Is a combination tourist pass for you?
It seems like almost every major European city is hawking some sort of combination pass to tourists these days. The passes vary from city to city, but often include public transportation and discounted or free museum admission in their price. There are often single-day and multi-day versions available. A couple examples:
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Rome offers the Roma Pass
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Amsterdam has the i amsterdam card
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Zurich has the ZurichCARD
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Paris offers the Paris Museum Pass
These cards are often marketed heavily to tourists, touted as fabulous money-savers. But before you plunk down your cash for a combination pass, think about whether it will really represent a good deal for you. The passes are usually only worth it if you plan on seeing multiple museums within a day or so, for example. If you are indeed the type who likes to squeeze a bunch of museums into your trip, a combination pass could save you a bunch. But if you (like me) tend to see no more than one museum per day, you might be better off buying a simple public transportation day ticket and your museum entries separately.
On the other hand, sometimes holding a pass that gets me into 20 different museums will be just the incentive I need to go see an exhibition off the beaten path. Sometimes this works out well, and sometimes not: I’ve been to some fabulous smaller museums over the years, as well as to some real duds. Some other questions to ask yourself before deciding whether a combination pass is for you:
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How many museums will you really have time for, given the other activities on your agenda?
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Are you likely to use much public transportation, or are all the things you want to see located within walking-distance of each other?
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Do you like to be spontaneous and plan your days based on your mood and energy level, or are you comfortable pre-paying for your planned activities?
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What other benefits does the card give you, and will they add to your enjoyment of your trip?
So how do you know if these passes are really right for you? Usually some quick calculations can tell you. Simply add up the individual prices or discounts for the included items you expect to use (ask about museum prices at the tourist info office, or do a little pre-trip googling to find the information you need quickly). Compare that to the price of the pass. Is it really saving you a bundle?
8 Comments
I purchased the Paris Museum Pass on a recent visit there, and found it to be a great value. I planned my museum visits for over three days, and knew that I’d save.
When I calculated the savings it came out to be about 11 euros, but there is one other less tangible savings with the pass — you don’t have to queue up, but can simply go to the front of the line.
You can read my analysis about why and how it worked for me here:
http://www.flyawaycafe.com/should-you-buy-a-paris-museum-pass/
I think I’d be willing to buy something that allowed me to skip lines even if it didn’t save me money. I hate waiting!
Man, something like this would have saved us plenty of time in Florence and Milan!
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I really do not see anything too wrong with tourist passes. They can be a real boon to the smaller museums that would get some traffic they normally would never receive if not for these bundled deals. However you have to look at what is best for you and what you plan on doing while in any city. For me I love passes that combine public transportation and entrance to other exhibits. it is the best deal then as I can choose when and where to go and still save some money.
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