Contrast Tour in New York, Is it Worth It?

Contrast Tour In New York

When planning a trip to New York city, a lot of things will come up such as which are the best tours to do in the city. We wondered  a lot if it was worth it for us since, as you can learn in our postNew York in 5 days: Best Essential Itinerary, we just stayed in the city for 5 days and we had to choose wisely what to do and what not to do. 

The New York Contrast Tour is absolutely worth it and without a doubt, the most popular tour. It is definitely worth it spending a day taking this tour since it allows you to experience all the different cultures that coexist in New York besides the Manhattan dream life that you are going to see the rest of your trip. 

Contrast Tour in New York

In this post, we will tell you about our experience and why it is worth it to do so.

Most travelers, when visiting New York, focus their trip on Manhattan and a brief visit to Brooklyn, as these are the areas with the most tourist attractions.

The contrasts tour takes you away from the most touristic sites and introduces you to a different city, visiting regions that are more difficult to see on your own as well as with a guide who gives you facts and curiosities.

What is exactly the Contrast Tour in NY

Before we did so, we wondered how the New York tour of contrasts that everyone was talking about was and if it was worthwhile.

This journey visits the areas of Harlem, Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, allowing you to witness up close the stark contrasts that exist between them and Manhattan.

From the Bronx outskirts to the most prestigious homes in Queens, from the ultra-orthodox Jews of Williamsburg to the hipster and modern atmosphere that lives only two blocks away, all without leaving the same city.

A melting pot of cultures that produces a metropolis as lively as New York.

Not only are the most iconic locations in each area visited, but you also learn about their history and how they have evolved over time.

What we liked best about the contrasts tour in New York was learning about the peculiarities of each area, such as how the Bronx’s street gangs functioned in the 1980s or what life is like for the ultra-orthodox Jews of Williamsburg.

A We don’t want to offer you any spoilers since we think it’s more intriguing if you experience it for yourself while the guide discusses each point of the tour of contrasts.

Which Contrast Tours are available

Currently  there are three options for doing the contrasts tour of New York, each with pros and downsides. We attempted to portray the three possibilities as objectively as possible.

Item

Typical Tour

VIP Tour

Duration

5 hours

4 hours

Price

$45

$56

Pros

Cheaper

The most popular

Less people

Hotel Pick-up

Cons

Longer

More People

Price

Less time

Typical Contrasts Tour in New York

It is the most popular and well-known contrasts tour in New York, as well as the most popular and least expensive. Visits are made to Harlem, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn.

Advantages / Pros

  • Is the most cheap tour
  • Is the most popular tour

Disadvantages / Cons

  • You have to go to a pick-up point
  • You are going to share tour with more or less 20 other people

VIP Contrasts Tour in New York

This trip varies from the last one in that it has fewer people on board and an additional stop on Long Island.

Advantages / Pros

  • They pick you up in your hotel
  • There are less than 15 people on each tour

Disadvantages / Cons

  • It is a little bit more expensive
  • Since there are less people, each stop is shorter

Private Contrast Tour in New York

You will get a unique guide for this excursion. That is a wonderful alternative if you are traveling with a large party since it pays off. The same sights as on a regular trip are visited, but with a guide exclusively for you.

Advantages / Pros

  • You get a private guide

Disadvantages / Cons

  • It is the most expensive option

Conclusion

It really depends on your situation, budget, time and how much people are traveling with you. Xavi and I chose to do the “Typical tour” since it was included in our NY Pass and it was an amazing experience. However, if you are traveling with a larger group and you do not have the NY Pass (which we highly recommend as you can see in our post “Why you should buy the NY Pass”), maybe it is a good option to take the Private tour. 

What are you going to visit during the Contrast Tour in NY

Most of the sites visited on the New York contrasts trip can be seen from the bus without getting off; otherwise, the tour would run around 4 days, which is unfeasible and, in our opinion, not worth it.

There are some intriguing locations where you may get off and spend some time taking photographs and exploring the surroundings; these are the ones we will discuss in this piece.

Apollo Theater’s Walk of Fame

Our first stop of the contrasts tour in New York was Harlem, at the world famous Apollo Theater and its Walk of Fame that resembles the one from Hollywood. 

The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a noted venue for African-American performers, and is the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated television variety show that showcased new talent, from 1987 to 2008, encompassing 1,093 episodes; the show was rebooted in 2018.

Apollo Theater New York
Apollo New York

In it, artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jakson, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and countless others began their road to stardom on the Apollo stage.

Located in front of the Apollo on 125th Street, under our historic marquee, the Walk of Fame celebrates artists who have contributed to and articulated the African American cultural narrative and continue to inspire people all over the world.

Yankees stadiums

The second stop of the contrasts tour in New York: after some explanations and curiosities at Harlem we crossed to the Bronx where we stopped to get some photos at the Yankees stadium.

Yankee Stadium New York

The most expensive stadium ever built in the history of baseball, with capacity for 47,309 spectators. You expanded it after being in operation for more than 90 years and in 2009 you reopened it 63% larger than it was. Even so, the number of attendees did not increase proportionally since due to the increase in the general weight of the American population, they had to make the seats bigger thus limiting the spectators.

Graffiti murals around the Bronx

Graffiti murals around the Bronx

After this, we also stopped in the Bronx, to see some of the most famous murals in New York. Here they explained to us the history of many of them, very interesting indeed!

Exclusive neighborhood in Queens

Then we went to Queens where we could see one of the fastest contrasts in the city. We passed through the poorest and most problematic area of ​​NY (even though they told us that it is no longer dangerous) where Jennifer Lopez had lived and grown up and, just by crossing a bridge, we found ourselves in front of the most exclusive area of ​​New York after Manhattan full of mansions and surveillance.

Flushing Meadow Park

Before arriving in Brooklyn we stopped at FLushing Meadow Park, the second largest public park in New York after Central Park. Here we could see the New York Mets stadium and the US Open tennis courts. Here is also located the huge world ball “Unisphere ” that became famous in the movie Men in Black.

Flushing Meadow Park

Williamsburg

At this stop, you may gain a glimpse into the lives of the Satmar community’s ultra-orthodox Jews. It is extremely astonishing how different their culture is from ours. There will be several signs written in the Hebrew script, as well as school buses in Hebrew from which children will disembark wearing their traditional attire. They have no technology and rely only on phones to communicate, which they like.

Women cut their hair when they marry, and you will see that they wear wigs, generally with numerous children around them since they do not utilize contraception measures.

We were also taken aback by the men’s attire, which consisted of long black jackets and ringlets of hair.

It is preferable to be courteous with the images in order not to insult anyone; they are not a tourist attraction, but rather a community.

Williamsburg

✏️We recommend watching the Netflix Show “Unorthodox” since make you more familiar with the day to day of this community and, once you are there, you are going to enjoy it even more.

Brooklyn Bridge

The last stop before going to the drop point was Brooklyn Bridge, it is amazing because it feels so huge and spacious, something that you do not feel when in Manhattan since it is full of people and skyscrapers. 

Brooklyn Bridge

In our case there was some fog so we could not see the big apple from there, however the views were amazing as well, we could see the Liberty Statue and the Empire states.

Little Italy

The Contrast Tour’s in New York last stop is Little Italy. Since we had a tour the day after through little Italy, Chinatown and Soho, we decided to pass though and we went to our next stop of our New York in 5 days: Best Essential Itinerary.

Our experience doing the Contrast Tour in NY

In our experience, this tour was one of the greatest things we did when in NY. In the end, most of the travelers only visit Manhattan and we believe that by doing so you miss a big part of the essence of NY. It is true that in Manhattan you can visit the most tourist attractions of NY and you can live the “NY dream” but, when doing the Contrast Tour, you get to learn the reality of the vast majority of people that live in New York.

This city is full of contrast and this is what gives the name to the tour, there are tons of people that live at the edge of poverty and just a street away from some of the wealthiest people on the planet. This is something that you can only experience in NY. 

This Contrast Tour in New York is a very good way to see the other neighborhoods of New York without having to go by yourself which is not only a waste of time but also, in some cases, dangerous. The bus is very comfortable and the guide explains everything so well that you just want to learn more and more about the city. 

You get enough time to get photos and to enjoy each stop so it is not like you just see the places from the bus. In addition, as you can read in our post New York in 5 days: Best Essential Itinerary, you are going to walk a lot the other days visiting Manhattan so it is good to stop one day and visit places by bus, your legs are gonna thank you letter. 

Tips for the Contrast Tour in New York

It is an amazing tour what there are some things that you may want to take into account before doing it such as:

  • Book in advance since it is a very popular tour and if you wait until the last minute you may find yourself without available spots. As you can read in our post “NY Pass, who is it worth it”, we highly recommend this card since it allows you to do this, and other tours, and to book very easily.
  • Check which is the tour that fits you better, at the end there are a lot of things to consider. Up in this post you can see a table of content with a comparison between the three options to help you decide.
  • Do not forget to watch “Unorthodox”, it will make your visit to Williamsburg much more interesting. You can also watch “Men in Black” for the stop in Flushing Meadow Park.
  • Bring some water and something to eat. At lunch you are going to get 1 hour to eat but you may be hungry during the first hours. As explained in our post “5 days itinerary in NY”, we had breakfast before going on the tour but we had water on our back anyway just in case.

Contrast Tour in New York by yourself

Can you do the contrast tour of New York on your own? YES, you can rent a car in New York and visit the same places but it really will not be the same experience.

The most important part of the tour is the information from the guide, it is useless to see the place if they do not explain the curiosities and history to you.

Also, although in other cities renting a car can be an advantage, in New York it is the opposite, there is a lot of traffic and parking is very expensive making the car a problem.

  • We do not recommend doing this type of tours by yourself because you are missing the most important thing, the guide.

Questions and Answers about the Contrast Tour in New York

How long does it take to do the Contrast Tour in New York?

As you can see in the table of content below, it depends on the option you chose. The typical tour is about 5 hours while the VIP and the Private Tour is 4 hours. 

It might seem a lot, but it actually passes very fast. You do a lot of stops so the bus ride is not boring, in addition the guide is constantly explaining things about history, curiosity and gossip as well. When you start to feel tired you are already at the last stop.

How much does it cost to do the Contrast Tour In New York

As we have explained in our post “NY Pass, why is it worth it”, we didn’t pay for the Tour by itself because we had it included in the NY Pass. We highly recommend having the NY Pass.

However, if you do not want to buy the NY Pass, the price of the Contrast Tour in NY depends on the option you chose. As you can see in the table below, the typical tour starts at 45$, the VIP tour at 56$ and the private tour at 400$ for 6 people.

THe money is worth it in this case, we think that for being NY and for what the tour offers, it is a cheap tour to do. Besies, if you do it with the NY Pass it is even more worth it. 

The Contrast Tour is only in English?

No! Even though most of them are in English, you can also find offers in other languages, mostly in spanish. In the NY Pass, you can choose between English and Spanish when doing the tour.  

Is it indispensable to do the Contrast Tour in NY?

Absolutely yes!  It is a quick, fun and interesting way to discover the parts of the city of NY that you are not going to visit by yourself but are as much interesting as Manhattan. If you are in the city for 5 days or more, we would include this tour in the itinerary as we did in our New York in 5 days: Best Essential Itinerary.

We think that it is very difficult to explore and to get to know all of what’s included in the tour for less money and less time than with the Contrast Tour. Besides, having a guide is a must because at the end they know everything about each place and are going to be able to explain it to you the best way possible. 

After doing it we understood why it is the favorite tour to do for tourists while in NY.

If you have any other questions, do not hesitate writing them down below and we will be more than happy to answer them!

Check other Posts about New York!

One Comment

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