NYC can make something as simple as a walk an inspiring adventure—even if it’s just heading along the sidewalk to take in the sights and sounds. Being on foot is the best way to get to know the City.
So to get the most out of your visit, or just for the fun of exploring a new neighborhood, we’re inviting you to walk like a New Yorker (well, maybe not quite as fast or while eating a slice, as the habit is here), with the help of a New Yorker. Get familiar with some of our favorite walking tours around all five boroughs.
SusanSez NYC Walkabouts. Photo: Gabby Jones
The Bronx
SusanSez NYC Walkabouts
Good for: architecture fans, baseball lovers
Price: Starting at $49.87, custom tour options available
Length: around 3 hours
Experience “the real New York” with Susan Birnbaum of SusanSez NYC Walkabouts as she shows you the Bronx, from Yankee Stadium to the Grand Concourse, Arthur Avenue and beyond. Birnbaum can put together custom tours, such as one that focuses on art deco architecture along Grand Concourse, showcasing historic buildings and their 1920s and ’30s facades and ornate lobbies. Learn about the structures and the famous folks that lived and worked here, such as when Joe DiMaggio stayed at the Concourse Plaza Hotel (as did many Yankees greats back in the day). Birnbaum also talks about the history of the borough itself, and how urban planners like Robert Moses made decisions that still impact the Bronx.
NYC Bagel Tours. Photo: Gabby Jones
Brooklyn
NYC Bagel Tours – Williamsburg
Good for: carbo-loaders, food historians
Price: $59 standard tour, private experiences available
Length: 2 hours
Dive into the City’s bagel scene with NYC Bagel Tours. You’ll visit three top shops to get the (w)hole picture on how bagels are made; learn about their rich cultural history in NYC and abroad; and, of course, sample a variety of bagels, bagel sandwiches and cream cheeses. The standard tour covers a leisurely mile-long route in Manhattan from Chelsea to Times Square, but NYC Bagel Tours also offers private experiences, like the 2.5-hour Brooklyn-based Bagel Crafting tour that NYC Tourism took ($1,000 for up to 8 people), which included a bagel-rolling session.
Inside Out Tours: NYC Slavery & the Underground Railroad. Photo: Gabby Jones
Manhattan
Inside Out Tours: NYC Slavery & the Underground Railroad
Good for: lovers of history, social justice and untold stories
Price: Adults and kids 12 and older, $49; ages 5 to 11, $42
Length: 2.5 hours
Learn the truth of New York City’s history, from its Dutch beginnings and colonization of indigenous Lenape land to its prominent role in the slave trade. This historical tour takes you from the Battery—the very southern tip of Manhattan, where the City’s history began—up to the African Burial Ground. Stops along the way uncover stories of abolitionists and the Underground Railroad, along with lesser-known tales behind sites like the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall. You’ll get a new perspective on physical remnants of the country’s colonial past and plenty of context on that time period.
Food on Foot Tours: International Express Queens. Photo: Gabby Jones
Queens
Food on Foot Tours: International Express Queens
Good for: people who like surprises, on-the-go eaters
Price: $38–$59, with a pay-as-you-go option
Length: ~4.5 hours, counting transportation time
Go ahead, have a taco under the 7 train. Helmed by a native New Yorker, Food on Foot Tours takes you on a culinary trip around Queens, where the journey is just as important as the stops. This isn’t your usual sort of walking food tour with a set menu at each place; instead, it’s a hop-on hop-off subway adventure with up to 40 people participating, so expect to mingle. The menu is up to you; pick whatever you’d like at each stop. You can choose a pay-as-you-go model or get a ticket with a prepaid food credit. The stops themselves are a surprise, but you’ll hit international neighborhoods like Flushing and Jackson Heights while visiting where locals eat and hang out.
Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden. Photo: Gabby Jones
Staten Island
Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
Good for: green thumbs, families
Price: The main outdoor gardens and structures are free for visitors, but to enter cultural institutions like the Chinese Scholar’s Garden or the Staten Island Museum, you can either buy individual admission ($5–$8 each) or get a Discovery Pass ($20) that gets you into all. See the website for more details.
Length: self guided, so as long as you want to take
Hop on the ferry and take a short bus or cab ride over to Snug Harbor, a hub for art, history and horticulture. A one-time charitable and self-sustaining community for former sailors, the campus has centers of culture like the Staten Island Museum, the Snug Harbor Music Hall and a maritime gallery. The complex is designed for a self-guided walking tour, with placards in front of each building and garden that explain the structure with historical context and direct you to QR codes to learn more. Be sure to tour the many gardens in addition to the museums, especially during the spring blooms. Go through the Allée, a walkway lined by arched hornbeam trees, until you reach the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden, one of the only authentic such gardens in the States. Make it a world tour by experiencing the Tuscan Garden, a replica of the gardens of a Florentine villa.
Visitors can find additional guides that specialize in a range of tours across New York City at ganyc.org.
