The New York Contrasts tour is one of the interesting options we have to do in New York. But what does it consist of?
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What is the New York Contrasts Tour?
This is the most famous tour in the city and it takes you into the cultural diversity that exists there, which is undoubtedly very interesting. After hearing a lot about it in videos and blogs, we decided to try it for ourselves.
The tour visits four of the five boroughs that make up New York City, covering Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.
How to do it?
There are several companies that do it, all of them have more or less the same route, the same duration (about four hours), and the same price (around US$50/60).
We chose the standard bus tour ►book the Contrasts Tour, and it turned out very well.
You also have a minibus tour, which picks you up at the hotel ►book the VIP Contrasts Tour, there is little difference in price with the standard, and if you want to be more comfortable it is a good option.
Are you arriving at JFK airport and want to make the subway transfer to your accommodation in Manhattan?, check out this detailed post on how to do it ► subway transfer from JFK to Manhattan
Start of the Contrasts Tour tour
The tour starts in Manhattan and runs from the west to the north. During the journey, by bus or minibus, we will pass by places such as Fifth Avenue while the guide will tell you about the lifestyle of the inhabitants of this area of Manhattan.
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Harlem
The first stop will be in Harlem, a neighborhood with an African-American tradition and emblematic places such as the Apollo Theater, where Michael Jackson took his first steps, among others, or the Cotton Club, where artists such as Louis Armstrong performed.
We will see the typical buildings that Harlem houses show. After a bus tour through its streets, we stopped at these houses, where a re-housing plan is being carried out so that they can be inhabited again after a very favorable restructuring years ago in this neighborhood.
►A very interesting option to do in Harlem is to go to a Gospel mass, celebrations that welcome the African-American population of New York.
Bronx
The first stop in the Bronx will be at Yankee Stadium. We will be able to see it from the outside while the guide tells us about its history. This new stadium has been in operation since 2009, replacing the old one.
Or you can enjoy watching a baseball game ► New York Yankees tickets
The second stop in the Bronx is the police station where Fort Apache was filmed in the 1980s, starring Paul Newman. The guide constantly gives you information about the neighborhoods, in this case, about the insecurity that existed years ago, and how it has been reversed, although it still exists today.
The tour then begins through some of the Bronx’s graffiti. The first graffiti visited is that of Big Pun, dedicated to the rapper who died in 2000.
Moving a few blocks, we find the characteristic I love Bronx.
Graffiti marked the areas and territories of the gangs within the neighborhood. For years, as a measure to end the gang areas, the penalties for painting them were made much harsher. Today, the graffiti we see mostly serve as artistic expression.
After leaving the Bronx behind, we head to the Queens neighborhood.
Queens
We arrive in Queens and the stop is at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Here we find the famous Unisphere, built for the 1964 World Fair. The globe is made of stainless steel and measures 37 meters in diameter.
The towers of the New York pavilion also remained from the fair, the same ones we saw in the film Men in black.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
We continue our journey to Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, where we see the lifestyle of a community of Hasidic Jews, a community with deep-rooted traditions.
We stopped there, went into a bakery, and took the opportunity to see the lifestyle of this community in just a few blocks.
Upon arriving at Dumbo, in Brooklyn, the tour ended. In our case, we could choose to get off here or cross back to Manhattan, and here we stayed.
Please note that this was our itinerary, the order of visits or stops may vary slightly.
A walking tour of the area, eating pizza at Grimaldi’s, or walking across the bridge can be a nice end to the day.
But now comes the question: is the contrasts tour worth it? Without a doubt: yes!
Have you seen our post about the Statue of Liberty’s ascent to the crown?
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Bonus: video of the Contrasts Tour
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NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links
