pass. It's the easiest and most affordable way to explore New York's must-see attractions and activities at your own pace!

With the New York City Explorer Pass, you get to choose from a wide variety of attractions to create your own itinerary. You'll save up to $40 and skip the line on several attractions. Why waste time waiting in lines when you're on vacation?

Just choose three, five or seven attractions or activities you want to experience. Your New York City Pass will be valid for 30 days from the first day of use, so you can take your time to enjoy what New York has to offer.

All you have to do is present your New York City Explorer Pass at a participating attraction and your entry is included, you pay nothing. Your New York Explorer Pass also includes a guidebook, this is your resource for creating your own tailor-made experience and includes attraction descriptions, hours of operation, directions, maps and much more!

See 'Itinerary' below for list of attractions you can choose from.

USD $74.99

Review by: John N	April 2012
easy. no hassles definatly worth booking

Review by: Kay W	April 2012
Easy to use as one of the 3 collection points for our pass was just around the corner from our hotel and we visited Moma, Guggenheim and Empire State Building so we only saved £12 between 3 of us, so how much you save depends on where you visit.

Review by: photoman	April 2012
Fantastic value for money

Review by: Mikem	March 2012
works well and very easy to use

Review by: Christopher P	January 2012
The pass is very good for avoiding long lines, as in the Empire State Building and the Guggenhiem, but in the winter so many tours don't run that we had very little choice, and couldn't do the walking/cycling tours we might have enjoyed. Think the pass would be useful in the summer, but wouldn't recommend it for anyone on a winter trip - just get to the events early!

Review by: Claire M	January 2012
Easy to collect, easy to use, bypassed queues - would use again.

Review by: virginie g	January 2012
Very useful to have the queue and to see special attractions and tours. But it is very unpleasant to have to go to Madame Tussaud in times square to get the ticket for the tour which start at battery park

Review by: Joanne J	January 2012
This pass was great, def recommended x

Review by: Isaias C	December 2011
First time user. It was the greatest investment I've made. I have travel to NY before and ended up spending a lot of money for each sepread attraction but with the Explorer Pass, just work prefectly. I recommend!!!!

Review by: Josephine N	December 2011
This was a great way to see the city, without it we would have spent a lot more money and seen far less. I would highly recommend the Explorer Pass for anyone wishing to see the sites.

Review by: Jon Ander B	December 2011
Highly recommended, specially because you skip the line and don't have to wait

Review by: TFM	December 2011
Excellent Value, would recommend anyone going to New York to purchase one.

Review by: Anne-Marie D	November 2011
Worth having but found that for certain places e.g. Natural History Museum, you had to pay extra to go the exhibitions. We probably saved a bit of money but not much. I recommend the twilight cruise.

Review by: Sabs	November 2011
Explorer Pass worked well for us because it gave us the flexibility we wanted as we used it over a 4-day period. We used the last activity, Top of the Rock, just 1 hour before we were due to leave. Best trip was the Boat trip to Liberty and Ellis Islands - getting almost sunburnt in November! Simon the Guide on the Hop-on-Hop-off was great! Just make sure that you cash-in your voucher and get actual tickets for some of the activities, eg bus and boat tours. I didn't notice any advantage in being able to jump the queues, we still had to queue, but in November this was not too bad. Would I buy a pass again - YES, it helps to plan a little when in NY for only a few days as there is so much to do and see.

Review by: Rudy P	November 2011
It's a great way to see the NYC sights - and great value!

Review by: Annette G	October 2011
While I enjoyed the activities I chose (Top of the Rock, a Twilight Boat cruise and MOMA) I didn't feel it was great value for money - we had to chose carefully to make sure we 'spent' the cost of the Explorer Pass. Also, I wasn't aware that we avoided any queues - still had to queue for Top of the Rock. So I wouldn't buy a pass again, sorry!

Review by: Melinda M	October 2011
Not bad but we didn't use all our visits so probably didn't really save anything. Disappointed that museum wanted to virtually double charge us for one their additional areas. I think they were just trying it on as others in our group were only charged an upgrade.

Review by: msherr	October 2011
Well I could not get into anything i wanted so I had to go to do other things so I was upset NBC Studios was sold out . and a movie tour. When I called and asked the lady if I needed to make reservations she said all I needed was the pass and I could get in anywhere on the pass. That was not true and I bought the pass a week before I went so I would have reserved what I wanted .

Review by: Londoners	October 2011
Lots of information from guides on bus tour but difficult to understand foreign guide, Empire State good and meal in Heartland Brewery enjoyable

Review by: Jennifer F	October 2011
We have just returned home to Australia from a fantastic 8 days spent in NYC...WOW what a trip! It was really worthwhile buying the Explorer Pass as we skipped queues and found it easier to plan our days around the activities. Will definitely recommend it to other travellers.

Review by: Marcus B	October 2011
Excellent, knowing things we wanted to do and see had been paid for before we left for NYC was great. This card is great value for money and very easy to use at any of the listed attractions. Highly recommended.

Review by: Cassandra F	October 2011
Really easy to use, lots of choices!

Review by: WANDA V	October 2011
The City pass is a good plan when traveling. However, the customer service staff sent us on a goosehunt advising us we needed to pick up tickets across town and when we arrived to pick up tickets we were told we received incorrect information. This was dissapppointing and caused monies to be spent and time to be wasted. Overall we liked the city pass and throughly enjoyed the "hop on, hop off" bus tours. I'm giving the rating 3 stars and would have given 5 starts if the goosehunt didn't occur.

Review by: Annette E	October 2011
Excellent, was really good knowing all the attractions had been paid for in advance.

Review by: azkid922	October 2011
My girlfriend and I used the NYC pass for the central park and hudson greenway bike tour. This was the highlight of our trip. The sun was out, easy pace to ride along, no competition, nice/knowledgeable tour guide. Very fun and amazing way to enjoy the park and intimate view of NYC.

Review by: Rhonda	September 2011
It was the perfect deal for my family, we had 4 days in New York and was able to see all the sites an our list. Recommend for anyone visitng New York on a short or long visit.

Review by: Ydonna S	September 2011
Complicated as you had to book everything over there and clear instructions weren't provided as to where these outlets were.

Review by: olekobe	September 2011
It was worth the money we paid for. However, some attraction operators wasn't particularly friendly (i.e. Statue of Liberty ferry).

Review by: ISABELLE R	September 2011
I like the flexibility of this card

Review by: shazza_777	September 2011
easy to use. no hassle with booking tours or using.

Review by: Joanna D	August 2011
Found this pass really helpful plenty of attractions to choose from and I saved a bundle using this pass

Review by: Ann N	August 2011
Very happy with the results and enjoyed our trip to New York.

Review by: EZ	July 2011
If you're looking to save money, this is a great option. Some attractions require you to go to their office to book your tour because they have to scan your Explorer Pass, so be prepared to spend some time doing that...you can't book online. One of the tours required 2 days advance booking which didn't work out for us. All in all, a good deal and I would recommend it.

Review by: Patricia C	July 2011
Very useful and loads of choices in the free guide. We stayed for 2 weeks and easily used our pre booked 5 attractions pass.

Review by: Dor	June 2011
The explorer pass is great value for money and has the added advantage of allowing you to chose from a really wide selection of tours and attractions. We went for the 3 version and went on the Hop-on-hop-off downtown tour (highly recommended), Madame Tussauds (it was raining!) and Top of the Rock (widely regarded as a better - and less busy - option than the Empire State). We were able to skip the queues in both TotR and MTs which was great (but did peeve a couple of people in the other queues ;-) ).

Review by: Alyssa S	June 2011
Overall the explorer pass was great, the pass was easy to get and there were plenty of options to choose from. The night schooner sail was amazing, really a MUST do. The staff was all great and very friendly and the complimentary beverage was definitely much appreciated. Unfortunately I would not recommend the uptown city sights hop on hop off tour. The staff was very uninformed for most of the tour reading off the names of the stores in the area. They didn't seem to know any actual facts about the area. We also had to wait a long time in line for the bus to have the first one too full to get on, the second one the driver got off without a word and started smoking not telling us he was on a break as we continued to wait. Finally the third one, the one we actually got on we got yelled at by the bus driver for not being in line and even threatened not to let one passenger get on. What made it worse was that were not in line because every time a bus came they parked it in a different place meaning the whole group walked up and down the block chasing after the buses. I would definitely avoid "city line buses" in the future. Having said that the schooner sail really did make up for it.

Review by: Marta Z	June 2011
It works nice

Review by: Miguel V	June 2011
DO NOT purchase this pass if you are limited in time ... it was a game to redeem the coupons and secure the pass (go to Grand Central, walk 8 blocks to redemption center for pass, walk back 7 blocks to secure tour bus pass, walk back 6 blocks to board bus) ... this was the scenario throughout the day ... bottom line: we were unable to utilize most of the features due to lack of time .. the two features we did utilize briefly were great - be warned to prepare to walk to multiple locations to have your pass 'enabled' to secure the features and only purchase if you have 3+ days in NYC available ... we encountered many other people with similar disappointments (we would've saved 50% if we had just gone to and paid the attractions individually).

Review by: Kimberley M	June 2011
Went to the new york info centre which was on the paperwork to collect tickets to then be told we had to go to the rockefeller centre before 7pm on arrival at the centre the desk was closed at 5:30 very disappointed, a long tiring walk and had to return the next day. after that everything went ok.

Review by: Sandra M	June 2011
It was perfect for what we needed!!!

Review by: Paul H, United Kingdom	June 2010
The Explorer pass was very handy. No messing about with money at each attraction. The pass also came with a booklet which showed all the attractions available and all the places you could use the passes for discounts. Id use one again. Very good.

Review by: Laura S. B, United States of America	May 2010
Was easy to obtain pass. Booklet provided guided us throughout the city easily, including subway routes which was very beneficial for my travel!

Review by: jaime b, United Kingdom	April 2010
We got a 5-trip Explorer Pass for our trip in april 2010 and was worth evey penny, would highly recomend anyone traveling to New York to get one as it saves time and money when you're there.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	April 2010
This was great. There were a few hidden fees when we got to the venues. I really enjoyed selecting what we wanted to see.

Review by: Sandra W, United Kingdom	February 2010
Excellent, well worth buying this pass before you go.

Review by: Keith B, Ireland	January 2010
You have to make your own way to each of the attractions. The pass is not always accepted at the gate. In some cases you must first produce the card at the ticket office to collect tickets. There is a saving to be made if you add up all the entry prices but I found you end up going to things just for the sake of using up your 7 options. It's a lot for 2 days. That's if you intend to do Staten Island Ellis Island. In total for this trip including travel time to and from the South Ferry pier, then waiting in line allow approximately 5 hours total.

Review by: Anonymous, United Kingdom	November 2009
Definitely an easy way to plan your sightseeing, and in a such a big place like NYC, it was great. Always get up early though to avoid the crowds!

Review by: Susan C, Canada	October 2009
Not sure we saved any money we bought a 5 attraction pass and only used it for 3. The bike tour in Central Park was excellent though.

Review by: Christeena P, Canada	October 2009
I would recommend this card. I felt I was mislead when I enquired prior to purchase about skip the line at the Empire State Building. I was advised Yes and then when I received the booklet which didn't mention skip the line and went to the line up, I was told no. Other than that, it was very easy to use and pick up from NBC Store. The service was great there! Other then that, the staff at Viator that I had spoken to were very informative and helpful.

Review by: Lynda S, United Kingdom	September 2009
We have just returned from NY, and found the pass to be excellent value for money and very easy to use. We upgraded the 'hop on hop off' tour bus tour for 12 to one that could be used for 48hrs, and took advantage of the night tour and free circle line cruise, both of which are really good things to do with a family. We chose the 5 option pass and found it ideal for a 4 day stay. We also booked the Central Park Bike tour had to confirm from the UK before we left - not difficult and this was probably the real highlight of our trip.