New York City Adventures: 4 Amazing Hours in a Pedicab
New York City, specifically Manhattan, is a lot. Broadway, dozens of world-class museums, Central Park, the incredible neighborhoods, abundant history, incredible architecture, glorious food, endless shopping, and more. It offers enough to fill weeks or more. But there is a tradeoff – the traffic, the hectic pace, the impossible crowds, and the high cost of lodging. We love New York! But 3 days at a time is just about all these two Midwesterners can handle.
We’ve been to New York numerous times, but never see anywhere near everything we hope to. Enter Your NYC Guide. (And no, they’re not paying us in any way to write this.) Taking their New York City Tour is a perfect way to begin a trip for anyone not intimately acquainted with the city. After the tour, we felt we’d seen New York in a more complete and authentic way than ever before. We felt informed, confident, and eager to rearrange some of our planned schedule to return to some of the spots we never would have discovered without our guide.
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About Pedicabs
Pedicab drivers have a bit of a poor reputation in New York. Near places like Central Park, some can be aggressive salespeople, and most charge, astonishingly, by the minute. But not all pedicab businesses are the same!
Your NYC Guide is a very small company made of just a few drivers, all of whom grew up in the city, have decades of experience as pedicab drivers, and have a passion for sharing the wealth of knowledge they have about the city they love with visitors. There are 1500 pedicab drivers in New York, but only 7 of them are licensed tour guides. 4 of those work for Your NYC Guide! The company does not solicit business on the street; their tours are by advance online reservation only.
A pedicab seats a maximum of three people, but bigger groups can hire more than one cab. They’re able to travel in both the bike lanes and the streets; often we found ourselves moving significantly faster than cars as we traveled from location to location. Pedicabs can also park in places that cars cannot, allowing passengers to get out and more fully explore attractions.
Your NYC Guide offers 60 and 90-minute tours of Central Park, as well as more extensive tours of Manhattan.
The “New York City Tour” Experience
The company’s 3.5 – 4 hour premiere tour provides a fantastic overview of the southern half of Manhattan. Our guide was the entertaining Chris, born and bred in Manhattan. He expertly zipped us in and out of traffic, getting us from site to site amazingly quickly, and pointing out interesting things along the way. It was a beautiful day, but blankets are provided in cool/cold weather.
As we traveled through the Times Square area, traffic was (and always is) very heavy, and we didn’t stop often. But once we got a little further south, it was much more relaxed. We stopped at dozens of places, big and small, with Chris asking us about our interests the whole time, taking us to places he thought (rightfully so!) we’d enjoy, and telling us interesting stories and bits of history.
For example, we stopped at the historic Flatiron Building, built in 1902, named due to its triangular shape. Land in Manhattan was (is) expensive and scarce; builders had to work with what they had, which was, in this case, a small, triangle-shaped piece of land.
The distinctive 22-story building remained popular through the years, and helped transform the neighborhood (named the “Flatiron District” in the 1980s), into the sightseeing, shopping, and high-end restaurant area it is today. But the building suffered from high vacancy in the 2000s and was in desperate need of renovation. By the time the pandemic hit, the building was empty. In 2023, a judge ordered it to be put up for auction. After months of drama, the iconic Flatiron was sold for $161 million – a shockingly low price anywhere, but especially in New York.
It is currently being converted into luxury apartments, with retail space on the ground level. Can you even imagine what the rent for a luxury apartment in this iconic building will be? We suspect the new owners made an excellent investment.
In the past, we’d surely have glanced at the building, noted its interesting shape, and perhaps snapped a photo. But it would have been forgettable. We won’t forget it now! It is fascinating stories such as this that make the Your NYC Guide tours so special.
We are nature buffs, and loved seeing the gorgeous 300+ year old Hangman’s Elm, the oldest tree in Manhattan. It is nearly 150′ tall! (Though it is named grimly, it seems its reputation is a wives’ tale, as there are no actual hangings recorded from this tree, thank goodness.) The tree is located at the edge of Greenwich Village’s delightful Washington Square Park, which we explored. It is a place to which we’d love to return, and possibly even find lodgings nearby.
The park boasts a large marble arch, modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, dedicated to George Washington, after whom the park is named. The park hosts artists, buskers, festivals, concerts, holiday activities, and has a long history of being a venue for political protests.
Knowing we’re huge live theater fans, Chris took us past the Cherry Lane Theater, also in Greenwich Village, the oldest continually running off-Broadway theater. We moved to Tribeca and our inner-geeks were treated to the Ghostbusters headquarters, still a fully functioning firehouse, home to New York City’s Hook & Ladder Company 8.
We somberly approached the World Trade Center complex, and viewed Oculus, the stunning new $4 billion transportation hub. It replaced the Cortlandt Street station, which was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. Oculus was constructed in honor of those who lost their lives, and the structure has spectacular curved supports that extend outward, like wings. It was built to align with the sun’s solar angles. On September 11 of each year, from 8:46 am – 10:28 am, (the time between the plane crashing into the first tower through the collapse of the second tower), its central skylight opens and fills the floor of the Oculus station with light.
Across the street is the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Though there was not time on this tour to visit the museum, we were able to explore the memorial – two pools, one dedicated to each of the towers. The names of all the victims of that horrific day are inscribed in bronze, lining the pools (including the people from all four flights that crashed and all of the first responders). Additionally, it memorializes the victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
After we regained our composure from the emotional experience of the memorials, things again became light hearted. We headed to the Financial District. Chris knew we were interested in architecture thus we popped into the gorgeous Conwell Coffee Hall, formerly the legendary Life and Trust Bank, featuring a dramatic Art Deco style. What a fun find!
Nearby is the historic Trinity Church, founded in 1697. It is the church in which George Washington worshiped, and where Alexander and Eliza Hamilton are buried. As history and Broadway fans, this was a special visit for us.
While in the Financial District, we stopped by the original 7,100-pound bronze Charging Bull statue. The bull symbolizes economic prosperity. It is an incredibly popular site, with visitors waiting in line to pose for photos with the front of the bull and, peculiarly, waiting in even longer lines to pose at he back of the bull, under the large testicles. People even photograph their very young children there.
It is said that rubbing said testicles brings good luck. (We didn’t, so now we shall blame every bad turn of events on our failure to do so.)
We visited a prime viewing spot for the Brooklyn & Manhattan bridges, and, as he had done for the entire tour, Chris took many photos of us to help us remember all the details of the experience. Our tour then wound through Chinatown, Little Italy, and SoHo, (food details below!), as well as Chelsea, where we were introduced to the glorious Chelsea Market and the unique, elevated The High Line park, both of which we returned to the next day to see in more detail.
What better way to finish off the tour than to get a view of the art installation “Dinosaur”, a 16-foot statue of a pigeon, peering down upon us from The High Line. What could scream New York more than that?
This is not a generic or predetermined tour. Your tour might look nothing like ours! Chris described tours focusing on movie stars and locations, tours focusing on Taylor Swift, (we did see one of her expansive apartments!), tours focused on history, etc. Ours was a little of everything!
The Food
Throughout our tour, Chris asked us whether we wanted to try foods from various areas of the city. Ummm… yes!
In Greenwich Village, we shared an extraordinary, hand-rolled cannoli from Rocco’s, and bites of fresh mozzarella and smoked sausages from Faicco’s Italian Specialties.
In SoHo, we shared a cronut (a croissant/donut hybrid) at the spot where it was originally created, Dominique Ansel Bakery. The bakery had a host of other creative treats. We each enjoyed a slice (or square, rather) of delicious pizza from Champion Pizza. Both Jeff’s mushroom & truffle oil piece and my margarita piece had fresh, high-quality ingredients and a perfect, crunchy, thin crust.
In Chinatown, we stopped at Tasty Dumpling and shared a “#1”, which was 4 pan-fried pork and chives dumplings. They were among the best we’ve ever eaten. (And we’ve had our share of dumplings over the years.) Go ahead, guess what those dumplings and a bottle of water cost. Well, you can’t guess, so we’ll tell you: $3! Unbelievable.
Along the way, Chris also offered up gelato, cheesecake, and many other treats. But there is only so much one can eat. Basically, we got a complete food tour along with our city tour! Suffice it to say, we didn’t need lunch afterward.
Even after the tour, Chris continued to provide information. He sent us a list of recommended restaurants, and bagle shops. Based on his recommendation we had a fabulous breakfast the next morning at Liberty Bagles.
Whether it is your 1st time or your 10th time to New York, we highly recommend Your NYC Guide!
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This all sounds like so much fun! The sights, sounds and the FOOD. I’m ready to head to New York tomorrow! Thanks so much.
Thanks Liz! It really was a lot of fun!
What a fun trip, we’ve always wanted to see NYC!
Thanks, Rob. NYC is amazing. You won’t regret making the trip!
Wow! That sounds like an amazing tour!
It really was. When we go back, we may take another one!
Great pictures!
Loves me some NYC!