Our NYC Walking Tours

The Christmas in NYC Tour
The Rockefeller Center Christmas TreeOn this 90-minute walk, we visit the sites and share the stories that have made New York the Christmas Capitol of America. This tour includes a look at Rockefeller Center‘s legendary Christmas tree, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and a string of gorgeous holiday window displays, in addition to such favorite attractions as the Empire State Building and the New York Public Library (it’s just not a trip to NYC without saying hello to those beloved literary lions, Patience and Fortitude).

We’ll also discuss New York’s iconic contributions to the holidays as they’re celebrated today, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, and even Santa Claus himself.

This seasonal tour is available for booking from Friday, November 25, through Sunday, January 1, at the following times: Monday-Friday: 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday: 12pm, 3pm, and 6pm. Contact us at info@avenuesandalleys.com or (602) 88T.OURS (888-6877) to make arrangements.

The fee for the tour is $75 for up to four guests. Additional guests may be included at $15 per person.

If the above times don’t fit your schedule, other times might be available. Please contact us, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

The Downtown Tour
Many tourists don’t manage to find their way out of the theatre district and the surrounding area, and that’s understandable. Certainly, midtown has a great deal to offer any visitor to the city, but there’s so much to see downtown as well (and uptown. And in Brooklyn. And Queens. And…) And yet, the prospect of traveling to lower Manhattan—to the financial district, the former site of the World Trade Center, Soho, Tribeca, Greenwich Village—can be daunting to many visitors, so that’s where we travel in our signature tour.

This tour, which is approximately three hours in length, begins at the lower tip of Manhattan at Battery Park (where one can catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty) and continues up Broadway past Bowling Green (the city’s first park), two historic churches (Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, where George Washington worshiped after being sworn in as President), Wall Street, Ground Zero, and the Woolworth Building (a gorgeous early skyscraper and once the tallest building in the world).

From there, we continue on past City Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown and Little Italy (we don’t generally delve directly into these two neighborhoods but we get a peek at them, which gives our guests an idea where they are situated, should they care to return—and longer tours that include a side trip into these neighborhoods can always be arranged), Soho, Greenwich Village (with a stop in Washington Square Park, the hub of the Village and home to the iconic arch built to commemorate the centennial of Washington’s inauguration).

From there, we continue north to 23rd street via one of two paths. Our guests can choose either to see the Flatiron Building, one of NYC’s most beloved and iconic structures, or, if they prefer, we can walk the High Line, a lovely and exciting new addition to the city—a park that covers more than twenty blocks and is built on the abandoned tracks of an elevated industrial railroad.

The above is just the broad picture, of course—there are many more other points of interest along the way.

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Our approach to leading walking tours is a conversational one. Our licensed tour guides have a wealth of information to offer, of course, as they discuss the city’s past, present and future, but we like our guests to feel they’re strolling with a friend, not attending a lecture.

While our focus is generally on the two tours described above, with a little advance warning, we can lead a tour of any part of the city that might be of interest to you.

We hope you’ll contact us at info@avenuesandalleys.com or (602) 88T.OURS (888-6877) with any questions you might have or to book a tour. We can’t wait to show you the town.

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