Calculate the Price of Sightseeing Tickets Before Purchasing Tourist Tickets
Museum passes seem like a great deal as you get one ticket to multiple sites, but they have many drawbacks. They may not cover everything you want to see and can be more expensive than just buying tickets for the attractions you want to visit individually, online, before you travel. It is worth doing your homework in advance.
In many large cities, especially in Europe, you can buy admission passes to several (often 5 or more) museums and other places. It’s great if you’re going to those places, but even if you do, the math might not work out. See how many places you want to go will cost individually, then compare that to the cost of the pass plus any additional tickets you have to buy. Ingrid K. Williams of the New York Times gives an example using Amsterdam:
Entry to most local museums that are within walking distance is included with the I a Amsterdam City Card , available for 24 hours (€ 47, around $ 57), 48 hours (€ 57, around $ 69), or 72 hours ( 67 euros, about 81 dollars). These prices are not low, although the card includes other perks, including a canal cruise, public transport, and discounts on bike rentals and other attractions such as the Heineken Experience. Two leading museums, the Anne Frank House (entrance ticket, € 9) and the Rijksmuseum (€ 17.50), do not accept cards, although the latter offers cardholders a discount of € 2.50.
One of the benefits of these passes is that you can usually get them ahead of time, so you don’t have to queue up to buy tickets and then queue up again to get in. Fortunately, many museums allow you to buy tickets online. in advance so you can enter directly when you get there – you no longer need to spend money on a tourist pass for this perk. If you have the time and interest to take advantage of these passes (like a canal cruise in Amsterdam) then go for it. But if you only want to focus on a few sites, buying tickets by itself can save you money.
Are tickets to European museums worth the money? | The newspaper “New York Times