2 1 6 P A R T 6 S I G H T S E E I N G , T O U R S , A N D A T T R A C T I O N S I N D E P T H
TOURING OPTIONS
P A C K A G E T O U R S
T H E R E A R E E A S I LY M O R E T H A N 1 , 0 0 0 L I C E N S E D TO U R G U I D E S in
New York, and, unfortunately, many more unlicensed ones. And no wonder: the city draws 30 million visitors every year, and the numbers keep going up. That’s good news and bad—good because you as a tourist have a huge number of tours and guides to choose from, and bad because it can be difficult to differentiate between the worthwhile and the time-consuming.
Frankly, we’re not enthusiastic about most packaged mass tours. We think it’s more rewarding to select the attractions you’re truly interested in and go on your own or with a more intimate group. After all, most of the “sights” on those sightseeing tours are so famous you already know what the outside looks like, and a lot of the time that’s all you’ll see out the window, anyway. And you’re a lot more likely to end the day feeling, just as you did in the morning, that Manhattan is a large, crowded, and loud place.
Besides, there are several drawbacks to these overview tours. For one thing, simply loading and off-loading passengers at every stop— not to mention dealing with traffic—takes up a substantial portion of the time you are supposedly sightseeing. A more recent twist is that many neighborhoods, from SoHo to Harlem, are complaining about tour-bus traffic and the noise and pollution created by idling vehicles. Commercial traffic is already banned around some areas, most notably Washington Square.
However, if you plan to return frequently, getting an idea of the landscape might be an advantage. Many of the longer tours include a meal, which may be a relief for those with sticker and/or map shock. Those with limited walking power might prefer to stay on the bus in any case. Those shy about sidewalk adventures may find security in numbers. And you can hear a lot of history and (fairly basic) humor in a single dose, if that’s what you like.
The quickest computer check will bring up many possibilities, so we’ll give you a sense of the options (and representative prices).
Among the biggest names in the business is Gray Line Tours, which has conventional buses and a newer fleet of eco-friendly (low-emission) and wheelchair-accessible double-decker buses, as well as trolleys. It remains one of the most reliable packaged-tour operators. (If you delve a little deeper into what looks like other tour fleets, you’ll find that Gray Line is the bottom line.) You can spend from two hours to the whole day in the tour company’s care, see the whole island or just a district or two, and get picked up from many major hotels as well as from Gray Line’s headquarters on Eighth Avenue between 47th and 48th streets
T O U R I N G O P T I O N S 2 1 7
and from Times Square (# 800-669-0051; www.newyorksightseeing
.com). A nice feature is that Gray Line’s hop-on, hop-off tickets are good for two days, so you can spread your tour out if you don’t want to make the whole circuit at once. Adult tickets are $88, kids’ $65. (For another $11 apiece, you can spread the tour out over three days.) Gray Line can pick you up from the airport as well.
Harbor cruises lasting about 90 minutes and offering views of the Statue of Liberty and the downtown skyline are offered by Statue
Cruises (# 877-523-9849; www.statuecruises |
unofficial T I P |
.com), among others. Statue Cruises leave |
|
from either Battery Park, at the foot of Man- |
Many tour companies |
hattan, or Liberty State Park, across the river |
have guides who can speak |
in New Jersey; a single ticket entitles you to |
several foreign languages— |
leave from one and disembark at the other |
useful if you or your friends |
side, but only once. (That is, you can’t just |
would be more comfort- |
use it as a round-trip ferry between Noo |
able with such options. |
Yawk and Joisey.) The basic reserved tickets |
|
for adults are $12 and for kids $5, plus $3 for access to the state’s crown and additional charges for audio tours. Pay attention to all the caveats: for instance, if you board after 2 p.m., you will only be able to visit either the Statue or the Ellis Island museum. If tickets aren’t available for your day of choice in advance, there are usually tickets at the boarding points.
NY Waterway Tours (# 800-533-3779; www.nywaterway
.com) offers a number of harbor tours, but perhaps most intriguing is the Yankee Clipper cruise to Yankee Stadium, on a foodand bar-equipped ship that cruises up to the stadium and heads back 30 minutes after the last out. (No, it’s not really a clipper; the name is just a tribute to Yankees legend Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio.) Tickets for this floating tailgate party are $22 for adults and $18 for ages 3 to 11. The Clipper leaves from Pier 78 (West 38th Street at the Hudson River).
World Yacht, which offers dinner cruises (about $100 to $112, plus cash bar), brunch (about $60), or cocktail cruises ($39 to $49, including drinks), leaves from Pier 81 (41st Street) and goes down the west side of the island (# 800-498-4270; www.worldyacht.com).
Rocks Off Concert Cruises (# 212-571-3304; www.rocksoff.com) are floating warm-weather music shows with cash bar and bathrooms leaving from 23rd Street and the East River. Tickets cost about $20 to $35, and shows range from hip-hop to classic country rock to altthrash to jazz to, well, karaoke and tribute bands (hey, for $20 . . . ).
A ramped-up version of the harbor tour, for the thrill-ride generation, is a Beast, 145-seat speedboats painted with Jaws-style grins and cranking out (canned) rock ’n’ roll music to spice up a 30-minute wet and (fairly) wild tour available daily on the hour, May through September, leaving from Pier 83 at West 42nd Street ($23, $17 kids;
2 1 8 P A R T 6 S I G H T S E E I N G , T O U R S , A N D A T T R A C T I O N S I N D E P T H
#212-563-3200; www.circleline42.com). This is one of the few cruises that requires passengers to be at least 40 inches/100 centimeters tall.
For romantics and sailing buffs, the 80-foot Gilded Age–style schooners Adirondack and Imagine go the windy route around Lady Liberty with (among other options) a “City Lights” after-dark tour featuring Champagne or beer (Chelsea Piers near West 22nd Street;
#646-336-5270 or www.sail-nyc.com).
If you really want to make a splash, consider a happy-hour cruise on the Shearwater (# 212-619-0885 or www.shearwatersailing.com), an 82-foot Art Deco sailing yacht that offers warm-weather sunset cruises ($48, beer and wine included) or late-night sails for $50 (open bar is $20 or $30 extra, depending on whether you want basic or “premium” drinks), plus Sunday Champagne brunch tours for $79 ($39 for children ages 12 and under). The Shearwater docks at the North
on the Battery, just another reason to stroll there.
If you want a bird’s-eye view of the harbor, you can take a helicopter tour, but it’ll cost you: a 10-minute flight is $150 a person, plus another $30 in “passenger fees”; a private copter is $1,000 (# 800-542-9933; www.libertyhelicopters.com), but it’s a great proposal set-up.
More fun than a simple harbor cruise is the Circle Line, tour, a surprisingly entertaining, three-hour, 39-mile circumnavigation of Manhattan. The ships, all former Coast Guard cutters or Navy landing craft, leave from Pier 83 at West 42nd Street and head down the Hudson past the Statue of Liberty, back up the East River along the old Upper East Side, and through Spuyten Duyvil Creek ($34 adults, $29 seniors, $21 children; # 212-563-3200; www.circleline42.com).
G U I D E D W A L K I N G ( M O S T L Y ) T O U R S
A S W E ’ V E S A I D, W E T H I N K WA L K I N G TO U R S , either independent
or guided, are the best way to see New York. Just use a little common sense. Many guided walking tours are weather-dependent, so be sure
unofficial T I P |
to ask how to confirm whether the tour is on |
if the skies darken. The big companies are full- |
|
Tips are appreciated by |
time, but smaller groups and personal guides |
some guides but declined |
may have more limited schedules. Most walk- |
by others, particularly |
ing tours offered through museums or similar |
those affiliated with non- |
organizations are on weekends, as are most |
profit agencies; ask when |
of the specialty tours—remember to check |
you call. |
the Friday New York Times—though you can |
|
often arrange in advance for a weekday tour. |
Some of the best things in life really are free, even in New York. The Urban Park Rangers frequently lead walking tours through Central Park and other green areas in all five boroughs, and the guides are as familyfriendly as the price. For a schedule, see www.nycgovparks.org (click on “about,” then “divisions”).
T O U R I N G O P T I O N S 2 1 9
The Times Square Exposé walking tours have great guides, too— professional actors, in fact. The free tour starts at noon on Fridays, rain or shine, at the Times Square Information Center (# 212-768-1560; www
.timessquarenyc.org) on Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th streets. 
If you want to set up a more personalized tour, or one with a 
specialized focus, contact Big Apple Greeter, which, with a month’s
notice, can put you in contact with a knowledgeable companion (# 212-669-8159; www.bigapplegreeter.org). This is an astounding program; escorts are volunteers, and the buddy-system tour, arranged through the Manhattan borough president’s office, is free (though it would be nice if you brought along a little souvenir from your hometown). At last count, the volunteers spoke 22 languages among them.
You can take a free, one-hour guided tour of the main
Public Library building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, like its neighbor Grand Central Terminal a gem of Beaux Arts design, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; tours of exhibits start at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday (# 212-869-8089; www.nypl.org).
Members of the Municipal Arts Society lead tours of Grand Central itself every Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.; there’s a $10 suggested donation, but as we’ve said, if you’re really short . . . (# 212-935-3960; www.mas.org). Alternatively, although his custom tours are much more expensive (about $100 an hour), veteran guide
leads one free tour every week: inside and out around Grand Central, including such other landmarks as the Chrysler Building. Tours leave at 12:30 Fridays from the sculpture garden at the southwest corner of 42nd Street and Park Avenue, across from Grand Central. As to those custom tours, take them seriously; Ferate wrote the tour guide license exam for the city (# 212-223-2777; www.justinsnewyork.com).
You can pay to take a guided tour of Rockefeller Center (see page 222), but you can also pick up a brochure for a self-guided tour at the desk in the lobby of the GE Building, better known as 30 Rock. Don’t miss the mini-museum of the complex on the concourse.)
Of course, most tour guides are trying to make a living at this. Even so, there are some good and budget-friendly operators out there.
Among the best is Big Onion Walking Tours. (“Long before it was dubbed the Big Apple, those who knew New York City called it the Big Onion,” advises the brochure.) Most of the Big Onion tours cover the historically polyglot Lower East Side, but others explore Gramercy Park and Union Square, historic Harlem, the East Village, Brooklyn Heights and the Brooklyn Bridge, gay and lesbian New York, “Revolutionary New York,” TriBeCa, and other locations.
Big Onion (# 212-439-1090; www.bigonion.com) was the brainchild of two history scholars, Seth Kamil and Ed O’Donnell. They and a staff of graduate students from NYU and Columbia University—many
2 2 0 P A R T 6 S I G H T S E E I N G , T O U R S , A N D A T T R A C T I O N S I N D E P T H
now professors—bring to life the eras of Tammany Hall, tenements, sweatshops, flophouses, and ethnic gang struggles. You can even sign up for the “Multiethnic Eating Tours,” in which you nosh on a pickle, swipe a dumpling, and savor fresh mozzarella as you go. Tours cost $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, students, and active military personnel (plus $5 for the noshes). Even better, you don’t have to make reservations. You can just show up, and if you buy a “frequent walker” card for $75 (five tours), a sixth tour is free; the card is good for a year.
For 46 years, Astoria native Howard Goldberg has been leading folks around Greenwich Village, Hell’s Kitchen, “Marilyn Monroe’s Manhattan,” “The World of Edith Wharton,” and almost anywhere else for the same price—$5, not even adjusted for inflation. Call him (# 212-265-2663), and he’ll tell you what’s on the calendar or arrange to meet you. Goldberg leads all tours himself, rain, snow, or shine.
NYU and New School for Social Research professor Joyce Gold has been leading her walking tours of Five Points, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, and Greenwich Village for more than 20 years, and most recently has taken on the Meatpacking District and High Line Park. Public tours are $15 ($12 for seniors ages 62 and older). Like Goldberg, Gold leads them, all rain or shine (# 212-242-5762; www.nyctours.com).
Lower East Side native and three-decade Garment Center veteran Michael Kaback combines walking tours of his old neighborhoods with insider anecdotes, tastings, and—especially around the Fashion District—unscheduled sales stops. As his Web site says, better bring cash ($20; # 212-370-4214 or www.mikesnyctours.com).
Brooklynite Linda Sarrel of Rent A New Yorker Tours is a not-quite- free Big Apple Greeter; she offers both public and private itineraries by request (from $15; # 212-982-9445 or www.rentanewyorker.com).
Part neighborhood tour, part literary gossip fest: the Dorothy Parker Society literary-legend tours, two hours of acid wit leaves from, naturally, the Algonquin Hotel ($15 to $35; www.dorothy parker.com).
Even more specialized neighborhood tours with an emphasis on architecture—gargoyles, Carnegie Hill, “turn-of-the-century Manhattan,”—can be had from former Parks Department supervisor Albert Pommer of New York City Cultural Walking Tours ($15; www
.nycwalk.com).
Tourists, like armies, travel on their stomachs. At least some do, and several guides and companies will lead you on culinary tours around Chinatown and the Lower East Side, the Village, Chelsea Market, Astoria, sushi bars, beer bars, even chocolate boutiques. Tours cost $50 to $70, but that includes noshing and lunch; among them are Foods of New York (# 212-209-3370; www.foodsofny.com), City Food Tours (# 212- 535-TOUR; www.cityfoodtours.com), Ahoy New York (# 518-332-4386; www.ahoyny.com), and New York Drinking Buddies (# 646-330-5878; www.nydrinkingbuddies.com).
T O U R I N G O P T I O N S 2 2 1
The Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour buses visitors around the landmarks of the borough, including movie locations, battle markers, celebrities’ homes, and two local dining favorites (one thin-crust, one thick). The pizza had better be primo; the four-and-a-half-hour tour is $75 for adults, $65 for kids; (# 212-209-3370; www.bknypizza.com).
If you want to work off some calories instead of spending extra on them, Bike the Big Apple works the outer boroughs, including a broader section of Brooklyn (# 877-865-0078; www.toursbybike.com). (See other bike companies in Part Nine, Exercise and Recreation.)
If you wonder what it would be like to run the New York Marathon (not), you can sign up for a guided run along one of 12 routes, up to 13-plus miles, with a licensed and exceptionally fit partner from City Running Tours. You pick the pace, the sights, the time of day— and for $60 (for the first six miles, $6 per mile beyond that), you get a T-shirt, too (# 877-415-0058 or 646-216-9989; www.cityrunning tours.com). Bring three friends and get a discount.
A lot of people see New York every day, on screen, and there are increasingly specialized tours for both TV and movie buffs.
leads channel surfers past such buildings as the Jeffersons’ high-rise, the West Village site of Friends, the Huxtables’ Brooklyn brownstone—actually in Greenwich Village—40 sights featured on The Sopranos, Carrie Bradshaw’s favorite cupcake bakery, and the Soup Nazi’s kitchen, along with some very familiar-looking courthouses. Tours are two to four hours ($38–$44; # 212-209-3370; www
.screentours.com or www.sceneontv.com). And if you don’t know what Kramer’s Reality Tour is, you’re not a Seinfeld fan and don’t need to call (# 800-KRAMERS or www.kennykramer.com; three hours for $39.50).
If you’re interested in historical sites in Harlem and in African American culture, particularly jazz, gospel, and soul (as in food), contact Harlem Spirituals (prices start at $55 for adults and $39 for children ages 5 to 11; food is additional; # 800-660-2166; www.harlemspirituals
.com), which offers tours in a half-dozen languages. Harlem Your Way (# 800-382-9363; www.harlemyourwaytours.com) has a range of tours from $25 (“Sights and Sounds of Harlem”) to $75 (“Champagne safaris to the Apollo Theater”) and up (the $95 gospel brunch).
B A C K S T A G E A N D B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S
In addition to the free tours mentioned previously, there are several landmarks in town that draw back the curtain for visitors.
Two of the best insider tours in the city are at Lincoln Center. Backstage tours of the Metropolitan Opera House are led by members of the Opera Guild from October through June at 3:30 p.m. weekdays and 10:30 a.m. on Sundays except on dress rehearsal days ($15 for adults, $8 for full-time students under age 29; # 212-769-7020 or www.operaed.org). The general Lincoln Center tour explores at
2 2 2 P A R T 6 S I G H T S E E I N G , T O U R S , A N D A T T R A C T I O N S I N D E P T H
least three theaters in the complex, and though there is no backstage involved, it comes with enthusiastic background info and the nicest kind of gossip. You may even get to hear a bit of rehearsal. Tours run between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., depending on the day, and venues vary according to rehearsal and set construction ($15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and $8 for children 11 and under; # 212- 875-5350 or www.lincolncenter.org).
The Radio City Music Hall Stage Door Tour lasts about an hour, shows off the wonderful Art Deco interior, and usually includes a personal appearance by at least one Rockette. Tours leave daily every half hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; adults $18.50, seniors 62 and older $15, children ages 12 and under $10 (www.radiocity.com).
While you’re in the neighborhood, check into the NBC Studio Tour, which includes network history, a tour of technical equipment, and famous studio sets. The tour starts from the NBC Experience Store at Rockefeller Plaza and 49th Street every 15 to 30 minutes from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sundays. An NBC page leads the 70-minute tour (adults $19.25, seniors and children ages 6 to 12 $16.25; www.nbcuniversalstore.com).
Rockefeller Center itself, that landmark of Deco idealism, offers a 75-minute tour that includes many vintage murals, mosaics, gardens, and statuary. Tours begin every two hours starting at 10 a.m. at the NBC Experience Store (adults $12, seniors and children ages 6 to 12 $10; # 212-664-7174 or www.rockefellercenter.com).
Madison Square Garden is both a famous sports arena—home to the Knicks, the Rangers, and the Liberty—and a famous rock arena, not to mention the site of circuses, tournaments, and general craziness. Go behind the scenes to the locker rooms, see the
and meet, if not a Rockette, at least a team dancer. Hour-long tours are available every day on the half hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (adults $18.50, seniors 62 and older $15, children age 12 and under $12;
# 212-465-6080; www.thegarden.com). Finally, many museums, including the
History and Metropolitan Museum of Art, offer highlights; check the in-depth profiles below for details.
An ABUNDANCE of
O K AY, N OW T H AT YO U ’ V E S K I M M E D the neighborhood profiles in
Part Five and the lists of sightseeing recommendations earlier in this chapter, you’ve probably settled on a few places that really interest you or your group. The following are more in-depth descriptions of some of the most important attractions throughout the city that may add to your enjoyment or help you winnow down the selection even