If you visit a lot of museums and attractions (castles, forts, palaces, religious temples), there are many ways to save money and see the best sights. The largest series in Nomad Mania is museums and castles, forts and palaces with about 7,000 of them. I am a series maniac and these are one of my major expenses while traveling in Europe.
GENERAL ISSUES
Days and Hours of operation. Do your research to determine the days and hours of operation. Many museums are closed on Mondays (or sometimes Tuesdays or both). Most don’t open till 10am or 11am or even later. And some close as early as 3pm or 4pm. Some have an hour of last entry, often an hour before the advertised closing time. Many churches don’t allow entrance during service.
Parking. Find a free place to park and walk to all the attractions. Find free or inexpensive parking at the end of train or metro lines. Try to avoid parking in the center of cities – the most expensive places to park. Some countries (England) have no free parking or very difficult to find parking. Park on sidewalks (in many cities this is amazingly common), disabled parking spots (obtaining a legal sticker when at home would be a great idea), or service vehicle parking spots. Or what I do the most is simply never pay for parking. Unlike speeding tickets (Europe has agreements between countries to collect speeding fines), cities have no way to collect if you are from a foreign country. Every city has different rules and availability. Some have intense parking attendants and you will virtually always get a ticket if not paying. And parking fines are often astronomically expensive, many in the €80-120 range. Avoid places with tow signs.
Walking the city. If you were to drive everywhere, often more time is spent finding easy parking. Most large cities are surprisingly walkable and parking difficult – I saw almost of London, Paris, Rome, Istanbul and many others walking. Use public transportation if longer distances are traveled.
You also end up seeing much more of every city. I bookmark all the places on Nomad Mania and follow the most efficient route trying to circle back to my parked car.
Research. The optimum method is to look up the country, city and attractions the day before to understand the history and highlights. The quality of your visit to churches, castles, forts and palaces can be considerably enhanced.
Visit Method. I have seen so many museums that repeat the same information that I have developed a visit method. I walk by and stop only at exhibits that have some visual appeal. I then speed read to get the jist of the exhibit and read for detail only the ones that give good or interesting information.
Visit my web site where much of this history and information is offered, both in the “General” post for each country and for the individual city and attraction. I don’t miss much and it is generally all there, free and easy to use. The Nomad Mania lists are also in all posts since 2018. I use Nomad Mania instead of guide books.
After seeing thousands of attractions, here is my advice on how to get the most out of seeing a country’s major attractions.
ENTRANCE FEES
Free Museums. Every country and city is different in how they charge. Some countries sponsor many making them free or inexpensive (the United Kingdom, Stockholm). Many cities offer their local museum for free. For example, I saw about 15 museums in Glasgow and didn’t pay a penny for any of them; Stockholm is the same.
Inexpensive Musuems. Most countries in Eastern Europe have inexpensive museums, costing €1-3. Moldova is the best – most museums were €.50 – I felt a little embarrassed asking for the senior discount and rarely paid over €.25 for a museum in this country.
Some countries, especially Scandinavia, Germany and France, have very expensive museums.
Museum and City Passes and Cards are an obvious way to save considerably. But you have to be organized to get maximum value from the card. See below:
Utilize free days. Many have a free day every month, often the last Sunday of the month. This takes some research. On National Museum Week, entries are often free (when I was in Vilnius, Lithuania, I saw all the museums free in Museum week).
Some attractions have a reduced fee at the end of the day. This takes research.
Go at the end of the day just before they close and many museums just let you in for free. Allow enough time to see what you want to see. This occurs more than one would think. “Can I just have a quick look?”
Travel Blog. Tell them that you have a travel blog and will write about their museum. Occasionally this has worked.
Don’t have correct change or any of the country’s currency. Ones that don’t accept credit cards often just let you in for free out of generosity or frustration. This has happened to me many times.
Simply walk in without paying. Doing this requires some sociopathic tendencies. Most museums have tight security or require scanning of tickets to pass through turnstiles and many have ticket checkers at the beginning of exhibits so sneaking in is not possible. But many have ticket sales remote from the entrance. Entering with large tour groups often works very well. Most museums have a lot of faith in the honesty of people and most people are honest.
Discounted Entrance Fees
• Children, if under a certain age, usually 16, are often free or reduced prices.
• Students. Virtually every attraction gives a discount to students. Sometimes any picture ID can pass as a student card especially in countries with poor English (China). Enroll in a home community college and take a few courses giving you a student ID. You can be any age to qualify for this.
• Pensioners and Seniors. The majority of museums in Europe give some discount if over 65 (or occasionally 60 as in China, or 67 in Norway). Few ask for verification but driver’s licenses suffice. Sometimes this discount is only given if a local national, or in Europe if a • European citiaen. In Norway, the age is 67 (but this country has a way to wring money out of you everywhere). I am 66 and this saves me a lot of money. I have only been asked once to produce verification that I am on a pension.
• Miscellaneous: Some museums give discounts to the disabled or unemployed. One would need cards to verify this.
MUSEUM CARDS
Besides museums, attractions like castles, forts and palaces are often included. I like these the best as I get little value from the city passes that offer public transportation, city bus tours like Hop-on-Hop off buses (audio is not often in English but this is variable) and rarely take advantage of the many discounts at restaurants. Private museums are often not included.
Some of the best museum cards are:
• England – Oversees Visitors Pass. A great deal and very cheap. Lasts one month
• Scotland – Scottish Heritage Pass.
• Netherlands – Museum Card. Free admission to virtually every museum in the country and there are about 500 of them. €59
• Finland – Museum Card. Free admission to 320 museums. Lasts 12 months. €69
I paid for this card ten times over.
CITY PASSES & CARDS
These are offered by many cities giving free (or sometimes only reduced) entry to museums, public transportation, boat tours, Hop-on-Hop-off buses, bus tours, walking tours and discounts at restaurants,
They are usually offered in one-day, two-day, or three-day versions.
They are purchased by a variety of ways 1. Online – the best way 2. At each attraction 3. At tourist information centers 4. At hotels. 5. At major transportation hubs, often at main train stations.
They are usually activated at first use. But sometimes, they have a written date on them.
Advantages of Passes & Cards
• They can offer large savings, often double or more the cost. But sometimes you have to do some math to figure out if they will be of value to you. If eligible for a discount (pensioners, student), they are of less value. And you have to go to most of the included museums, some of which may not interest you.
• Apart from giving you access to attractions and tours, the pass comes with a free guidebook offering more info on things to see and do. You can see a full list of the included attractions in the booklet and on the pass websites.
• Gives you a good opportunity to cram in lots of sightseeing without worrying about what it costs to get into each attraction.
• Bypass waiting lines, both to buy tickets and to enter thus functioning like a reservation. In very popular places with waiting lines sometimes hours long, this can be a big factor.
• Family rates. Most cards have a price for families including usually two children and these are great deals.
• Boat and bus tours are usually included.
• The best passes offer the option of including public transportation for an extra fee. This usually includes boats, buses, trams and local trains, and often transportation to and from the airport.
• Mobile versions for your phone are often available and this can be very convenient. This is the easiest way to purchase cards and the cards are transferred immediately to your phone, thus bypassing waiting times.
• Discount codes. Some of the passes have discount codes available online. I bought the Stockholm card with a 10% discount available before July 31st.
Disadvantages of Passes & Cards
• Cost. They are often not cheap and you need to see most of the attractions to get value from the card.
• Discounts. No cards give senior or student discounts at purchase. This can become very complicated trying to calculate the discounts to see if a pass is a good deal.
• Collecting the Pass. Some are mailed to a local address (friend, hotel) and may take days to weeks to arrive. This can take some planning. The best is when you can collect the pass at your first attraction or less conveniently the main tourist information centre. Most have a mobile version – this is usually a much quicker and simpler option.
• Fixed time lines. You need to be very organized to get the most out of a card. Once you scan the pass at the first attraction, the time remaining on the card starts running down automatically.
• Museum fatigue. Seeing a lot of museums in one day can be exhausting.
Some cities have free admission to many museums. For example Stockholm has free admission to 15 museums. See all the free ones and buy the pass for one day to see the ones that are not free and included on the card.
• If you don’t use the public transportation component and don’t eat out at the restaurants, much of the value of the card can be lost.
QUALITY of ATTRACTION
Museums. There is a wide variability in the quality of museums in the way they are curated. Some museums are exceptional – I would include many of the national museums in capital cities. Ones that give long, wordy descriptions are the worst. It can take hours to read it all and most of the information is simply not worth knowing. Some have labeling that is moronic: pot, knife, spear, picture!! They may not include any information of the date or source of the exhibit. The best museums have short terse descriptions.
Honestly many museums are simply not worth seeing. This of course depends on one’s taste and preferences. Many have exhibits that are redundant – seen one-seen them all. Ones that I would include are:
• Contemporary art museums – it is amazing how bad many of the installations are – can you call this art? But they are also often in the most wonderful buildings.
• Modern art museums. A lot of modern art is also difficult to call art. Drawing quality is minimal – seemingly just paint smeared on a canvas – some artists have an impressionistic style but it may be hard to understand.
• City and regional museums. Many give amazingly little information about the city or region. Ask yourself at the end “what did I learn about this city?” They all include the same exhibits: archaeology from the Stone Age through all the “ages” to modern times – how many stone axes, weapons and pots can you see as they are all remarkably similar; ethnography – how many ploughs, butter churns and national dress displays can you see before they all look the same?
• Religious art. How many Madonnas and bambino can you see? Religious icons of saints all look the same after a while. The style of painting in many gets redundant. Being an artist through the Renaissance was a common occupation and I believe art has created many of the myths surrounding Christianity. Most of the art looks the same and gets very boring. On the other hand, I do like many of the carved polychromes. And some of the carving on iconoclasts, altars and pulpits can be amazing. The Ways of the Cross in Catholic churches are often very nice.
• Aviation museums. How many old planes can you see, especially military planes often 40-60 years old.
• Artist. Some artists are hard to like. This depends on your personal experience.
Castles and Forts. Most are just ruins with some standing walls and little inside that you often get more out of from the outside. The accompanying museums have a lot of weapons, guns and armour that get very redundant. You can often read about the history online.
Palaces. Some are spectacular but many are full of portraits, old china, deer antlers on the walls and furniture you have seen before. Many are private and can’t be visited, although the parks outside are often available.
Other Attractions. Some attractions are just not worth it (but you may not have had my experiences).
• Archaeological ruins. Many are a few foundations and standing columns. Being there does give a sense of space and structure. The accompanying museums have all the artifacts worth seeing and are often well worth it.
• Zoos. After a while, it is seen-one-seen them all. Few have critters that are really rare or unusual. Zoos are really for children most of the time. But some of the best zoos are exceptional: San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park for example.
Many zoos are depressing places. The caging in many zoos is outdated. Most zoos are prisons for animals. I find the wolves pacing their pens very sad.
I have seen almost all of the animals in the wild. I hiked and climbed for 45 years in the Canadian Rockies and interior of British Columbia and have seen many animals in the wild: at least 6 grizzly bears, 3 wolverines, countless elk and deer, bison, mountain goats and sheep, porcupines, martin, mink.
I have sea kayaked a great deal and have seen countless whales of all types, otters, and dolphins. And I worked five times in the Canadian arctic and saw musk ox, polar bears and may others.
On my trip through West Africa and South Africa, I visited most of the large game parks like Etosha and Krueger and saw virtually all of the African animals in the wild.
• Aquariums. I have had 97 dives in some of the best dive locations in the world: Palau, Raja Ampats of eastern Indonesia, Komodo, Sipidan in Malaysia. Seeing all these fish in the wild is much more interesting. Some aquariums do have fish that you rarely see though (sea horses).
• Planetariums. They all show the various constellations and this is another seen-one-seen them all. They use complicated projection methods on domes. Many have complicated viewing schedules. Few actually show some of the great photographs taken by the Hubble or Webb telescopes or explain interesting astronomy. Most have commentary only in the local language.
• Theatres. Almost all are in the local language and would prove to be of little value.
English language availability.
Many museums have no English and these I see very fast. They often do have multipage handouts and booklets but I find these often impossible to navigate as finding the corresponding label may itself be a chore. Many offer audio guides with English but I find these often very ‘wordy’ and give more information than what you need or is necessary.