How to use New York CityPASS

CityPASS is easy once you know the order of operations: ticket first, app second, reservations third. Do those three before you land and the nine days take care of themselves.

Before your trip

After booking, your CityPASS arrives by email. Open the My CityPASS app and add the ticket; everything else happens there. Browse the ten attractions, decide on your five, and make reservations where required, which is most of them: the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, Edge, the 9/11 Museum, the Statue of Liberty ferry and others ask for a time slot, while the Guggenheim only recommends one. Book the deck slots and the Statue ferry first; they fill fastest. You can change reservations later, subject to availability, which reviewers used to dodge rainy days.

On the day

Arrive at your reserved time, pass through security where there is some, and show the barcode on your phone (or a printout). The nine consecutive days start on the first day you visit an attraction or have a reservation, so a pass whose first visit or reserved slot falls on a Monday expires at the end of the following Tuesday. Book your first slot for the day you actually want the clock to start. Each attraction can be used once, except the Empire State Building ticket, which lets you visit in the morning and again at night on the same day.

Rules worth knowing

The Statue of Liberty option covers the island grounds, the Statue of Liberty Museum and Ellis Island, not the pedestal or crown, and it cannot be upgraded. The Empire State ticket is the 86th floor; the 102nd floor costs extra. Adults are 18 and over on CityPASS; children 6 to 17 pay the $129 child price. If you have not used the pass within a year of purchase, it expires. For the whole-trip layout, see our 3 to 5 day itinerary; for the attractions themselves, the plan tabs on the homepage.