Ferry before nine, a deck at sunset, a borough in between.
Which Liberty ferry gets you onto the pedestal. Whether SUMMIT beats the Empire State at dusk. What a pedicab loop of Central Park really costs. Reviews of the tours and tickets New York sells.
Lady Liberty, a Midtown roof, a park lap, the harbor after dark.
The four bookings most first New York trips are built around, with what each costs and what people who took them said.
01The first ferryStatue of Liberty & Ellis Island with FerryOut of Battery Park to the statue and the Ellis Island immigration halls. Take the first boat and the security line is a fraction of the noon one.
02The sunset slotSUMMIT One Vanderbilt TicketsMirrored rooms 1,000 feet above Grand Central, with the Chrysler Building close enough to wave at. Book the hour before sunset.
03The park lapCentral Park Pedicab Guided ToursA pedicab rider talks you past Bethesda Terrace, Strawberry Fields and the Bow Bridge in an hour, which on foot takes most of a morning.
04The night on deckCircle Line 2h Harbor Lights Cruise Skip-The-Box-OfficeTwo hours on the Hudson and East River once the towers light up, with the statue floodlit on the turn.
Liberty Island, a deck over Midtown, or the 9/11 Memorial. Which comes first?
Most New York trips open with one of these, and each runs on a timed ticket. What the cheapest way in costs, and what the ticket covers.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with Ferry
Statue of LibertyThe ferry, the island, Ellis Island on the way back.
Observation decksSUMMIT, Edge, Top of the Rock, One World.
9/11 Memorial & MuseumThe pools, the museum below, a guide if you want one.
Empire State BuildingThe 86th floor deck, and the 102nd if you pay up.
All 1,219 New York tours and tickets →
The best view of Manhattan is from a boat on the Hudson.
Circle Line loops round the island tip, sunset schooners out past Governors Island, speedboats that throw spray at the Statue. The skyline only lines up properly from the harbor.
Central Park is 843 acres. Most visitors see the bottom corner.
A pedicab gets you to Strawberry Fields and back in an hour, a rental bike does the full six-mile loop, and the carriages still leave from Central Park South. The three Central Park bookings most people make:
- 1Central Park Pedicab Guided Toursfrom $38
- 2Private Central Park Pedicab Tourfrom $38
- 3Central Park Bike Rentalsfrom $9
New York happens in its neighborhoods, from Harlem down to DUMBO.
Gospel uptown, cannoli on Mulberry Street, folk clubs in the Village, the old rail line through Chelsea. The places where guided walks earn their fee.
The tickets and tours everyone in New York seems to be holding.
The full New York list →The bookings more visitors take than anything else in the city, and what earns each one its place.
1
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt Tickets
Start in Grand Central Terminal, then ride to SUMMIT’s upper floors for Kenzo Digital’s mirror-filled AIR, glass-floor Levitation ledges, silver-balloon Affinity room, and an outdoor terrace. Plan for 90 minutes to two hours, and consider a sunset or night visit. Entry is timed, and crowds can mean a long wait.
From · $47
Read our review →
2
9/11 Memorial & Museum Timed-Entry Ticket
from $25
3
Empire State Building Tickets – Observatory & Museum
from $47
4
Empire State Building Observation Deck Tickets
from $48
5
Edge Observation Deck Admission Ticket
from $39
6
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with Ferry
from $19
7
American Museum of Natural History Ticket
from $37
8
Top of the Rock Observation Deck Ticket
from $44
Three New York evenings you will not find in another city.
Every big city has a skyline and a bus tour. A gospel choir on 125th Street, a Brooklyn block that out-lights Times Square every December, and the streets you know from television belong to this one.
Harlem Gospel
Harlem churches have been filling with music since the 1920s, and visitors have been squeezing into the back pews for decades. Sunday services are worship first: dress for church, stay to the end, and expect a queue outside the bigger congregations. The midweek concerts are the easier seat.
- 1Harlem Hallelujah! Gospel Wednesday Concert★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,638 reviews
- 2Harlem Gospel Live Music Concert★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,479 reviews
- 3Harlem Sunday Morning Gospel Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 995 reviews
The Christmas Blocks of Dyker Heights
From late November into the first days of January, a few residential blocks in southwest Brooklyn hang more lights than most shopping malls: animated reindeer, three-story Santas, whole facades wired up. The houses are private homes, so it is a walk on the sidewalk. Weekend evenings are shoulder to shoulder.
- 14-Hour Dyker Heights Holiday Lights Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 2,426 reviews
- 2Dyker Heights Christmas Lights & Skyline View Bus Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,192 reviews
- 3Dyker Heights Lights & Skyline Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,005 reviews
The Film and TV Streets
Carrie Bradshaw’s stoop, the Friends building on Bedford Street, the Ghostbusters firehouse in Tribeca. New York stands in for itself in more films and shows than anywhere else, and the location buses join up the addresses that are scattered across three neighborhoods.
- 1Sex and the City Hotspots Bus Tour NYC★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,284 reviews
- 2NYC TV & Movie Locations Bus Tour – Friends, Seinfeld & More★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,270 reviews
- 3Sex and the City Hotspots Bus Tour (On Location Tours)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 892 reviews
Four New York tickets that will not wait for you.
Most of the city can be decided on the morning. These four run on capped entry windows and box offices that sell out while you are still unpacking.
- 01Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with FerryFerry seats are plentiful; pedestal and crown access are not. Both run on small daily allocations, and the crown goes weeks ahead.
- 02SUMMIT One Vanderbilt TicketsEntry is timed, and the hour before sunset is the slot everyone wants. It sells out first and costs more.
- 039/11 Memorial & Museum Timed-Entry TicketThe memorial pools are free and open. The museum beneath them admits by timed ticket, and summer middays go early.
- 04The Lion King on BroadwayThe long-running Broadway hits sell their good seats weeks out. The discount booth and the lotteries are a gamble, not a plan.
When Manhattan weather turns, New York moves indoors.
July air sits heavy between the towers, summer storms roll in off the Hudson by late afternoon, and January wind down the avenues is serious. The answer is a roof: the big museums, a Broadway matinee, a food tour that ducks from bakery to deli.
What a day in New York costs, before the hot dog.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. Plenty of the good New York days cost less than a Midtown dinner.
Ferry tickets, observation decks, park bikes, museum entry and the neighborhood walks.
Food tours, guided Liberty and Ellis Island days, bus loops and the long harbor cruises.
Helicopter flights, Niagara in a day, private guides and city passes.
- 1New York CityPASS®: Save up to 41% at 5 Top Attractionsfrom $154
- 2Manhattan Helicopter Tourfrom $299
- 3Manhattan Sightseeing Helicopter Tourfrom $299
From Penn Station or a Midtown coach: the day trips New Yorkers point visitors toward.
Woodbury Common
Philadelphia
The Hamptons
Washington DC
Boston
Niagara FallsBy borough, from Harlem to the Jersey shore
Fresh off the ferry: new New York reviews.
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Niagara Falls, Toronto and 1000 Islands, 3 Day Tour from NYC
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Central Park Pedicab Guided Tours – 1, 1.5 & 2Hrs
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Guided tour of the MET in Spanish (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
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New York Day Sail to the Statue of Liberty on Schooner America
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Philadelphia, Washington DC & Amish Country, 2-Days from NYC
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Washington D.C.& Philadelphia 2-Day Tour from New York City
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1 Hour Private Charter in New York Harbor for up to 6 people
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