Our family was planning a trip to NYC and we wanted to show our 11 year old son, who is fascinated with skyscrapers, architecture, and impossible engineering, all of the great sites and incredible buildings/structures that NYC has to offer. So we contacted Pedro from USA Guided Tours and described what we were looking for a highly customized tour for our son. Pedro put us in contact with Debbie who would be our tour guide and immediately we knew we were in good hands. We gave Debbie a list of the sites that we knew we would not want to miss and she provided us with additional recommendations, all of which we added to the tour. On the morning of the 6 hour tour (Jan 1, 2023), the sleek Mercedes tour van from USA Guided Tours pulled up, we got in, and off we went! The tour van was great; spacious, tall windows, made it easy to see all of the sites on both sides of the van with near 360 degree precision. Debbie was AMAZING!! She was so professional, so friendly, so informative, and so enthusiastic. She clearly loves NYC and her excitement was contagious. She had clearly spent a lot of time fine-tuning the tour route and site destinations and customizing it for our son and for all of us. Debbie was like a walking encyclopedia of information; her style kept you engaged, amused, and fascinated. Beyond just showing us each site, she provided detailed background information about architecture and history along with amusing anecdotes and stories. She also carried with her an iPad to show images that were linked to the stories and sites. We learned so much about NYC and got to experience and get to know/relearn both the old New York (e.g. Chrysler Building, Flat Iron Building, Woolworth Building, Brooklyn Bridge) and also the new New York (e.g. Hudson Yards, Billionaire's row, new World Trade Center buildings). She was great at keeping our son engaged for the entire 6 hour tour and was willing to make changes to the tour on the spot. She was also great at making additional recommendations on the spot as well, all while keeping the tour on time. We were able to make numerous stops along the tour, including extended stops at the Brooklyn Bridge (to walk across it), the new World Trade Center buildings and 9/11 memorial, visit Alexander Hamilton's gravesite, get a closer look of Billionaire's Row, and examine the architecture of many buildings up close (e.g. we now have a new appreciation for the unique art deco architecture of the Chrysler Building and will never be able to look at it in the same way again). Toward the end of the tour while we approached our final destination, you would think that Debbie would wind down as well. But she did the opposite, energetically telling us about the exciting new buildings along High Line Park and Hudson Yards. She was like the Energizer Bunny and we were so grateful to have had her. We learned and saw so much during those 6 hours, so much that we are still processing the info 5 days later. Debbie and Pedro delivered an amazing tour that we will never forget and that was well beyond our expectations!
A very entertaining and enjoyable way to see Ney York, our guide Dayna and driver Edwardo were excellent host. Dayna had excellent knowledge of New York and gave us great tips and advice as long as great information about the city.
it was great way to start our visit to new York