Rome Explorer Pass
With the Rome Explorer Pass, attractions count, not days. When you buy, you only decide how many sights you want to visit, and you choose which ones once you are in Rome. After first use the pass remains valid for several weeks, and the more visits you choose, the cheaper each one becomes. This is the most relaxed type of pass if your programme is not yet settled.
What is included
- Two to seven attractions from a large selection When you buy, you only set the number, and you decide what it will be once you are in Rome. The more visits you choose, the cheaper each one becomes.
- The big names are included The Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, Castel Sant'Angelo, the Pantheon and the climb up the dome of St Peter's Basilica are all available to choose. This means you can cover a whole trip to Rome with this one pass.
- One day of hop-on hop-off bus with Big Bus This counts as one of your attractions and is well suited to your day of arrival, when you would rather not have a fixed appointment anyway.
- Guided city walks, cooking classes and food tours Besides admissions, experiences are also available to choose. For a second or third visit to Rome, this is often more interesting than yet another museum.
The small print
- Validity
- 30 days from first use
- Scope
- 2 to 7 attractions of your choice
- Public transport
- not included
- Pickup
- digital, no pickup
- Cancellation
- up to 90 days after purchase, if not activated
Reservations
Guided tours in particular, but also many museums, must be reserved in advance.
How the Rome Explorer Pass works
The Explorer Pass follows a different logic from the other passes. You do not buy days but a number of attractions, between two and seven, and then decide for yourself which places they should be. After that, you have 30 days to use them.
This removes the time pressure that comes with a pass limited to a number of days. You do not have to squeeze your visits into a tight time frame, and a day of arrival on which you no longer see anything is not lost to you. The more attractions you choose, the lower the price per attraction.
The pass is entirely digital. After purchase, you receive the documents by email and show the QR code at each attraction. The pass is activated automatically on your first visit. It does not give you priority entry, and for many sites you also need a reserved time slot.
If you want to see considerably more, the Rome City Pass is usually the more suitable product.
What the pass includes
You can choose from the city's best-known sights: the Colosseum with the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, the Vatican Museums with the Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica with the dome, Castel Sant'Angelo, the Capitoline Museums and the Pantheon. On top of these come museums such as the Leonardo da Vinci Experience, a day on the hop-on hop-off bus with Big Bus, a boat trip on the Tiber, several guided city tours, as well as cooking classes, tastings and bike tours.
For the most important attractions, Go City offers several versions of each. In high season, this is a practical advantage for your planning: if the Colosseum is fully booked, the Roman Forum can often still be booked, so you do not have to rearrange the day of your visit.
Reserve as early as possible. This applies above all in high season and above all to the guided tours.
What the pass costs
The price depends on the number of attractions, not on the length of your stay:
| Attractions | Adults | Children (5–15) | Per attraction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | €89.00 | €59.00 | €44.50 |
| 3 | €119.00 | €79.00 | €39.67 |
| 4 | €144.00 | €94.00 | €36.00 |
| 5 | €164.00 | €109.00 | €32.80 |
| 6 | €184.00 | €119.00 | €30.67 |
| 7 | €204.00 | €129.00 | €29.14 |
Go City prices, checked on 16 September 2026. Go City runs promotions regularly, so the price on the day may differ slightly.
When the pass pays off
With the Explorer Pass, the answer depends more on your choices than with any other product here. It pays for itself through expensive services. Every attraction that costs less than about €35 individually makes your calculation worse, because it uses up the same slot as a high-priced ticket.
The following example assumes five high-priced items, valued at Go City's own reference prices:
Five expensive services bought individually
- Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with audio tour: around €45
- Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel with reservation: around €59
- One day on the Big Bus hop-on hop-off: around €36
- St Peter's Basilica with escort and audio guide: around €22
- Italian pasta cooking class: around €58
Together this comes to around €220, which you can set against the price for five attractions in the table above. On paper there is a saving, but it is based on Go City's reference prices, and these are higher than what you would pay yourself with a little advance planning. A Colosseum ticket costs considerably less than €45 at the official ticket office, provided one is still available for your preferred date. For your decision, this means: compare the pass with the prices you would actually pay yourself rather than with the reference values.
Conversely, the pass rarely makes sense with only two attractions, because per visit it is the most expensive tier of the price scale.
Purchase, activation and cancellation
The pass is sold through Go City. You can pay by credit card, PayPal, Google Pay or Apple Pay. After purchase, you receive the digital pass together with a guidebook that contains all the attractions and the relevant reservation instructions. You can use it as a QR code on your phone, as a printout or in the Go City app.
The pass is activated automatically on your first visit. As long as it has not been activated, it can be cancelled free of charge with Go City within 90 days of purchase. If you bought it through another platform, that platform's terms apply.
What speaks against the pass
- The included services are premium versions. The Colosseum visit is preceded by a multimedia video, and an audio guide is added. Many visitors find this pleasant, but it costs considerably more than a simple ticket. If you want to see Rome as cheaply as possible, this pass does not suit your plans.
- Only expensive attractions are worth it. If the individual value is below about €35, you are using a slot for less than it is worth.
- You make the reservations yourself. For the major sites and for all guided tours, you have to book the appointments yourself, as early as possible in high season.
- Public transport is not included. You pay for buses and the metro separately. If you would like your journeys to be covered as well, the Rome City Pass and the Roma Pass are the options to consider.
For families
There is a reduced pass for children aged 5 to 15, and some of the included activities, such as the boat trip, the cooking class and the bike tour, are easy to do with children. Even so, families are usually better off with a different product.
When the pass is worth buying
The Rome Explorer Pass suits a longer stay or a trip whose programme is not yet settled. You commit to the number of visits, not to the days, and after first use you have several weeks. If, however, you want to see as much as possible in two days, a pass based on duration will serve you better.