Every large city always has a glut of interesting attractions ranging from museums to theme parks and usually offers an all-encompassing pass that promises to save you money on these locales. These passes will cost a large lump sum and will general save you money if you visit enough of these locations list. Unfortunately some cities will place obscure parks or museums on their city pass that you’d never visit.

How does Atlanta’s City Pass compare? Pretty well actually. Their City Pass covers all of their most interesting and major attractions with the exception of the Botanical Gardens. There’s no bloated or minor attractions to add cost to this pass. This pass includes the following:

• Georgia Aquarium
• World of Coca Cola
• CNN Studios
• Zoo Atlanta or Center for Civil and Human Rights
• Fernbank Museum of Natural History or College Football Hall of Fame

That seems pretty good for a pass costing you $75 and gives you access to expedited entry lines. Especially considering the full price of these visits will run you $125.93 as they list on their website. But what happens if you don’t visit all of the exhibits? After all, cities stand to make more of a profit when you buy these passes and don’t visit all of the locations.

I spent far too much time agonizing if the pass would save me money. I’m sure many people do not want to visit all of the locations on the City Pass as well. So let’s see how the math played out.

First thing I had to account for is how many attractions I had to visit if I planned on saving money with the City Pass. I flew into Atlanta on a Thursday evening and had the whole of Friday before my friend got off of work. The Aquarium, World of Coca Cola and the Center of Civil and Humans Rights are located so dreadfully close so I was concerned if I could do all of them in a day.

By those three attractions alone, the city pass should save you money. The listed pricing for the three is:

Georgia Aquarium – Walk Up Pricing $45.95

World of Coca Cola – $17

Center for Civil and Human Rights $18.25

TOTAL: $81.20

This is a clever price listing by the city. There’s no way to save money on the World of Coca Cola or the Center, but the Georgia Aquarium usually has pre-booking available on their website for at least 10% savings (varies based on the year). This is not mentioned on their website and when I went, found the tickets to be on sale for $30.95. Far cheaper than their walk up pricing of $45.95. This makes these three attractions cheaper than the city pass totaling $66.20.

Was I able to do all three in a day?

Surprisingly yes. However, I started the day at 10:30 and ended around 4. I had a quick lunch and took few breaks. I even went through the aquarium and the world of coca cola rather quickly but lingered in the Center for Civil and Human Rights much longer. This left me exhausted.

I also noticed the expedited lines were unhelpful. There were large crowds at the aquarium and World of Coca Cola once you got in, but the ticketing lines were short. The expedited lines are a perk that does not seem worthwhile.

The Bottom Line

Or should I say the 5 yard line for those visiting the football museum?

If you want to make your trip about visiting each and every location in the City Pass, it will absolutely save you money. Just keep in mind that this will be a multi-day venture.

But if you want a more open itinerary or only wish to see a few locales, you’re likely better off mixing and matching the tickets as you go, just pre-book the aquarium tickets. If for some reason you aren’t interested in the aquarium, visiting four of the other locations will still be cheaper without the city pass.

 

Moving away from the Atlanta City Pass, are these attractions worth it? With my limited time, I only visited three places that were highly recommended from my local friends.

Georgia Aquarium​

This is the largest aquarium in the western hemisphere, with some 10 million gallons of water, making this what many consider a must see. And I couldn’t deny that after seeing highlights like whale sharks, belugas and dolphins that few aquariums have.

This took me a quick walkthrough of roughly two hours and would take most people longer if you wanted to be more thorough. The aquarium lived up to its reputation but overcrowding was a serious issue. Visiting the aquarium on Friday – Sunday will also come with debilitating crowd sizes. You would have to go first thing in the morning to attempt to avoid this or try to plan a trip on the weekdays.

A friend of mine one told me how zoos would be so much more wonderful without kids and I can’t help but agree. I don’t want to share the splendors of nature with rascally five year olds. I want to giggle at otters with a beer in my hand and not have to wade through swarms of screaming children to do so.

I may sound like a terrible person so I’d like to point out that the Georgia Aquarium agrees with me. They offer an adults only evening where you can even walk around with a cocktail in hand. This is a rare event so check their website. It would definitely be worth checking out if you’re kid free.

 

World of Coca Cola

This is a testament to how far Cocoa Cola has gone when we’re willing to pay nearly $20 to willingly watch more of their advertisements. Admittedly Coca Cola has gone out of their way to make this a fairly fun museum for all ages at a slight cost of being informative.

I did notice a mysterious omission in their history about the use of cocaine as an original ingredient. Then again I imagine the Volkswagen museum probably omits a section of their history during the 1930s and 1940s.

This only took me an hour since it wasn’t too informative. Coke aficionados will certainly take longer.

 

Center of Civil and Human Rights

A very new museum dedicated to the American Civil Rights Movement and has a section dedicated to modern human rights violations. The amount of interest will depend on your interest in such matters. I’d recommend visiting the Coca Cola Museum after the Center of Civil and Human Rights. You’ll inevitably need something bright and bubbly to cheer you up afterwards.

I will say this. That if you’re a minority of any way, shape or form, it’s worth a visit. The museum works hard to make it so you can relate to past struggles and they certainly succeed.

I read a lot more in this museum and was there for two hours. If you read and listen to everything, you can probably be there for a good three hours.

 

Honorable Mention – Atlanta Botanical Gardens

This is not part of the Atlanta City Pass, and is an absolute delight that I would be remiss if I did not give it a mention. Its located north in Piedmont Park in Midtown and has an entrance fee of $21.95. It’s not even the largest of many botanical gardens, but I have to say, I loved it.

I say this as a man whose green thumb consists of buying drought resistant houseplants so he can forget to water them.  A man who finds flowers a wasteful gesture to his significant other (if he had one). A man who immediately associates flowers with allergies.

And I loved this garden. I found it so beautifully laid out and enchanting that I believe that this could be the Garden of Eden. I’m sure many will doubt my novice words, but I hope I’ve convinced at least one person drag their unwilling partner to the gardens.