Guided Tours in Manhattan
♦ Routes (free): Detailed travel itineraries in USA
Manhattan offers visitors, in addition to many and varied attractions, a wealth of guided tours. Some are more general, offering a first acquaintance with the city and its neighborhoods, which are especially suitable for first-time visitors, and some are specific, focusing on a certain neighborhood or area, or alternatively on a specific subject, such as: a tour following movies, following food, following art, etc. Some of the tours include physical activity such as bicycle tours or walking, and some are suitable even for more passive participants and include travel in buses, trolleys, or cruises in ships of all sizes. There are full-day tours, half-day tours, and also two to three-hour tours. The selection is so large and the variety is truly confusing. There are many companies competing for the same niche and so many special tours that it is hard to know what to choose and what to give up, especially if your time is relatively short.
Tickets for popular shows in New York from Viator:
Recommended hotels in New York:
In central Manhattan:
San Carlos Hotel New York A 4-star hotel with family suites, kitchenette, dining area, spacious rooms. Includes a continental breakfast (kosher available). There are additional kosher restaurants in the hotel's vicinity. Free internet.
A 3-star hotel, rooms for 2-6 guests, including free breakfast and internet. Refrigerator, desk. Located 5 minutes' walk from the Empire State Building.
Hotel Belleclaire A 4-star hotel, rooms and suites for 2-6 guests, located 3 blocks from Central Park. Free internet.
The New Yorker Hotel A 4-star hotel, rooms and suites for 2-6 guests, located 2 minutes' walk from Madison Square Garden. Free internet.
Renwick Hotel A 4-star hotel belonging to Hilton's Curio collection, rooms for 2-4 guests, located 3 minutes' walk from Grand Central station. In every room: refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, desk, safe, free internet.
TRYP by Wyndham Times Square South A 3-star hotel, rooms for families up to 8 people, located 5 minutes' walk from Penn Station.
In South Manhattan near Wall Street and Ground Zero:
A 4-star hotel, suitable for 2-5 guests, full buffet breakfast included in the price, suites have a kitchen, near Ground Zero, gym, free internet.
Search for a hotel on Booking in the Manhattan area map:
Booking.com
Booking guided tours in New York
In New York, it is mandatory to book in advance for popular sites and tours; otherwise, in the best case, you will stand for hours in lines, or in the less pleasant case, no tickets will remain for you.
Booking tours from GetYourGuide.com
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A recommended site for purchasing discount tickets for theater shows, sports, and concerts in New York and throughout the United States:
Below are examples of guided tours from several categories:
On Board Tours
♦ Popular guided tours in New York - to book from Viator:
Tours suitable for first-time visitors to the city with limited time. The tour includes travel in a tourist bus between famous tourist sites throughout Manhattan, such as:
Rockefeller Center, Central Park,
Ground Zero under construction, The Stock Exchange
Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building
Trinity Church, Times Square
During the drive, the guide will tell you interesting facts and important details about all the destinations you pass by, and you will also stop at some tourist sites for a guided walking tour (but without entering attractions or ascending towers). Unlike many companies, the guide will get off with you at each of the stops and accompany you during the walking tour. He will show you the most recommended photography points of popular sites and enrich your knowledge with spicy facts. In the South Street Seaport, you will board a one-hour cruise around Manhattan, which passes under famous bridges and reaches near the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ("Island of Tears") and allows for wonderful viewing and photography points of both the different parts of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The cruise is also accompanied by many explanations. The tour departs several times a day and lasts about five hours.
The company has additional, more focused tours, such as a New York shopping tour or a New York night tour.
Uncle Sam's New York Tours
A company specializing in high-quality walking tours focused on interesting neighborhoods or specific areas, such as: the Broadway theater district, the Financial District, and Greenwich Village. Their most fascinating and moving tour is the tour following the heroes of the World Trade Center. This is a walking tour in the Ground Zero area telling the stories of some of the people who acted heroically during the 9/11 Twin Towers disaster while walking around the site (where new structures are being vigorously built today), between the various monuments, various lookouts, and visiting the nearby visitor center. The tour starts at the nearby St. Paul's Chapel, which was the only building in the area not damaged and became a place of refuge for survivors, a place of rest for rescuers, and a site of commemoration for the fallen. The tour duration is about two hours.
Commemoration corner at St. Paul's Chapel
Model of the new construction at Ground Zero - World Trade Center
The company also has recommended night tours of pubs and clubs in various areas of the city, for example: a pub tour of the East or West Village or Chelsea clubs.
Wall Street Walks
Wall Street Walks is a small, high-quality company specializing in walking tours in the Wall Street area and its surroundings. Since the 9/11 disaster, the Stock Exchange building itself is indeed closed to visitors, but you will be surprised to discover how fascinating the area is. In the tour, you will discover how a street that served as a market in the eighteenth century became the global financial center, you will learn about the dark side of Wall Street, including crashes, crises, and scandals, you will walk between impressive buildings that served as the home of the state treasury,
as the site of President Washington's inauguration, where historical events were held and more, you will learn after which wall the street is named, you will walk between statues of famous leaders, the golden bull statue that became the symbol of the area - Charging Bull, which is also called Wall Street Bull
you will visit the nearby Trinity Church and see where the Stock Exchange employees dine. It is recommended to finish with a meal in the magical Stone Street where there is a variety of recommended restaurants.
Stone Street
A charming and relaxed tour! The tour duration is about an hour and a half.
Organized bicycle tours
For bicycle enthusiasts and sporty types, it is highly recommended to join one of the organized bicycle tours in Manhattan. It is hard to believe how such a vibrant, crowded, and busy city looked after its cyclists and it is networked with safe and orderly bicycle paths across its entire length and breadth.
♦ Booking a guided bicycle tour from Viator: A trip along the Hudson River and Brooklyn Bridge
Bike and Roll NYC has two particularly recommended tours:
BROOKLYN BRIDGE & HUDSON RIVER BIKE TOUR - Riding along the entire Hudson River overlooking magical landscapes and passing by many sports facilities, well-kept parks, and a long promenade, reaching Battery Park, from where you view the Statue of Liberty and continue on to the South Street Seaport from where three of Manhattan's famous bridges are visible. Continue riding through Chinatown, go up onto the Manhattan Bridge to ride to Brooklyn and from there return by riding on the impressive Brooklyn Bridge, from which a magnificent view of all Manhattan is revealed.
CENTRAL PARK & GREENWAY BIKE TOUR - Riding in the northern part of the promenade along the Hudson River with a view of the skyscrapers of central Manhattan and from there to the most famous park of all, Central Park. The tour passes between popular sites such as the Shakespeare Gardens, Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle, the zoo, and more. The tours depart from Pier 84 and last three hours each. During the ride, you will stop several times for various lookouts and rest, accompanied by fascinating explanations.
Bike The Big Apple
Another recommended company is: "Bicycles in the Big Apple" Bike The Big Apple, which has a variety of fascinating regular tours in different neighborhoods and areas of the city (a different tour every day) and additionally several unique tours held in honor of events taking place in the city, such as: a tour to Flushing Meadows in Queens during the US Open tennis tournament, a ghost and spirit tour on the Halloween weekend, and more. A particularly recommended tour is in Brooklyn from Prospect Park to Coney Island.
Tours following food
Undoubtedly, the most popular tours in the city are tours following food. A large number of companies offer a variety of tours ranging from tastings and samples to full meals. Some specialize in specific areas such as Harlem or Chinatown, and some in specific types of food such as: a tour following pizza.
♦ Recommended food tours in New York to book from Viator:
Two particularly recommended companies with completely different styles from each other are:
THE ENTHUSIASTIC GOURMET organizes delicious ethnic tours in the neighborhoods of South Manhattan. The three main tours are: a tour following the food in Chinatown "Chinatown Discovered",
Chinatown
the "Melting Pot" tour, and a tour following Jewish food called: NY Nosh. During each tour, you will receive typical food samples from restaurants, delis, and various food shops in the area where you will walk. For example: in the "Melting Pot" tour, you will taste Italian cheeses in "Little Italy", pickles and kosher bread in the Jewish area, and Chinese dumplings in the Chinese quarter, alongside a classic American sweet muffin. In addition to the tastings, you will learn about life in these neighborhoods, about the characteristic culture and customs, and about the history of the neighborhoods you will visit. A tour both tasty and enriching.
"Food on Foot Tours" is a tour from the creative mind of Corey, a food-loving New Yorker who became unemployed in the economic crisis, could not find a job, and decided to try something new. Since he knew Manhattan's restaurants well and used to recommend to all his acquaintances where to eat, he decided to turn his hobby into his source of livelihood and introduce tourists arriving in the city to the small, intimate restaurants favored by locals. Every day, a tour following food is held in a different borough with a different character, for example: a tour following international food in Queens, a tour on Ninth Avenue in the area known as: "Hell's Kitchen", a tour in Brooklyn, a tour following noodles, a tour for sweet lovers, and more. After a shared ride on the subway to the neighborhood where the daily tour is held, you will accompany Corey to small restaurants, delis, and bakeries, receive explanations from him on what it is worth ordering at each place, and purchase a dish for yourself from your own money (usually one small dish shared by a couple so as not to burst...). Thus you will pass between 6-7 different and varied restaurants/delis and meanwhile receive from Corey recommendations on additional recommended restaurants in the vicinity and a short explanation about the area.
Guide Corey
Recommended falafel joint
The main point of the tour is the eating experience and discovering recommended restaurants, so it is advisable to arrive hungry and at the beginning of your visit to New York, so that you can use the recommendations you receive during the rest of your stay in the city.
New York movie tour
A recommended tour for fans of cinema and TV series is Central Park TV and Movie Sites Walking Tour
(Booking the tour from the Viator site).
The house from the series "Friends"
The soup stall of the "Soup Nazi"