Boston CityPASS suits first-time visitors who want four of the big paid attractions, Go City suits travelers who will see many sights or stay longer, and the Boston 250 Pass suits anyone who mainly wants the Freedom Trail's historic buildings. The three passes barely overlap, so the real question is what kind of trip you are planning. Prices and inclusions below come from each pass's official site, checked October 3, 2026. They change with the season and the date you book.
The Boston passes at a glance
| Pass | What you get | Official price, Oct. 3, 2026 | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass" style="padding:8px;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e8f0">Boston CityPASS | Tickets to 4 of 7 attractions | Adult (12+) $84, child (3–11) $72 | 9 days from your first visit |
| Pass" style="padding:8px;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e8f0">Go City Explorer Pass | Your pick of 2, 3, 4 or 5 from 47 attractions and tours | From $54 adult for 2 choices; child from $39 | 30 days from your first visit |
| Pass" style="padding:8px;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e8f0">Go City All-Inclusive Pass | Every included attraction, one visit each per day | From $79 adult and $49 child for 1 day | 1 to 7 consecutive days |
| Pass" style="padding:8px;border-bottom:1px solid #e2e8f0">Boston 250 Pass | Adult admission to 5 historic sites on the Freedom Trail | $33 at launch, $35.10 from July 1, 2026 | 7 days |
All four are sold on the official sites and through partners such as Viator, and the digital tickets work the same either way. Because Go City is the current name of the pass many visitors still search for as the Go Boston Card, you will see both names in listings.
Boston CityPASS: four big attractions in nine days
CityPASS lets you choose four of seven attractions: the New England Aquarium, the Museum of Science, Boston Harbor City Cruises, View Boston Observation Deck, Franklin Park Zoo, the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. One of the seven is not in Boston at all: the Harvard Museum of Natural History is across the river in Cambridge.
The official price is $84 for adults and $72 for children aged 3 to 11. CityPASS compares that with a regular combined price of $152.95 for adults and $122.30 for children, which is its own figure and depends on which four you choose. Tickets arrive digitally and the nine-day clock starts on the day of your first visit, with a year from purchase to begin. Reservations are required at the aquarium and on the harbor cruise and recommended at the Museum of Science, so book those slots before you arrive. You can also buy the Boston CityPASS through Viator if you prefer to book there.
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It works best for a first trip with a few days to spare: the aquarium, the Museum of Science, the cruise and View Boston is one set of four that suits that kind of visit. If you only want one or two of these, buy individual tickets instead. Our guide to things to do near the Boston Tea Party Museum and the Boston Harbor guide show what else sits near the waterfront stops.
Go City Boston: Explorer or All-Inclusive
Go City sells two kinds of Boston pass, and they suit different trips. The Explorer Pass lets you choose 2, 3, 4 or 5 attractions from 47, activates when you first scan it and then stays valid for 30 days. Adult prices start at $54 for two choices, child prices at $39. The All-Inclusive Pass is priced by days instead: it covers 1 to 7 consecutive days, lets you visit every included attraction once, and starts at $79 for an adult and $49 for a child for one day. Go City's own example puts a three-day pass at $134 against $280 in separate tickets, a saving it calculates at about 52 percent.
The 47 attractions include View Boston, the Museum of Science, the Museum of Fine Arts, a Historic Sightseeing Cruise, a one-day hop-on hop-off trolley ticket, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Paul Revere House, the USS Constitution Museum and the Freedom Trail Foundation's Walk Into History tour. Check the address before you plan around a choice, because the list also reaches past the city line: the Harvard Museum of Natural History is in Cambridge, and the LEGO Discovery Center at Assembly Row is in Somerville.
Go City tickets live in its app, and some experiences, including guided Freedom Trail walks and certain cruises, need a reservation made in advance. Unactivated passes can be refunded within 90 days of purchase. The Explorer Pass is the better fit for a longer stay with a short list of paid sights, which you can see on Viator's page for the Go City Explorer Pass. The All-Inclusive Pass rewards a sightseeing marathon of one to three packed days; the same pass is listed on Viator as the Go Boston pass.
Boston 250 Pass: five Freedom Trail sites for one price
The Boston 250 Pass is the narrow one. Run by Hub Town Tours with the five sites themselves, it gives discounted, self-guided adult admission to the Paul Revere House, the Old State House, Old North Church (including its underground crypt), the Old South Meeting House and King's Chapel. All five are within 0.8 miles of one another, three downtown and two in the North End, so they fit into one day or can be spread across the pass's seven days. You show the confirmation email at each front desk; there is no skip-the-line access, each site admits you once, and the pass is not transferable.
Check the calendar before you pick days. Each site sets its own hours, which Hub Town Tours lists as generally 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in high season and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from November to March; King's Chapel is closed on Sundays year-round, and Old North Church opens at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays. Cancellations need 24 hours' notice.
It is built for adults. Hub Town Tours says not to buy it for children aged 0 to 17 and lists other excluded groups, including military, Massachusetts teachers, groups of 10 or more and some museum-association members. Launch pricing was $33 through June 30, 2026, rising to $35.10 on July 1, according to the Revolutionary Spaces announcement. The pass was created for the 250th anniversary of 1776 and the operator says it is offered throughout 2026, so confirm it still exists before you plan a later trip. It is sold on the operator's site and as the Boston 250 Pass on Viator.
Which Boston pass should you buy?
- First visit, three or four days, you want the big museums and the water: CityPASS. The four-choice limit is the point: it only pays if you would have bought those four tickets anyway.
- A short list of paid sights over a week or more: Go City Explorer, because the 30-day window forgives a slow pace.
- One to three days of nonstop sightseeing: Go City All-Inclusive, but only if you can realistically fit in enough attractions to beat the price of single tickets.
- History-focused adults who want the Freedom Trail's indoor sites: the Boston 250 Pass, which can sit alongside any of the others since only the Paul Revere House overlaps with Go City.
Whichever you choose, add up the gate prices from each attraction's own website for the places you would actually visit, then compare. A pass does not help if the one attraction you want is closed on the day you have, so check opening days before you commit. For tours that stand alone, see our guide to Boston tours compared, our Boston harbor dinner, lunch, brunch and sunset cruises and the roundup of Boston food tours beyond the North End.
Sources: Boston CityPASS, Go City Boston Explorer Pass, Go City Boston pass guide, Revolutionary Spaces: Boston 250 Pass announcement, Hub Town Tours. Checked October 3, 2026.