The Go San Francisco Card and the San Francisco CityPASS arethe two big multi-attraction passes in the San Francisco market. Both of them are quite popular with tourists, and both offer discounted admission to top attractions. If we dig a little deeper, however, factors like greater availability of attractions, more flexibility in attraction visits, and ease of use, the Go San Francisco Card seems to be the better product.

Let’s start with a point-by-point comparison and then shift to talking about how much you really save.

Included Attractions

Go San Francisco Card

Although there are too many to list them all here, these are a few of the top attractions available with the Go San Francisco Card:

• California Academy of Sciences
• Aquarium of the Bay
• Golden Gate Bay Cruise
• Exploratorium
• de Young Museum
• Madame Tussauds San Francisco
• Wine Country Tour
• Hop-on Hop-off Sightseeing Tour
• AT&T Park Tour
• USS Hornet Museum
• And 15+ more!

San Francisco CityPass

• Muni 7-Day Passport
• California Academy of Sciences
• Bay Cruise
• Aquarium of the Bay OR Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Exploratorium OR de Young Museum

The Go San Francisco Card includes the same or comparable attractions as the San Francisco CityPass, without any exclusionary choices. This is really important if you have kids who love science and art, and may want to see both the Exploratorium and the de Young.  Plus, as you can see, one of their attraction choices isn’t even an attraction – it’s a transit pass.

How You Save with a Pass

The Go San Francisco Card can save you up to 55% on combined admission prices, and their website offers multiple examples of real customer itineraries and how much they saved. As you can see on their site, there are multiple attraction combinations that can save you way more than you paid for the pass.

One of the best things about this product is the flexibility you have in choosing what you want to see, when you want to see it.  There are also so many different attraction combinations that will maximize your savings. According to real travelers, a family of four can save over $400!

San Francisco CityPass advertises that it can save you up to 44% on combined admission prices.  With only five attractions choices of seven possible options, they offer no real customer saving examples on their sites, just generic reviews of the product. Additionally, if you don’t choose the “right” attractions, your savings could be pretty insignificant.

The biggest downside to this product is how limited your choices are when it comes to what attractions you want to see. You only have a few possible itinerary combinations, and you’re forced to choose between attractions you may be interested in. The most you can save with a family of four is $295.60. While this is still substantial, it doesn’t match up with the Go San Francisco Card savings. 

How Do I Use Them?

These products are alike in that they serve as your admission to each of the included attractions, but the similarities end there.

The San Francisco CityPassis a booklet of paper tickets that you can order online or buy in person. Attractions tear off the paper ticket when you visit, and you hold onto the booklet for future admission to the other attractions. After you’ve used all of your tickets, you dispose of the booklet.

The Go San Francisco Cardhas a wider variety of delivery and usage options. If you choose a physical card (the size and shape of a credit card), it can either be shipped or picked up in person in San Francisco. This card is more durable and can even be kept as a souvenir after your trip!

Alternatively, you could choose instant delivery. This means that a digital pass will be delivered to your e-mail on the spot: the exact same pass, the exact same benefits, but with the ease of using your smartphone for admission. Most Go San Francisco Card customers prefer the digital option because of its speed and convenience.

What’s the Real Difference?

The big difference here has to do with philosophies of travel. If you’re the “do it all, see it all” type of traveler, then the Go San Francisco Card is the best choice. You’ll have access to a greater variety of attractions, more freedom in choosing which attractions you want to see, and no pressure of either/or choices. You can also see as much as you can fit into your schedule – no being restricted to just four attractions!

If you only want to see a few specific attractions, then the San Francisco CityPass may be a good option. That said, you have fewer attraction choices that don’t include many popular tours and cruises, or most of the city’s top museums. Further, you aren’t able to see both the Exploratorium and the de Young Museum, which is an unfortunate limitation for families with kids.  Finally, one of the available attractions (the Monterey Bay Aquarium) requires a 2+ hour drive from downtown San Francisco – inconvenient for anyone on a tight schedule or without access to a car. At the end of the day, this product just doesn’t offer the same flexibility, variety, and convenience that the Go San Francisco Card does.

Extra Details

The Go San Francisco Cardfeatures a number of smaller attractions that really showcase San Francisco’s artistic and culture heritage, including the Beat Museum, the Asian Art Museum, the Cartoon Art Museum, and the California Historical Society.

Both products come with included coupons for savings on dining, shopping, and/or other attractions.  Both products also come with area maps and basic facts like directions and contact info.

The Go San Francisco Pass comes with a free, full-color guidebook. The guidebook features important information about each neighborhood, how-to info on the local mass transit systems (BART and Muni), details about free attractions and points of historical significance, and more.

The Go San Francisco Card also includes a wider variety of cruises and a great selection of tours – including a wine country tour! – that really showcase San Francisco’s true cultural heritage. After all, it wouldn’t be a trip to the Bay Area with a cruise past Alcatraz or a bit of wine tasting.

Last Thoughts

Trying to decide between a Go San Francisco Pass and San Francisco CityPass? Figure out what you really want from a vacation, and go from there. Do you want freedom of choice, flexibility, and a wealth of attraction options? Do you want the opportunity to maximize your savings while following your own itinerary, not some prescribed set of attractions? Then the Go San Francisco Card is right for you!

As the school year begins to wind down, many families and individuals are focusing on their summer vacation plans. There are a lot of factors that go into planning a big trip, not the least of which is determining where to go and why. So, if you already know that going to San Francisco is in the plans for you this year, you’re one step closer already.

There is so much that San Francisco has to offer tourists, though, that your decision to visit is really only the beginning. In fact, according to About.com, San Francisco is one of the cities that tourists are least prepared to visit – many assuming that touring SF is as simple as getting up, getting dressed and driving over to Alcatraz or Fisherman’s Wharf. But, given the many historical, cultural, and entertainment options that the city and its surrounding areas, doing some basic homework before leave can save you time and money.

Tourist Facts

If you or someone you know is planning a trip to the San Francisco Bay area this summer, you will be in good company. In 2010, almost 16 million people from all over the world visited the Golden Gate City throughout the year. However, like most tourist destinations, the spring and summer time are hot for travelers, with peaks in July, August and September. This means that preparation for summer visits is even more imperative if you want to capitalize on your time in San Francisco.

Climate Concerns

One important note about visiting in the summer months especially is the weather. Most people assume that the sweltering days of August heat exist across the country. In fact, San Francisco, due to its proximity to the sea (it is a peninsula after all) and hilly streets that catch a lot of shade from surrounding buildings, has peak temperatures only in the high 60s to low 70s throughout the year. September is actually the warmest month with an average high of 71 degrees.

The flip side is that the winter weather in San Francisco is similarly mild. The coldest month, January, has an average high around 58 degrees. Therefore, regardless of the time of year you choose to visit, packing layers of sweatshirts and windbreakers is essential. Otherwise, you will likely end up buying them.

Hoof It

Another big mistake that first-time visitors to San Francisco make is assuming that, like many West Coast cities, SF is spread out and will require the use of a rental car. Unlike Los Angeles and San Diego, however, San Francisco is quite small and very densely populated. This means that most of what you will want to do while there can be accessed on foot, by taxi or by cable car. Unless you plan on visiting outside of the city limits, say to the surrounding wine country of Sonoma and Napa Valleys, renting a car is a waste of money in San Francisco.

Make Reservations for Alcatraz

The final tip for San Francisco tourists is plan what attractions you want to visit and when. As I mentioned above, the weather is generally mild year-round and summers are characteristically dry. Therefore, taking the time to plan when you will visit popular attractions like Alcatraz can make a big difference in terms of waiting times, and you won’t be too likely to get rained out.

Tourist passes like the San Francisco City Pass and the Go San Francisco Card, which can save you a lot of money when traveling to San Francisco, do not include the Alcatraz tour; it’s that popular. However, brave holders of the Go San Francisco Card can receive a 50% discount on Alcatraz tickets if they have the time and inclination to get out to the island early in the day – the discount is only extended to same-day tickets.

Enjoy San Francisco

Clearly, there is a lot to look forward to if you plan a San Francisco vacation this summer, which can lead you to think it wise to “fly by the seat of your pants” while there. However, the basic time it takes to prepare now will pay back big time dividends in terms of time and money saved.

From the cool breezes at a Giants night game at AT&T Park, to delicious sourdough bread from vendors at Fisherman’s Wharf, to the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco delights sports fans, culture buffs, foodies, and more. The City by the Bay offers a mosaic of travel experiences, and San Francisco CityPASS lets travelers hit all the must-see attractions at nearly half off the regular admission price.

Customers will find a booklet of discount tickets to SFMoMA, the Aquarium by the Bay, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise. The CityPASS is also good for a 7-day unlimited passport for Muni busses, street cars, and San Francisco’s famous cable cars. Plus you can choose from one bonus admission, either the hand-on Exploratorium or the de Young Museum and Legion of Honor.  Plus, CityPASS holders can jump the admission line at most venues, so you’ll save time as well as money.

A great way to take in all of the city’s sights at once is on the Blue & Gold Fleet’s hour-long Bay Cruise Adventure. This is a great way to get your bearings at the beginning of a trip, or relax and take in the view when you want a break from being on your feet. You’ll sail past the waterfront, catch a glimpse of the famous sea lions at Pier 39, cruise underneath the famous Golden Gate Bridge, and circle the infamous Alcatraz prison.

The California Academy of Sciences packs an aquarium, natural history museum, four-floor rain forest, and planetarium into one eco-friendly building. Visit animals like piranhas, penguins, and albino alligators, or see what Earth looks like when viewed from space. The building boast eco-friendly design elements, too, like walls that are insulated using recycled blue jeans.

The Aquarium of the Bay lets visitors get up close to local marine life as they walk through tunnels where sevengill sharks swim overhead. More than 20,000 sea creatures call the tanks at Aquarium by the Bay home, and visitors can even touch some of the animals, including bat rays, sharks, and sea stars.

For a different slice of San Francisco life, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is the most comprehensive collection of contemporary art on the west coast. Programs and special exhibitions are always changing, and their museum shop is a great place to look for unique souvenirs. Take a break in SFMoMA’s Caffé Museo and enjoy upscale cuisine and special cocktails with museum visitors and locals alike

Round out your San Francisco visit with one of two very different experiences offered by the CityPASS option ticket. The family-friendly Exploratorium is a hands-on exploration of art, science, and human perception. The de Young Museum and Legion of Honor span the spectrum of art with works from ancient times through the 21st century.

The Exploratorium, in the Palace of Fine Arts, has been a leader in interactive museum experiences for decades. Exhibits include the Tactile Dome—a pitch dark maze that can only be navigated by touch (reservations required). The Shadow Wall lets visitors freeze their shadow in place and explore light and movement. And a 10-foot-tall indoor tornado lets you get up close to nature’s fury.

In Golden Gate Park, the de Young Museum presents American art from the colonial era through today, contemporary art from around the world, costumes and textiles, and art from Central America, South America, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. This summer they present Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay, a rare opportunity to explore the roots of one of the modern era’s most popular artistic movements, featuring works from a famed Paris museum.

The Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park is much more than a military museum. Built to honor California servicemen and women who died in France during World War II, the building is a scale replica of Paris’s Palais de la Légion d’Honneur. Inside is a collection spanning 4,000 years: a world-renowned collection of sculptures by Rodin, ancient Greek and Egyptian art, English porcelain, and more.

The Aquarium of the Bay is bouncing back from an inauspicious start as a failing tourist destination. The nonprofit Bay Institute Aquarium Foundation today announced the successful purchase of the institution from Darius Anderson and Kenwood Bay Aquarium, LLC. The acquisition had been in the works for four years, says a spokesperson. The goal is to transform the aquarium into a self-supporting nonprofit that will serve as a center for science, education, and conservation of the San Francisco Bay and its surrounding waters. Christina Swanson, the Bay Institute’s executive director, touted the acquisition as “a new model of social entrepreneurship that partners a leading science-based nonprofit with a successful, public aquarium.”

The Bay Institute had attempted a capital campaign to buy the failing aquarium in 2006, but fell short of its fundraising goals. Political strategist and fundraiser Darius Anderson stepped in and bought the aquarium, enabling the Bay Institute to buy more time. Anderson was able to transform the aquarium into the city’s third-largest ticketed attraction. He helped the Aquarium of the Bay get Green certification, launched a sevengill shark research initiative, and instituted an educational program that brought free classes and tours to 15,000 San Francisco public school students in all grades. “As a fourth-generation San Franciscan, I wanted to ensure that the city had a waterfront aquarium where people would both have fun and leave with a sense of purpose to protect the San Francisco Bay,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s work in making the aquarium profitable helped the Bat Institute Aquarium Foundation reach their fundraising goals.  Steven N. Machtinger, president of the foundation’s board of trustees said, “Raising the capital to acquire Aquarium of the Bay through traditional fundraising during the most serious economic downturn in our country’s recent history was an uphill battle.” But local corporations and foundations like David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Marin Community Foundation, and the Dean Witter Foundation joined individual donors including Ruth and Ben Hammett and the Bay Institute’s entire board joined to finally put the capital campaign on track for the acquisition. Fundraising efforts continue, and are earmarked for further expansion of science and conservation programs and partnerships with other environmental organizations.

Executive director Swanson feels that the outlook is positive for the Aquarium of the Bay. “The Bay Institute’s work to protect the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas will reach a larger audience, “ she says. And the aquarium itself can now offer school programs to a broader audience while undertaking more aggressive research and conservation projects. “The Aquarium of the Bay will crossroad for collaboration among the scientific, educational, interpretive, and conservation communities.”

The Aquarium of the Bay is included in the San Francisco CityPass, Pier 39 Attraction Pass and Go San Francisco Card.