I just got back from a multi-day conference in midtown New York City. It's always refreshing to go into the city for a meeting or conference -- you feel the city alive all around you as soon as you step out onto the sidewalk.
But this week, it was more hectic than usually. There were tourists everywhere! You could tell who were the NY'ers -- they weren't walking on the shoulder-to-shoulder sidewalks all arount Rockefeller Center. They were the ones walking in the street around the cars, just trying to get where they were going...quickly. The ones that were clogging the sidewalks all had their heads pointed up, mouths wide open, looking at the billboards and high towers above in Times Square.
One common site are the guys in RED JACKETS with the city bus tours, trying to hawk tickets for the hop-on/hop-off double decker bus tours of the city. I'm usually successful in brushing them off without hassle. But this one guy kept following me and trying to sell me a ticket -- even after I said I wasn't a tourist. But I did learn something -- and I was completely shocked...
Can you believe how much people are willing to pay for the tour buses? Over $50/per person! That's $200 for a family of four, and you don't even get to go INTO any of the attractions you drive by! WOW. I was amazed.
Little do these people know that there are tons of ways to save money on tourist attractions. One of the better ones is getting a NYPass. Basically, if you're pay for the NY Pass, you not only get to hop-on/hop-off those red double deckers all around town as you please (you'ld be paying that fee anyway!), you get admissions into over 40 different attractions and museums around town for free.
Here's a list of some of the places you can get into free, unlimited times with a New York City Pass:
- American Museum of Natural History
- American Museum of the Moving Image
- Applause Tickets
- Astroland Amusement Park
- B&H Photo–Video– Pro Audio
- B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
- Bloomingdale’s
- Bronx Museum of the Arts
- Bronx Zoo
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden
- Brooklyn Children's Museum
- Brooklyn Museum of art
- Carnegie Hall Tours
- Central Park Bicycle Rentals & Tours
- Central Park Zoo
- Century 21 Department Store
- Change Group New York
- Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises
- Cold Stone Creamery
- Empire State Building Observation Deck
- Empire State News Store
- Gray Line New York
- Harlem Spirituals Gospel & Jazz Tours
- Helicopter Flight Services Inc.
- Sightseeing Tours
- Historic Richmond Town
- Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
- J&R Music & Computer World
- Junior’s Restaurant
- Keith Prowse
- Liberty Helicopter Tours
- Macy*s Herald Square Visitors Center
- Madame Tussaud’s New York
- Madison Square Garden All Access Tour
- Manhattan Mall
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- Museum of Television & Radio
- National Park Service of New York
- NBC Experience Store
- NBC Studio Tour
- New York Aquarium
- New York Botanical Garden
- New York Hall of Science
- New York Helicopter Sightseeing Tours
- New York Skyride
- New York Transit Museum
- New York Water Taxi
- New York Visions Sightseeing Tours
- Noble Maritime Collection
- On Location Tours
- Planet Hollywood
- Prospect Park Zoo
- Queens Museum of Art
- Queens Zoo
- Radio City Music Hall Stage Door Tour
- Rockefeller Center Tour
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Soup Man
- South Street Seaport Museum
- Spirit Cruises
- Staten Island Botanical Garden
- Staten Island Children’s Museum
- Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
- Immigration Museum
- The MTV Store
- The New York City Police Museum
- Tour at Lincoln Center
- United Nations Tour
- Van Cortlandt House Museum
- Walkin' Broadway
- Wave Hill
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Woodbury Common Premium Outlets/ShortLine/Coach USA Bus
- Wollman Rink
- World Yacht Dining Cruises
If you're visiting NYC anytime soon (or Philly, they have passes for that city too), buy a NY Pass BEFORE you come and keep the money in your wallets...
Labels: New York City, NY Pass, Travel
