New York CityPASS covers five of ten attractions and books none of them
Choose any five of ten New York attractions, then book each slot yourself. The savings arrive first; the calendar work is yours.
New York prices its sights one at a time, and the total climbs faster than most people budget for. CityPASS puts the gate value of its five-attraction New York pass at USD 307.04 for an adult. The pass sells the same five admissions for USD 149, or USD 129 for ages 6 to 17, plus a USD 2 processing charge.
That is the entire product. You pick any five from a list of ten, in any order, with no limit on how many you visit in a day. The validity window opens on the day you scan in at your first attraction and runs nine consecutive days. Until then the tickets sit dormant for up to a year from the purchase date.
What the pass does not do is hold your place.
The ten on the list: the Empire State Building Observation Deck, the American Museum of Natural History, Top of the Rock, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Statue of Liberty grounds with Ellis Island, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, the Intrepid Museum, the Guggenheim, Edge at Hudson Yards, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
CityPASS reports an average of 4.5 from 19,147 reviews on its own site. That figure rates the pass as a product, not any one attraction on it. Check the cancellation terms printed on the booking page before you pay.
New York CityPASSAny five of ten New York attractions, valid nine consecutive days from your first visit.affiliate.klook.comThree of the ten are observation decks
Empire State, Top of the Rock, and Edge sell a version of the same thing at different heights and angles, and each one spends a full pick.
- Empire State Building admits you on the AM/PM Experience: the 86th Floor Observation Deck and the 2nd Floor museum, with a bonus same-night general admission. One pick, two visits: come back after dark.
- Top of the Rock covers three levels of indoor and outdoor terraces, the Welcome Gallery, and the Weather Room Cafe and Bar. It also faces the Empire State Building, which the Empire State Building cannot do.
- Edge covers the indoor installations, the outdoor sky deck, and the glass floor. Sunset slots are sold as an upgrade during the reservation step and are not part of the pass.
Spending two of your five picks on decks buys the same skyline twice at a different altitude. Spending one leaves four for things a sidewalk cannot show you.
What admission actually covers indoors
Five of the ten are museums, and the admission lines differ enough to change which one you pick.
- American Museum of Natural History: general admission to over 40 galleries plus one ticketed extra, subject to availability. That extra is the Hayden Planetarium space show, the Invisible Worlds immersive experience, the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, or a ticketed exhibition.
- Intrepid Museum: the carrier, the Space Shuttle Pavilion, the submarine Growler, the Kamikaze experience, and all temporary exhibitions.
- Guggenheim: the collection and special exhibitions, plus the architecture tour Monday through Saturday and a digital guide on your own phone.
- Whitney Museum of American Art: all permanent and special exhibitions, the outdoor terraces, daily public tours, and a mobile audio guide.
- 9/11 Memorial and Museum: all exhibitions and rotating galleries.
The two water picks work differently. The Statue of Liberty entry is the official ferry, a self-guided audio tour, the Statue of Liberty Museum, and Ellis Island. Crown and Pedestal access is not included. Circle Line counts as one regularly scheduled cruise, chosen from eight routes that run from the Landmarks loop to Harbor Lights and Statue at Sunset.
Eight of the ten require a reservation
This is the part that decides whether the pass fits your dates. CityPASS lists reservations as required at the Empire State Building, the American Museum of Natural History, Top of the Rock, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry, Circle Line, the Intrepid, and the Whitney. The Guggenheim lists them as recommended.
You make all of them yourself. Tickets arrive by email, one per person in the order, and CityPASS points you to the My CityPASS app at my.citypass.com to reserve times, check hours, and see what each attraction admits you to. Doing that on the day you buy rather than the day you land is the difference between five tickets and a plan.
One rule catches families and groups. Reservations are made together for every ticket in a single order. When part of your party wants different attractions or different times, CityPASS asks you to contact Customer Care before you make any reservation, or to place separate orders from the start.
The nine-day clock and the arithmetic
The nine days are consecutive, and they start with and include the first day you visit an attraction. Paying does not start the clock. The tickets can sit unused for up to a year from the purchase date, which keeps an early purchase low-risk on a trip whose dates may still move.
Nine days runs long against a typical New York week. It also rewards spreading the five out rather than stacking them: no order is required, no daily cap applies, and a wet afternoon can absorb two museums at no extra cost.
The arithmetic, in the operator's own numbers: 149 against a 307.04 gate value for adults, 129 against 295.51 for ages 6 to 17. That is 51 percent off for an adult and 56 percent for a child. Children under 6 fall outside the child range; CityPASS notes you may still need to buy admission or make a reservation for them at some attractions. Parking is covered nowhere on the list.
The pin above is the American Museum of Natural History at 200 Central Park West. It and the Guggenheim at 89th Street are the two uptown picks; the other eight run from Battery Park to 50th Street, which puts the museum on its own half day for most itineraries.
- Each attraction admits you once, unless its own admission details say otherwise.
- Hours move with the season. The Empire State Building deck runs 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM from September 8 through October 4, with last entry 45 minutes before closing.
- CityPASS refunds entirely unused passes within 365 days of purchase and asks you to cancel any open reservations first. Partially used passes are not refundable.
- A pass bought through a resale platform follows the refund and date-change terms shown on that platform's booking page. Read them before checkout.