Field Trips for Less: City Pass

One of the more memorable family field trips we made was wrapped in a vacation last spring. While a lot of learning took place very quickly, we all had a great time. It was not cheap, but it was worth it. For families who can afford the expense, I strongly recommend a family learning vacation.


Although travelling to a distant city can be especially entertaining, it carries an extra expense. Budget-conscious families can always travel to the nearest big city, or explore their own city.

We purchased a Seattle CityPass, which gave us admission to several main Seattle attractions for a single discounted rate. Although it has changed since we used it last year, the Seattle CityPass costs just $59 per adult and $39 per child. For that price, each person gets admission to the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, Argosy Cruises Seattle Harbor Tour, Experience Music Project & Science Fiction Museum, and a special ticket that can be used at either the Woodland Park Zoo or the Museum of Flight. These passes also allow the holder to skip the normal ticket lines at these attractions.

As you can see, these locations are both exciting and informative. We had great learning adventures surrounding science, animals, music, and local history and culture.

Because we lived a fair distance from Seattle and we wanted to really enjoy the use of our pass, we opted to stay in a hotel nearby for an entire week. We ate at cheap restaurants and lived like tourists. In addition to the locations on the passes, we went to nearby free attractions as well. It was a great adventure.

CityPass offers packages for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, Southern California, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Toronto. If none of these cities is near you, look for a similar deal package that could create fun learning experiences and memories for your children.

Check out the CityPass site at www.citypass.com.