20 Feb 2024
I was looking forward to this walking tour and I was somewhat disappointed though I would still recommend this tour.
Pros:
The tour guide was VERY knowledgeable and was able to give us lots of details about the areas of Harlem that we walked through. It was very educational and filled with local anecdotes and personal stories. I was travelling with my niece (17) and I wanted her to learn about African American history, especially history she may not learn in school and that was accomplished!
Cons:
Tour operator: I emailed the tour operator twice with questions and I never heard back
The tour: We started late because we were waiting for people (who never showed up). The tour was supposed to be 2 hours. After an hour and half, our guide told us that he was running late and the tour would go long so if anyone had plans afterwards we were close to primary subway station and it would b a good time to leave. We had plans for another tour at 1:30 (tour was supposed to end at noon) with a 30ish minute train ride. I didn't want to miss any of the tour so this was really a disappointment. Our guide expected the tour would be an additional 45 minutes. We had to leave early so we missed the part of the tour that covered more recent history like civil rights movement and we missed the Apollo Theater. That was a big disappointment esp because of my (aforementioned) desire to teach my niece about history AND I was looking forward to learning more myself.
I would still recommend this tour to others with the warning it may go long and not to plan anything tight after.
I hope the tour operator will consider making changes to make this a 3 hour tour OR condense the material to fit within the 2 hour time frame. Also, I'd suggest making a hard start time and recommend people arrive before the start time to ensure us early birds aren't punished by late arrivals.