We are really excited about our upcoming trip to San Diego and already have a bunch of places in mind for our visit. Obviously we will want to spend a good deal of time on the water, so the harbor tours are really appealing—heard great things about the high speed SEAL tour! My husband is something of a military history expert so he’s really big on seeing the USS Midway. And because it’s summer we are trying to do as much outdoors as possible, so water sports will be high on the priority list.
As someone who really enjoys traveling, and does it as much as possible, it’s really important that I find the best deals on the attractions I want to see. So I did some research on the top “discount” travel sites, like Go Select, for deals in San Diego and here’s what I’ve found…
- Compare Savings on Attractions
- Cool Sample Itineraries
- Where Can I Find Discounts on Attractions in San Diego?
Building a Custom Pass with Go Select
I came across a product called Go Select by Smart Destinations. From what I can tell, it seems to be the leading provider of discount attraction passes. Essentially, Go Select lets you build your own trip, buying passes to attractions (at least two) and adding them to your personalized pass. The more attractions you add, the bigger your savings will be. They guarantee you’ll pay less than the “gate price” for the places you want to visit, and one of the coolest things about it is that you can just print your pass after buying.
The design of the site makes it really easy to use, and planning my itinerary turned into a fun process. The Go Select pass I built for San Diego would get us into the Seal Tour and the Midway, plus I added a full day snorkel adventure and a kayak rental. So everything we wanted is in one pass, for one price.
Discover Go Select San Diego for Yourself
Exploring Travel Discounts at Expedia
I wanted to search on Expedia because I’ve used this website before for flights and accommodations. You can usually get pretty good deals on packages that include both the plane tickets and the hotel. I thought I’d try looking for attraction passes on Expedia, too, but I didn’t have much luck. The “activities” page was overwhelming and I couldn’t find much in the way of discounts on any of the outdoor things we wanted to do. I was able to book a pretty good flight for us (hotel included), but for discounts on multiple attractions, Expedia wasn’t quite up to par.
Look Up Package Deals on Expedia
Looking into Prices on Viator
Viator had a very large selection of attractions and a strong focus on “things to do” in a bunch of different popular travel cities. On the down side, there was no option for me to build my own itinerary or put together different attractions, and I didn’t find the website to be very intuitive. If you’re trying to get a discount on just one or two attractions (maybe you’re only traveling for a few days), Viator does have some really good deals. But we’re planning to do a lot on our trip, so it wasn’t the best option for us.
Point by Point Discount Service Comparison
Probably the best way to show you the differences in each of the services is to lay them out side by side and see which ones come out on top. I’ve taken the liberty of rating Expedia, Viator, and Go Select on a scale of 1 to 10 for their web-user experience, average value of savings, returns and other policy benefits, and their overall selection and availability.
Let’s see who comes out on top:
| Criteria | Expedia | Viator | Go Select |
| Web-User Experience(1-10) |
Can be hard to find attractions, nice categorization by type of attraction, convenient to have hotel and flight options on same site as attractions Score: 6 |
Attractions organized well, site is text-heavy, hard to find useful info, no “a la carte” product Score: 7 |
In-depth attraction descriptions, all information nicely-packaged on each attraction page with good visuals, helpful maps and directions Score: 9 |
| Value of Savings (1-10) |
Prices tend to be higher, rarely find significant savings Score: 4 |
Has some competitive prices, but no cumulative savings like Go Select Score: 7 |
This site gives you cumulative savings, meaning the more attractions you see, the bigger the discount…winner! Score: 10 |
| Returns Policy&Other Policies |
Penalty-free cancellation, only if within 2 days Score: 4 |
Low-price guarantee and refund policy, but lots of caveats and fine print Score: 6 |
365-day return option, no questions asked, including on unused portion of product. Choice of full-refund or replacement Score: 10 |
| Selection&Availability |
Very limited attraction options Score: 4 |
Great breadth of attractions varied selection, but hard to book individual attractions rather than pre-made packages (less flexibility) Score: 8 |
Offers most major attractions, and some less-popular, but has most overall flexibility with “ a la carte” option Score: 8 |
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Check Out these Sample San Diego Itineraries
This Package Offers the Best San Diego Has to Offer:
The package includes the San Diego Zoo, Two Hour Harbor Tour, and the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum
| Expedia | Viator | Official Retail Price | Go Select San Diego | |
| Total Package Price |
$83.00 |
$80.98 |
$85.00 |
$72.72 |
| Savings vs. Official Site |
$2.00 |
$4.02 |
- |
$12.28 or 14% Best Deal - Buy Now! |
Here’s a package I put together that’s great for traveling with Kids.
Included Attractions: Seal Tours, Knott’s Berry Farm, and LEGOLAND California
| Expedia | Viator | Official Retail Price | Go Select San Diego | |
| Total Package Price |
Not Available |
$157.28 |
$149.99 |
$103.22 |
| Savings vs. Official Site |
Not Available |
-$7.29 |
- |
$46.77 or 31% Best Deal - Buy Now! |
San Diego for the Animal Lover
Included Attractions: San Diego Zoo and the Birch Aquarium
| Expedia | Viator | Official Retail Price | Go Select San Diego | |
| Total Package Price |
$52.00 |
$50.99 |
$52.00 |
$46.31 |
| Savings vs. Official Site |
$0.00 |
$1.01 |
- |
$5.69 or 11% Best Deal - Buy Now! |
*Note: A listing for the Birch Aquarium was not available on Expedia or Viator so the official attraction site price was used to calculate savings.
With this Package, See the Best of San Diego’s Museums
Attractions Included: The San Diego Air and Space Museum, Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, and the Natural History Museum
| Expedia | Viator | Official Retail Price | Go Select San Diego | |
| Total Package Price |
$57.00 |
$55.99 |
$59.00 |
$46.75 |
| Savings vs. Official Site |
$2.00 |
$3.01 |
- |
$12.25 or 21% Best Deal - Buy Now! |
*Note: Listings for The Air and Space Museum and The Natural History Museum were not available on Expedia or Viator so the official attraction site prices were used to calculate savings.
Where Can I Find Discounts on San Diego Attractions?
As I put together the sample itineraries for San Diego I kept running into problems trying to find the attractions. There are so many things to do in San Diego but Expedia, Viator, and Go Select don’t offer all of the same tours and activities so it was difficult to come up with packages that were fun, sensible, and available on each of the three discount services. I thought it might be helpful to create a chart that lays out all of the attractions in the city and compares their availability in each of the three major discount services.
| Attractions | Expedia | Viator | Go Select |
| Tandem Kayak Rental | NO | NO | YES! |
| Air & Space Museum | NO | NO | YES! |
| Belmont Park Unlimited Rides | NO | NO | YES! |
| Birch Aquarium | NO | NO | YES! |
| Boomers! | NO | NO | YES! |
| City Tour | YES! | SIMILAR | YES! |
| Full Day Snorkel Adventure | NO | NO | YES! |
| Go Car Tours | NO | NO | YES! |
| Guided Tijuana Tour | YES! | YES! | YES! |
| Hop On Hop Off Trolley | NO | YES! | YES! |
| Japanese Friendship Garden | NO | NO | YES! |
| Knott's Berry Farm | NO | NO | YES! |
| Knott's Soak City Waterpark | NO | NO | YES! |
| LEGOLAND California | YES! | YES! | YES! |
| LEGOLAND Resort Hopper | NO | NO | YES! |
| Midway Aircraft Carrier | YES! | YES! | YES! |
| Miramar Speed Circuit | NO | NO | YES! |
| Model Railroad Museum | NO | NO | YES! |
| Museum of Photographic Arts | NO | NO | YES! |
| Natural History Museum | NO | NO | YES! |
| One Hour Beach Cruiser Rental | NO | NO | YES! |
| One Hour Harbor Tour | NO | SIMILAR | YES! |
| Fleet Science Center | NO | NO | YES! |
| San Diego Automotive Museum | NO | NO | YES! |
| San Diego Museum of Art | NO | NO | YES! |
| San Diego Museum of Man | NO | NO | YES! |
| San Diego Sports Museum | NO | NO | YES! |
| San Diego Zoo | YES! | YES! | YES! |
| San Diego Zoo Safari Park | YES! | YES! | YES! |
| Seal Tours | YES! | YES! | YES! |
| Two Hour Harbor Tour | YES! | SIMILAR | YES! |
| Ride the Wave | NO | NO | YES! |
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