City Cards - Are They Worth It??

[rdnpdx1]

We are going to be in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki, each of which market city cards/passes and offer free transport and museum entry, and HOHO boat in Copenhagen and Stockholm. I am trying to figure out if the cards are a good value, particularly for Stockholm and Helsinki.

 

The Helsinki Card is 32 euro, and the Stockholm Card is 425 SEK, or about 70 USD. We will be in Copenhagen for three and a half days before sailing, so that card is worth it to us as it is only 65 euro for three days.

 

We are on the NCL Sun and are tendered in Nynashamn for Stockholm, and will be taking the NCL Stockholm On Your Own bus to the city center, then we are on our own. The card offers free admission to the Vasa, Skansen, HOHO boats, Royal Palace, Royal Armoury and free transport within Stockholm. Have others found the card to be worth it?

 

With Helsinki, the Suomenlinna Fortress and all transport is covered. Are there enough other attractions to make this card worth getting?

 

Thanks for input.

[GACRUISER456]

I am a big fan of the city cards and have purchased them throughout Europe. It makes it so much easier to not deal with currency all day long. We found this especially true in the Scandinavian cruise where every country has a different currency. Also, if we walk by something that looks interesting, we can just pop in and check it out even if we only spend a few minutes. I usually look at the places we want to visit and their admission cost plus any local transport I might use to determine the value. If it is "close" to break even, I will get it just to make the day easier. If we are in port for a short period or the things to see are free like parks and churches and I won't even get close to the cost then we will skip it.

 

In Helsinki, we did not purchase the card. We spent the day on the 3T (I think it was 6 Euros or so for an all day ticket). Then we visited the market area, 3 churches, the Sebilius Monument and wandered the pedestrian area. The city card was not worth it to us.

 

We did use it in Stockholm at the Vasa, several museums around the palace and transportation. It was a very cold day for us, so we cut the day a little short, but I think we came out close to even.

[Hlitner]

The answer really depends on how much you use the card. If you only want transportation there are daily transportation passes that cost much less then the Cards. However, if you are going to "museum hop" and/or go to Tivoli Gardens the Card might make a lot of financial sense (we are obviously talking about Copenhagen). We usually will try to think ahead and price-out what we are going to do with the Card or without the Card.

 

Hank

[Bet & Peg]

I think the other posters said it very well - it ALL depends on just what you plan on doing in each port.

 

We usually don't buy city cards, However, last year we had 4 nights post-cruise in Amsterdam. I read and read and scheduled what we'd see and decided to each get a card and I think we pretty much broke even - but we were there for 3 full days.

 

In Helsinki we took the ferry to Soumenlinna and spent most of our time there - great museum, DH enjoyed the submarine, lovely lunch! Then some time at the market and back to the ship!

 

But only YOU can decide how much time you want to spend where and if the cards will be a good choice.

 

Have a great cruise!

[coronadogal]

Being familiar with Excel spreadsheets and the accounting geek that I am, I have one with a tab for each city we are visiting and what we want to visit with prices. I also have the price for a city card. That way all my costs can add up to see when it will make sense to buy the card. So far, I am only buying one in Oslo since we are there overnight.

[rdnpdx1]

I am not so much of an accounting geek, but I have totaled things in my head and think Stockholm and Copenhagen are worth it for us - Helsinki no.

 

Thanks, everyone.

[marylizcat]

As others have said, you just have to decide on your itinerary and then cost it out. Compare your total with cost of card and the decision is simple!

 

One thing we found in Oslo that was a nuisance, was that you still had to join the queue line at each museum's ticket office, show your pass and be given a ticket. You couldn't just wave your card and go on in. I had hoped it would save queuing time!

[KerbyTex]

We are in Copenhagen for three days before the cruise. Just on entrance fees it saves us $240 plus free public transportation (including the train to Hillerod) and 10% off three restaurants. The 6 hr. Tallinn card is also quite a bargain at $14, if you plan to go in any of the sights. The Helsinki card works for us as we are going to Suomenlinna so the museum and ferry make it break even. We lose money getting the Stockholm card at $50. We are on the NCL Sun and sail ino Nynashamn. The same NCL tour to Skansen would cost $89 and with priority tender privileges and not having to stand in line to get train tickets or do a currency exchange. For the Stockholm Card, time and convenience rather than cost made our decision.

 

I should also mention that our group is two adults and two teens so the cost for the cards was much less than buying all adult tickets.:cool:

[sansterre]

Anyone have experience with the icard in Amsterdam?

Some say it saves time in line -others comment that they had to stand and wait. Money wise it is about a wash for us as we would have to buy the one day card. Better savings are with the two and three day.