We would like to thank Rolando and his team for our seamless visit to Sorrento and the Amalfi…read moreCoast; Bari, Matera, Lecce and Alberobello. Our drivers were courteous and extremely competent. Hotel choices were excellent, We have traveled extensively, often on tours. We are no longer looking to jump on and off a bus and walk around for many hours. Our personalized pace was wonderful. We would enthusiastically recommend this incredible company to anyone who wants to savor travel without punishment. Sharyn e Davide

Hello Italy Tours did an amazing job with booking my vacation to Italy!! Such a magical experience…read more The travel specialist made things so easy when building my travel itinerary. Everything that was included was amazing!!!

During this strange world, I've been enjoying taking advantage of all the amazing virtual…read moreopportunities out there we may not otherwise get because of our world circumstances. One of these opportunities includes The New York Adventure Club, a tour company that in typical times hosts in-person "adventures" around New York. I love the idea of a group of citizen experts showing off all the awesome things in their city. In normal times, it looks like they tour museums, historical sites and lots of hidden "secrets" around the city. I've always been interested in the arts and history of New York and have really enjoyed hoping on these virtual experiences. So far, I've attended two virtual events, "The Secrets of TriBeCa: Lofts, Artists, & Alleyways" led by Gardiner and "The Famous Gilded Age Balls that Forever Changed NYC" led by Kristen. I would easily attend more. I was really impressed with the breadth of knowledge of these guides, and how much time, energy and thought was put into the research and assembly of these webinars. In particular, Gardiner grew up in TriBeCa and had such a personal spin to his entire virtual event, which was super cool. For a $10 ticket to these online events, you're getting so much more in value. I'm so pleasantly thrilled with the type of content they offer and will definitely be attending more of these in the future. If you live outside of NYC, definitely consider hopping on one of these fantastic events and learning something new! Love this cool business.

I attended a Brunch Classics cooking class at Essex Market on Saturday, August 13, 2022 organized…read moreby New York Adventure Club and was stunned that even though this was an indoor event with approximately 12 people sitting ultra-closely side by side around a prep island, that the class leader, Chef Jon Lovitch was permitted to actively discourage mask wearing among the participants during his opening remarks. His reasoning was that in eating some of the dishes he would be preparing, we would get "cinnamon and sugar all over our mouths," and therefore he emphasized we should NOT wear a mask throughout the class since the CDC had recently relaxed those guidelines, and "we should all be getting back to normal." It was obvious that I was the only mask wearer and that I would continue to wear my mask in response, so he turned to me in front of everyone and asked if I was OK with everyone else not wearing a mask, essentially trying to pressure me into removing mine. I resisted the combination of both public peer pressure and mask-shaming and did not remove it except to eat and then I kept those moments ultra-brief. I'm a breast cancer survivor and have to be extra careful at indoor events where people are seated in close proximity to one another and are not wearing masks. In other instances of ultra-poor planning by the New York Adventure Club, It should be noted that no napkins were provided together with the food-sampling plates and forks, which was curious as either purposeful or an oversight given the heavy-duty negative pressure not to wear masks from the class leader; that the elevator to the floor with the demo kitchen where the class was being held was turned off to that floor so that someone in a wheelchair could not even reach the class at all; that only two of the four recipes were printed out and those were only distributed at the end of the class, preventing someone from taking notes on the recipes in real time as with most well-run cooking classes; and that when I tried to speak to the group's owner, Corey William Schneider, who was in attendance at the class at all times, he brushed me off completely and told me to only give him feedback at the end of the class (he was busy taking photos throughout but otherwise remained completely silent). In short, I can't recommend any of this group's in-person events, because there is not a sufficient emphasis on protecting the health and well-being of participants, and if you read their other Yelp reviews, you'll see that many of their events actually end up getting cancelled. I also believe they may be violating the Americans With Disabilities Act with some of their lack of organization and socially irresponsible messaging. So if you have any kind of health condition or are disabled, please be very careful about attending any of this group's in-person events. And if you attend any of their cooking classes with Chef Jon Lovitch, you should be prepared to resist concerted pressure to remove your mask if you are someone who typically wears one at indoor events where you're sitting side by side with a lot of other people who aren't mask wearers. Each person has to decide about mask wearing for themselves now, but I don't think the New York Adventure Club should be actively supporting not wearing masks in close quarters, or they risk litigation should someone becomes ill as a result.

That is not true. The reasons why this tour is terrible include:…read more 1) we were barely given any history whatsoever and walked over the bridge not speaking 2) we were stuck waiting for an hour w/ no idea when the pizza would come and no notice from Bruce that he would be gone (he wasn't with us that entire time) 3) the only "historical" buildings we saw were the pizza place and the ice cream factory- with no history given about them whatsoever and we did not see any other places in Brooklyn besides those Don't waste your money. It had nothing to do with being under-dressed. This would have been terrible even if it had been summer.

Recently took the Soho/Chinatown/Little Italy tour with a few friends. Bruce was a great tour guide…read moreand had picked 6 excellent locations for us to stop at along our journey. I think 2 hours was just right for the tour and we really would not be able to eat anymore food by the end of it - come hungry. For $35 I thought this tour was well worth it, really a neat way to get familiar with the history and transformation of a few Manhattan neighborhoods. Bruce has a number of different tours on his website, I recommend checking them out.

Alison made our first trip traveling abroad beyond easy and something we will cherish and keep with…read moreus for a lifetime. Her communication and organization were above and beyond. She provided us with trusted recommendations that panned out to be amazing. Would definitely return in the future

West Village Food Tour - June 16, 2023 A wonderful, 3-hour…read moretour. Informative and delicious! First of all, Josh in the office was more than helpful. I admit I made his job more difficult than necessary due to the multiple changes I needed to make. Josh was courteous and helpful and, in no way, did he give me impression of being bothered. Andrea was the tour guide for myself and two friends. Our tour group was small which I felt was a stroke of luck. Andrea sent an email to each of us the day before our tour which reminded us of the tour, our meeting spot and time. She also noted that the tour would begin promptly at the scheduled time. She also asked if we had any dietary restrictions, food allergies or questions. I replied to her email asking for suggestions for places to visit after our tour had concluded. She responded promptly and gave us some helpful suggestions. Andrea cheerfully met us at the predetermined time. After introductions, Andrea gave us a brief overview of what we were to see, answered our questions and confirmed that there were no food allergies she needed to be aware of. We stopped at Faicco's Italian Specialties where we sampled soppressata and rice balls, a.k.a. Arancini in front of Faicco's. Both were excellent. As we snacked, Andrea gave us a history of the place. Our next stop was Bleeker Street Pizza. Andrea gave us a brief history before going in. We ate slices of of Nona Maria pizza. Then the previous owner, Greg Greenwood, joined us. He gave us a detailed history of the restaurant, which his brother, Captain Douglas Greenwood, opened in 2004. Captain Greenwood tragically passed away from 9/11 illness and ownership passed to Greg, who recently sold the pizzeria, although he still works there on Fridays. The pizza was fantastic! I will definitely visit again. As we walked through the West Village, Andrea gave us more history of the neighborhood, which included a home that was only 9 feet wide and a former speakeasy!! Our third stop was Hudson Bagels. where we shared two delicious, traditional New York bagels with cream cheese. Our fourth stop was Galanga, a Thai restaurant. We each had a corn fritter and Chicken Satay. I loved the fritters but thought the chicken was a bit plain. The fifth restaurant was Mamoun's Falafel. My boring palate did not enjoy this treat, but the others did. Lastly we had a cupcake at Molly's Cupcakes, opened by a former school teacher and schoolhouse themed. We each ordered different cupcakes, all of which were yummy. We ended the tour at our original meeting place. Andrea was wonderful, personable and informative. I inquired about other tours Andrea gave so that I can book another tour with Andrea.

We went on the food tour of the Lower East Side with Adam of Sidewalk tours. It was awesome. This…read moretour takes you through all the cuisines of the various populations that have settled in the Lower East Side. We started at an amazing Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery. This bakery has been in this location since 1910. Yonah is fifth generation. We had a potato knish to die for and you can see why this bakery is still in business. Unfortunately, our guide Adam, as he went over the history of the Lower East Side, said that very soon this little knish shop may be pushed out due to the high rents and development that is taking over this neighborhood. We moved on to Katz deli- skipping the line- because we were on the tour :) and had pastrami. Pastrami is not really my thing, but even I can taste that the Katz Pastrami melts in your mouth. We also had rugula from Russ and Daughter's. The rugula was delicious. My sister said she could have eaten 10 more pieces. As we walked, Adam filed us in on the history of the area. Along the way, we stopped at Economy candy. This place has every old fashioned candy you could ever want as well as modern favorites. It is candy floor to ceiling and very fun. We then went to Essex market. I could have spent a whole day there. It has both prepared foods and many market stalls for fresh fruits and veggies, dairy meats, sweets, really everything you could want. If I lived in NYC, I would shop there every week. We stopped at Arinchini Brothers for orrincici (rice balls) which were fabulous. I wish I could have taken some home but they ship so I'll get them that way. We also stopped by Essex Olive and Spice where I bought two bottles of fig balsamic vinegar, which may be the best balsamic I have ever tasted and I have been to Italy, France and Croatia. The olive oil there was also special. I went back to Essex market after the tour and spent more time there. So much to eat and buy and so little time. Okay so moving on we stopped at North Dumpling to buy some of the best dumplings in the city. The pork dumplings were so flavorful. I was pretty stuffed by now but we moved on to the Pickle Guys where I tasted pickeled pineapple which I would have purchased if I had not had to put it in my luggage. Sounds gross, but trust me. It was awesome. We then stopped at Kossar's Bialys for what I had been waiting for and they did not disappoint. We had an everything bagel and a bialy and they were... well, NY perfect. You may think you have had a bagel, but if you haven't had a NYC bagel, you haven't tasted bagels. We moved on to the Doghnut Plant where they have a tres Leche donut, which they were out of, and a wonderful blueberry cake donut that was a nice ending to a wonderful food and culture tour. I highly recommend it.

Went on my 3rd B.O. walking tour and somehow this is my first review. The other two were years…read moreago, but I remember enjoying them as well. This weekend I went on the Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour and it was exceptional. I forget the name of our guide (he was a PhD student and professor) but he was packed full of info, very comfortable presenting it, and all around a top notch guide. Two hours of lots of food and a moderate amount of walking. Fantastic way to spend an afternoon, highly recommended, and now I have to go on more of their walks.

We loved our walking tour about immigrants in New York City. Natalie was so knowledgable!read more

Super fun tour! Our guide, Leo was knowledgeable and shared many great stories and poems with us…read more We checked out 3 cool bars and learned a lot of history. Beware if it is cold out to bundle up...a fair amount of time is spent outside

Leo was an amazing tour guide, it was freezing outside but the pubs were warm and he made the…read moreexperience so fun! 10/10 recommend learned so much and laughed a lot!

Wonderful tour with knowledgeable guide for historical Church in New York City. I actually live in…read moreNYC and pass by this beautiful Church for many time when I chill out in Soho. When I found out this place is only catacombs in NYC, I decided to book a tour. I learn so much of history of St. Patrick church that this church is the original before they built St. Patrick 's Cathedral on 5th Ave. I was amazing knowing the history of catholic in New York and mystery behind. The underground was great, some people might say it was short time but maybe because I took a tour at the last round so I feel I spend amount of time down there with no rush. Even it only one level underground but the tomb is deeper than that but with the security and lots of reason they completely seal the tomb so no air in and out of the tomb and no one tough inside for centuries.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was still interesting. The tour lasts about an hour…read moreand a half. I have to say the guides were great. You could see how much they enjoyed what they were doing. Our guide shared lots of fascinating stories about St. Patrick's Old Cathedral Basilica, the history of Catholicism in New York City, and the NOLITA neighborhood. Anyone who's into history would definitely enjoy this. That said, I do think it's a bit pricey for what you get, but if you are really interested in NYC history, it's worth doing.