To Pass or Not to Pass

One of the most important bits of pre-travel research that I do when I am travelling is on finding packages that allow me to travel (within the city) and allow free entry (or entry at concessionary rates) into local attractions. People often spend too much time on finding the best deals on airfares and accommodation and forget that savings can be made during local sightseeing as well.

Most often these savings take the form of a Pass either issued by the local tourism council or transport authority or in some cases by private players who have entered into partnerships with local bodies to offer discounted rates. These passes allow free/ discounted travel on local transport systems and/ or free/ discounted entry into local sights for varied durations of time.

Passes do not always offer benefits or savings. There are a few factors that you need to look into and a bit of math that you would need to do to determine the right combination of passes and direct payment. Some of the factors you need to consider before making a decision on the kind of pass to buy include

(a) The length of time you are going to spend in a city/ region– If you are planning to spend only one day in a city then most often travel passes may not deliver the kind of savings that are projected. Most passes are meant to be used over a period of 2-3 days and a shortened stay would not allow you to make full use of the Pass. There may be exceptions (1 day passes or even multi-day passes that can deliver savings in a day- I will illustrate this below)

(b) Sights that you wish to see– Are you a museum buff? Or an outdoorsy person who prefers parks and gardens? Or maybe you are a photography enthusiast who prefers being outside rather than inside monuments? It is important to choose a pass that fits your needs. If you are not keen on visiting museums for example, it would make no sense buying a museum pass.

(c) Local transportation requirements– Many passes often combine a certain element of local transportation- free travel for the duration of the pass in the local trains/ subways or buses. This would mean that you would have to share these transport systems with the locals and in some cases it may get very crowded during peak hours. You would need to be able to find your way quickly.

It would be useful to make a plan and evaluate if you really need a transport pass that gives you options for free travel through all the zones of the city when the monuments you intend to visit during your stay are all within walking range of your hotel. Even if you had to make a one-off journey by the train to visit something on the outskirts, it may be cheaper to go with buying the ticket than a pass.

Illustration:

*I make the assumption that you are an adult (and over 26/ under 65), non EU citizen

Romapass: This pass is priced at 30 euros and is offered by the city council of Rome. It is valid for 3 days (starting from activation- first day to the midnight of the third day) and offers free transportation on the bus & metro systems. The pass offers free entry into the first two sites you choose to visit and discounted prices from the third monument onwards.

Roma Pass

Although the price of 30 euros looks a bit intimidating, this pass gives you amazing value for money even if you use it for just one day.

For example, let us consider an example where you would like to visit the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Capitoline Museums in one day (that will be a long day but let us suppose you have just one day in Rome and you would like to squeeze all this in). You also have to travel from the hotel to the site and back to your hotel at the end of the day (thankfully the three sites are placed right next to each other).

A full ticket for the Colosseum is priced at a whopping 15.50 Euros

A full ticket for the Forum and Palatine Hill is priced at 12.oo Euros

Add them together and you are already at 27.5 Euros that has been paid for by the Pass.

The reduced ticket at the Capitoline Hill Museums offer you a discount of 4 euros on the regular price for a Roma pass holder

So you have already raked up a supplementary saving of about 2 euros on the first day of your using the Pass. Add to this the travel in the bus or metro from the hotel and your savings add up to much much more.

Over a period of 3 days you can look to saving anything around 15-20 euros depending on what you visit. Why spend it on monuments when you can spend it on gelatos?

The best advantage is that for the first two monuments you get to skip the lines and gain direct entry! Highly recommended for the Colosseum where the lines can get incredibly long.

The pass also comes with a very handy map and guide booklet on the various sights in Rome. You can order the pass online but I would recommend that you buy the pass when you arrive at Rome (either the airport – there is a visitor centre there, or at the visitor centre from the Termini Railway station). There are tons of other places in the city (including your hotel) where you can pick up these passes.

Important Note: Roma Pass does not cover Vatican City/ Museum.

More information here http://www.romapass.it/

Paris: As far I know, there is no one pass in Paris that covers both local transport and entry to sites. Instead there are two very useful passes- one offered by the Railways and the other a Museum pass

Paris Visite Pass

The Paris Visite pass offers you a variety of options for different days and zones and you can choose one depending on the length of your stay/ and the monuments you would like to visit. Again choosing a card with Zone 1-3 is perfectly sensible for most visitors as a majority of the monuments in Paris are covered in these. Even if you wanted to visit say, Versailles, you would be better off buying a one-off ticket for the journey rather than buying a pass that covers Zone 1-5 as such.

Tarifs

More info on Paris Visite http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_21894/paris-visite/

The Museum pass in Paris offers unlimited entry into over 60 monuments and museums including the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay and (hold your breath) Versailles and is available in 3 options of 2, 4 or 6 days. Once again if you are not a museum buff or if you are not planning to spend at least 2 days in the city buying a museum pass may not make sense, but you can do a bit of math and calculate savings accrued.

Museum Pass Tarif

Savings from Museum Pass

It is important to note that a lot of things in Paris are free- the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame savings indicated in the picture above are entry for the museum of Arc de Triomphe (and I think the viewing platform on the top- not sure) and the crypt of the Notre Dame (and maybe the climb up the bell towers- not sure again). Looking at the Arc de Triomphe from Champes Elyssees and visiting the interior of the Notre Dame cathedral is free 🙂 So decide what you would like to do ahead of time.

More information on the Paris Museum Pass here http://en.parismuseumpass.com/

As mentioned before most major cities have some kind of pass system or the other and having a look through it may help you save money when sightseeing.

Bon Voyage!