Grayline Double Decker Bus Tour - New York City, NY Review

My wife and I recently took our three young boys to NYC for a long weekend over the July 4th holiday.  Our youngest is 3 and our oldest is 8.  We had a great time.  One of the activities which we took advantage of which was admittedly very touristy was the Grayline Double Decker bus tour of Uptown.  It was great and I would recommend it to any family that wants to see parts of the city they would ordinarily not get to.

The tour left from 47th and Broadway.  It went north on along the west side of Central Park all the way to Harlem in the mid 100s.  It then came down south on 5th avenue.  The bus allows you to get on and off which means you could plan your entire day via this route.  It passes many major museums, churches, zoos etc.  The entire tour was a bit over an hour.  The tours leave every 15 minutes and we only had to wait about 10 minutes to get on a bus that had room on the roof.  I would not go on the tour unless you could get a seat up top.  If you are planning a trip for a young family my suggestion is to get down there around 8:30 or 9:00am to beat the rush.

Our tour guide was funny, informed and enthusiastic.  He was a former school teacher and seemed to really enjoy giving the tour and talking and the history of NYC. He pointed out the pre war buildings, where the stars lived, the $25 mansions, and the site of race riots.   It was really interesting despite the fact that I have been to NYC on business many times, I learned quite a bit about the layout and history.

The Uptown Loop, as the website describes it includes: Harlem, Central Park, Lincoln Center, Dakota Apartments, Museum Mile, and more! They have other options which are probably more popular to go downtown, into Brooklyn or do a night tour.  We had already been down to Battery Park and Washington Square the day before so we opted for the Uptown tour.

We got a beautiful day which really helped.  I imagine it could be less enjoyable if it was too hot. 

The cost at about $35 for each adult and $15 for the kids was a bit pricey, but ultimately, like a lot of things in NYC, very memorable.

http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/destinations/us/newyork.go