Had the pleasure of a FANTASTIC tour of lower Manhattan with Renee. She was extremely knowledgeable…read moreabout the Financial District and NYC and could not have been any more helpful. I recommend Free Tours by Foot and especially tours with Renee. Thank you so much Renee!

I am so glad I found this tour company! We did the Brooklyn bridge/DUMBO walking tour with Onel -…read morehe was phenomenal! This tour was one of the highlights of our trip to NYC. I can't wait for my next trip to take another walking tour with this tour company. Onel is knowledgeable, personable, engaging, humorous, thoughtful and kept us on time! He knew exactly where to stop for photo ops and gave us plenty of time for them - I appreciated the scheduled bathroom break at clean bathrooms and the stop for drinks/snacks at the most perfect grocery store that I wish was in my neighborhood. The tour ended at lunchtime in the perfect location with several food options as well as close to both the ferry and trains for the return commute to Manhattan. I highly recommend this walking tour with Onel as your guide - you won't regret it!

Six of us took this tour and it was one of the highlights of the trip for everyone. Our guide was…read morefunny, warm, and knew an enormous amount about the city. The mix of real history and his own stories kept all of us entertained the whole way through, and I say that as someone who has lived here a long time and has heard a lot of New York trivia. He was great with people. He asked us questions, remembered the answers, and made a point of talking with everyone as we moved between stops. The weather was a question mark that morning and he had already sorted out how to handle it, so it never became our problem. Everything leading up to the day was organized and clearly communicated too. Worth every penny. We'd do it again.

My wife and granddaughter recently visited New York and booked several sightseeing tours through…read moreReal New York Tours. We wanted a knowledgeable, top-notch guide to help us experience the city, and they exceeded our expectations. From the planning process to the tours themselves, everything was handled professionally and efficiently. Our guide was outstanding--knowledgeable, personable, and passionate about New York. They customized the experience, shared fascinating insights, and made every stop enjoyable. Our experience with Real New York Tours was exceptional. They delivered first-class service in every way, and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a memorable and well-organized New York City sightseeing experience.

Good food! Great variety on a short time! Really enjoyed this tour, we would do another like this…read moreanytime!

This is my 3rd tour with Foods of NY. Food tours is something I always do when I visit a town and…read morethese tours are amongst my favorite. Tours are thoughtfully curated to provide a great experience and historical information as well as the best of the best food tastings.

David Turk has it all- charm, knowledge, follow through, intelligence, gratiousness, and love of…read moreNYC. The restaurants he took us to were all unique and special and the restaurant staffs had an obvious affection for Dave. Take the food tour in Greenwich Village or any of the other tours Dave leads and you will not be disappointed.

Alex was great! We went on the Hell's Kitchen tour and Alex did a great job telling us about the…read morearea and leading the tour. The food stops were all great and introduced us to places we likely wouldn't have discovered on our own. We'll look for other tours with Alex when we visit again!

Great tour of Chinatown and Little Italy. Ryen is super nice, and the food was fabulous too! I…read moreenjoyed exploring these two vibrant neighborhoods with a local and would definitely recommend NYC Tours to anyone trying to narrow down which food tour is right for them.

Thank you Tom! Your knowledge of the history of both Little Italy and Chinatown gave the tour a…read morepersonal touch. Sharing your own personal memories and showing pictures really gave us an idea of the people and businesses of both places, in the past and present. Overall, this is a great tour to do with family or friends.

What a wonderful experience!! You buy your tickets online - choosing a specific tour from a number…read moreof options. We chose the Italian & Jewish families tour. It looks like 2 separate experiences on the main page, but when you click on either family (Rogarshevsky & Baldizzi), you'll see that it's a combined tour, and a really good one! We showed up at the main museum early, checked in, and after checking out the nice gift shop, we popped into the theater room to watch their wonderful documentary. Don't miss this one! You'll learn about the 2 women co-founders who - with zero museum experience - proceeded to set up these 2 incredible tenements as museums telling the story of NY thru, quite naturally, its immigrants (what an important thing now!!). We were called for our tour right on time. Our guide took us on a brief walk down the sidewalk to #97 - the tenement where the 2 families lived in the 1930s. It's like walking into a time capsule! The dark walls have some decorative coverings - small patches restored to give you an idea of what it looked like back then. The mahogany bannister is original - as you head up to the 1st floor. The creaking building was lovingly shored up over the years by a multi-million dollar renovation -- but they've never lost its authentic look. Inside the Italian fam's place, you're struck by how small the 3 rooms they lived in really were. There's even a tiny bed for their 2 kids right in the kitchen crammed alongside the oven! We were also so struck by the pride that clearly went into adorning their parlor room. The Jewish family - the Rogarshevskys - lived across the hall. You'll hear audio played from one of the other family's kids when she was an adult - giving museum creators an authentic oral history about her time there & about the fam across that hall. So much work has clearly gone into making the experience authentic. One guy on our tour had been on some of the other experiences and said this one and the one with bar (‍) were his faves so far. Will definitely be back.

My family's story in the United States has roots on the lower east side of Manhattan. Lost history…read moresince my grandfather refused to talk about his early life, emigrating from Russia. My grandmother was just a baby with few recollections. In 1988 two visionaries founded the Tenement Museum. Their intent was to spread tolerance and understanding of the immigrant experience. The museum purchased two tenement buildings on Orchard Street and rehabbed several apartments to simulate the way they were when occupied. Between 1863 and 1935 it's estimated thousands of people from 20 nations called these tenement buildings 'home.' I found the tour fascinating with our guide talking about two families -- one Italian, the other Jewish -- and the hardships they endured living in over-crowded quarters. There are several tours you can choose from focusing on different immigrant experiences, each $30, each ranging from 60 to 75 minutes. (The only way you can see the museum is by booking a tour.) Make reservations on line and check-in at the visitors' center upon arrival. Learn more about the museum by watching the 26 minute film that's run on a loop in the back room. A very worthwhile afternoon.

Having only a limited number of days in New York to check items off our bucket list, we needed an…read moreexcellent guide with a plethora of knowledge and enough spare energy to keep us going. I fortunately found New York Historical Tours under the ownership and direction of Kevin Draper, CEO (Chief Experience Officer). My wife and I had used a private tour guide while in Scotland, and had a wonderful one on one experience ~ away from groups and tailored to fit our style of tourism. Kevin was incredibly knowledgable, affable, professional and customized our bucket list to 1) see the Statue of Liberty with pedestal access and the new museum, 2) get a brief but comprehensive history of Ellis Island without disembarking, 3) work our way to Katz's Delicatessen (we are big "When Harry Met Sally" fans) all the while getting a feel and history of the local neighborhoods, as well as learning how to use the Metro system to develop a nice level of familiarity and comfort in the East Side of Manhattan where we were staying. A standout feature on a tour with Kevin is his attention to detail in planning our time together. I call him the Master of Timing and Positioning. For example he suggested catching the first ferry to the Statue of LIberty. When we met him, he had already purchased our tickets. While on the ferry, he kept us comfortably shaded, then took us to key positions to get the best views of Lady Liberty while giving us an incredibly interesting history of the Statue. By the time we left the island, it was getting swamped with tourists and school groups. Superb timing indeed. On the way to the Metro, he pointed out the very interesting history of Battery Park and surrounding buildings and branch of the Smithsonian museum. We wound our way through Little Italy, Chinatown, Nolita and Jewish neighborhoods on the way to Katz's. Amazingly the line was short, but a madhouse inside. Kevin knew how to maneuver to the right cutter, get a table and we had a delicious lunch. As we left, the line had grown to over a block long with over an hour wait. Again the Master's timing was impeccable. He gave us more fascinating history of different areas as we headed back to the Metropolitan Museum where we ended our incredible tour. Our 6 hour private tour went by so quickly, and we were comfortably exhausted. As a historian, Kevin is a walking talking wealth of knowledge about New York, and has tremendous pride in this amazing city. We can enthusiastically recommend him for those seeking the best in personal tours of the Big Apple. In fact, we look forward to using his services on a return trip to New York which can't come soon enough.

We went on their China Town & Little Italy tour of down town Manhattan. Dan was just terrific!…read more His enthusiasm was contagious that made our Birthday celebration weekend. We now want to go on all the tours that they offer.

Wonderful tour with knowledgeable guide for historical Church in New York City. I actually live in…read moreNYC and pass by this beautiful Church for many time when I chill out in Soho. When I found out this place is only catacombs in NYC, I decided to book a tour. I learn so much of history of St. Patrick church that this church is the original before they built St. Patrick 's Cathedral on 5th Ave. I was amazing knowing the history of catholic in New York and mystery behind. The underground was great, some people might say it was short time but maybe because I took a tour at the last round so I feel I spend amount of time down there with no rush. Even it only one level underground but the tomb is deeper than that but with the security and lots of reason they completely seal the tomb so no air in and out of the tomb and no one tough inside for centuries.

DO NOT RESERVE AHEAD OF TIME. We tried to reschedule ahead of time because there was a declared…read morestate of emergency in NYC, due to storm: high winds, rain, flooding, and possible power outages, etc. Governor said to stay home. So we decided not to try to drive down from the Capital District. They would not reschedule or even give a credit for another time. It took a week for a human (presumably) to review the initial denial by AI. The church, however, reserves the right to cancel on short notice. So yeah.

I can't say enough good things about this entire experience. The tour we wanted was sold out,…read morebummer. Sent a message to see what was recommended as far as the availability of a wait list or moving tickets from walking to bus tour would be easy. Scott himself responded, almost immediately with his recommendations. Purchased the walking tour tickets, put ourselves on the wait list for the bus tour and watched emails like a hawk for the few days before our scheduled date. The pizza tour Gods smiled on us and the wait list opened up. I called to get our tickets moved and talked to Scott who handled the whole transfer quickly for me because once the wait list opens up it opens up for everyone on it. He was very helpful in scoring those seats for us and understood the urgency. LOL. That's ALL before we even got to our first meeting place. We met the tour and Scott at Keste in the Financial District. I had read in my research that the tour stops aren't planned ahead and I was skeptical, but you could see him figuring it out as he figured out his group for the day. One of the attendees had taken the tour a year prior, they played a game of guess the spot so he didn't repeat stops for her and the very large group of family that she brought with her on this tour. There was one request for a spot in Brooklyn but he couldn't make it happen due to their hours, not that he wouldn't have moved heaven and earth if he could have. We had a smaller than usual tour group because of timing and a LI RR strike and you could just see that this opened up other options for places to go. After Keste we were able to do two stops in the Bronx, one in East Harlem. There was even an ice cream, water ice store next door to the last pizzeria. So much thought went into this route. Scott was able to take this group to places he hadn't been to in quite some time due to the distance and size of the group. Back to Keste-- what tour guide takes his entire group and takes over the kitchen, helping himself to dough balls and creating pies as he discussed pizza history?? We saw the kitchen and oven in each establishment and each shop was welcoming and friendly. Scott is a wealth of knowledge and enjoyed sharing his story and the story of all of the stops we visited. Pizza is an absolute passion project for him. Highly recommend!

Five stars for Scott's Pizza Tours, and that's only because six is not an option Yelp provides…read more Imagine a man who has taken the idea of pizza, which most people treat as a thing you fold in half on a street corner, and decided it deserves a Rosetta Stone. That man is Scott. We met him at Keste in the Financial District, and before he said much of anything, I noticed something unusual. Several of the people on our tour had done it before. They were back for more. That seemed as telling as anything else. People do not go on vacation and repeat the same bus ride unless something extraordinary is waiting for them on the other end. Scott does not work from a script. He looks at the group, he looks at the day, and then he consults the secret weather system in his head. Out came our route. Four stops, starting at our meeting point in Manhattan's Financial District and three more scattered like wayward toppings on the city map. Queens. The Bronx. Harlem. Lucky us. Scott told us that combination hardly ever happens. To him it was chance. To the rest of us it was magic. The stops themselves were like chapters in a book. At Keste we learned about the precision of Neapolitan tradition. At Patsy's in Harlem we felt the weight of history, coal ovens burning with the same stubbornness they have for generations. At Mario's on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, an owner with stories longer than the line outside the door talked to us like we were old friends. At Philomena's in Queens, Scott was so at home that he even took a customer's order when the restaurant was swamped by our presence. Every stop had its secrets revealed. Oven temperatures. Dough hydration percentages. Family feuds. Bake times. Flour suppliers. How long a pizza can sit before the soul leaks out of it. Scott called over owners, opened kitchen doors, and invited us to peer inside the fiery mouths of the ovens like pilgrims gazing at sacred relics. Scott himself is difficult to explain without sounding untrustworthy. He is a human encyclopedia with a perfectly tuned sense of joy. He has a Rolodex in his brain that seems to contain the phone number of every pizza maker on earth. I mentioned Hamilton and he talks about Papa's and DeLorenzo's as if we were neighbors. Others mentioned Seattle and Las Vegas, and he told them where to eat, who to meet, and when to go. He casually suggested lowering the water percentage from 66 to 63 for another guest's home pizza dough, as if adjusting the tides. Then he mentioned that after our tour he would be home making 16 doughs for his guides, who were planning to test a new oven. I believed him. He also radiates decency. He runs Slice Out Hunger, a nonprofit that takes the love of pizza and turns it into meals for people who need them most. It is good to know a person can devote their life to melted cheese and still be entirely serious about kindness. This tour filled us with more than pizza. It gave us a sense of belonging. Everyone, from my ten year old to a pizza shop owner who happened to be along for the ride, was entertained and educated and full. Scott's Pizza Tours is not just about pizza, although the pizza is wonderful. It is about a man who has built a community, and who invites strangers to step inside it for a few hours. If you are a casual eater, a home chef, or someone who has already built your own pizzeria, this is for you. Five stars. The highest recommendation.

This is such a great tour, and a fun way to learn about NYC. i am a local and always wondered what…read moretales and mayham lies beneath these buildings. The 2 hour walking tour of the hells kitchen area is a must book! I booked online directly with the website and paid about $35 per person. On a friday night at 8 pm, this was a great way to kick off halloween season with my friends. I had a few questions along the way, but owner Elise always answered my emails quickly. Meghan our tour guide was incredibly informed, animated and a sweetheart to spend the night with. she was engaging and really was into the stories and facts about this area of town. My suggestion? Meghan should have a microphone or something better to project her voice. she was great, but it was hard to hear at times due to the loudness of the city and her voice being on the lower side. I also think her candle lit lantern should be brighter or bigger. we had issues finding her, but to our surprise we were within a few feet from her. my favorite part of the tour and what made this unique were the candy that Meghan gave us in the beginning, and the sheet at the end with all of the facts and story names that we heard. i have been on so many tours and always have to rush taking notes or googling things as the tour happens that i end up loosing info or missing out on hearing items, but this printed out list of facts was a HUGE help.

Wow!! I was hoping for a fun night of spooky stories & was instead gobsmacked when treated to…read moresomething truly unique! The inimitable Meghan is the Beyoncé of tour guides! Actually, "tour guide" brings to mind those boring school trips we all inevitably experienced at some point during childhood. She instead gifted us with a lively, fascinating journey, which was equal parts TED Talk, one-woman-show, & incredible (as well as incredibly macabre!) NYC history lesson! The whole experience was as wildly entertaining & informative as it was inspiring, even to this jaded, native New Yorker. Highly recommended!!!