Boston City Pass vs Go City
Which sightseeing pass is right for your Boston trip?
If you're planning a Boston trip, you've probably landed on two different products that both claim to bundle the city's best attractions for one price. Boston CityPASS is straightforward: pick any 4 of 7 attractions, pay a flat $84. Go City's Boston Explorer Pass works differently — it's sold in tiers, from a 2-choice pass at $54 up to a 5-choice pass at $99, and you pick from a much wider menu of 47 attractions, tours, and day trips.
On paper that makes Go City look more flexible and CityPASS look more rigid. In practice, the two often cost exactly the same for a typical 4-attraction Boston itinerary — and what actually separates them isn't price at all, it's which seven attractions CityPASS chose to bundle in the first place. We'll walk through what's on each pass, where the prices genuinely diverge, and the one Boston attraction that ends up deciding this for most visitors.
Boston at a glance
Prices verified for Boston as of June 2026.
What's actually on each pass
Boston CityPASS is a fixed bundle: pick any 4 of 7 attractions for a flat $84 (adult). The seven are New England Aquarium ($39.95 individually), Museum of Science ($33.00), Boston Harbor Cruise ($46.00), View Boston Observation Deck ($34.00), Franklin Park Zoo ($27.95), Harvard Museum of Natural History ($15.00), and the Museum of Fine Arts ($30.00).
Go City's Boston Explorer Pass works differently — you buy a number of credits (2 through 5) and redeem them against a much wider menu of 47 attractions, tours, and activities. Four of CityPASS's seven options are also on Go City's list: Museum of Science, the Harbor Cruise, View Boston, and the MFA. The other three — Aquarium, Zoo, and Harvard Museum of Natural History — exist only on CityPASS.
What Go City has that CityPASS doesn't is a different kind of attraction entirely: the Freedom Trail Foundation's official Walk Into History Tour ($19), the Salem Witch Museum ($19, a short day trip), the student-led Harvard Tour ($23), the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum ($22), a Boston Sunset Cruise ($56), and the CityView Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley ($50), among 40 others.
The math, worked out
Pick Museum of Science, the Harbor Cruise, View Boston, and the MFA — the four attractions both passes share — and the price is identical: $84 on CityPASS, $84 on Go City's 4-choice tier. There's no financial reason to prefer one over the other for that specific itinerary.
Swap the MFA for the New England Aquarium and the comparison changes completely. CityPASS still costs $84 — it's a flat bundle price regardless of which four you pick. But Go City doesn't offer the Aquarium, so your Go City itinerary is now only 3 attractions (Science, Cruise, View Boston), which prices at the 3-choice tier: $69. CityPASS, at $84, now costs $15 more for fundamentally fewer attractions covered by Go City's network.
This is the actual decision rule for Boston: if the Aquarium, the Zoo, or the Harvard Museum of Natural History is on your list, CityPASS is doing real work for you. If none of those three matter to your trip, Go City almost always wins or ties — and gives you access to Freedom Trail, Salem, and the Gardner Museum on top.
Two attractions named "Harvard" — they're not the same thing
Worth flagging before you book: CityPASS's Harvard inclusion is the Harvard Museum of Natural History ($15), a self-guided museum visit with dinosaur skeletons and the Glass Flowers collection. Go City's Harvard inclusion is The Harvard Tour ($23), a 70-minute student-led walking tour of the Harvard campus itself. Different experience, different pass, easy to confuse if you're skimming both lists quickly.
If you're doing more than 4 attractions a day
Everything above compares CityPASS against Go City's Explorer Pass, which is credit-based — no daily pressure, 30 days to use your choices. Go City also sells an All-Inclusive Pass (from $79/day), which works on a completely different model: unlimited attractions in a single calendar day. It only beats the Explorer Pass financially if you're realistically doing 3 or more attractions in one day. CityPASS doesn't have a day-based equivalent in Boston.
Build your Boston itinerary
Tick what you're actually planning to do. The price updates live for both passes — including what happens once you pass either pass's attraction limit.
On both passes
Boston CityPASS only
Go City only
Buy Boston CityPASS if the New England Aquarium, Franklin Park Zoo, or Harvard Museum of Natural History is genuinely on your list.
These three are CityPASS-exclusive in Boston — Go City has no equivalent at any price. If even one of them matters to your trip, CityPASS's flat $84 bundle is doing real work that Go City structurally can't replicate.
Buy the Go City Explorer Pass if your list leans toward the Freedom Trail, Salem, the Harvard Tour, the Gardner Museum, or a sunset cruise.
None of these exist on CityPASS at any price. And if your itinerary skips the Aquarium, Zoo, and Harvard Natural History entirely, Go City typically ties CityPASS on price for the shared attractions and wins outright once you add anything from its other 40+ options.
It's a genuine toss-up if your four picks are Museum of Science, the Harbor Cruise, View Boston, and the MFA — the four attractions both passes share.
Both price at exactly $84 for that combination. At that point, the tie-breaker is the 30-day Go City validity window versus CityPASS's 9 consecutive days — not price.
Skip both if you're only doing 1–2 paid attractions.
Neither pass saves money below 3 attractions in Boston. City pass vs individual tickets walks through the actual threshold if you want to check your own list.
Related guides
Common questions
Does Boston CityPASS include the Freedom Trail?
No. The Freedom Trail Foundation's official Walk Into History Tour is included on Go City's Boston Explorer Pass, not on CityPASS. CityPASS's 7-attraction list is built around museums, the aquarium, and the harbor cruise — it doesn't include any of Boston's walking tours.
Is the Harvard Tour the same as the Harvard Museum of Natural History?
No — they're different products on different passes. The Harvard Museum of Natural History (CityPASS) is a self-guided museum visit. The Harvard Tour (Go City) is a 70-minute student-led walking tour of the Harvard campus. You can't substitute one for the other if either is specifically what you're after.
Which pass includes the New England Aquarium?
Only CityPASS. The aquarium isn't part of Go City's Boston attraction roster at all, which makes it the single clearest reason to choose CityPASS if it's on your list — Go City has no equivalent at any price.
Can I visit Salem with either pass?
Only with Go City. The Salem Witch Museum is included on the Boston Explorer Pass as a day-trip option (about 30 minutes by train from Boston), but Salem attractions aren't part of CityPASS's Boston lineup.
Which pass is cheaper for a 4-attraction Boston trip?
It depends entirely on which four. If your list is Museum of Science, the Harbor Cruise, View Boston Observation Deck, and the Museum of Fine Arts — the only four attractions both passes share — the price is identical at $84 either way. Add the New England Aquarium instead of one of those, and Go City's 3-choice tier at $69 undercuts CityPASS's flat $84 by $15, since Go City only charges for the attractions it actually offers.