On Tour or on foot?

My husband and I will be visiting New York in June (his first time). I am undecided whether we should take an organised tour or do our own self guided tour? We will be in the City for a week.

My concern is that if we do the organised tour the sights will not be quite as exciting when we go back later on foot.

The trip is a complete surprise for my husband so I cannot discuss it with him until a week before we go.

Maybe we could do the do the sights on our own during the day and perhaps take the night lights tour?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

On Tour or on foot?

Very personal decision. Many feel an organized tour is a good way to see a lot in a short time and get an overview of what%26#39;s where. You could take a night tour which gives things a different look. NYpartyshuttle.com is highly regarded with good guides. They do several different tours including a night tour. I think for the most part, the hop on/off tours are self guided. ;)

On Tour or on foot?

Personally I prefer to explore the City on foot because I like not knowing what I%26#39;m going to come across but doing this in the day and a tour at night sounds like a good idea.

Obviously you can never see everything you should be able to cover a lot of ground in a week.

The only tour I%26#39;ve ever done is one of the boat trips from Pier 16/17 to see Statue of Liberty but you can do the same on the Staten Island Ferry without the tour guide (although ours was really good telling us all about downtown Manhattan, Ellis Island etc) Harbour Lights might interest you?

Yeah, what NYWHIZ said!

What I did on my first trip was to browse all tour company%26#39;s web sites and took notes on the attractions they included and the routes they took. I them did more research on those attractions (got a ton of info by reading this forum and trip reports) and made my own personalized itinerary. We did the sightseeing on our own using the subway and walking a lot between places. Also, it was great to be able to walk between places and be able to stop in a restaurant or bar for a drink and an appetizer or two.

To me, it is much more fun to do things on your own vs sitting through a guided tour. You end up seeing many other things on your own, on your own pace.

I agree, the Party Shuttle is the best company in the city. I walk by many hop on hop off tours only to see some less than excited tourists sitting on busses waiting on everyone to get back on while the drivers stood around smoking and chatting with other drivers...not a way I would want to tour the city!

Have fun and happy researching!

As a happy medium you could mix up a bus tour or your own exploration with guided walking tour. I think New York is best seen on foot as you stroll around. With a guided walking tour you get more of a historical context and ';understand'; what you are looking at, but can do it in a more personalized way. And move at your own pace in a small group.

I did this when relatives came to town. For me it gave me a new perspective on neighborhoods I had seen before and for all of us it was eye-opening. So much history right before your eyes that you would otherwise miss. If you or your hubby are history buffs this could be fun.

Just an idea.

I used Michelle Nevius and her walking tour service. I picked the neighborhood and the time and everything.

http://www.walknyc.com/