My sisters and I will be in Manhattan for a mother-daughter trip in late Sept. One sister is wanting to book us a 3 hour champagne/brunch tour of Manhattan (something she found on the internet). I'm thinking that would not be a good way to see the sights and that the traffic would be too heavy. Would the traffic be better on a Sunday for this? Would the double-decker bus be better for sight-seeing? Please help.

Actually the Double Decker would be better for sight-seeing than the Limo.

One plus with the limo would probably be the ability to customize the tour and to get out anywhere along the way you desired. The best day of the week traffic-wise is Sunday and a good limo driver will know which areas to steer clear of if there are specific problems areas on the particular day. Sounds like fun and you can always do the double decker afterwards if you desire.

New York is a good city to see on foot and you can cab it around as needed. Many people love the double decker tours, but having lived in NYC I think it's better to wander on your own (after identifying what sights you want to see).

That being said, it depends on how old your mother is and her ability to get around. Have fun.

I just spent 4 days in NYC, and I'm glad that I started by taking a hop-on-hop-off tour (I bought the Gray Line All Loops tour, which is good for 48 hours). It's good to get an overview and then spend time walking around the areas that looked interesting (I even took notes). You can see so much more from the top level of the bus than from the lower level, I imagine you would see even less from the level of inside a limo.

Whatever you take, traffic is definitely lighter on Saturday and Sunday, especially in midtown (except of course Times Square and the Theater District in the evening). On Sunday morning, you can have even Times Square almost all to yourself!