Experience New York's West Village like a local on this lunchtime walking tour that combines tastings of bagels, pizza and other neighborhood favorites with a hearty helping of history. See where famous writers and musicians including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed hung out and where Monica on the hit show 'Friends' lived. Savor six tastings at popular West Village spots including Faicco's Italian Specialties, Hudson Bagels and Mamoun's Falafel. By the end of your tour, you'll have learned lots about the bohemian past and current hotspots of this beloved New York neighborhood.
Your walking tour begins on Bleecker Street in the heart of New York's West Village. Long a favorite with artists of all types, this quaint, tree-lined neighborhood comprises the west side of New York's famous Greenwich Village and is home to some of the city's most charming streets and best food.
Learn about eateries locals love from your knowledgeable guide, and bypass the lines. Stop into Faicco's Italian Specialties for a taste of homemade sopressata and Arancini. Sample New York-style pizza and authentic bagels that are boiled before baked. Enjoy cannolis from Pasticceria Bruno, a first-place winner on Food Network Challenge: Sugar Adventures, and visit Mamoun's Falafel, the oldest falafel restaurant in the city. You'll find your tastings at six different establishments (see Itinerary for a list) add up to an ample lunch.
As you leisurely stroll 2.5 miles (4 km) through the West Village, your guide will also talk about the area's rich artistic legacy and show you where famous Beat Generation icons such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg and legendary musicians including Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed once lived and hung out. Wander along hidden alleys, and admire comfy coffee shops and lovely brownstones, including the one used for Monica's apartment on the hit show 'Friends.'
Your 3-hour West Village walking tour concludes on La Guardia Place — just a short walk from where it began — making it easy to spend the rest of your afternoon exploring the neighborhood and revisiting the restaurants on your tour for more tasty bites.
It was a cold morning in NY City but we braved the cold and met with the tour guide on time and ready to go. Tour guide was very personable and well versed in NY City. We had one other couple that joined us from Florida so the five of us shared stories and enjoyed our walk around the area. We went to very interesting stops for sampling of food. The stops were excellent with lots of food at each stop. _br/_ When the tour was finished we were more than full!!! Was a good trip but would have been great if it was warmer.
Review by: Tracey B, November 2017
Great tour with lots of historic highlights and energetic tour guide! My only complaint is that it was about 45 minutes too long.
Review by: kbertrand, January 2017
Loved this tour! Plenty of sampling along the way so do not eat prior to the tour and definitely try the caramels at the coffee meeting place. We had a great day and the tour guide was a lot of fun, we would highly recommend this tour!
Review by: Jackie R, September 2016
Awesome tour guide! Super smart!
Review by: tamy I, August 2016
Excellent tour in the West Village, loved all the food selections. Ian our tour guide was amazing. Very knowledgeable about the area and very helpful at the end. Highly recommend anyone to take this tour. Be sure to come Hungry!!
Review by: tami I, August 2016
Excellent tour in the West Village, loved all the food selections. Ian our tour guide was amazing. Very knowledgeable about the area and very helpful at the end. Highly recommend anyone to take this tour. Be sure to come Hungry!!
Review by: Patricia K, May 2016
Our guide was excellent. He could not have been more professional ansd provided much information about New York the food tasting experiences were wonderful
Review by: Sue R, April 2016
This was a very good way to see the village and learn some historical facts. Matthew, our tour guide, was enthusiastic and had a plethora of information to share that we would never have gotten otherwise. Although the food was delicious, it would have been nice to be able to sit somewhere along the way and enjoy it. The pizza was delicious, but he was ready to leave so quickly, it was hard to enjoy it. I would definitely do this again.
Review by: CHARLES B, April 2016
Great tour, great food. Matthew our tour guide made the tour fun and interesting. i can't wait to get back to the Village and try some of the restaurants that he told us about.
Review by: Kathleen M, March 2016
Informative and engaging tour guide. Samples were delicious.
Review by: James M, October 2015
Our guide Ian was great. Good personality and knowledgeable. Food was also very good. Would have liked to stop somewhere for beer or wine after the first place perhaps at the artichoke pizza place.
Review by: Lorenext, September 2015
This is the kind of tours that you enjoy because you get to try many different typical NY foods cupcakes, pizza, bagels, falafel while learning a lot of nice stories and anecdotes about the neighborhood. Totally recommended!
Review by: Rodney B, September 2015
We had a great time and enjoyed all the different foods we sampled throughout the day. The guide was excellent and provided a good sense of the area as well. Most of the stops were kerbside eating rather than sit down, which may not suit some people, but for the time of the tour it worked well for us. Make sure you have sun cover if the weather is hotter
Review by: Paul L, July 2015
Highly enjoyable. Learned a lot about Greenwich Village and tasted wonderful food.
Review by: James H, June 2015
The best thing we did during our four days in the City. Our guide was Ian, and he was fantastic! He was a wealth of information about the restaurants we visited and of the history of the area as we walked from place to place. We will definitely do it again and we'll recommend it to others!
Review by: James H, June 2015
Everyone is still talking about what a great time they had on the West Village Food Tour. Those in our group who didn't participate wished they had based on the reviews of those who enjoyed it. Thanks to Ian, our tour guide!
Review by: James H, June 2015
The tour was fantastic! Ian was our guide and he was truly amazing. In between the stops he would share interesting facts about landmarks and historical people, places and events! Totally recommend this tour and would do it again! We had a group of 15 and everyone was raving about it!
Review by: Susan R, May 2015
Interesting/engaging/tour guide. Wish we could have a handout of the highlights of info shared as it is too much to remember but so very interesting. I have taken MANY food tours over the years. Comparatively, this was the LEAST amount of sampling but priced like others. Disappointed in this.
Review by: Arbert L, April 2015
It was a excellent trip, learn some new west village culture and taste famous foods. And a lots fun to talk with our tour guide.
Review by: Seamus M, March 2015
Highly recommended.
Review by: Jericho C, March 2015
This tour was amazing!
Review by: marg.durham, December 2014
This is a great tour. Dante was amazing!
Review by: Mary L, December 2014
Loved this tour. We had a great tour guide who interspersed the history of the area with the food stops. Each stop had delicious food.
Review by: Rick M, November 2014
This tour was great! Dante the tour guide couldn't have been better! Fun times, great food what more could you ask for !!
Review by: Anne M, October 2014
Our tour was great all round!! No complaints at all... Terrific guide too. Thank you.
Review by: Donna L, September 2014
Interesting facts while walking around the West Village. Good intro to some places and would go back on my own another time. Thanks to Ian, our guide, who did the tour in the rain.
Review by: Doug D, September 2014
Dante was great. This tour gives you a great overview of the West Village area as well as the various foods in that part of town. Dante also gives a lot of historical perspectives throughout the tour. Highly recommend!
Review by: Rachel W, August 2014
This was a great experience! We only had one other couple on the tour with us so it was just 4 of us plus the guide which meant we had extra time to wander a little and get to know each other. Ian was our guide and he was fantastic: funny, knowledgeable, and easy going. The food stops were delicious and several were stops I wouldn't have found on my own or maybe even ventured into: obviously the lesson is that sometimes a hole in the wall serves delicious food! I'd been to NYC on over a dozen other occasions but had somehow missed exploring this area; this tour gave my friend and I the impetus to do so and I can see it rapidly becoming one of our favorites! So many restaurants: so little time! Great experience overall: I would definitely recommend this tour! Thank you!
Review by: celia m, August 2014
Excellent tour! Dante was so friendly, accommodating and knowledgeable that we felt like he was a friend showing us around his home neighborhood. His knowledge was vast and style entertaining. Would definitely recommend the tour to visitors and natives alike. Loved it!
Review by: celia m, August 2014
Reviewed on prior ticket purchased for same day
Review by: eleanor p, August 2014
Although we are native New Yorkers, we weren't very familiar with Greenwich Village and its history. The tour was very informative and allowed us to visit parts of New York we'd never seen before. We felt like tourists! The food was good and the tour guide very entertaining. I would definitely do another food tour after this experience.
Review by: Michelle E, July 2014
We have taken a variety of food tours in different cities through Viator and have never been disappointed. Our group was a nice size (9 people - of which we were 5), our guide was extremely personable and knowledgeable and my husband instantly bonded with him since he was also a UT (Tennessee) grad. We loved all the food - falafels, salami and Italian rice ball, Molly's cupcakes (we liked them so much we went back on our own another day), bagels and cream cheese, artichoke pizza and a cannoli. Greenwich Village is a beautiful area to walk around in. I would highly recommend this tour. _br/_
/Users/eisn/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2014/07/25/20140725-150248/IMG_1534.jpg_br/_
/Users/eisn/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2014/07/25/20140725-150248/IMG_1538.jpg_br/_
/Users/eisn/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Previews/2014/07/25/20140725-150248/IMG_1550.jpg
Review by: David R B, July 2014
The tour was wonderful. Dante did an excellent job pointing out the pertinent and interesting facts in the area. the good was very good and the stops were well-timed! We had an excellent experience.
Review by: Nick W, July 2014
I cannot recommend this tour highly enough. Dante was superb as a tour guide and showed us an entirely different side of New York. The food was great, we learnt a lot and met some great people.
Review by: Margaret H, July 2014
Great experience!
Review by: Sharon B, July 2014
What a fun and delicious tour!! We were entertained by our tour guide and educated. The food was exceptional!
Review by: Amy S, July 2014
It was awesome. Dante was GREAT!! I tried foods I've never had before they were delicious!!! There was so much food. We had a great time.
Review by: Virginia H, June 2014
We had great fun and the tour was very smooth and enjoyable. I would recommend this and I would take another tour
Review by: Debora W, June 2014
Dante was amazing... my daughter and I wanted to capture the flavor of the West Village and we were not disappointed!!! Yes it was a food tour, however Dante provided us with so much history and wonderful tidbits of trivia. We sampled delectable foods from six eateries which constituted a very large lunch. _br/_
Kudos to this tour...I would recommend it to anyone looking to see this part of NYC._br/_
My stipulation would be...you have to have Dante!!!!!
Review by: Amanda C, May 2014
Great way to see a beautiful and unique part of the city.
RSS Feed