Is the London Pass worth it for a Westminster Abbey visitor?

What the passes cost

The Explorer Pass starts at £65, $87 on GetYourGuide, for two attractions, and you can buy up to seven credits. Go City's site gives only the starting price, so check the listing for the price of each number of credits. The All-Inclusive London Pass starts at £105 (about $140) on Go City's site, and is sold for 1 to 10 days. The Explorer is valid for 30 days from your first attraction visit and one year from purchase, which suits a slow trip. The All-Inclusive runs for the number of days you choose, from first use, which rewards a packed schedule.

• Explorer Pass (sold here) — From £65 / $87 for 2 credits; 2 to 7 credits; 30 days from first visit.
• All-Inclusive London Pass — From £105 on Go City's site; unlimited included attractions per day; 1 to 10 days.
• Abbey at the gate — £32 adult, £29 for 65+ and students, £14 for ages 6 to 17.

What it covers that an Abbey visitor would see

Both passes include Westminster Abbey's general admission, which covers the church, the Cloisters, the College Garden, the Chapter House, the Pyx Chamber and the multimedia guide. The Explorer listing offers 75+ attractions to spend credits on, and names The Shard and Tower Bridge alongside the Abbey. What neither pass covers is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, a separate £5 ticket, or the Abbey's £10 verger-led tour. Abbey entry on a pass is a reserved, timed visit like any other, so the Abbey's normal hours and its Sunday closure to sightseers apply.

The break-even: how many attractions

Do the sums with the gate prices you would actually pay. On the two-credit Explorer, £65 buys two attractions; if one is the Abbey at £32, the second must cost more than £33 at the gate for the pass to save anything. With more credits the maths depends on the listing's price for that number, so divide it by the credits and compare with each sight's gate price. On the All-Inclusive, a day with the Abbey breaks even only if the other attractions you visit that day add up to more than £73 at the gate, and the Abbey alone takes 1.5 to 2 hours of that day.

When single tickets win

Single tickets win when the Abbey is your main paid sight. Buy direct and you pay £32 with no booking fee, and an online ticket from the Abbey can be upgraded free to an annual pass with three visits, which a pass entry cannot. Children are a second case: one adult and one child pay £32 in total on the Abbey's family ticket. A third is the Galleries, which you must buy separately anyway. If you want flexibility instead, the Abbey's own entrance ticket on GetYourGuide costs $43 with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead, the same terms as the pass listing.

How the Abbey entry works with a pass

You must reserve your Abbey slot in the Go City app before you go; the Abbey's prices page says pass holders must pre-book through the app. Sync the pass with the app first, as the listing instructs, then pick a date and time like any other visitor. The Explorer is activated at your first attraction visit, and the 30-day clock starts then. On the day, enter at the North Entrance on Parliament Square and pass the same security as everyone else. If you would rather not plan around an app, the Westminster Abbey tickets and tours page lists every way in.