What is the London Pass, in one sentence?

It's a prepaid digital pass — sold by Go City — that gives you free entry to 100+ London attractions for a chosen number of consecutive days (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10).

Is the London Pass the same as Go City?

Go City is the company that sells two London passes: the London Pass (day-based, unlimited attractions per day) and the London Explorer Pass (pick a set number of attractions, use them across 30 days). 'The London Pass' usually means the day-based one.

How does the London Pass actually work?

You buy online, the pass appears in the free Go City app as a QR code, and you scan it at each attraction's entrance. The clock starts on the day of your first scan and runs for consecutive calendar days.

Do I still need to book attraction tickets separately?

For most attractions you just turn up and scan. A few popular ones (Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, The View from The Shard) require a free timed reservation made through the app first.

How much does the London Pass cost?

Adult prices in 2026 range from £89 (1 day) to £239 (10 days). Children aged 5–15 are roughly 30–35% cheaper. Under 5s go free at most attractions and don't need a pass.

Can I get a refund on the London Pass?

Yes — unactivated passes can be refunded within 90 days of purchase. Once you scan it at the first attraction, the clock starts and refunds are no longer available.

What is the London Pass? Plain-English Guide (2026)

The London Pass is a digital sightseeing pass that gets you into 100+ London attractions for one upfront price. Here's exactly how it works, what's included, what's not, and when it actually saves you money.

The London Pass at a glance

Detail	What it means
Sold by	Go City (the company behind it)
Format	Digital — QR code in the Go City app
Durations	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 consecutive days
Adult prices	£89 (1 day) – £239 (10 days)
Attractions	100+ included; unlimited entries per day
Activation	Clock starts on first scan, runs in calendar days
Best for	Trips visiting 3+ paid attractions per day

The London Pass in plain English

The London Pass is a digital sightseeing pass — one upfront price gets you into a long list of London attractions without buying individual tickets. It's sold by a company called Go City London, lives on your phone as a QR code, and is built for visitors who want to see a lot in a short time.

You pick a duration (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 consecutive days), pay once, and then scan your way in at each attraction. There are no per-attraction tickets to print, no separate booking confirmations to keep track of — just one QR code that everything runs through.

It's not a transport card (that's the Oyster / contactless), it's not a tourist information service, and it's not a club membership. It's strictly a prepaid bundle of attraction entries.

What's included

The pass covers 100+ attractions, including most of the big-ticket London landmarks. Following the February 2026 simplification that merged the old Standard and Plus tiers, the headline inclusions are:

Tower of London — £35.80 at the gate
Westminster Abbey — £31
The View from The Shard — £32
London Eye — £39
Madame Tussauds — £40+
St Paul's Cathedral — £27
Tower Bridge — £14.50
Hop-on hop-off bus tour (2 days) — £40+
Thames river cruise — £21
Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens, Windsor Castle
Churchill War Rooms, ZSL London Zoo, HMS Belfast

Plus dozens of smaller museums, walking tours and out-of-town day trips (Stonehenge, Oxford, Warwick Castle, Windsor) — useful filler if you have a spare pass day. Browse the full list on our attractions page.

What's NOT included

A handful of paid attractions are not on the pass at all:

West End theatre tickets
Premier League football matches
The Harry Potter Studio Tour (Warner Bros Studios)
Most special exhibitions at the major museums

The pass also doesn't cover the major free museums — British Museum, Natural History Museum, V&A, Tate Modern, National Gallery, Science Museum. That's not a flaw: these cost nothing regardless. If your trip is built primarily around free museums, you don't need a pass.

How it works on the day

Buy the pass online — it lands in your email within minutes.
Download the free Go City app and add the pass.
For a handful of busy attractions (Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, The Shard), book a free timed slot through the app — slots sell out 1–2 days ahead in peak summer.
Turn up, open the app, scan the QR code at the entrance.
The pass activates on your first scan — the clock runs in consecutive calendar days from there.

The "consecutive calendar days" detail catches a lot of buyers out. A 2-day pass first scanned at 4pm on Monday expires at end-of-day Tuesday, not 4pm Wednesday. Plan your first scan for the morning of day one to get full value.

How much does it cost?

Adult prices in 2026 (Go City direct, before discounts):

Duration	Adult	Child (5–15)
1 day	£89	~£60
2 days	£124	~£83
3 days	£154	~£104
5 days	£169	~£113
7 days	£209	~£139
10 days	£239	~£159

Children under 5 enter most attractions free and don't need a pass. Go City runs a near-permanent 5–20% discount in the app — the prices above are the headline, not what you'll actually pay if you check for a code.

London Pass vs London Explorer Pass

Go City sells two passes and people mix them up constantly:

London Pass — day-based, unlimited attractions per day, runs in consecutive days. Best for packed sightseeing trips.
London Explorer Pass — pick 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 attractions, use them over 30 days. Best for slower trips or weekend visits.

We break the difference down in detail in London Explorer Pass vs London Pass. Short version: London Pass wins if your rate is 3+ attractions per day; Explorer Pass wins if it's 2 or fewer.

Is it actually worth buying?

The short version: yes if you'll visit roughly three big-ticket attractions per day, no if you mainly want free museums or just one or two paid sights.

A single day of Tower of London + Westminster Abbey + St Paul's totals £93.80 at the gate — already £4.80 more than the 1-day pass. Add a Thames cruise and a Hop-On Hop-Off bus and the saving stacks fast. Full maths in Is the London Pass worth it?.

It's poor value for slow trips, free-museum-only itineraries, and visitors who underestimate how tiring three big attractions in a single day actually is.

The fastest way to decide

Don't guess. Open our comparison tool, tick the attractions you'd actually visit, and you'll get a £-by-£ answer in 30 seconds. It runs the pass against gate prices and against the Explorer Pass in one click.

What is the London Pass?