The Best New York City Tours for Families

Finding your way around New York City can get confusing, and if you and your family only have a couple days in the Big Apple, narrowing down your list of things to do can seem impossible. Sometimes, a guided tour is the best option for your family, and there are several that the entire family will enjoy.

Here are two separate tours that I have taken with my own family or a group of children while vacationing in New York City.

Ellis Island Tour with Big Onion
Preferring to think of New York City as the Big Onion instead of the Big Apple, the Big Onion Tour Company will do its best to expose the many layers of New York City to you and your family. All of the tours with Big Onion are walking tours, and each one takes you to a specific part of town where you will learn more about the history, architecture and significance of the neighborhood. On the Ellis Island tour, a guide will narrate your way through the Great Hall, new immigration museum and give you the full immigrant experience.

I took this tour with my family, the youngest child being twelve and everyone enjoyed it. There were a couple families with younger children, and I did notice that they had a harder time keeping up, but thankfully the children did not appear bored. There are several other tours available from Big Onion, but I think this is the best NYC option for families with children. www.bigonion.com

Accomplice: New York
A fun and exciting twist to the city of New York, Accomplice is a mystery theater production, tour of the Big Apple, and scavenger hunt that you star in all wrapped in one. There is nothing nerdy or cliché about this New York Adventure at all, and even long time New Yorkers are eager to give the production a try. I took a troop of teenage scouts to New York and Accomplice was perfect for this set of girls who think they are too cool for games, entertained all the adults, and intrigued younger children who were eagerly trying to keep up.

Not wanting to give too much away about the whole event, because it is really more of an event than a tour, I won't tell you too much about the city scouring itself. I will tell you that you will join a group of strangers to experience New York like you never thought you would and it will be an incredible trip. There is not much in the way of walking and posing for pictures or getting all the historical and trivial details about every building, instead you are asked to play along and let New York come to you.

A great New York city family tour option, but children need to be at least ten years old to participate. Also, there is now a sequel to Accomplice New York running called Accomplice: The Village. I have not had the opportunity to take the second tour, but it is on my list of things to do on my next trip to New York. www.accomplicetheshow.com