Having grown up in Toronto, I’ve been up the CN Tower, admired dinosaur bones at the ROM and heard ghost stories at Casa Loma. Exploring the city’s icons was just a regular part of my childhood.

But I was very excited to return to these places as an adult this summer, especially since I had my husband, mother-in-law and baby daughter in tow! Getting to introduce them to my old haunts around the city was a ton of fun.

We toured the city’s biggest attractions with the Toronto CityPASS, a bundled admission ticket that offers discounts to places like the CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium and more.

My stepmom had first mentioned the CityPASS to us but I thought it was too good to be true. Sometimes these types of passes aren’t as good of a deal as they seem or are way too complicated to use.

But I’m very happy to report that not only does the Toronto CityPASS save you money, but it’s also very user-friendly (both in booking online and using at the attractions).

So is CityPASS Toronto worth it? Definitely…as long as you make the most use out of it!

I’ll explain below how you can get the most bang for your buck, saving you both time and money on your Toronto trip.

Keep reading to find out exactly how much money you can save with the adult and child passes, whether the pass makes sense for seniors or students, what I think of the attractions included, and what I’d improve about the CityPASS if I could.

Disclosure: CityPASS generously provided complimentary passes for us with no guarantee of positive press. All opinions in this post are my own.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

What is CityPASS?

CityPASS is a discounted bundled attraction ticket, meaning you buy one ticket that offers you discounted admission to a number of different attractions.

So if you’re looking to do some sightseeing – and you want to save some money – the CityPASS could be a really good option for you!

Is CityPASS legit?

Yes! Would I be writing this blog post if it wasn’t?

But yes, absolutely, CityPASS is a legitimate company. They’ve been in business since 1997 and have sold over 30 million tickets since that time. They currently operate in 17 cities across North America.

As long as you’re purchasing your CityPASS through their official website or app, you’re all set with a legitimate way to see a city’s top sites at a discount.

What attractions does the Toronto CityPASS include?

As of August 2025, the Toronto CityPASS includes admission to:

• CN Tower
• Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada

Plus, your choice of three of the following:

• Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)
• City Cruises Toronto
• Casa Loma
• Toronto Zoo

While it’s a short list of attractions, I’d definitely say these are the top things you’d want to do in Toronto, so nothing was skipped.

One of the things I like best about the Toronto CityPASS is the short list of attractions, so it’s not overly complicated to use. Sometimes less is more!

Review: Attractions included in the Toronto CityPASS

For our CityPASS use in August 2025, we visited the CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium, ROM, Toronto City Cruises and the Toronto Zoo. We decided not to visit Casa Loma, as we thought it would be the least baby-friendly.

But growing up in Toronto, I’m very familiar with all of these attractions. I’ve been up the CN Tower a few times, visited Casa Loma on school trips, and have lost count of my ROM and zoo visits.

Only the aquarium and city cruise were new to me, so now I’ve been to all of the CityPASS attractions – most of them multiple times.

Toronto Zoo

As a local Torontonian and travel blogger, allow me to share my quick takes on each of these attractions:

• CN Tower: This is the iconic thing you must do while in Toronto. The view is pretty incredible and they offer some fun ways to experience it. Compared to other cities’ “tall building with nice view,” I think the CN Tower does a good job of keeping you entertained.
• Ripley’s Aquarium: I live in Vancouver now where we also have a very good aquarium, so my bar for aquariums is set quite high. I’d say the Ripley’s Aquarium is fun and there are some very cool areas – namely, the moving pathway through the underwater tunnel – but it can also get very crowded. Seems to be a big win amongst the kids though!
• Toronto City Cruises: While I’ve been on the ferry over to the Toronto Islands a few times, this was my first time actually taking a harbour cruise. It was a lot of fun! It’s cool to see the city from the water and learn a bit more about the history and architecture.
• Royal Ontario Museum: I grew up visiting the ROM often and it still delivers as an adult. The exhibits are incredible – the Dinosaurs and Dawn of Life sections were my favourite – and updated often. There’s so much to see that you could spend multiple days here and still not see it all. Plus, they have an awesome area for babies and kids!
• Toronto Zoo: I also grew up visiting the zoo regularly and while it’s no Singapore Zoo, the Toronto Zoo is still very impressive. It’s huge (the Canada section often gets skipped because it’s so far away) with animals from all over the world. There’s also a ton of information to learn not just about the animals but about the zoo’s conversation efforts too.
• Casa Loma: Because I haven’t visited since I was a kid, I don’t think I can share a fair review. I do remember it being a very beautiful building but that if you really wanted to be wowed by a castle, visit one in Europe. But hey, if you’ve got a castle craving in Toronto, it will fit the bill.

Colin, his mom and cousin taking in the view from the CN Tower

How does the CityPASS work?

Using the CityPASS is really simple. You can purchase an adult or child version of the pass from their website or app.

Once purchased, you have one year to start using your pass. From the time of your first reservation or first use of the pass, you have nine consecutive days to use the pass.

So for example, if you buy your pass in September 2025, you have all the way until September 2026 to start using it. But as soon as you start using it, you’ll have nine days from then to get in all of the included attractions.

Some attractions require a reservation while others you can just show up. You can see all of the details for each attraction on the CityPASS website or app, and you can also make any needed reservations through there.

When you show up at an attraction, simply show them your ticket or reservation on your phone (via email or app), they’ll scan the bar code and you’ll be allowed entry!

The Royal Ontario Museum

Review: Making reservations with CityPASS

I received our CityPASS tickets via email and was prompted to make reservations at the sites that required them: the CN Tower, Toronto City Cruises and the Royal Ontario Museum.

I was a bit nervous as I assumed this would be a complicated process, but it was actually very easy. You make all of your reservations through the CityPASS website or app – no need to visit each individual attraction’s website.

I made our reservations on the website and found it very user-friendly. Everything worked smoothly and it was very simple to reserve our date and time for each attraction.

In addition to the ability to make reservations, each attraction also had information under it such as what was included with admission, location, contact info, etc.

I really liked the Advice for Visitors section and the Offers & Upgrades section. It was great to know that our CityPASS could get us additional discounts, such as saving on souvenir photos at the CN Tower, and provide tips, such as the best time to visit the aquarium and how long to spend there.

Review: Ease of use at the attractions

When we arrived at each attraction, it was as simple as pulling up our CityPASS tickets on my email and getting them scanned to gain entry.

These tickets were emailed to me after purchase of the passes – or separate tickets with our reservations were emailed to me for the attractions that required reservations.

If you download the app, this would be even easier since all of your tickets would be in one place. No need to hunt through emails!

I loved that having the CityPASS meant we got to skip the line at each attraction. We didn’t have to wait to buy tickets or exchange our passes for special tickets.

We also didn’t have to stand in a specific CityPASS line or explain the CityPASS to any of the employees. Everyone knew how it worked and scanned the barcode on our passes, just as if we had purchased admission directly.

Ripley’s Aquarium

What is the CityPASS Toronto price?

For the period of March 1, 2025 to Feb 28, 2026, the price for the Toronto CityPASS is:

• Adult: $129.96 CAD plus tax
• Child, ages 4-12: $92.92 CAD plus tax

Do you actually save money with the Toronto CityPASS?

Of course! The whole point of the CityPASS program is to offer discounted admission because you’re purchasing a bundle.

But how much do you really save?

CityPASS explains that an adult ticket is $130 but has a value of $210 and a child ticket is $92 with a value of $142. So that’s a savings of 38% for adults and 34% for children!

But let’s dig into the details a little bit more.

This is the cost of an adult admission at each of the CityPASS attractions, if you purchased your ticket direct and not through CityPASS:

Prices current as of Aug 2025

• CN Tower: $45 (in advance) or $47 (on-site or same-day online)
• Ripley’s Aquarium: $50 (flex ticket, the one included in the CityPASS) or $46 (timed-entry ticket)
• ROM: $23-35 (prices vary based on entry date)
• City Cruises: $33
• Casa Loma: $47
• Toronto Zoo: $25-43 (prices vary based on entry date)

Casa Loma

So already, the math is looking a little bit more complicated than simply saying an Adult CityPASS is worth $210 CAD.

The highest value you could get out of the CityPASS – meaning you’re booking the most expensive version of the tickets directly – would be $222 CAD ($47 CN Tower, $50 aquarium, $35 ROM, $47 Casa Loma, $43 zoo and skipping the cheaper city cruise, since you can only pick three activities).

On the other side of the coin, if you happened to be able to book the cheapest version of every attraction ticket, the CityPASS is worth $172 ($45 CN Tower, $46 aquarium, $23 ROM, $33 city cruise, $25 zoo and skipping expensive Casa Loma, since you can only choose three activities).

So to sum it up:

• The Adult Toronto CityPASS retails for $130 CAD
• CityPASS says the ticket actually has a value of $210 CAD
• Based on my math above, the ticket has a value between $172 and $222, depending on when you visit, which attractions you select and the type of tickets you’re buying
• But since even the lowest possible value ($172) is more expensive than the retail cost of the CityPASS ($130), buying the Toronto CityPASS is still a good deal!

Dinosaurs at the ROM

Getting the highest value out of your CityPASS

If, like me, you enjoy getting the most bang for your buck, you want to get the highest value for your CityPASS. There’s just something so satisfying about getting a good deal!

Since CityPASS is one set price for the season (currently March 2025 to Feb 2026) whereas many of the attractions offer different pricing depending on the date of entry, you really could save a lot of money.

Plus, you can buy your CityPASS up to a year in advance before use. So you could buy your CityPASS in 2025 to lock in the current pricing and not use it for another year, while the attraction prices may keep going up.

So in order to get the highest value out of your Toronto CityPASS, you should:

• Buy your CityPASS as early as a year in advance (your nine consecutive days of use don’t begin until you visit your first attraction) to take advantage of current pricing
• Choose the more expensive attractions; i.e. choose Casa Loma at $47 instead of the ROM at $23
• Visit in the summer when most of the attractions charge higher rates for entry

Now, not everyone is going to care about getting the absolute highest value out of their CityPASS. Just because Casa Loma is “worth more” than a city cruise because the regular admission is higher doesn’t mean you should nix the cruise. We chose the cruise over the castle because it was of more interest to us, so inherently worth more.

Similarly, there are downsides to booking your pass a year in advance (what if your travel plans change?) and visiting in the summer (hello, crowds and heatwaves!).

What I’m trying to say is: Don’t make drastic changes to your Toronto itinerary just to squeeze a few more dollars of value out of the CityPASS.

That’s why I think it’s comforting to know that even the lowest value of the CityPASS is still more than the retail cost.

So even if you visit on a weekday in the winter when direct admission costs are low and even if you choose the cheapest attractions, you’re still saving money!

Toronto City Cruises

Do you save money with the Child CityPASS?

So we’ve figured out that the Adult CityPASS is a money saver no matter when you visit or which attractions you choose. But what about the child ticket?

This is where things get a little bit tricky.

CityPASS sells their child ticket, for children 4-12 years old, for $92 CAD. They say it has a value of $142.

But the truth is that it really depends on the age of your child. Because each attraction sets their own ages for what they call a “child ticket.”

Let’s take a look at admission costs based on a child’s age:

Prices current as of Aug 2025

• CN Tower (buy ahead price/same day price): $16/$18 for 3-5 years; $32/$34 for 6-13 years
• Ripley’s Aquarium (timed entry/flex entry): $14/$15 for 3-5 years; $30/$33 for 6-13 years
• ROM: $0*-15 for 3-17 years (varies by entry date)
• City Cruises: $20 for 4-12 years
• Casa Loma: $32 for 4-13 years
• Toronto Zoo: $18-30 for 3-12 years (varies by entry date)

*Note: The ROM took part in the Canada Strong Pass which granted free general admission to visitors aged 3 to 17 years old, and 50% off to visitors aged 18 to 24 years old, from June 20 to September 2, 2025. Hence why admission could be $0 for children.

Children’s play area at the ROM

So if you have a 3-5 year old, their CityPASS would be valued at $83 to $115, depending on which attractions you choose and what days you visit (since free admission to the ROM is now over, I’ve used $15 as the amount for a child ticket).

But if your child is 6-12 years old, their CityPASS would be valued at $115 to $149, depending on which attractions you visit and when (again, I’ve used $15 as the ROM admission price).

Therefore, because a Child Toronto CityPASS retails for $92, it isn’t always saving you money! If you have a 3-5 year old, skip Casa Loma, and visit on a cheap entry day for the zoo, it would be less expensive to buy admission directly.

However, in almost every other situation (with an older child, if visiting Casa Loma, if visiting on more expensive entry days, etc), the Child CityPASS is still a money saver.

And honestly, even if you could save $9 by buying tickets directly, it might be worth it to still get the CityPASS just to be able to do all of your reservations in one place!

Baby C taking in the view from the CN Tower

Is the CityPASS worth it for youth, students, seniors, etc.?

CityPASS Toronto only sells an adult ticket ($130) and a child ticket ($92). However, many of these attractions offer discounts for youth, students, seniors and people with disabilities.

So if you fit into one of these special categories, is it better for you to buy your tickets directly, rather than slot into the more expensive adult CityPASS ticket?

Let’s do the math and find out.

Here are the costs of admission tickets for students/youth:

Prices current as of Aug 2025

• CN Tower (buy in advance): $32 for 6-13 years, full adult admission ($45) for 14+ years
• Ripley’s Aquarium (flex entry): $33 for 6-13 years, full adult admission ($50) for 14+ years
• ROM (prices vary by entry date): When adult admission is $25, youth (18-24) and student (with valid ID) admissions are $19; note that child admission is $15 and valid for kids 3-17 years
• City Cruises: They only offer adult admission for 13+ years for $33
• Casa Loma: $32 for 4-13 years, $42 for youth 14-17 years
• Toronto Zoo (prices vary by entry date): They only offer adult admission for 13-64 years, varying from $25-43

Baby turtle conservation at the Toronto Zoo

And here are the admission costs for seniors (65+ years):

Prices current as of Aug 2025

• CN Tower (buy in advance): $32
• Ripley’s Aquarium (flex entry): $33
• ROM (prices vary by entry date): When adult admission is $25, senior admission is $20
• City Cruises: They only offer adult admission for 13+ years for $33
• Casa Loma: $42
• Toronto Zoo (prices vary by entry date): When adult admission is $35, senior admission is $30

Note: The Toronto Zoo also offers discounted admission to adults, children and seniors with disabilities. When adult admission is $35, the prices for those with disabilities are $17 (adult), $15 (senior) and $12 (child).

So doing the math, the adult CityPASS is still going to save you money as a senior or youth/student. You just won’t save as much as if you had to pay regular adult admission, but it is still a savings.

For example, if you’re a senior or 13 year old and choose the cheapest attractions (i.e. skipping Casa Loma) and visit on the cheapest days for the ROM and the zoo, it would still cost you about $140 to buy your tickets directly, rather than $130 for the adult CityPASS.

But if you’re over 13, choosing Casa Loma or visiting on more expensive days, you’ll be saving even more.

Bottom line: Even if you’re a senior, student or youth, the Adult Toronto CityPASS will still save you money versus buying your tickets directly (you just won’t be saving as much as this 33 year old regular adult!).

Why I like the Toronto CityPASS

Underwater tunnel at Ripley’s Aquarium

Fewer attractions = better experience

There are only six attractions listed under the Toronto CityPASS, of which you will visit five. It doesn’t get simpler!

So many of these city bundle tickets brag about how they include dozens or even hundreds of attractions. And while that may sound like a good thing – who wouldn’t want to visit hundreds of places for the price of only a few? – I actually think it’s a negative.

As the user, it’s a lot of work to have to filter through dozens or hundreds of attractions and figure out which ones I actually want to visit. Many end up being obscure, out of the way or just obviously not one of the city’s best.

But because these other tickets derive their value out of offering you admission to so many places, you almost feel guilty as the consumer if you don’t visit as many places as possible.

And that’s how you find yourself at the Sewer Museum in Brussels, Belgium because it just so happens to be included in your city ticket!

The Toronto CityPASS keeps it really simple. You don’t have to spend hours researching options and you don’t have to exhaust yourself visiting every last museum in the city.

Easy to book and use

As I talked about above, it was really easy to use the CityPASS both in making our reservations and at the attractions themselves.

I was worried that we’d have to make our own reservations on each attraction’s website and then have to exchange our passes for tickets on-site. But nope, it was way easier than that!

All of the bookings ahead of time were done through the CityPASS website or app. And when we got to each place, we just headed to the entrance instead of the ticket booth.

The CityPASS actually made it easier to book tickets, since we could do it all in one place, rather than having to book everything directly on different websites.

Great way to save money

As I detailed extensively above (perhaps too extensively?), the CityPASS really is worth the money, particularly the adult pass.

And particularly if you visit in the summer, like we did, when many of the attractions that have different entry costs by date are charging the most in the busy tourist season.

In fact, even if you only wanted to visit three or four of the attractions, instead of the five that you’re entitled to visit with the pass, you could still save money versus buying direct!

Most visitors to Toronto will head up the CN Tower, visit the aquarium, tour the zoo, etc. So why not save some money while doing what you were going to do in Toronto anyway?

Learning about animals at the ROM

Plenty of time to use the pass

From the first day of use – the first time you visit an attraction or the first reservation you make – you have nine days to use your Toronto CityPASS.

Nine days is tons of time to visit five attractions in Toronto – especially because a few of the attractions (CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium, Toronto City Cruises) are very close together.

You could easily go up the CN Tower in the morning, grab lunch, spot fish at the aquarium in the afternoon, and then go on a sunset harbour cruise. That would be 3/5 attractions done in one day before dinner!

You can also visit the attractions in any order and visit more than one each day. So the nine days you have is plenty of time!

Ready to head up the CN Tower!

What could be improved

While I think the Toronto CityPASS is awesome and really enjoyed using it, there are a couple of minor things I think could be improved or added to the pass to make it even better.

Option to do all six activities

The Toronto CityPASS lists six attractions, of which you pick five. But what if you wanted to do all six?

I think this would be such an easy addition for the CityPASS program. The pass is already accepted at all of these places, so why not charge a bit more and let people visit all six?

Or they could even offer different pass options, allowing people to visit four, five or six of the attractions. This would allow some more flexibility for people on smaller budgets or who have less time – as well as people who want to see and do it all.

We decided to skip Casa Loma but if we had been able to visit all six, I gladly would have seen Toronto’s famous castle again!

Or, if we could actually pick any five of the six (right now two of the attractions, the CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium, are mandatory and then you pick three of the remaining four for a total of five), I would’ve preferred that.

Since we already have a great aquarium in Vancouver, I likely would’ve skipped the aquarium and gone to Casa Loma instead.

Add a few more activities

A Niagara Falls day trip from Toronto could be a good addition to the CityPASS

While I said above that one thing I like about the Toronto CityPASS is how simple it is with only six attractions, I do think they could add a few more options without overcomplicating things.

A couple other famous Toronto museums/sites, like the Art Gallery of Ontario, Bata Shoe Museum and Hockey Hall of Fame, would be great inclusions.

Toronto is also well-known for its diverse culinary scene, so it would be awesome to see a food tour of Kensington Market or a crawl through St. Lawrence Market as options on the pass.

And a lot of people go on a Niagara Falls day trip from Toronto – why not make that a bonus you can add onto your CityPASS?

Include transit passes or parking discounts

Another thing that might be helpful to add to the Toronto CityPASS would be transit passes or parking discounts.

When I used a similar city pass in Brussels, it included free use of public transit, which was really helpful in getting around the city. I think it’d be awesome if the Toronto CityPASS offered TTC and/or GO Transit access.

While I would recommend taking public transit to whichever attractions you can (the only one that would be a big trek on transit is the zoo, the rest are very easily accessible by TTC or on foot from downtown Toronto), I understand that driving is better for some visitors.

In that case, it’d be awesome if the CityPASS included a discount to park, perhaps at specific parking lots in the city. Sometimes parking can be $40+/day, especially when there’s an event on downtown, so a discount on that could be very helpful.

Or bike rental could be included in the pass!

Add discounts to local shops and restaurants

Another awesome thing to see on the Toronto CityPASS would be discounts to local shops and restaurants.

As I mentioned, Toronto is really well known for its cultural diversity. One of my favourite things about this city is all of the different neighbourhoods that represent the incredible people who make Toronto the city it is. We’ve got Little India, Little Italy, Chinatown, Koreatown, the Greek Village, etc.

There’s also a really big push for supporting local businesses, so how awesome would it be if the CityPASS included discounts to local shops and restaurants?

I love the idea of independent stores signing on and offering a discount to CityPASS users. This could be a great way to incentivize people to try new cuisines or just save some money while dining out.

There’s also an opportunity to save on your souvenir shopping with some local discounts!

Let’s shop local!

Bring CityPASS to more Canadian cities!

Lastly, I think the biggest improvement CityPASS could make would be to bring the program to more cities, and specifically to more Canadian cities!

I really enjoyed my experience with the Toronto CityPASS and would love to see it pop up in Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, etc.

And abroad, I’d love to see the CityPASS in London, Paris, Tokyo and everywhere else. It really is such a good deal and easy way to see a city’s top sites, so let’s make it global!

3 tips for using your CityPASS Toronto

1. Book your CityPASS in advance: Your pass is valid for up to a year after purchase, and your nine days to use it don’t start until you visit your first attraction. So buy your pass ahead of time to lock in the best rate!
2. Buy your passes as a group: If you’re travelling in a group, I recommend buying all of your CityPASS tickets in one purchase so you can make all of your reservations together. Otherwise, you’ll have to coordinate and make sure everyone gets the same reservation date/time.
3. Make use of the CityPASS app/website: Not only is the app/website where you’ll make your reservations and access your tickets, but it’s also full of other information like extra discounts and tips for visiting.

So, is the Toronto CityPASS really worth it?

Yes, I firmly believe the Toronto CityPASS is worth it if you want to see Toronto’s top attractions, have an easy time making your bookings and save some money!

To me it’s a no brainer – you get to visit five of Toronto’s top attractions at a discount and have a convenient website/app to make all of your bookings in advance. It’s easy to purchase, easy to use at the attractions and cheaper than buying direct.

You can get the most value out of the Adult Toronto CityPASS if you visit the most expensive attractions on their most expensive entry dates.

But even if you’re a child, student or senior and choose cheaper attractions on cheaper dates, you will still save money in almost every situation.

The only time I’d say CityPASS Toronto is not worth it is if you’re only interested in 1-2 of the attractions, only have a very limited time in the city, or are spending many weeks in Toronto and wouldn’t be able to use the pass within nine days.

But as long as you have enough days in the city to visit at least 3-4 of the 5 included attractions, the pass is likely going to save you money. And it’ll definitely save you time with its convenient app/website for making reservations.

So have I sold you on the Toronto CityPASS? I hope so, because it really is such a smart way to see the city. Grab your pass here!

Check out more travel posts from my home country, Canada:

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