10 Best Tours in New York

The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Tour showcases the city's unique place in American history. This 4.5-hour tour is a journey to New York Harbor, including a look at the pair of national icons that offered millions of newcomers their first look at the country.

A ferry ride across the water takes you to the island where the Statue of Liberty looks out to greet the arriving ships, and you can step inside the pedestal to learn the story of the grand monument's construction. From there, it's on to the Ellis Island Museum for a walk through the halls of the most famous immigration station in the world.

Ground Zero, the former site of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, has become one of America's most memorable sights. This site commemorates the victims of the deadly attacks with a solemn memorial. This tour takes you to the nearby chapel that survived the towers' collapse and served as a rescue center in the aftermath. Visit the memorial wall dedicated to the first responders who rushed to the scene.

Then head up to the towering One World Observatory atop the new One World Trade Center, which stands as a symbol of New York's resilience while offering a sweeping view of the city. The whole tour will take you about 2.5 hours.

It's hard to fit New York's vast collection of culture and scenery into any single outing, but a boroughs tour gets you close. This tour allows you to explore some of the most popular spots in all 5 boroughs.

From the cultural touchstones of Harlem and street art in the Bronx to grand homes in Queens, diverse neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and the vibrant boardwalk on Coney Island, you can get a sense of just how many communities call the Empire City home. The tour takes about 5 hours.

The Central Park Walking Tour takes you through the 843 acres (341 hectares) of parkland in the center of Manhattan. This gives you a refreshing change of pace from the urban landscape packed all around it. Your guide introduces you to the fascinating secrets of the city's natural oasis, with visits to sights like the vintage carousel and the historic visitor center at the Dairy.

For a different angle, you can make a stop at Rockefeller Center by the south end of the park, where the Top of the Rock observation deck lets you look out over the whole green expanse while you admire one of the best views of the city. The tour will take you about 4 hours.

If you want to know how New York-style pizza came to dominate American cuisine, you might as well go to the source and take a Brooklyn Pizza Tour.

This delicious 4.5-hour tour bookends its journey through Brooklyn with visits to a pair of the best-loved pizzerias around. At each pizzeria, you can see firsthand how New Yorkers transformed a traditional Italian dish into a delectable emblem of Western culture. The tour not only satisfies your taste buds but also enriches your understanding of the culinary traditions of New York.

For an insightful journey into the early days of America's latest music sensation, there's nowhere better than the streets of Harlem and the Bronx and the Birthplace of Hip-Hop Tour. Venture out on a tour to explore the clubs where some of the biggest performers in hip-hop made their names, locations that featured in the genre's most influential music videos, and the site of DJ Kool Herc's first hip-hop parties back in the 1970s.

Don't miss the showcase of street art at the Graffiti Wall of Fame. This immersive tour takes about 3 hours.

Learn about the history, industry, and innovation of New York's most venerable industrial park at the 2-hour Brooklyn Navy Yard: Past, Present & Future tour. See the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s dry docks and workshops that once supplied the US Navy by building and servicing some of its most historic vessels, including the ironclad USS Monitor and the battleship USS Missouri.

Along with exhibitions that highlight artifacts from the yard's grand history, you get a look at signs of its rebirth as a modern industrial powerhouse.

Join the Greenwich Village Food & Tastings tour to get a tasty cross-section of the Big Apple's cuisine. In this 3-hour tour you get to sample some of New York's best flavors with a swing through the bohemian heart of the city.

Enjoy a slice of New York’s finest pizza, taste exquisite pasta and premium olive oil, and savor some artisanal cupcakes, all within the span of an evening. Along the way, you'll also get to learn about the vibrant Greenwich Village.

The streets of New York rival Hollywood with memorable filming locations, best explored on the TV & Movie Locations with NBC Studios tour. This 3-hour tour takes you on a journey through the city's most iconic camera-friendly sites.

From classic films like Breakfast at Tiffany's to beloved TV shows like Seinfeld, you'll visit the spots where these productions came to life. Additionally, you'll get an exclusive look inside the historic NBC Studios, where you can even step in front of the cameras and tape your own show.

There's nothing quite like a Night Tour ride through Midtown Manhattan to get a feel for the famous New York nightlife. A double-decker bus and a guide armed with plenty of stories take you through the heart of the city, showing off sights from the billboards of Times Square to the flags of the United Nations and the Art Deco façades of Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building.

See how the city lights up in the evening as you get to know its landmarks from a new perspective. The tour takes about 2 hours.