My son and I recently returned from a trip to Boston. We flew on American Airlines Flagship Business Class from Los Angeles to Boston and in Boston, we worked with the CityPASS team and they gave us 2 adult Boston CityPASS® tickets, which we used as part of our trip planning as we decided on the things to see and do in Boston that we were going to do. Here’s a look at some of the things that we did in Boston during our time there – you can use that to help decide what things that you want to do.
What are Boston CityPASS Passes And How Do They Work?
Boston CityPASS® tickets are part of the CityPASS brand of passes. These CityPASS passes give you access to 6 different things to do in Boston. You’ll get admission to
- New England Aquarium
- Museum of Science
And then you can choose 2 more of the following 4 attractions.
- Boston Harbor City Cruises
- View Boston Observation Deck
- Franklin Park Zoo
- Harvard Museum of Natural History
Adult (12 and up) Boston CityPASS® tickets are $79, while children’s passes are $69. Tickets are valid for a 9-day period starting on and including the first day you visit an attraction or have a reservation. Some of the attractions do require you to make reservations in advance, while at others, you can just show up any time that your pass is valid.
Things To Do In Boston
In our case, my son and I were in Boston only for part of one day, so we had to kind of hustle to see even part of Boston. We arrived from our redeye flight from Los Angeles around 7 a.m.
(SEE ALSO: 4 tips to survive a red eye flight in economy)
We took the Silver Line from Boston Logan airport to Downtown Boston, and since nothing was really open yet that early in the morning, we started off at Boston Common, following the Freedom Trail. You can download a free walking tour from the National Park Service website, and we did that for about an hour or so. Then we made our way to the New England Aquarium, where we had 9 a.m. reservations, right when they opened.
We stayed there for a few hours, before walking right next door to the Boston Harbor City Cruise, also covered by our CityPASS® tickets. The harbor cruise took about an hour out and back, where our tour guide gave us a bit of history about Boston and several of the sites near the water.
We had planned on either visiting the Museum of Science or the View Boston Observation Deck, but after we got done with our cruise, it was raining pretty hard, and since we were on foot, we didn’t feel like walking through the rain to either of those sites. So instead we just went from Downtown Boston to BOS via the MBTA and spent some time at the American Airlines Admirals Club Boston / BOS. In our case, we definitely did not get our money from our passes, but that was our own fault for only being in Boston for part of one day.
The Bottom Line – Are Boston CityPASS Tickets Worth It?
Whether Boston CityPASS® tickets are worth it is going to depend a lot on how long you’re in Boston, what types of attractions that you like to see, and your overall travel style. There are almost certainly ways to visit Boston cheaper than using the CityPASS program, but for some people, you may enjoy the convenience of having one pass that can get you into several different attractions. Be sure to weigh the costs of the different activities that you are planning on doing with the overall cost of a Boston CityPASS® ticket to decide if the Boston CityPASS® pass is worth it to you.
What are your best things to do in Boston? Leave them in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at
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