Go Boston Card

As I was researching the things I wanted to do in Boston, I came across this Go Boston Card from Smart Destinations. A lot of the things I wanted to see or do in Boston were free or had a minimal fee, like the Freedom Trail and Paul Revere’s house, but then other things, like the Duck Boat Tours, had real admission fees. All in all, I figured things would add up, so I started looking around for deals. :)

I considered trying to buy Groupons (I found a couple for the Duck Tours and a guided Freedom Trail tour) but since Groupons come out sporadically, I missed some, and you have to read the fine print about when they’re valid, etc, because once you buy them, you’re stuck. So I wasn’t sure if Groupons were the right thing for this trip.

Somehow in my Googling, I stumbled upon the Go Boston Card. I’m often pretty skeptical of these “deal” cards, wondering if  I’ll really get my money’s worth and whatnot, but there were so many attractions listed on it, along with a guide to the attractions. I saw it was also sold on Costco.com which was a point in its favor (as not being some kind of scam, that is!) :)

As I was deciding whether or not to buy the card, I looked around for reviews…so I thought I’d post my own here. A little giving back to the internet community.

I loved all the options of attractions on the card, and I really wanted to make this a sightseeing trip.  We didn’t end up doing/seeing quite all I wanted to on the card, mostly because places are only open from 9-5ish and there’s only so much you can do in that time, and eat lunch, and travel from point a to point b; but I’m so happy with the flexibility it gave us.  We always had ideas for what to do next, and we could decide to do something different if we wanted.  We took a Boston Harbor cruise and rented bikes for a day: two of our favorite things that we wouldn’t have done without the card.

I ended up buying us each a 3-day pass with a bonus attraction. I’ve noticed there are different sale prices all the time, but I paid about $100 each for our cards, so $200 total.

Here are the things we did with the card:

We got a discount at the Green Dragon Tavern. ($8)

We got free glassware on the Sam Adams tour. ($16)

We rented bikes for the day and got admission into Paul Revere’s house. ($64 + $7)

We took a Boston Harbor Cruise to the USS Constitution. ($39)

We took a Duck Boat Tour!!! ($66)

We took the Fenway Park tour. ($32)

We visited the Old State House museum and Boston Massacre site, complete with tours. ($15)

All of which totaled about $247! So we got our money’s worth for sure. Having the card inspired us to do just a little more than we might have if we didn’t have it and felt like being lazy. You know, we would say to ourselves, “Let’s just go to the Old State House. There’s time and it’s on the card!” So that was a sightseeing bonus in itself!

There are lots of other tours and museums included on the card, so I think if we ever go back to Boston, I’d really consider getting the card again!

Do you buy into these deal-cards when you travel?