My husband and I love learning about history. Tour guide, Franky and Guy, are the original New…read moreYorker. "Youse guys." The stories the can tell about New York is non stop and rich in history. I used to think New York was a dirty and scary place as it is depicted in the news and movies. Boy, was I wrong. Very wrong. Thank you Small Bus Tours NYC Franky and Guy for opening my eyes and giving me a new appreciation of New York. They're worth the money. Trust me!

Great tour!!! The…read moreonly hiccup was the bus was unmarked and not parked in front of McDonalds as described on the website/email instructions. I had just explained to my son the importance of arriving early because arriving on time makes you late(he wondered why we left the hotel early though we were only a couple of blocks away from McDonalds.) The unmarked bus was parked across the street in front of the Paramount building. We were in line for a different tour who was parked in front McDonalds who informed us that we were in line for the wrong tour and pointed to the unmarked bus. We still arrived on time. I then explained to my son that situations like this is why you arrive early. I had a ton of missed calls and was contacted by email but a sign of some sort would've helped(a magnetic sign on the driver and passenger doors, or a foldable sign that can be transported on the bus) as I noticed the bus from across the street(the same side as Applebees and Ellen's Stardust Diner) but had no way of identifying it.

We had the best day exploring New York City as a family. We have three girls ages 20, 12 and 10…read more Like did an amazing job of making the history and city exciting for each of them. They asked to hang out with him the rest of the week. He stopped for snacks and let me customize the day according to what the girls were interested in learning. Thank you for being a part of our memories!!

After touring with Luke twice in 2011 (group tour as a couple in April then a private tour on a…read moregirls trip in October) when we were planning our itinerary for our trip back to NYC in November 2025 with our 11 year old son, Real New York Tours was the top of our list. We chose the private family tour and booking was quick and easy and the customer service as great as I remembered. On to the tour itself: Luke met us at the Museum of Natural History on time and we got reacquainted. My son is autistic and can have some trouble warming to new people but absolutely no the case with Luke, he immediately put my son at ease and they were chatting like old friends as we made our way into Central Park. The tour covered loads of Central Park, including an exciting off track visit to a secret cave, the plaza hotel, grand central station, some fun subway rides, and concluded at the Brooklyn Bridge. But more than just seeing so many iconic sites, Luke had hundreds of facts and stories (which my son loved) about what we were seeing. It was truly like spending a wonderful day with an old friend. I cannot recommend highly enough Luke and Real New York Tours. Until next time!

This tour was amazing, I had a great time. The people were very friendly and courteous. I…read moredefinitely recommend this tour.

We had the pleasure of having Mo drive our group around all week, and we couldn't be more pleased!…read moreHe kept us safe, got us everywhere on time, and even got to know us like a good friend! Would love to have Mo as a driver again!

From a Native NYer's POV--…read more It's been cold in NY! And it just so happens that my cousins have birthdays the first week of December. In order to make their day special, I wanted to take them on a tour of New York City. As a local, I would normally do a walking tour, but when the temperatures hit below, freezing, my Floridian cousins could not handle the cold. OK, I admit it. I couldn't handle it well either. So I was looking for an experience that would give me the tour. I wanted to share with them, but better than a hop on hop off bus. That's when I found The Ride! Honestly, the experience was exceptional! You get on the bus and you sit sideways to see the incredible cityscape of New York around you. We went around Times Square, radio city, Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, and the very bottom of Central Park. When you experience The Ride, you have two tour guides on the bus who tell you some facts about the city in a very funny and interesting way. The bus itself also gives you facts, because "The Ride" bus also has a personality of its own. My cousins had no idea we were doing this, and they absolutely loved it . Because it was called the holiday ride, we also saw some surprises along the way, including dancers, actors, and Freestyle rappers! It really made it feel like a true New York City Disney World attraction. You also can't control what you see on the street, so sometimes people wave at you just to wave and sometimes people make interesting gestures at you lol . Overall, as far as tourism goes for New York City , 10/10, 5 stars, and that's coming from a local born and raised. This was an awesome experience to bring my family to.

Based on the great reviews, I decided to book The Ride for my family during my children's first…read morevisit to NYC. Unfortunately, I was very underwhelmed. One of the street performers was a fantastic singer, but the rest were honestly a waste of time -- poor singing and awkward acting. It's far too expensive for what you get. That said, if you're celebrating a special occasion, it might be worth considering. They went out of their way to make a woman celebrating her birthday feel special, with repeated shoutouts from the performers.

A Hudson Valley wine tour to celebrate a friend's landmark birthday was perfect! Hudson Valley…read moreBucket list did an outstanding job coordinating the day from transport and an itinerary of beautiful wineries to a magazine photo worthy picnic lunch orchestrated by an on-site host. Our group of 12 were treated like special guests everywhere we went and we were wowed by the friendly, welcoming reception at each stop and the delicious wines we were able to taste. HVBL made planning this event easy and the day memorable

Becky was the best and the day couldn't have been planned any better! Best time ever !read more

Mary was THE BEST! We feel like we saw so many great things and learned so much history. My teen…read more+ kids loved the tour, and so happy to be shepherded in behind the scenes on such a busy, crowded night. Cannot say enough good things!

I am so glad I found this tour company! We did the Brooklyn bridge/DUMBO walking tour with Onel -…read morehe was phenomenal! This tour was one of the highlights of our trip to NYC. I can't wait for my next trip to take another walking tour with this tour company. Onel is knowledgeable, personable, engaging, humorous, thoughtful and kept us on time! He knew exactly where to stop for photo ops and gave us plenty of time for them - I appreciated the scheduled bathroom break at clean bathrooms and the stop for drinks/snacks at the most perfect grocery store that I wish was in my neighborhood. The tour ended at lunchtime in the perfect location with several food options as well as close to both the ferry and trains for the return commute to Manhattan. I highly recommend this walking tour with Onel as your guide - you won't regret it!

The tour guide was very pleasant and knowledgeable. He took us from Chinatown to Washington Square…read morePark. We saw so many places including The Raven Knight Social Club, where John Gotti did business. It's now a clothing store called Den of Thieves. I'd definitely suggest it.

If you're a fan of the mafia, this is definitely the tour to do our tour guides. gave us the…read moreabsolute best tour that you would absolutely imagine and all the food we tasted and the pastries at the end were amazing

I needed assistance and decided to call this business at 18556576600. The response time was decent…read moreand the person on the line tried to help as much as possible. I had to be transferred once, but the second representative handled things better and gave me the correct information. It wasn't perfect, but it was still a workable experience. I'm leaving this review to share how things went for me personally.

I needed assistance and decided to call this business at (888)-559-6511 The response time was…read moredecent and the person on the line tried to help as much as possible. I had to be transferred once, but the second representative handled things better and gave me the correct information. It wasn't perfect, but it was still a workable experience. I'm leaving this review to share how things went for me personally.

I joined one of the beginner paddle board classes with a friend on Sunday a week or two ago. I…read morethink the class had about 7 participants total, with two teachers. I came in from Manhattan, and took the PATH to get back home. The walk from the station to Pier 13 isn't short, so I can see why Google Maps suggests the bus to get to Pier 13. Personally I plan to snag a ride share from the station to Pier 13 in the future since I run late to most things and the walk took a while. Although I've been paddle boarding before, this class highlighted that I had never been taught some paddle boarding basics during my prior adventures. We hung out pretty close to the docks most of the time because the water was so choppy that day, but I believe the instructors said under better conditions the class sometimes ventured further out. For those of you wondering about how clean the water is - I personally did not mind falling in and was splashing my hair with the water to cool down as needed. The water felt fairly clean, and was "brackish," as the instructors liked to say. The instructors for this class were great, namely Ben (I believe that was his name anyway). He was fun, easy to talk to, and 100% willing to jump into the water to demonstrate re-mounting the board for people that had fallen. They cover how to get onto your board from the dock, how to hold your paddle, which parts of your body you should be engaging to paddle, paddling while kneeling, paddling while standing, tips on steadying yourself, and re-mounting the board. By the end of the hour I felt way more confident, and was interested in signing up for their other classes where you get a guided tour of the nearby areas. There was mention of paddling to an island nearby for one of those classes. Would highly recommend this as a weekend activity. There's plenty to eat and drink on the piers/walkways around there after you get done.

What an amazing time! A safe new and enjoyable adventure. We learned a new skill, the people in…read morecharge made sure we had an amazing experience.