I always use the big bus tour group when I come to NYC with teenagers. The customer service is…read moregreat-- as we are checking in between 18 and 25 people. it's an easy way for us to travel around the city and let them separate off into some smaller groups but not get worried they don't know how to get back to the meet up. The open top is a great way to see the buildings especially when it's your first time to the city. The recorded running commentary is informative and witty. This year we again did one day on the red route and one day the blue route. Great experience- especially Denise and Wanda!

Big Bus Tours is a great concept with extremely poor execution and staff mentality of hustling…read morecustomers. Before even coming to New York we had already planned to do the Big Bus Tour through the New York Pass via Go City. As we wandered the streets, we were constantly hounded by their aggressive staff in the streets trying to get us to buy tickets. Chill, we already have tickets!! Honestly if we didn't already have tickets I would have been so turned off I wouldn't have gotten tickets for it. On the day we redeemed the Hop On Hop Off we went to the stop by M&M World as indicated on their map. And just for the record I have their App, so it SHOULD be simple. Since we wanted to do the uptown loop, we were directed by their staff to walk a few blocked the other way to a different stop. Then ran into another staff member who gave us the opposite direction. The first person gave us bad directions and wasted AT LEAST an hour of our time. And as I mentioned the App, there were buses that were synced without any updates for 20-30mins. What's going on?? And even when we asked their staff they didn't know when the next bus would come either. So frustrating!! In THEORY the value of this hop on hop off bus would be to help you explore the city. You can stay on the bus the entire time and do full loops of the uptown or down town loops OR you can get off and explore a little bit, and hop back on at a later time. All great... if it was actually reliable. Also they give you headphones to listen to their audio tours. Jeez who uses wired headphones these days? Give me something to sync to so I can use my airpods. The audio quality was so poor. It was be loud one moment and then hard to hear the next... and if you increase the volume, later it would be too loud in a painful way. And I've done a lot of these tours in many cities. Usually I have a PERSON telling me amazing facts about the city. This is a recorded unpersonal tour, I am expecting THE BEST FACTS. After being disappointed by the segment I listened to, I gave up on the audio tour. I enjoyed the view from the top deck, and being able to see things without the pedestrians in my way. Well the pleasant feeling soon ended because we were almost at our final destination when the bus stops WITH NO ANNOUNCEMENTS and we're all sitting there baking in the sun wondering what happened. People started leaving. MORE WASTED TIME. Awful operations. I was over it after a while and told my boyfriend we should leave too. When we got off we saw their staff in some deli nearby eating lunch. Obviously I want people to take their lunch breaks but an FYI would have been nice. They allegedly "gave" us a second day but I didn't even want to deal with it. Too unreliable of a service and too much wasting time. Is there another tour bus company that's better than this one in NY?

Had a great experience on our tour with guide Rachel. She was very knowledgeable and gave us good…read moretips for the city. Highly recommend if this is your first time and suggest doing this on the first day of your trip.

We booked a 6 hour tour to encompass many of the must see things on our short agenda. The rest of…read moreour trip was scheduled around the activities on this tour. We began the tour with a small group of about 14 in a nice van. The guide was not very friendly and didn't "share endless details about the city" as described in all the tour reviews. It also appeared that the driver and guide were not on the same page either. Appeared to be tension there. We were in tragic about 1.5 hours into the tour when I began to see smoke coming from the engine and smell the distinct odor of an engine overly. I was sitting up front so I attempted to point this out to the guide. He was not concerned at first but after about 15 minutes he mentioned something to the driver. They then began to argue about who was going to call in to management and report the problem. They pulled over and left us in the van with no ac on an 85 degree day as they went back and forth with "the boss". Eventually, the determination was made that they could not send a second van to pick us up and continue the tour. We were told we would be refunded and we had to get out of the van right there. No idea where we were or where to go and no advice from the staff. It took us almost 3 hours to get back to where we needed to be due to a parade that closed off the street we had to cross to get over there. The worst thing is that we missed all the most important things on the tour and were not able to get to all of them on the rest of our short trip. This was an absolutely terrible experience and I feel it was handled about as badly as it could have been by all involved.

Amazing tour, amazing guide, amazing food! No rush and lots of interesting stories…read more It's obvious that Jake loves what he does and he was well organized, had everything planned ahead of time! I had to reschedule our tour and because it was within 24 hours, Alex, the owner responded right away and accommodated us by scheduling to another day. Thank you for your flexibility and excellent customer service!

Jake is top tier! I went on the Hell's Kitchen tour with my 11 year old niece and her final summary…read moreis, I won't eat again today so cancel dinner! Lol. I can't put words to this tour that would do it any justice. I knew nothing about Hell's Kitchen going in, when I looked online it said it was a great place for food so I said why not.. but omg it's so much more. Considering I'm here for Broadway week to catch some shows this artistic, creative, theatrical tour was the best way to kick it off!!! You can tell Jake is a theater kid through and through it shows in every part of his tour and it makes it so much better. Just do it! You won't be disappointed. This feels like a tour with a show

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 did the Original Greenwich Village food tour. It was great! Our guide, Robin, was fun and…read moreinformative. We learned a lot about the area. Of course, the main part of any food tour is the food which was delicious and plentiful. 2 desserts stops. One was an amazing apple pie cookie. The savory stops were also quite good. My favorites were the pizza slice, fish taco and eggplant rollatini. It was supposed to last 3 hours but went over so we never felt rushed.

This is my 3rd tour with Foods of NY. Food tours is something I always do when I visit a town and…read morethese tours are amongst my favorite. Tours are thoughtfully curated to provide a great experience and historical information as well as the best of the best food tastings.

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!

For all Seinfeld fans, this is a must do. The Real Kramer is an awesome and colorful gentleman and…read moreit was great to meet him. A few months later after I took his tour, I saw Kenny Kramer at the ballet in Lincoln Center. He loves New York City and the Arts as much as I do! As for the tour, you first see a film about Seinfeld in a tiny theater, and then Kramer introduced all his merchandise, including an "Assman" license plate and some T-shirts. Then you board a bus and play Seinfeld trivia and tour the various sites made famous by the show. Then, you go to the Soupman stand and while in line, Kenny Kramer poses for photos with you. I got the Jambalaya, of course, because Newman liked it.

A tour hosted by one of my favorite actors of all time. Michael Richards. I wonder why/how he is…read moreavailable for a gig like this. Seeing him in real life brought me right back to my favorite Seinfeld episode of all time, season 3 episode 8 "The Tape." Jerry uses a voice recorder at his set for the purpose of being able to listen back to his new material and make tweaks from there - only to find that an unknown lady has recorded a voiceover on the tape... what a wild surprise it was for Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza, because of the erotic sensual tone of the lady's recording. Elaine thinks it's all very funny... since SHE is the mystery lady on the tape.Elaine tells George that she is the lady... he is suddenly infatuated with her. I Don't blame him! Lol. Don't tell my wife John. Please. Meanwhile... Jerry still doesn't know that it is her. In the same episode, George has also purchased a hair growing cream from China that carries a less-than-pleasant odor.

Debbie was very informative and funny! Highly recommend this to anyone. Great price and great views…read moreof the Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines!

I recently took the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise, and it turned out to be one of the most…read moreenjoyable ways to experience the city from a fresh perspective. From the moment we boarded, everything felt well-organized and welcoming. The staff were friendly and efficient, making the check-in and seating process smooth. The real highlight, of course, was the view. Seeing the skyline from the water gives you an entirely different appreciation for the city's architecture and scale. Passing by iconic landmarks while listening to the live narration added a lot of depth to the experience. Our tour guide, Andrew, was especially knowledgeable about the history of the city--he shared fascinating facts, stories, and context that really brought each landmark to life, all while keeping things engaging and easy to follow. The boat itself was clean and comfortable, with plenty of space to move around and take photos. Whether you prefer sitting inside or enjoying the open-air deck, there's a good spot for everyone. I especially appreciated how unhurried the cruise felt; there was enough time to soak in each sight without feeling rushed. I'd highly recommend the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise to both visitors and locals--it's a relaxing, informative, and scenic way to see the city from a whole new angle.

I was in the area and had some free time between activities, so I decided to do the tour again,…read morebecause every tour is supposed to be different and unique. Unfortunately, it wasn't. The tour was exactly the same. Saw the exact same things, in the exact same order, heard the exact same jokes, was asked the exact same questions by the pages, did everything in the exact same order. The only slight difference was the end, doing a Tonight Show segment instead of a Today Show segment. Melanie and Kenndey, the pages were great, but it was a waste of time and money, and I guess foolish on my part believing them it that it would even be slightly different.

Absolutely worth the money. Went with friends this past Saturday and got to see where SNL and the…read moreTonight Show are taped. The pages who led the tour were very friendly and knowledgeable. Loved that the groups are relatively small so we could always hear the pages speak. Booked our tour tickets about a month in advance as on previous trips the tours have always been sold out closer to the date. Be sure to wear comfy walking shoes as you will be standing for most of the tour. They are pretty strict about where you can take photos but definitely worth having your phone handy. Tip- There is no bathroom in the NBC store so be sure to use the one downstairs on the concourse beforehand.