Chinatown and Little Italy Tour in New York City with Local Expert
Description
Take a walking tour through Manhattan’s most storied neighborhoods with an informative guide. Perfect for first-time visitors and anyone who loves New York history, this fully-narrated excursion offers a fascinating overview of Little Italy and Chinatown. You have a chance to see the life of the various groups of immigrants who settled here and learn about the political and social influences they have had on the city. This tour details what motivated the Chinese, Irish, and Italians to immigrant to New York in the 1800's. In addition, it focuses on how the Chinese, Irish, and Italian exiles became the backbone of New York. The men would build New York's bridges and the tunnels. The women would be cooks and maids. And their children, raised in the values and language of their new country, would weave themselves into the tapestry of America. This is the story of America.
Tour Options
Itinerary
It is probably the best place to visit in Chinatown NYC if you are looking for some authentic and great quality noodles. The amazing food is reason alone to visit but with the amazing prices on offer, this is a no-brainer to get a quick and delicious bite to eat on your way through Chinatown.
Look out for celebrities as SoHo is a place where movie stars and models regularly hang out. SoHo is also one of the top neighborhoods in NYC to see street art, so have your cameras ready.
SoHo is widely known for its magnificent cast-iron architecture. With over 200 cast-iron buildings in the district, SoHo's Cast Iron District has the largest concentration of these buildings in the world. Perfect area for photo ops!
Listen to your guide's stories about Italian mobsters and immigrants, and find out what difficulties they faced when they first arrived here
It was the first pizzeria in the United States – it also happens to sell one of the best pizzas in NYC! This pizza is as traditional and as tasty as it gets. Definitely worth a try if you are looking for a lunch break when walking around Little Italy. This crusty coal oven fried pizza with tomato sauce and basil might look simple but the depth of flavors from its fresh ingredients is a real culinary experience.
Rubirosa is another great restaurant in Little Italy that offers traditional Italian food of the best quality. If you are looking for a late afternoon glass of wine with some snacks or a quality evening meal this is definitely a good choice. There is also a pizza hour, where – you guessed it – they sell 2 pizzas for $16!
Here you have a perfect photo opportunity. Take a shot of busy New York street surrounded by tall old buildings and impressing skyscrapers with lines of Chinese lamps above them!
Former Police HQ Building – This building used to house the police headquarters from 1909-1973 and is a true piece of NYC history. Not only is its architecture very impressive, it is the home today of a few very wealthily individuals looking for immense privacy.
Little Italy used to be much bigger than it is today. This part of Manhattan has a lot of history. For example, there is a brick house located on 247 Mulberry Street, between Prince and Spring St. This house used to be a meeting place of the Italian Mafia bosses. Today, that area is a shoe store. Also, if you’re in the area around September, there are street festivals that close down the roads. Here you’ll find pop-up stands and street vendors that sell delicious food.
Italian American Museum was opened in Little Italy in 2007 to exhibit the story of the Italian Americans in NYC. With the largest population of Italian Americans in NYC and the whole of North America, the museum discusses a huge part of the local culture. The museum is located in an old bank building that used to be the link between immigrants and their families back home through the many services that they offered. If you are interested in the local history & culture, this museum is well worth the visit
This restaurant offers homemade pasta with a great ambiance. With its amazing food and rustic atmosphere it is definitely restaurant you must visit when in Little Italy. Must tries are the Burrata Salad, anything from the grill menu, as well as the homemade pasta of course!
Chinatown provides rich cultural experience with a lot of authenticity and local flavors. It's one of the oldest neighborhoods in Manhattan. It is also home to one of the largest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Perfect place to sample some unique local foods in this historic neighborhood
The family-run Chinatown Ice Cream Factory has some of the best ice cream in the whole of NYC. From adventurous flavors like Thai Iced Tea, Zen Butter, and Taro to more conventional yet equally delicious flavors like Coconut and Cherry Vanilla, everyone will find something here for their particular taste. This is a must-visit!
In Museum of Chinese in America at 215 Centre St you can earn more about the Chinese culture and Chinese history in NYC. The main and permanent exhibition With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America is a great place to find out more about the last 160 years of Chinese history in NYC. With 2+ rotating exhibitions on top of this, the MoCa is definitely worth a visit
The next stop is Mahayana Temple Buddhist Association at 133 Canal St. This is the oldest Chinese temple on the east coast of the united states. It is a beautiful expression of Chinese culture and architecture and is open to the public year-round. On the weekends you will also find Buddhist services taking place here often completely in Mandarin. Bring a dollar for a fortune!
Then you have a chance to visit Columbus Park, which is the biggest park in Chinatown and is a great place to have a seat and watch life unfold around you. You will see that many of the locals meet here to do everything from play chess and exercise to just sitting down reading a book. It is a well known social hangout in the city and is a great place to sit down and have some of the street food you picked up in the nearby streets.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(11)
Adam is a very enthusiastic tour guide and being a New Yorker he is knowledgeable and also extremely passionate about his city and what it offers. He goes above and beyond to introduce his topic! I enjoyed my time and learnt a lot of extra things that I would not have otherwise known eg : memobilia about movies & TV Series filmed in the places we walked. It was worth the money!
This was the only area of New York city that I had not walked. I had been around it on the bus but not experienced it! I wanted to hear the Mafia and Gangster stories being a major "Godfather" fan! Well..Adam, my Guide showed me and told me much more. He is a New Yorker and passionate about his city. I could not have had a more knowledgeable person who loves the movies too! He went over and above to show me and tell me about the "real everyday " New York. I enjoyed this tour very much and if you get Adam you will have a great time! Chinatown and Little Italy plus Soho are all vital areas of the history of the city.
We had 2 prior tours through Viator and had an amazing experience. This was quite disappointing. The guide did not seem engaged, we thought we'd learn more about the food history of each area. We felt as though he did not want to be facilitating the tour. We would not recommend this particular tour to any family or friends.
I loved Little Italy and really wanted to stop in and nibble on some pizza but this was walking tour instead of a foodie tour. I was mistaken when I booked it. Robert was nice and very knowledgeable of the history of the area.
Hello Trish, Yes, indeed it's a Chinatown and Little Italy Tour with Local Expert, just as the title of the tour says. It's not a pizza tour, so food is not included in tour and it's clearly stated in inclusions / exclusions. On this tour our clients experience 3 in 1: history, culture, architecture.
Next trip we will walk around on our own in these areas. It was awkward communication and just didn’t connect with us. He had some knowledge and reason it is a 2 rating.
Hello Chris! We are sorry about your poor experience. It was out new guide and apparently he didn't do his best as he should have. Rest assured, we will discuss it thoroughly with the guide and make sure he improves. Please accept our apologies. If there's anything else we can help you with, please do not hesitate to tell us
The tour guide called us and changed the meeting location and time on us the day of. She did not speak English well, mainly Italian. She had a bunch of pictures on her IPad, but they were out of order so we had to flip back and forth through a ton of photos. So when we finally got off the bench to go walk around the tour guide got lost. She also quit on us about 20 minutes in. This is the worst tour I have been on in my 8+ years using tour guides through Viator. Not only would I not use this tour again after multiple attempts to resolve this issue with Viator I will make sure to use another booking site from now on. If you value your money or your time don’t waste either with inexperienced tour guides or these con artists of a tour. I wish I could give it 0 stars and the company putting this on is the absolute worst.
The guide didn’t speak English half of the time, they were late and quit on us 20 minutes into t he tour. Also they could not find Lombardi’s Pizzeria which was ON THE LIST of stops. They also changed the time of the tour and the location. We asked for a refund and we’re denied. It also came up under food tours in the search, but that was our fault for not reading that in the detailed information. I’ve been booking tours all the time for 8+ years and have never had an experience half this bad. I’ll make sure to never use this company again and tell everyone I know who travels to make sure they never use them in the future. This company has very few reviews and now I know why, STAY AWAY AT ALL COST!
Hello Justin, We know you're upset - you expected it was a food tour and came hungry to the tour. Unfortunately, it is not a food tour, and food is not included in this tour. You could have checked it before booking the tour, or at least you could have cancelled the tour if you did not want to take it. The guide told you on tour that food was not included and you decided to finish the tour. It was your choice and your decision to finish the tour 30 minutes after the start of the tour. You could have taken a bite right on tour, with your guide, but you chose to just finish the tour. Your guide did take you to Lombardi’s Pizzeria. There was a huge San Gennaro festival going on there that day, so many streets were blocked, and your guide had to go around to take you there. Since there was a festival going on in that area that day, with hundreds-thousands people around, your guide offered you a better meeting point in that area, so you could easily find each other. She warned you in advance and you agreed and confirmed. One hour before the tour the guide texted you that she might be 10 minutes late for the tour because she got stuck on subway. But, luckily, she managed to come in time. Ironically, it was you who came 10 minutes late and the guide waited for you at the designated place We're sorry you were not happy with the tour, but there's nothing we did wrong. We wish you did not finish the tour early, but it was your choice. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance, we'll be happy to help. If you're interested in a food tour, we can take you on a food tour, just let us know.
Jason made the tour informative. However he did leave after the break/meeting place at least a minute or 2 early. Our watches/phones said right on the dot when we got there, thinking we were ahead of everyone at the meet up, until we saw his orange hat moving away, down the street.
Chris was fantastic! We actually got lost and ended up on the wrong subway train and missed our start time for the tour. Chris called us and made special arrangements to meet up with us anyway and still completed the tour. He was knowledgeable and entertaining. We enjoyed the history that he shared as we walked around. Not only that, but he was nice enough to walk us right to the correct subway station after our tour so that we didn't end up on the wrong train again!
Andrew our guide was wonderful. VERY knowledgeable and friendly. My friends are from Great Britain and learned so much about American history regarding the immigration and assimilation of the Irish, Italians and Chinese. Had incredible dumplings! Thank you Andrew
