Best Walking Tours in New York

Where better to taste your first bite of the Big Apple than in the heart of New York’s historic and financial districts? Starting on the edge of Battery Park, where the first Dutch immigrants settled in New Amsterdam, this two-hour meander through Downtown Manhattan takes in a number of landmark New York attractions. You’ll see Wall Street’s Charging Bull, the New York Stock Exchange, Trinity Church and the legendary Fraunces Tavern, George Washington’s NYC HQ during the American War of Independence.

Top tip: Save $$$ when you book this tour – plus get access to 100+ other Big Apple tours, activities and attractions – with the New York Pass. Click here to find out more and buy yours.

There are many ways to experience Central Park, but few with as many fun photo opps as a guided tour of its most iconic TV and movie locations. Here’s your chance to come over all Loki on a stroll down Bethesda Terrace, as featured in The Avengers; to strike your best Holly Golightly pose at the historic Naumburg Bandshell amphitheater from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and to feed the pigeons just as Kevin McCallister did in Home Alone 2. You’ll also get to be the main character in locations you’ll recognize from classic scenes in When Harry Met Sally, Gossip Girl, Ghostbusters and more.

Don’t miss your chance to take in sweeping Manhattan skyline views from the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. This 2-3-hour tour includes a gentle stroll along its pedestrian walkway, plus an Insta-tastic exploration of Brooklyn’s waterfront DUMBO neighborhood. This has nothing to do with the flying cartoon elephant and instead stands for ‘Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass’. Expect pretty cobblestone streets, trendy art galleries and high-end boutiques galore, and don’t miss a photo opportunity at the spot where the Empire State Building is perfectly framed by the Manhattan Bridge.

The High Line is one of New York’s coolest parks. This former freight line has been elevated to become a natural haven above the streets of NYC, with lush walkways, landscaped gardens, Hudson River views, and plenty of public art to ogle. Explore this unique outdoor space on a guided tour that also takes in the industrial chic of the Meatpacking District, and a wander through the hubbub of Chelsea Market, housed inside a former biscuit factory.

A shuffle through Harlem reveals any number of cultural and artistic treasures. We’re talking the likes of the legendary Apollo Theater, where James Brown and Ella Fitzgerald have performed, the storied Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill districts, and historic churches from where the sweet sound of Gospel singing can often be heard. Harlem’s a big old neighborhood, so there are a number of different tours available with The New York Pass, taking in iconic jazz clubs, historic mansions and churches, and even sites from the Revolutionary War!

Now you’ve worked up an appetite, it's time to mosey on down to the culinary hotspots of Lower Manhattan. This two-hour guided tour includes an opportunity to go celeb-spotting in swanky SoHo before sampling the best of atmospheric Little Italy – Neapolitan pizza, spaghetti with clams, and sweet crunchy cannoli for the win. Still hungry? The tour continues to the sensory fiesta that is New York’s Chinatown, an intoxicating mix of lively markets, colorful Chinese decorations and aromatic ducks roasting in shop windows. Yum.

It’s showtime! Experience the bright lights of Times Square and Broadway on this thrilling tour of New York’s famous theater district. Here’s your chance to grab a #humblebrag selfie or six amid the dazzling billboards and iconic yellow cabs of Times Square. You’ll also get an opportunity to meet seasoned Broadway actors and hear first-hand accounts of what it's really like to tread the boards in some of the planet’s most famous theaters. We’re talking the likes of the Majestic and the Palace, where shows such as West Side Story and The Phantom of the Opera were performed, and where actors including Meryl Streep, Idina Menzel and Julie Andrews cut their teeth. There’s really no business like showbusiness!

Get your spook on with this bone-chilling voyage into the haunted heart of  historic Greenwich Village. Those with a taste for the macabre will thrill to tales of local lore that include the famous Hanging Tree, an English elm that bore witness to hundreds of hangings during the 18th Century. Then there’s the 1830s brownstone – once home to Mark Twain – that’s said to be New York’s most haunted building, even earning itself the inviting nickname ‘House of Death’ thanks to the many instances of bad luck that have befallen its occupants. You’ll also visit the Washington Square Arch and Anne Charlotte Lynch House, as your guide regales their terrified audience with gruesome tales of restless spirits, tragic accidents and paranormal activity. Who knows, you may even run into the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe, said to haunt the stairways of New York University’s Furman Hall.

Many of the walking tours mentioned in this guide are available with The New York Pass, which can save you up to 50% on admission to 100+ NYC attractions, including the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, MoMA, and the One World Observatory. Click the buttons below to find out more and choose yours…