Go City Cancun Review: Is This Pass Worth The Money?

Last month, we had the pleasure of trying out the Go City Explorer Pass on our vacation in Mexico.

I am already a huge fan of the Go City All-Inclusive Pass, and I was so curious about whether the Explorer Pass would provide a different (better?) experience or not. If you’re curious about whether the Go City Cancun pass was worth it or not, then this post is a must-read.

In this Go City review, I’ll do a deep dive into my latest experience with the Go City Cancun Explorer Pass.

TLDR; Cancun’s version of the Go City attraction pass has got so many fun excursions included. Worth it? I definitely think so.

Disclosure: Go City kindly provided me with a comped pass to discover the power of their city passes, but all opinions are my own. You’ll get nothing but honest thoughts from me! This post may also contain affiliate links. You won’t be paying a cent more, but in the event of a sale, the small affiliate commission I receive will help keep this blog running/pumping out useful and free content. Thanks a lot!

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WHAT IS THE GO CITY PASS?

The Go City Cancun Pass is a digital attraction pass that provides easy access and admission to some of Cancun’s most popular activities, tours, and excursions.

There are two types of passes–the All-Inclusive Pass and the Explorer Pass.

The Go City All-Inclusive Pass is really great for travelers who want to see as much as possible while they’re in Cancun. With the All-Inclusive Pass, you can choose between a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7-day pass that will give you free admission to 25+ tours and attractions throughout Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula.

With this pass, you can visit literally as many attractions as you can fit into each day! Some of the excursions and tours included are:

• Xel Ha Park All-Inclusive ($99.99)
• Xcaret Park at Night Admission ($89.99)
• Extreme Adventure Park – All Day Combo Tour ($165)
• Chichen Itza, Cenote, & Valladolid Day Trip ($140)
• Royal Garrafon Natural Reef Park Adventure ($89)
• Extreme Canopy Tour at Selvatica Park ($99)
• Columbus Romantic Dinner Cruise ($89)
• Puerto Morelos Snorkeling Tour ($79)
• Parasailing Adventure ($65)
• Catamaran Sailing to Isla Mujeres ($70)
• Coba and Cenote Swim Tour ($65)
• Tulum Express Tour ($62)
• and more (see the full list of attractions here)

Then there’s the Explorer Pass. If you don’t plan on visiting a ton of different attractions, Go City also has an Explorer Pass which will still save you a lot of money. With the Explorer Pass, you’ll pay one flat fee and be able to visit 3, 4, 5, 7, or 10 of Cancun’s best attractions.

You’ll then have 60 days to use the Explorer Pass on whichever attractions you’d like. There is also no need to pick attractions ahead of time, so you’ll have the flexibility to choose attractions as you go.

You can buy the pass online here.

DEAL ALERT: For a limited time, use the above link + the promo code AFFGOALL for an additional 5% off your Go City pass. This code is valid for any Go City pass in any destination!

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HOW DOES THE GO CITY CANCUN PASS WORK IN PRACTICE?

Once you buy the pass of your choice, you’ll download the Go City app on your phone. This is how you’ll get into museums and attractions.

First off, I want to mention how cool the Go City app is. Not only does it house your attraction pass, but it will give you all the information you will ever need to know about the attraction (what to expect, opening/closing times, how to make reservations if they’re required, entry rules, etc).

Don’t know what an attraction is all about? No problem. The app also provides you with a detailed description of what you’ll see or encounter at an attraction. Literally, everything you need to know!

They have a few suggested itineraries you could follow, or you could even make custom itineraries on there so you can better plot out your days.

All in all, we found the app to be super useful and informational in guiding us through our trip to Cancun. There was even a “Travel updates & tips” section that provided useful tips on things like the best snorkeling spots in Cancun and the best free/affordable things to do in Cancun.

Alright, so how do you actually use the pass? Once you get to the attraction, simply show your pass (in the form of a QR code) to the staff, they will scan your pass and ultimately grant you admission.

You’ll pay nothing at the gates unless you upgrade your ticket to something that’s not included with the pass. The other benefit is that everything is contact-free and hassle-free! No exchange of money, no printing out passes ahead of time or anything inconvenient like that.

I was actually blown away by how high-tech the whole attraction pass usage was. Highly recommend the entire app experience!

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WHAT WE DID WITH OUR GO CITY CANCUN PASS

Before we dive into this section, I wanted to quickly mention that while we were using the Go City Cancun Pass, we were actually based in Playa Del Carmen. Because a lot of the attractions included with the Explorer Pass were based in Cancun, we found some limitations in the number of activities we could partake in.

For example, we really wanted to do the following, but after mapping out the logistics from Playa Del Carmen, we had determined that doing these was not feasible for our itinerary (some tours had early start times, we encountered lots of rain during our trip which caused us to stay indoors on some days, etc).

• Textures of Mexico: Cancun Street Food & Local Market Day Tour
• Sunrise Wildlife Stand-Up Paddleboard or Kayak Tour
• Isla Mujeres Discovery Sail

Nevertheless, we did find a few totally awesome attractions that did fit into our itinerary perfectly!

1. Emotions Native Park Tour With Lunch & Hotel Pickup

Cost: $99 per person
Cost with our 3-choice Go City Cancun Explorer Pass: ~$35

First up was the Emotions Native Park Tour! This tour was exhilarating as heck! Not only did we go ATVing after massive rainfall the night before and zipline 3 different segments above the treetops, but we also swam in a cenote and participated in a traditional Mayan ceremony. After our 2.5 hours of fun, adventure, and learning more about mother nature, the jungle, Mayan culture, and cenotes, we were fed a delicious and authentic Mexican lunch.

While each and every segment of the tour was entertaining for its own reason, our favorite activity by far was ATVing. Being splashed by massive mud puddles was exhilarating and totally hilarious at the same time.

Emotions Native Park was located just 15 minutes from our hotel in Playa Del Carmen which made it a super convenient excursion for us. It came with transportation and lunch which made the tour that much better.

2. Reef, Turtle and Shipwreck Snorkeling Tour

Cost: $65 per person
Cost with our 3-choice Go City Cancun Explorer Pass: ~$35

The Reef, Turtle, and Shipwreck Snorkeling Tour was an awesome 5-in-1 snorkeling tour in Cancun! If you love snorkeling, you really can’t miss this one! We ended up swimming with sea turtles, over a coral reef teeming with life, by MUSA statues, around a shipwreck, and visited underwater cenotes.

Some of my favorite memories from this tour were the massive schools of bright yellow fish and barracuda by the shipwreck and the three sea turtles we swam by that were innocently munching on seagrass!

With five different snorkeling spots, each offering completely different views, it was action-packed, to say the least. By the end of our tour, I was completely exhausted (and so were multiple people in my tour group–so much so they didn’t even attempt to hop out of the boat in the last two stops!).

While the tour itself was great, we did have some issues with the tour operator/scheduler regarding transportation. While the Go City app noted that roundtrip transportation from Playa Del Carmen would cost $12 USD, the tour operator actually quoted us $120 USD for transportation alone for a 12pm tour. They then proceeded to tell us that transportation was included for the 2:30pm tour.

Out of total confusion for the stark difference in transportation based on tour times (free versus $120 USD), we decided to just find our own transportation to the meeting point for the 12pm tour.

Despite the odd change in transportation price compared to what was quoted on the Go City app, we still had a ton of fun on this one.

3. ???

I know you must be looking for a third attraction, but sadly I have to inform you that we did not get the opportunity to use up our 3rd included activity! What a bummer, right?

This was because we were actually based in Playa Del Carmen for our trip, about 1 hour away from Cancun. Since a good majority of the attractions were based in Cancun and Isla Mujeres, being so far away made it a bit harder to get to the attractions we were interested in.

In the end, we were too tired to bus to Cancun multiple times and ultimately ran out of vacation time in Mexico before we could redeem our last activity with the pass.

Do I have regrets about this? YES.

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GO CITY PASS: PROS AND CONS

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BOTTOM LINE: IS THE GO CITY CANCUN EXPLORER PASS WORTH IT?

The Go Cancun 3 Choice Explorer Pass cost $105. This means that with the Explorer Pass, you’re paying about $35 per attraction.

To determine if the Go City Cancun Explorer Pass was worth it, I added up the would-have-been admission costs for all the attractions we did on our Cancun/Playa Del Carmen trip. One caveat is that we ran out of vacation time and unfortunately were not able to cash in on our 3rd and final excursion!

Total cost of the (2) attractions without the Go City Explorer Pass: $164 per person

• Emotions Native Park Tour With Lunch & Hotel Pickup – $99.00 without pass
• Reef, Turtle and Shipwreck Snorkeling Tour – $65.00 without pass

Total cost with the Go City Explorer Pass: $105
TOTAL SAVINGS: $44 per person + 1 unused attraction 

Looking at the retail value of just the two attractions we did, we STILL saved a ton of money.

As you can see, the total cost for the two attractions above equates to $164 per person already. Had we used our Explorer Pass on a final attraction, the savings would be through the roof!

Another thing to consider is that these numbers are based on one person. If you’re going to be traveling with a larger group, the savings will just multiply. That means the Go City Cancun pass has the potential to save your group a ton of money collectively.

With such savings, heck yeah, we 100% think the Go City Explorer Pass is worth it!

The pass obviously makes the most sense if you’re staying in Cancun proper because a lot of the attractions will be more convenient to get to. Having said that, we were still able to find some convenient options from Playa Del Carmen.

All in all, we were able to partake in some really cool adventures with the Explorer Pass. More importantly, we were able to save a ton of money!

DEAL ALERT: For a limited time, use the above link + the promo code AFFGOALL for an additional 5% off your Go City pass. This code is valid for any Go City pass in any destination!

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GO CITY CANCUN ALL-INCLUSIVE PASS OR EXPLORER PASS?

If you’re interested in visiting Cancun with an attraction pass, the next step is to determine which pass is right for you. Go City has two types of attraction passes–the All-Inclusive Pass and the Explorer Pass.

All-Inclusive Pass

The Go City All-Inclusive Pass is really great for travelers who want to see as much as possible while they’re in Cancun. With the All-Inclusive Pass, you can choose between a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7-day pass that will give you free admission to 25+ museums and attractions throughout Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula.

You can do as many or as few activities in one day, the choice is completely up to you and your travel lifestyle.

The All-Inclusive Pass for Cancun differs from some of their other destination passes in that they offer premium experiences in Cancun. With a 3, 4, 5 or 7-day pass, you can choose one of their premium experiences.

These premium experiences range from an all-inclusive visit to Xel-Há, an Extreme Adventure Park All Day Combo Tour, admission to Xcaret at Night, and a combo day trip to Chichen Itza and Valladolid with a cenote swim.

The All-Inclusive Pass gets even cheaper the more days you opt for. The 1-day pass costs $99, 2-day pass costs $143 ($72/day), 3-day pass costs $202 ($67/day), so on and so forth. A 7-day pass will definitely be the best value for the money, clocking in at $359 ($51/day) for 7 days of all-inclusive goodness.

Do note that the multi-day All-Inclusive pass will need to be used on consecutive days. Again, with an All-Inclusive pass of 3 days or more, you will unlock the premium experiences offered by Go City. The premium attractions we were so sad to miss out on were the following:

• Xel-Há Park All-Inclusive Admission
• Extreme Adventure Park – All Day Combo Tour
• Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid Day Trip

I mean, how could we not be sad–those are all Cancun must-do attractions!

Explorer Pass

Alternatively, the Explorer Pass is best for people who are more choosy about which attractions they want to see. You can choose between a 3, 4, 5, 7, or 10-choice pass for your Explorer Pass. In total, there are currently 39 attractions to choose from with the Explorer Pass.

The Explorer Pass is cool because it does NOT need to be used on the same day or on consecutive days. You actually will have 60 days to use it up.

Before choosing one versus the other, I did want to also recommend that you take a look at the full list of attractions included with each type of pass. Some of the attractions that come with the All-Inclusive Pass are not included with the Explorer Pass and vice versa.

Be sure that the attractions you want to do the most are offered with the attraction pass you buy.

No matter which pass type you pick, you’ll ultimately save far more with these passes compared to buying separate attraction tickets.

Note: If you’re still debating whether this pass is right for you, you should know that Go City offers a 365-day cancellation policy! As long as you don’t use your pass at any of the attractions, you’re good to get your money back with their risk-free guarantee.

We had one friend bail on a previous Chicago trip where we used Go City’s All-Inclusive Pass, so we had to ‘return’ her pass. After sending out a quick email requesting a refund, we received the refund in a matter of days! So quick and easy.

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GO CITY PASS ALTERNATIVES IN CANCUN

There currently are no alternatives in Cancun for the Go City attraction pass. CityPASS is another brand of attraction pass, but they currently do not operate in Cancun, Mexico.

Your other alternative would be to handpick tours/attractions and purchase them individually on sites like Viator and GetYourGuide.

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And that concludes our Go City Cancun Explorer Pass review post! We hope that our experience has inspired you to try something new! If you have any questions about the passes or the excursions or have your own travel tips to share, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments below.

Want more Mexico travel tips? You might like:

• 25+ Exciting Things To Do In Cancun To Make Your Trip Unforgettable
• What To Pack For Cancun: 60+ Essentials To Bring With You
• The Best Time To Visit Cancun: A Month By Month Guide
• 25 Essential Cancun Travel Tips: Things I Wish I’d Known Before My Trip