New York's Most Fascinating Walking Tours

New York’s grid of streets, distinctive neighborhoods, world-famous sights and rich history make it an ideal place for a walking tour. Here are some of the best guided walking tours the city has to offer.

1. Observe the evolution of street art with Graff Tours

Historical Landmark

Street Art in Bushwick, Brooklyn. New York, USA. All art by The Bushwick Collective.

Although street art is a worldwide phenomenon, there’s no better place to get a graffiti tour than New York – birthplace of the outlaw art form. Join Graff Tours’ knowledgeable guides (all artists themselves) on a trip through some of the city’s most graffiti-covered neighborhoods: the Lower East Side and Bushwick. You’ll learn about street art’s evolution, from illegal tagging and wheatpasting (slapping paper to walls and lampposts using a sticky flour and water mixture) to sponsored, elaborate murals. You can even test your own ‘can control’ with a spray-painting lesson.

2. Embrace immigration at the Tenement Museum

Museum, Library, Building

Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side of New York City, NY, USA.

The Tenement Museum’s walking tours take you on a journey through the Lower East Side, a neighborhood shaped by a convergence of immigrant cultures. This tour stops at seemingly insignificant places to reveal hidden stories, helping attendees understand the neighborhood’s history while engaging with its present. Make sure you explore the museum’s two tenement buildings at 97 and 103 Orchard Street to get a deeper perspective of their past residents and what it was like to live there all those years ago.

3. Drink like America's great writers on a Literary Pub Crawl

Historical Landmark, Theater

Join the self-described “pre-eminent drunken gurus of Village lore” on a bookish tour of Greenwich Village. The Literary Pub Crawl visits the previous homes and favorite watering holes of America’s most celebrated writers, including Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsburg, Emma Lazarus, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jack Kerouac, Edgar Allen Poe and Mark Twain. The success of the company’s flagship tour of the Village, which started in 1998, has spawned similar offerings in Brooklyn, Times Square and on the High Line.

5. See New York through a photographer's eyes

Historical Landmark

Times Square In Late Afternoon, Manhattan, New York, USA

When you book a PhotoTrek tour, you get a guide and a personal photographer in one. Explore the city, picking up local recommendations for things to see and dishes to eat along the way, while your guide directs impromptu photo shoots of your group. You’ll finish up the day with plenty of Instagram content and the stories attached to New York’s most recognizable landmarks. The guides will also teach you how to master the subway, so you can navigate the city like a local.

6. Discover hidden attractions with the New York Adventure Club

Historical Landmark

The New York Adventure Club unlocks little-known attractions across the city. While many of its offerings are confined to one location (think a matcha ceremony in a secret Japanese tea garden or a lesson with an urban beekeeper), many of the unusual itineraries involve plenty of walking. You can explore the abandoned Ellis Island hospital complex, take in the sights of City Island, the Bronx (aka the “Cape Cod of New York”), or soak up elevated views of Manhattan from the secret rooftop farms and wineries at Brooklyn Navy Yards.

7. Hit the shops with a Brooklyn fashion designer

Historical Landmark

The Brooklyn Food and Fashion Tour is perfect for those who want to return home with apparel that’s a little more unique that an ‘I heart NY’ T-shirt. It’s hosted by a fashion and textile designer who’s also trained as a personal shopper (hello, industry discounts!). The tour stops at boutique clothing stores in Williamsburg, one of Brooklyn’s trendiest neighborhoods, as well as a handful of food spots to keep you fueled for the four-hour shopping spree.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.