Being a tourist is great fun, whether it means traveling to a new place or playing tourist in your own town during a well deserved “staycation”. If you’re like us, you want to see and do everything. With time and money being finite resources, we always do everything we can to stretch both.
Bargain Bunny’s motto is “Do more, spend less”. Here’s our top 5 ways to enjoy top attractions at an attractive price:
- Multi-attraction passes
One of our favorite ways to see a city’s popular attractions is to purchase a multi-attraction pass. For one low price, you get admission to several top attractions, such as museums, zoos, amusement parks, aquariums, boat cruises, and more. These passes save you both money and time. The cost of admission ends up being less than the cost of buying tickets to each attraction individually. In addition to the discount off admission, you’ll often get to bypass the ticket window lineup on the way in. Another perk is that you’ll save time planning your itinerary. These passes can make you look like a genius trip planner, knowing all the best places to go… without having to do tons of research!Many attractions in major cities all over North America participate in discounted multiple attraction pass programs. One of the most well-known programs is CityPASS. With nearly a dozen cities on its roster, CityPASS has you covered for the main attractions in town for up to 9 days. On average there are 5-10 participating attractions by city. We personally have used the CityPASS in San Francisco and Toronto, and have found the CityPASS to be an excellent value in both cities. If you’re an Airmiles.ca collector, you can save even more by trading in your Airmiles a FREE CityPASS. - Tourism Board websites
Travel and tourism is big business. With so many destinations out there, all vying for your dollars, cities and regions are always looking for a way to draw in visitors. That’s why tourism board websites are a valuable source of savings, often times providing discount coupons for top attractions, and also dishing on lesser known reasons to come to town. Throughout the year, cities hold festivals, put on public concerts, and host all sorts of events to attract visitors and locals alike. Many of these are free or very low cost. You can find out about what’s going on in the cities you travel to, or in your own home town, by Googling “tourism board” and the name of the city. Tourism boards around the world can also be found on the Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory. While not the prettiest website out there, this site lets you easily find tourism boards worldwide, from Antingua to Zimbabwe. - Groupon
Who can forget our trusty friend, Groupon? While everyone and their dog these days looks to Groupon for local daily deals, many don’t think to look up Groupon deals in cities they are traveling to. In our travels, we’ve found great Groupon deals for Nottaway Plantation in Louisiana, tasty blender drinks in fun souvenir glasses in Las Vegas, tasty treats at some of the best restaurants in Seattle, and a 2-hour submarine scooter and turtle watching adventure in Hawaii (my personal favorite… possibly the best Groupon ever!). - Viator.com
So you’ve checked out CityPASS, scoured the tourism board website, got your Groupon on, but are still looking for budget sightseeing and tourist attractions for your next big trip? We’ve got one word for you: Viator.com. With guaranteed low prices on handpicked tours and activities that have been reviewed and verified by travelers just like you, you really can’t go wrong. We love Viator for their great prices on more discounted tourist attractions and tours than you can shake a stick at, but what we really love most is that they combine great deals with great information and advice. Viator is my first stop when planning an itinerary, due to the breadth of their selection and helpful reviews and photos, and usually my last stop for booking popular sightseeing tours and attractions after comparison shopping, to find that their deal is often better than the bigger-name travel sites. - Costco
Last, but certainly not least, in our top 5 ways to save on top tourist attractions is Costco. As not everyone is a Costco member, we chose to talk about Costco last. However, some of the best sightseeing deals we’ve found have been from Costco. A vast selection of deeply discounted attraction passes (including CityPASS, GOcard, Power Pass, and Explorer Pass), helicopter tours, amusement park admission, day boat cruises, luaus, and so much more await you at the Costco website. As the selection does differ, be sure to check out both Costco.ca and Costco.com before purchasing tickets or reservations to sightseeing attractions. What you save could be a nice contribution towards your next amazing vacation on a budget!
