Go Boston Card | Save Big on Top Attractions

I hate to see anyone pay full price when you can save so much money with the Go Boston Discount Card.

Whether you want to see the city's top attractions on a hop-on hop-off trolley tour, cruise Boston Harbor, explore the city on a hop-on hop off trolley, visit Plimouth Patuxet plus the Mayflower II shop, or Hall of Human Life (and lots more) at the Museum of Science, Go Boston gives you free access.

But lots of people don't know about these cards...sometimes I think they're Boston's best-kept secret!

Top photo: Hop-on, hop-off trolley in Boston, (c) Boston Discovery Guide

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What Are the Benefits of a Go Boston Card?

When you have a Go Boston Card, you get the city's biggest bargains:

Free access to top Boston Attractions - The Museum of Fine Arts and other museums, Boston Harbor cruises, tours, the View Boston observatory at the top of the Prudential building, bike rentals, historical destinations like Plimouth Plantation, the Salem Witch Museum, and Wang Theatre tours
Free transportation on the CityView Hop-on Hop-off Trolley - Hop on and hop off at top Boston sights for up to 2 days (assuming you get a 2, 3, 5, or 7 day card)
Skip-the-Line Access - The Go Boston card lets you save time as well as money, especially at the most popular attractions such as the New England Aquarium and Franklin Park Zoo

Best of all, you get to choose the best time period for you - select a 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7 day card.

Get your Go Boston card now:

How to Use Your Go Boston Card to Plan Your Trip

Because the Go Boston card includes free access to just about everything you'll want to do during your Boston vacation, you can use it to plan your whole trip.

Here's a flavor of the 40+ different types of things you can do and see with it:

Get around Boston: Hop-On, Hop-Off Sightseeing Trolley Tour - (up to 2 days) - get on and off at all the different stops, or stay on for the entire narrated tour
Go on a tour: Fenway Park Tour, MIT Tour, Boston Movie Mile Walking Tour, Wang Theatre Tour, North End Food Tour, Beacon Hill True Crime Tour, Haunted Boston History and Mystery Walking Tour, The Sports Museum Guided Tour, TD Garden Guided Tour
Have fun: Salted Pretzel at Harpoon Beer Hall, Boston Children's Museum, USS Cape Cod Canal Cruise, Swan Boats ride, Historic Pub Crawl, Bike Rental by Urban AdvenTours, LEGO Discovery Center
Explore Boston's Freedom Trail: Take a Freedom Trail Walking Tour, and visit Paul Revere House, Old State House Museum, Old South Meeting House, Kings Chapel
Visit the best Boston and Cambridge Museums: Mary Baker Eddy Library & Mapparium, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, MIT Museum, Harvard Museum of Natural History, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston Children's Museum, USS Constitution Museum, Peabody Museum of Archeology & Ethnology
Take a Boston Sunset Cruise or a Cape Cod Canal Cruise
Visit top sites in historic Lexington and Concord: Buckman Tavern, Liberty Ride, Concord Museum, Louisa May Alcott Orchard House
Visit special historic re-creations near Boston: Plimouth Patuxent and Mayflower II and Old Sturbridge Village
Spend a day in Salem and explore the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Witch Museum, House of the Seven Gables, Real Pirates Salem
Have fun with your kids at The Sports Museum Guided Tour (TD Garden), the Franklin Park Zoo, Real Pirates Salem, the Boston Children's Museum, and The Mapparium

Remember, many but not all these attractions are in Boston.

If you buy a 1- or 2-day pass, you may want to focus on Boston locations as you'll find more than enough to fill your days here, plus a few attractions close as early as 4pm.

To include sights in Lexington/Concord, Salem, or on the Cape, consider getting a 3-day or longer pass.

Please note - Included attractions and savings may change without prior notice, some activities such as cruises are seasonal. In addition the Fenway Park Tour is not available when the Boston Red Sox have a home game or other special events take place.

Check complete Go Boston Discount Pass list and get your card

How Much Can You Save with Your Go Boston Discount Card?

Once you buy the Go Boston card, you pay no admission fees.

How much will you save? The company behind the card calculates up to 50%, compared with paying full-price admissions.

In addition to big savings, the Go Boston card also gives you convenience.

Once you're here in Boston and want, for example, to go on the Boston Sunset Cruise ($55 admission without the card), enjoy the View Boston Observation Deck ($40 adult ticket), or get 2-day tickts to the Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley ($40/person), you never have to reach for your wallet - you just show your card, go past the ticket line, and walk right in (at some attractions, you may still have to pass through a security line.

Now that feeling is priceless!

Find out more about the Go Boston Discount Card

What If You Have Time for Only a Couple of Attractions?

When time is limited, even a 1-day GoBoston discount card may be more than you need.

Alternately, if you're going to be in Boston for awhile, you may prefer to set your own pace and visit one attraction per week, or whatever.

To buy tickets in advance (and bypass most lines) from one online location, check out Get Your Guide's tickets for tours, cruises, museums, and attractions.

Planning Tips: How to Get the Most Value from Your Go Boston Card

Do these 5 easy planning steps before you leave home to maximize your Go Boston Card experience:

1. Look at the 40+ Go Boston attractions and identify the ones you'd like to see and do.

2. Check the schedule for each attraction on your list to make sure it's available when you're planning to be in Boston.

Want to go on a Swan Boat ride on the Lagoon in the Public Garden but you're visiting in January? You're out of luck. The Lagoon gets drained for the winter.

Visiting during a holiday period such as Thanksgiving? Some attractions may be closed and others may have holiday hours.

Check our monthly calendars to see if any major events such as the Boston Marathon or Duck Boat parades to celebrate sports victories such as Super Bowl or the World Series will be underway that might disrupt traffic.

If so, the hop on/hop off trolleys along some routes and other tours may be impacted, so plan different activities for that period.

3. Read the terms of use: The clock starts ticking on your pass on the first day you activate it by using it at an attraction - so you'll get the most value from it by using it for a full day rather than just the afternoon.

Also read the cancellation policy: Passes are non-refundable. Occasionally extreme weather conditions such as a blizzard shut down the city.

So before you activate your pass, check the weather . . . just in case.

4. Maximize the number of attractions and activities you can fit into each day doing some advance planning.

Find the location plus opening/closing time for each place. Group your targeted attractions by location.

If you're planning to get around on the hop on/hop off bus, identify nearest bus stops for each location. Are some places open later than others? Schedule them for the end of the day.

5. Make a "Plan B." Boston weather is tricky; "events" such as thunderstorms with driving wind, torrential rain, and lightning can happen suddenly, especially during the summer.

Identify a few indoor attractions you'd like to see such as the Museum of Fine Arts in case the Harbor cruise and walking tour you'd hoped to do suddenly no longer seem so appealing.

Get your Go Boston Discount Card now

Need a Boston Hotel or Apartment?

Use this handy map from Booking.com to find the perfect place to stay. Just enter your dates to find what's available, see the best rates, and make your reservations.

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