New York City Tours

city-280-wideThere are plenty of options available if you would like to take a tour of New York City. There are guided bus tours, the popular hop-on, hop-off buses, walking tours, specialty tours, boat tours, even helicopter tours. Here are a few of the options available:

Free Tours by Foot – This company offers a wide variety of pay-what-you-like walking tours of the city. They have something for everyone, including tours of neighborhoods and parks, night tours, and food tours. And at the end of the tour, you pay what you wish, making it a very affordable option. Reviews.

Real New York Tours – Private tours and group tours with local guides. You’ll walk and ride the subway for the real New York experience. Reviews.

Sightseeing BusCitySights Double Decker Buses – These are the red double decker buses that you’ll see all over the city. There are five loop tours available – Downtown, Uptown, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Night. Most of the loops are hop-on, hop-off tours, allowing you to get off to explore areas that interest you and then get back on another bus later the night tour is a more traditional narrated tour that lasts an hour and half. You can get tickets for specific loops or purchase an all loop pass that’s good for several days. Save 15% on all CitySights bus tours with promo code WINTER15 (offer expires December 31, 2016)

Helicopter Tours – Hop on a helicopter and see the city from above. Tours leave from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at 6 East River Piers. Various tours are offered. Most last about 15 or 20 minutes. Use promo code FLY10 at CitySightsNY for 10% off all helicopter tours (offer expires December 31, 2016). 

Municipal Art Society of New York Walking Tours – A wide variety of tour topics, lead by architectural, urban, and art historians, preservationists, urban geographers, architects, teachers, and writers.  Most tours last two hours and the price for most is $30.

Big Onion Walking Tours – Guided walking tours of the city’s ethnic neighborhoods and historic districts. Has a wide selection of specialty tours to satisfy all interests. Most tours cost $25. Reviews.

Central Park Walking Tours – The Central Park Conservancy offers a series of guided walking tours of Central Park, several of which are free.

Audio Tours – If you don’t want to take an organized tour, but still want the input of an expert guide, consider downloading an audio walking tour.

Goldstar’s NYC Tour Discounts – Goldstar, a national provider of discounted entertainment tickets, usually has a good variety of NYC tours available at discounted prices.

 

 

*******

How to Find Discounts on New York City Tours: Tours are a big business in the city, and there’s lots of competition. Lots of competition means that some of the tour companies are going to offer special deals and discounts to get your business. Here are some suggestions on how to find those discounts.

1st – Check NYC Cheap Travel’s Current Tour Deals.  This is where we post special deals and offers as we find them. Current offers from Groupon, Living Social and Gold Star will be listed here.

Next – Check the website for the tour you’re interested in taking. Sometimes they have discounts listed. Some of them give a discount for booking your tour online in advance.

And – Check tour prices at NewYork.com.  They have deals with many of the tour operators. Check with them before booking elsewhere. We found that their prices are sometimes cheaper than the prices offered on the tour company websites.

********

Subscribe to the NYC Cheap Travel newsletter to receive daily or weekly (your choice) updates on entertainment, dining, and travel deals.