What You Will Do
Instead of getting flustered with maps and subways, cruise along in a comfortable SUV on this private 3 or 5 hour tour of Lower Manhattan. Learn a great mix of history and fun facts from a personal navigator — a native New Yorker — who escorts you to top sights like Ground Zero, West Village, South Street Seaport, Chinatown and Little Italy. Upgrade to a 5-hour tour and explore Upper and Mid-Manhattan as well: Museum Mile, Rockefeller Center, Central Park and more. It’s the perfect way to bite into the Big Apple.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Itinerary
1
Midtown
15 minutes
The central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, the headquarters of the United Nations, Grand Central Terminal, and Rockefeller Center, as well as several prominent tourist destinations including Broadway, Times Square, and Koreatown. Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere
Midtown Manhattan is one of the largest central business districts in the world and ranks among the world's most expensive locations for real estate; Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan has commanded the world's highest retail rents, with average annual rents at US$3,000 per square foot.
2
St. Patrick's Cathedral
A Catholic cathedral in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is the seat of the Archbishop of New York as well as a parish church. The cathedral occupies a city block bounded by 5th Avenue, Madison Avenue, 50th Street, and 51st Street, directly across from Rockefeller Center. Designed by James Renwick Jr., it is the largest Gothic Revival Catholic cathedral in North America.
It was constructed starting in 1858 to accommodate the growing Archdiocese of New York and to replace St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. Work was halted in the early 1860s during the American Civil War; the cathedral was completed in 1878 and dedicated on May 25, 1879. The archbishop's house and rectory were added in the early 1880s, both designed by James Renwick Jr., and the spires were added in 1888.
3
Flatiron District
5 minutes
The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan of New York City, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally, the Flatiron District is bounded by 14th Street, Union Square and Greenwich Village to the south; the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and Chelsea to the west; 23rd Street and Madison Square (or NoMad) to the north; and Park Avenue South and Gramercy Park to the east.
Broadway cuts through the middle of the district, and Madison Avenue begins at 23rd Street and runs north. At the north (uptown) end of the district is Madison Square Park, which was completely renovated in 2001. The Flatiron District encompasses within its boundaries the Ladies' Mile Historic District and the birthplace of Theodore Roosevelt, a National Historic Site. The Flatiron District was also the birthplace of Silicon Alley, a metonym for New York's high technology sector, which has since spread beyond the area.
4
Flatiron Building
The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, 285-foot-tall (86.9 m) steel-framed land-marked building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinkelberg, and known in its early days as "Burnham's Folly", it was completed in 1902 and originally included 20 floors. The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street—where the building's 87-foot (27 m) back end is located—with East 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. The name "Flatiron" derives from its triangular shape, which recalls that of a cast-iron clothes iron
5
Washington Square Park
5 minutes
Washington Square Park is a 9.75-acre (3.95 ha) public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity.
The park is an open space, dominated by the Washington Square Arch at the northern gateway to the park, with a tradition of celebrating nonconformity. The park's fountain area has long been one of the city's popular spots, and many of the local buildings have at one time served as homes and studios for artists. Many buildings have been built by New York University, while others have been converted from their former uses into academic and residential buildings.
6
West Village
15 minutes
The West Village draws fashionable crowds to its designer boutiques and trendy restaurants. Quaint streets, some still cobblestoned, are lined with Federal-style townhouses and dotted with public squares. Notable venues include the Village Vanguard jazz club and the Stonewall Inn bar, site of the 1969 riots that launched the gay rights movement. The historically arty area also has piano bars, cabarets and theaters.
7
Meatpacking District
15 minutes
The Meatpacking District is a hip commercial area on the far west side. It's home to the Whitney Museum of American Art, high-end designer clothing stores and a stretch of the High Line, an elevated park built atop former railroad tracks. At ground level, the cobblestone streets are filled with trendy restaurants and clubs that have taken over the cavernous spaces once occupied by the namesake meatpacking plants.
8
SoHo
15 minutes
The name "SoHo" derives from the area being "South of Houston Street", and was coined in 1962 by Chester Rapkin, an urban planner and author of The South Houston Industrial Area study, also known as the "Rapkin Report". The name also recalls Soho, an area in London's West End.
Almost all of SoHo is included in the SoHo–Cast Iron Historic District, which was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1973, extended in 2010, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978. It consists of 26 blocks and approximately 500 buildings, many of them incorporating cast-iron architectural elements. Many side streets in the district are paved with Belgian blocks.
9
TriBeCa
15 minutes
The neighborhood began as farmland, then was a residential neighborhood in the early 19th century, before becoming a mercantile area centered on produce, dry goods, and textiles, and then transitioning to artists and then actors, models, entrepreneurs, and other celebrities. The neighborhood is home to the TriBeCa Festival, which was created in response to the September 11 attacks, to reinvigorate the neighborhood and downtown after the destruction caused by the terrorist attacks.
10
World Trade Center Memorial Foundation
15 minutes
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is a memorial that is part of the World Trade Center complex, in New York City, created for remembering the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six.
11
Statue of Liberty View Point
5 minutes
For an unforgettable view of the statue and Ellis Island, The Battery (formerly known as Battery Park). Located on the southern tip of Lower Manhattan, is a great vantage point for taking in fabulous views of the New York Harbor, Governor’s Island, Brooklyn, the New Jersey Shore, and the Verrazano Bridge.
12
Financial District
10 minutes
Also known as FiDi, is a neighborhood located on the southern tip of Manhattan. It is bounded by the West Side Highway on the west, Chambers Street and City Hall Park on the north, Brooklyn Bridge on the northeast, the East River to the southeast, and South Ferry and the Battery on the south. New York was created in the modern-day Financial District in 1624, and the neighborhood roughly overlaps with the boundaries of the New Amsterdam settlement in the late 17th century. The district comprises the offices and headquarters of many of the city's major financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Anchored on Wall Street in the Financial District, New York City has been called both the leading financial center and the most economically powerful city of the world, and the New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest stock exchange.
13
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
15 minutes
The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called the Esplanade, is a 1,826-foot (557 m)-long platform and pedestrian walkway cantilevered over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278) in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. With views of Lower Manhattan's skyline and the New York Harbor, it came about as the byproduct of competing proposals for the highway's route that were resolved in the midst of World War II. Actual construction came after the war. As a structure built over a roadway, the Promenade is owned by the NYC DOT and is not considered a park; however, NYC Parks maintains the entire Promenade.
14
Brooklyn Bridge
15 minutes
You'll get to ride over one of the world's most iconic suspension bridges which first opened in 1883.
15
Manhattan Bridge
The bridge was proposed in 1898 and was originally called "Bridge No. 3" before being renamed the Manhattan Bridge in 1902. Foundations for the bridge's suspension towers were completed in 1904, followed by the anchorages in 1907 and the towers in 1908. The Manhattan Bridge opened to traffic on December 31, 1909, and began carrying streetcars in 1912 and New York City Subway trains in 1915. The eastern upper-deck roadway was installed in 1922. After streetcars stopped running in 1929, the western upper roadway was finished two years later.
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