I did a search here, including reading the The 100 Best Free Things to Do in New York City thread:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1&tid=35143958
I will be visiting Manhattan in mid-March for 3.5 days. I have been to Manhattan many times before and have done most of the touristy things. So I'm interested in taking guided tours (preferably free) to learn more about a specific place. In other words, I am looking for guided tours of a particular building/attraction rather than a guided tour of the entire Manhattan.
So far, I have come up with:
1) Walking tours of Central Park by the Central Park Conservancy. However, there are 10 different tours. Has anyone done them and which one would you recommend? Bear in mind my visit is in mid-March.
http://www.centralparknyc.org/site/PageNavigator/programs_walkingtours
2) Grand Central Station
3) NYPL tour
http://www.nypl.org/research/calendar/tourschedule.cfm
4) How is the guided tour of Lincoln Center? It's not free; but I enjoy operas and will be attending 2 operas at the Met during my visit in March.
http://www.lincolncenter.org/asc_load_screen.asp?screen=visitorinfo_indivtours
What else are out there? I am interested in history, architecture, art. Thanks in advance.
(Free) Guided Tours in Manhattan?
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There are 2 free Grand Central tours. There's one on Weds. that's just the building and on Fri. it covers a larger area. http://grandcentralterminal.com/info/historictour.cfm
There are some other listed here
http://nymag.com/guides/cheap/walkingtours/
although I'd phone and make sure since the info could be out of date.
The Municipal Art Society does some very good tours, not free, but not pricey. http://mas.org/tours/
March is awfully early for a guided tour of Central Park. You may luck out with a very warm day - but it's just as likely you'll have snow/sleet - and the trees don't even stat to leaf until late April.
I live in Boston so I know how to dress appropriately for cold weather.
I look at the Central Park tours website a little closer, and find out that only 3 tours are offered during my time in NY. They are:
Views from the Past tour
Cross Park Promenade tour
Amble through the Ramble tour
Does anyone have any opinions on the 3 listed above?
does any one know of any good architecture walking tours (of a specific neighborhood)? When I was in LA in December, there are guided tours of downtown LA, looking at buildings from the 1920s-30s era. Wondering if there's some equivalent in Manhattan.
Anyone?
Michelle Nevius is well regarded
http://www.walknyc.com/tours.htm
as is Alfred Pommer http://www.nycwalk.com/
Did I give you this self guided link
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/walks.htm
mclaurie - Thanks for the links. I did find the self-guided architecture tour website yesterday while I was Googling. The # of choices is a bit overwhelming, and I don't know how motivated I will be to do a self-guided tour. I'll look into it more in the next month or so.
Free podcast tour of lower east side:
http://www.lowereastsideny.com/podtour.htm
free tours of Union Square neighborhood
http://www.unionsquarenyc.org/walk.html
free Wall Street area walking tour
http://www.downtownny.com/?sid=48
The Friday New York Times lists walking tours for that weekend in one of the 2 arts sections