Yahoo Movies Revealed: The surprisingly expensive travel experiences – and the ones that cost pennies
The cost of visiting the world’s greatest attractions often bears little resemblance to how special they are. Why is it that a trip up the Eiffel Tower is priced at £23, while touring Athens’ Acropolis is under £10?
On a trip to New York, you could find yourself standing on the top floor of the Empire State Building admiring lower Manhattan while at the same time feeling slightly resentful that taking the lift up there has just cost you £66. How helpful, then, to discover that a visit to a skyscraper downtown offers the same lofty views for half the price.
With this in mind, we’ve compared the cheapest adult ticket price for 100 of the world’s most popular landmarks and some of the results may surprise you. For example a soul-stirring trip to Cambodia’s Angkor temples is almost half the cost of a Harry Potter studio tour in Watford. Meanwhile, the Moorish Alhambra palace in Grenada is a third of the price of London’s Madame Tussauds. Bargains do still exist: access to both Christ the Redeemer and the Great Sphinx is under £5.
The most expensive tourist attractions
Of the world’s most popular attractions (and excluding Disneyland outposts), Iceland’s Blue Lagoon comes in as the most expensive to visit. A quick dip in those geothermal waters will cost adults a minimum of £66, and only if they go during off-peak hours. Meanwhile, “premium” experiences, which include multiple face masks and use of a bathrobe are charged at around £94. Softening the blow for families slightly is the concession that children under 14 can enter for free.
In second place is the Grand Canyon, where a basic package costs £52.83 and includes entrance fee and access to the skywalk – a vertigo-inducing platform 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Costs rise sharply from there, with packages including whitewater rafting and lunch priced at £329 per person.
In third and fourth place are the historical sites of Petra in Jordan and Peru’s Machu Picchu, costing £58.20 and £50.52 for single day passes. While certainly not cheap, as whole trips are often designed around visiting these landmarks, the costs might not seem outlandish. Perhaps less justifiable and rounding out the top five is Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studios in Hertfordshire, where single adult tickets are priced at £49.95. A family of four can expect to fork out almost £200 for a day-out to the Watford attraction, which may diminish the magic somewhat.
The biggest bargains
Some of the world’s most sought-after landmarks are surprisingly cheap to visit. For example, you can climb Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer for just £3.81, while access to Egypt’s Great Sphinx is only £4.27. Meanwhile, the Great Pyramids of Giza – the only surviving member of the ancient seven wonders of the world – costs a relatively reasonable £18.77 per person.
China is still off limits, but the country’s top attractions are among the cheapest in the world to visit. Some sections of the Great Wall can be accessed for only £5, while tickets to Beijing's Forbidden City palace complex are only £8.24. Elsewhere in Asia, Bangkok’s gilded Grand Palace costs £11.66, while entry to the Taj Mahal is only £11.49 – both arguably represent better value than a tour of Windsor Castle (£26.50). A day pass to see Cambodia’s temples of Angkor costs £30.50, exactly £2 cheaper than a quick spin on the London Eye.
The best free attractions around the world
It’s easy to forget that a number of the world’s most important museums and art galleries are free to visit. In London, this includes the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, V&A and Natural History Museum among others. Note that some individual exhibitions do have an entrance fee, but when compared to the likes of New York’s Met Museum, which costs £20.56 for general admission, are still good value.
Across the pond – and perhaps more surprisingly – tours of the White House are free, as is access to the likes of the Lincoln Memorial and Capitol Building. Many important religious buildings around the world can also be visited free of charge, including Istanbul’s Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.
How do London’s most popular attractions stack up?
London’s attractions are among the most expensive in the world – with many hovering around the £30 mark for an adult ticket. Indeed, if on a single day a tourist was to visit the Tower of London (£29.90), Madame Tussauds (£33.50) and Buckingham Palace (£30), they would rack up a bill of almost £100 simply on tickets. Throw in a tour of Westminster Abbey (£25) and a trip on the London Eye (£32.50) to really break the bank.
Britain’s capital seems out of step with key attractions across the rest of Europe when it comes to pricing. In Barcelona, the top attraction of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia costs £17.16 and entry to the architect’s Park Guell is only £8.58. (Although his central Casa Batlló building costs at least £30 to visit.) Meanwhile in Athens visitors to the Acropolis pay just £8.58, while Rome’s Colosseum costs £13.74.
Europe’s castles and palaces are also often cheaper than their UK counterparts. Entry to the fairytale, turreted Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany’s Bavaria is only £12.86, or half the price of Windsor Castle, and even that monument to opulence, the Palace of Versailles, (£15.84) is less pricey than Edinburgh Castle (£18).
Which New York Skyscraper is the best value?
Taking in views of the Big Apple and beyond from the top of a Manhattan skyscraper is a must for first-time visitors to New York. However, simply ascending to the top of a building comes with a hefty price tag. Of the big-hitters, the Empire State Building is the priciest. Coming in at £63.61 for access to the 102nd floor (lower floors cost £35). Happily, you can reach the same highs at the One World Observatory for £35.39. Cheaper still is the Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Center which costs £32.92, though it is only 70 floors high. Interestingly, a trip to the Statue of Liberty is almost half the price at £19.38 – though admittedly the views can’t quite compete.
Elsewhere in the world, you’ll have to pay £34.64 to reach the top of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, while a trip up Tokyo’s Skytree is a relative bargain at £14.85.
How do Disneyland prices around the world?
It may be the happiest place on earth, but Disneyland is certainly not the cheapest, and the cost varies wildly from park to park. Disneyland Paris is the best value day out at £55.46, with the Tokyo and Hong Kong outposts coming in at £57.26 and £67.21, respectively. Those heading to America can expect to pay significantly more: Disneyland Park California costs £85.83 for a day ticket, while Walt DisneyWorld Florida costs £89.96.
How to get discounted tickets for the world’s most popular attractions
It is possible to visit some of the world’s best attractions at reduced prices if you plan your trip carefully. Madrid’s stately Prado, arguably the world’s finest art gallery, usually costs £12.89 for a standard ticket but offers free admission Monday to Saturday from 6pm to 8pm and 5pm to 7pm on Sundays. Similarly, tickets to the ruins of Pompeii are priced at £18.03 but there is no charge on the first Sunday of each month. Other attractions such as the Louvre offer free tickets to those under 26 (from the EEA area) and most museums have concessions for pensioners, children and students.
Crucially, an increasing number of destinations have City Cards for tourists, which offer free entry or discounted rates to top attractions. Many also provide free use of public transport.
