New York City is one of those places where the real story is always happening just below the surface.
You can walk the same block a hundred times and still not know what happened there two centuries ago, who built that building, or why that neighborhood feels completely different from the one right next to it.
That’s exactly what makes walking tours one of the best things to do in New York City, and why Big Onion Walking Tours has been my go-to for years.
I’ve explored this city for years, and I still come away from every Big Onion tour having learned something new. Few tour companies can make a city feel this familiar again.
Why Big Onion Walking Tours?
Big Onion has been running NYC walking tours since 1991, and they’ve built a reputation that’s hard to argue with.
New York Magazine called them the best walking tours in New York. The Village Voice named them the best place to take out-of-town guests. That’s a track record built over more than three decades.
What sets them apart from other NYC walking tours is the quality of the guides. Every guide is a doctoral candidate or a recent PhD in American history or a related field, licensed by New York City.
These aren’t people reading from a script. They know this material inside and out, they’re passionate about it, and they genuinely enjoy sharing it.
Beyond history, the guides weave in architecture, cultural history, literature, cinema, and a healthy dose of gossip that keeps things lively throughout.
Big Onion now offers tours across more than 20 different neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and even upstate Hudson, New York.
You can join a public tour by just showing up at the meeting point, or book a private tour for groups, families, corporate events, or school trips.
If you only have 3 or 4 days in New York City, fitting in at least one Big Onion tour is one of the smartest things you can do with your time.
1. The Original Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour: A Food Lover’s Dream
If you only have time for one NYC walking tour, make it this one.
The Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour covers the Lower East Side, one of the most historically rich and culturally diverse areas in all of New York.
The guide walks you through the city’s early immigration hubs, from the Jewish Lower East Side to Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Caribbean neighborhoods, and feeds you the whole way.
And when I say feeds you, I mean it. On the tour I took with guide Laura, the food kept coming.
Italian mozzarella and mini-calzones, fried plantains, Vietnamese spring rolls, Malaysian beef jerky, Jamaican pickled pineapple. It was more than you could eat, which is really saying something.
But it’s not just a food tour. Each dish comes with the story of the community that brought it here.
You learn where those flavors came from, who carried them across an ocean, and how they became part of the fabric of New York. That combination of food and history makes this one of the best NYC food tours you’ll find.
One of the most memorable stops was The Pickle Guys on the Lower East Side, a long-standing institution that was owned and run by Jewish immigrants and their descendants for generations.
When that community moved on to other parts of the city, two of their longtime Chinese employees bought the business and kept the name. That’s New York in a nutshell.
You’ll also hear about the WWII contributions of the Italian-American community, commemorated on the wall next to St. Gennaro’s Church in Little Italy, and learn how tenement immigrants advocated for housing reforms that reshaped the entire city.
All of it comes with 150-year-old photographs taken at the very spots where you’re standing.
Practical note: Reservations are required for this tour, and the cost of food is included in the ticket price. Book ahead at bigonion.com to avoid missing out.
2. Revolutionary New York Walking Tour: Where American History Happened
This was the first Big Onion tour I ever took, on a freezing February day in lower Manhattan. I wasn’t sure anyone would show up in that cold.
But there was our guide, stamping her feet outside the Customs Building, holding the Big Onion sign, completely unfazed.
The Revolutionary New York Tour covers the part of the city where American history was literally made.
You visit Fraunces Tavern, where revolutionary patriots conspired and where George Washington famously bid farewell to his officers after the war.
You’ll also see the recently rediscovered African Burial Ground, one of the most significant archaeological finds in the city’s history.
The stories woven through this tour bring to life figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton, whose complicated and fascinating story feels more relevant now than ever. If you’ve seen the musical, this tour puts all of it in a real-world context. If you haven’t, it’ll make you want to.
Here’s something especially timely: 2025 marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement that eventually became New York City.
This tour connects directly to that history, which makes it a particularly meaningful experience to take right now.
3. Brooklyn Bridge and Heights Walking Tour: An Engineering Marvel with a Human Story
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most iconic structures in the world. Most people walk across it and take photos. The Big Onion Brooklyn Bridge and Heights Walking Tour gives you the full story behind it, and that story is extraordinary.
The bridge took 14 years to build, from 1869 to 1883, and the construction came at a high human cost. The chief engineer, John Roebling, died shortly after the project began.
His son, Washington, took over and was left partially paralyzed after working in the underwater caissons.
Washington’s wife, Emily, then spent years studying engineering so she could supervise the construction in her husband’s place. She was the first person to cross the completed bridge officially.
The tour takes you across the bridge while all of this unfolds, with the Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines spread out on either side.
It then drops you into Brooklyn Heights, New York City’s first landmark district, with more than 500 pre-Civil War buildings still standing. The neighborhood is stunning, and most visitors to New York never make it there.
This is one of the best walking tours in NYC for anyone who wants to go beyond Manhattan and see a completely different side of the city.
4. Immigrant New York Walking Tour: The Original Big Onion Tour
This is the tour that started it all back in 1991, and it’s still one of the most powerful experiences Big Onion offers.
The Immigrant New York Walking Tour takes you through Chinatown, Little Italy, and the former Five Points neighborhood, once considered the most densely populated and dangerous area in America.
It’s also where many of the city’s earliest immigrant communities first took root.
New York has welcomed people from every corner of the world for centuries, and this tour traces those waves of arrival and settlement.
You walk the streets where those communities first landed, hear the stories of how they survived and built lives in an unfamiliar city, and see how their presence permanently shaped what New York became.
The guide brings the Five Points neighborhood back to life with photographs, stories, and details you simply cannot get from a guidebook.
It’s a moving and eye-opening experience, and one that puts so much of what New York is today into perspective.
This tour pairs beautifully with the Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour if you have time to do both. Together, they give you a complete picture of immigrant New York from the streets up.
5. Satan’s Seat: New York During Prohibition Walking Tour
New York City and Prohibition were always going to be a difficult combination. The city that never sleeps was not about to stop drinking because of the 18th Amendment, and this tour tells the story of what happened instead.
Big Onion developed this tour in partnership with WNET New York Public Media, based on Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary on Prohibition. The result is one of the most entertaining NYC walking tours they offer.
You’ll visit restaurants in the Villages/Midtown area that still stand today, behind whose walls speakeasies once operated in full swing.
You’ll hear about the underground networks that kept the city’s bars running, the colorful figures who ran them, and the cat-and-mouse relationship between bootleggers and law enforcement.
It’s a side of New York history that feels almost cinematic, because in many ways it was.
If you enjoy true crime, American history, or just a really good story well told, this tour delivers.
6. Central Park Walking Tour: More Than Just a Pretty Park
Most people think they know Central Park. After taking this Big Onion tour, you’ll realize you had no idea.
Often called Manhattan’s backyard, Central Park is 843 acres of what looks like nature but is actually one of the most deliberately designed landscapes in American history.
Every tree, path, and sight line was carefully planned. The tour covers how the park came to be, the vision behind its design, and the fascinating and sometimes troubling history of how it was built.
You’ll walk the Literary Walk, lined with statues of famous writers, and visit the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, one of the most architecturally significant spots in the entire park.
Along the way, you’ll hear stories that most New Yorkers, let alone visitors, have never come across.
This is a particularly good tour in spring and early fall when the park is at its most beautiful. It’s also a great option if you’re visiting with older children or teenagers who are interested in history or city planning.
7. Upper East Side Walking Tour: Where Old Money Meets New York History
The Upper East Side is one of the most recognizable neighborhoods in the world, known for its luxury apartment buildings, world-class museums, and designer boutiques.
But behind that polished exterior lies a neighborhood with a layered, genuinely fascinating history.
The Big Onion Upper East Side Walking Tour explores the East 60s and 70s, covering the personalities, scandals, and institutions that have made this neighborhood what it is today.
You’ll hear about the robber barons who built their mansions here in the Gilded Age, the architectural battles that shaped the streetscape, and the cultural institutions that put Museum Mile on the map.
It’s a neighborhood most visitors pass through quickly on the way to Central Park or the Met. This tour gives you a reason to slow down and look more carefully. The stories hiding behind those elegant facades are worth knowing.
Practical Information for Booking Big Onion Walking Tours
Big Onion offers both public and private tours. Public tours run on a set schedule and are open to anyone. For most tours, no reservation is needed; just show up at the listed meeting point.
The Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour is the exception and does require reservations, so book ahead at bigonion.com.
Private tours can be arranged for families, corporate groups, school trips, and special events throughout the year.
Tours typically run between 2 and 2.5 hours at a comfortable walking pace. Wear comfortable shoes. The guides welcome questions throughout, so feel free to ask.
Final Words: The New York Most Visitors Never Really See
New York City rewards curiosity. The more you dig into its history, its neighborhoods, and its people, the more fascinating it becomes.
Big Onion Walking Tours is one of the best ways to do that digging, whether you’re a first-time visitor or you’ve lived here your whole life.
Any one of these tours will leave you seeing the city differently. And once you’ve done one, you’ll almost certainly want to come back for another.
Have you taken a Big Onion tour or another NYC walking tour that you loved? Share it in the comments below!
Can’t get enough of New York City? Check out the useful tips in these posts.
- Where to go and what to do after a Broadway show.
- 20 unique things to do in New York City you can’t do anywhere else.
- 18 famous places to eat in New York City without breaking the bank.
- 26 best ethnic restaurants in New York City – A to Z
- Best New York City walking tours by Big Onion
- 10 Coolest neighborhoods in Manhattan
- 11 Most underrated places to visit in New York City
- Coolest Things to do in Harlem, New York
- Beautiful Places to visit in Central Park – with map!
- Where to stay in New York City depending on what you want to see and do
Learn more about New York City’s immigrant community. Find out what REALLY lies beneath New York City’s #7 train.
Looking for affordable accommodations in the Big Apple? Here’s a list of the best hostels in New York City.
What’s the best New York City walking tour you have ever taken?
Learn more about New York City walking tours with these handy guides:
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