The London Pass® Is It Worth It in 2026? Full Guide + Explorer Pass Comparison
Trying to work out whether the London Pass is worth buying, and how it differs from the Explorer Pass? This guide gives you a straight answer. We have used the London Pass on our own trips to the capital, so rather than just listing features, we will tell you what each pass is really like, who it suits, what is included, how much you can save, and which of the two to choose.
The London Pass is the best-known of London’s tourist passes, and the most common question we are asked is whether this particular sightseeing pass is actually worth buying.
There are now just two passes to consider, both run by Go City: the London Pass and the Explorer Pass. By the end of this guide you will know which one fits your trip, or whether you are better off buying tickets individually.
If you would like to see how they stack up against the other London passes, our London tourist passes comparison puts them side by side.
Click to purchase the London Pass
The quick answer: is the London Pass® worth it?
For most first-time visitors planning a few busy days of sightseeing, yes. London is an expensive city, and once you have a pass, you can walk into more than 100 attractions without paying at the gate, which both saves money and takes the budgeting worry out of each day.
The exception is a slower trip where you only plan to see two or three paid attractions. In that case it is worth a quick sum: add up the gate prices of what you actually want to see and compare it to the pass. If you are only visiting a couple of sights, individual tickets or the Explorer Pass may suit you better.
We put the London Pass® to the test: our three-day challenge
We did not want to recommend the pass on theory alone, so we ran a proper experiment. Daryl Bennett from Go City set us a three-day London Pass® challenge, handing us a packed itinerary and a pass to see whether it really delivered.
We shared the whole thing on the podcast, and you can listen to how it went in Episode #126 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. If you would like the background on how the pass works first, Daryl also joined us for Episode 106.
Across the three days the itinerary covered a real mix.
- Day one was St Paul’s Cathedral and a walk over the Millennium Bridge to Shakespeare’s Globe, then the London Eye and the Florence Nightingale Museum.
- Day two took in Westminster Abbey, the immersive Frameless and Moco galleries, and Apsley House at Wellington Arch.
- Day three was the Tower of London with a Yeoman Warder tour, then a river boat down to Greenwich for the Cutty Sark, the Painted Hall and the Royal Observatory at the Meridian Line.
A few things stood out from doing it for real:
- Starting early on the first day made a real difference to how much we fitted in, and to the value we got from the pass.
- Scanning the QR code in the app at each entrance was quick and simple, with no paper tickets to manage.
- River transport on the Uber Boat to Greenwich was covered, which made getting around part of the experience rather than an added cost.
- A couple of the busier attractions, the London Eye in particular, are worth booking ahead even when you hold the pass.
- One practical tip we would pass on: carry a spare battery pack, because your phone is your pass and you will be scanning it throughout the day.
St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey were the standouts for us, and a mention has to go to Geraldine at Westminster Abbey, who made our visit.
The prices we talked through on the podcast have moved on since, so use the current figures further down this guide, but the way the pass works, and how much you can pack into three days with it, is exactly as we found it.
What is the London Pass®?
The London Pass® is a sightseeing pass that covers entry to more than 100 London attractions for a set number of days. Once you have paid for it, you walk in without paying again at each attraction, which makes budgeting far simpler in a costly city. The pass is digital, stored in the Go City app on your phone, and you gain entry by scanning at the gate.
The range now comes in two versions. The standard London Pass® is priced by the number of days, so you can see as many attractions as you like each day across 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 days.
The Explorer Pass is priced by the number of attractions instead, letting you choose between two and seven attractions from a list of 76 and visit them at a gentler pace over 30 days. We compare the two further down.
(If you used the pass a few years ago, you may remember a separate London Pass Plus tier. That has been folded into the main range, and big-ticket attractions such as the London Eye and the Big Bus hop-on hop-off tour are now included across the passes.)
The pass activates on first use, not on purchase, so there is no risk in buying ahead of your trip. Big sights such as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Windsor Castle and Kensington Palace are covered, alongside river cruises, the hop-on hop-off bus and a long list of museums and tours.
If London is one stop on a wider UK trip, it is worth planning your days in the city around the pass before you book. On our sister site UK Travel Planning we have detailed help with planning a UK itinerary and travelling between cities by train.
What is included with the London Pass
The London Pass covers more than 100 attractions and Go City adds to the list over time. Here is a selection of what you can visit, grouped by type. This is not the full list.
Headline attractions and experiences
- The London Eye
- The View from The Shard (often needs pre-booking through the app)
- Madame Tussauds (often needs pre-booking through the app)
- London Zoo
- The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- The Dare Skywalk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Historic sites
- The Tower of London
- Tower Bridge
- The Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
- The Royal Observatory, Greenwich
- The Cutty Sark, Greenwich
- The Monument to the Great Fire of London
Palaces and castles
- The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace
- The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
- Kensington Palace
- Hampton Court Palace
- Windsor Castle
Churches
- Westminster Abbey
- St Paul’s Cathedral
Museums
- London Transport Museum
- Household Cavalry Museum
- Florence Nightingale Museum
- The Garden Museum
- Moco Museum London
Tours and experiences
- Shakespeare’s Globe theatre tour
- Royal Albert Hall tour
- Wembley Stadium tour
- Fuller’s Brewery tour
- A guided London bicycle tour
Transport and cruises
- Big Bus hop-on hop-off sightseeing tour
- City Cruises 24-hour Thames river pass
- Jason’s Original canal boat trip on Regent’s Canal
- London bicycle hire
What’s on in 2026
If you are visiting this year, a few exhibitions included with the pass are worth timing your trip around.
Kensington Palace, The Last Princesses of Punjab runs from 26 March to 8 November 2026 and is included in palace admission, which the London Pass covers. It sits alongside the palace’s permanent displays, including Victoria: A Royal Childhood and the Jewel Room.
Moco Museum London, Voice of the Street: Keith Haring’s Subway Drawings is showing now, with 30 original subway drawings from the early 1980s alongside the museum’s Banksy, Warhol and digital works. The Moco Museum is now a year-round inclusion on the pass, so it is an easy one to add to any London itinerary.
London Pass® prices
The London Pass® is priced by how many days you choose, from a single day up to ten, and it becomes better value the longer you buy, because the daily cost falls as the number of days rises.
At the time of writing (September 2026), the standard London Pass® starts from £99 for a one-day adult pass, and the Explorer Pass starts from £64. Go City runs frequent promotions, and there is often a seasonal discount code on the site, so you may pay less. Exact prices for each duration also change through the year, so rather than list a figure that quickly dates, we link straight to the live prices.
We suggest mapping out your London days before you buy, and leaving out any days you will spend on a day trip outside the city so you are not paying for time you will not use the pass.
Child prices and free entry for younger children
Children’s passes are cheaper than adult passes. Child pricing applies to ages 5 to 15, and children aged 4 and under do not need a pass at all. As with the adult prices, the exact child price depends on the duration you choose, so it is worth checking the live figure when you buy.
How much you could save: a worked three-day example
If you visited the following eight central London attractions over three days, here is how the separate ticket prices compare with a three-day London Pass. The gate prices below are the current “from” prices shown on the official attraction listings.
| Attraction | Separate ticket (up to) | With London Pass |
| The London Eye | £39 | Included |
| Tower of London | £37 | Included |
| Westminster Abbey | £31 | Included |
| St Paul’s Cathedral | £27 | Included |
| Tower Bridge | £18 | Included |
| The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace | £18 | Included |
| Big Bus 2-day hop-on hop-off tour | £56 | Included |
| City Cruises 24-hour Thames pass | £25 | Included |
| Total | £251 | 3-day adult pass £179 at standard pricing |
That works out at a saving of £72, and the more paid attractions you fit into your days, the more the pass saves you.
The pass price here is the standard three-day adult rate and is shown as a guide, because Go City pricing varies with the season and with any promotion running, so do check the live figure before you buy.
London Pass® or Explorer Pass: which to choose
Both passes are run by Go City, so the attraction lists overlap heavily. The difference is how they are priced.
| The London Pass® | The Explorer Pass |
| Priced by days: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 | Priced by attractions: choose 2 to 7 |
| Best when you want to see a lot in consecutive days | Best when you want a few attractions at a slower pace |
| From £99 | From £64 |
| Access to over 100 attractions | Choose from 76 attractions |
| Use it on consecutive days from first activation | Use it over 30 days from first activation |
| Includes Windsor Castle and the Royal Mews | Does not include Windsor Castle or the Royal Mews |
The London Pass® suits first-time visitors who want to pack in as much as possible across a set run of days.
The Explorer Pass suits a slower trip, or a return visit, where you have a shorter list of must-sees and want to spread them out.
One difference worth noting is that Windsor Castle and the Royal Mews are covered by the London Pass but not by the Explorer, so if those are on your list the day-based pass is the one to choose.
What about London’s other tourist passes?
The London Pass and the Explorer Pass are the two main London sightseeing passes today, and they are the ones we recommend choosing between.
The other option you will come across is Merlin’s five-attraction ticket, sold as the London 5 Top Attractions Pass, which covers Madame Tussauds, SEA LIFE, the London Eye, the London Dungeon and Shrek’s Adventure and nothing else. It suits a family whose list is those five, and it is not a substitute for the London Pass if the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s are on yours.
We cover it, and how all three compare, in our London tourist passes comparison. For most first-time visitors, the real choice comes down to the two Go City passes compared above.
How to buy your London Pass®
You can buy your London Pass® through our link. The pass is digital, so it is delivered to your phone straight away, even if you decide to buy it on the morning you start sightseeing.
One reassuring detail: non-activated passes are eligible for a refund within 90 days of purchase, so if your plans change before you have used the pass, you are not locked in.
Once you have chosen your number of days, the pass is yours to use as you like. There is no need to read the marketing blurb on the sales page, because the figures and inclusions above already cover everything that goes into the decision.
Do you have to reserve attractions in advance?
For many attractions you can simply turn up and scan your pass. Some of the most popular sights and tours do ask you to reserve a time slot, and Go City keeps an up-to-date list of which ones in its help centre and FAQs.
The Tower of London is a good example. A reservation is not strictly required, but it is sensible at busy times so you are not waiting for an available slot.
If you are visiting in summer, around Christmas, or at a weekend, reserving your slot at any popular attraction saves time, and the same applies when you are working to a tight schedule.
London Pass® and the London Eye, the Oyster card, and other common questions
Does the London Pass® include the London Eye?
Yes. The London Eye is now included across the London Pass range, where it once sat only on the higher tier. A separate London Eye ticket currently costs up to £39 per adult, so it is one of the higher-value inclusions. It is one of the attractions worth booking ahead through the app.
What is the difference between a London Pass® and an Oyster card?
They do two different jobs. The London Pass covers entry to attractions. An Oyster card pays for your travel on London’s public transport.
The pass does not cover the Tube or buses, beyond a few included options such as the river cruise and the hop-on hop-off tour, so most visitors will use an Oyster card or contactless payment alongside it. Our guide to contactless versus Oyster explains which to use.
What are the main advantages?
It saves money when you visit several paid attractions, it saves time choosing and queuing for tickets, and it makes budgeting easier because your sightseeing is paid for before you arrive.
Is the London Pass® worth it for your trip?
When you are visiting several of London’s paid attractions over consecutive days, the London Pass usually saves you money and takes the admin out of your sightseeing.
We have used it ourselves and would buy it again. If your trip is slower, or built around London’s many free museums, run your own numbers against the worked example above, or consider the Explorer Pass instead.
Either way, paying for your attractions in advance is a calm way to budget for a few days in one of the world’s most exciting and expensive cities.
