Discover New York

4 Hour Experience:

• Brooklyn Botanic Garden
  Enjoy a private tour through Brooklyn's Eden, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has come to represent the very best in urban gardening and horticultural display. These 50 acres of intensely planted gardens and conservatories were designed to delight in all seasons. Enjoy the Shakespeare Garden, Rose Garden "Celebrity Path", Japanese Hill and Pond Garden and Cherry Esplanade.
  

Include a Visit to the Brooklyn Museum (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
• Brooklyn Museum
  What great collections are at the Brooklyn Museum? Why was it once protested against? Take a private tour through this vast museum, one of the premier art institutions in the world. It houses more than one and a half million objects from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art and represents almost every culture.

New Yorks Backyard(4 Hour Experience):

• Out and About
  Why was Central Park the first landscaped public park in the United States? Why was the park undesirable for private development? How do New Yorkers get around? Get out and about New York style as we start with a horse drawn carriage ride.
  
• Central Park
  Discover the wonders, the history, and the landscape of this world famous National and New York City Landmark. Over 843 acres of wide-open meadows, dense woods, landscaped gardens, 30 bridges, and Victorian architecture to be explored. The park is home to 270 species of birds, including red-tailed hawks, egrets, herons, ducks, red-winged, and blackbirds. The Mall contains the largest grove of American elms in the world. Enjoy a short walk to beloved landmarks such as the zoo, the dairy, Bethesda Terrace, and conservatory.
  

Include a Visit to the American Museum of Natural History (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
  
• VIP Experience at the American Museum of Natural History
  Head to New York's Museum of Natural History, a global institution of science, culture, and education with visitors from all over the world. Its ongoing scientific research conducted on all parts of our planet. This three-city block museum houses the wonderful new planetarium in the Rose Center for Space and Science. See the African Safari in the Hall of African Animals. Your private experience is truly VIP with access to the best the museum is offering.

Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Riverside Park (4 Hour Experience):

• Cathedral of St. John the Divine
  Walk through the bustling nave and through the serene chapels to learn about this grand structure now the renovation is complete after the fire of 2001. Investigate the structure of gothic cathedrals, the function of flying buttresses, and explore why many cathedrals took hundreds of years to build. Since its first stone was laid in 1892, this Episcopal Church has been a cornerstone of the neighborhood. We also visit the Cathedral's Biblical Garden and the Rose Garden.
  
• Riverside Park
  Nestled in this expanse of land, a canopy of majestic trees, one of North America's most significant remaining cultivated stands of American Elms envelops Riverside Drive. With winding paths, rock outcrops, and a naturalistic appearance, this landscaped level represents the most intact area of Olmstedian design within the Park.
  

Include the Cloisters (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
  
• The Cloisters
  Explore a medieval cloister on the Hudson, set in a 20th century park, Fort Tryon Park. Designed by Frederick Olmstead Jr.; it is complete with landscaped terraced gardens and the cloisters; an amalgam of medieval buildings brought here from Europe and placed on a hill overlooking the Hudson. This beautiful cloister is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

4 Hour Experience:

• Exploring Public Art
  What role does public art play in Madison Square and Battery Park City? Stroll around the tip of Manhattan to discover the multitude of public outdoor art. Beginning with the history of the old Customs House now housing the Museum of the American Indian. Discover how architects, artists, and landscape designers have been collaborating to give Battery Park a unique sense of place. Focus on the changing nature of public art over time and its relationship to its surroundings. From gravestones to monuments to statues, public art has taken different forms over the years. Visit the Tom Otterness sculpture, Irish Hunger Memorial, and see the latest developments at Ground Zero.

Include a Private Studio Visit with an Artist (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
  
• Artist Visit
  What is an artist's studio like? How does an artist start a painting or sculpture? Why do they choose acrylic or oil? Why does an artist prefer one method to another? Take a look behind the art-market and visit an artist in their studio. Speak one-on-one with the artist, hear about his/her methods, and see works in progress.

Art, Horticulture and History (4 Hour Experience):

• Walking Past Public Art
  What role does public art play in Battery Park City? Stroll around the tip of Manhattan to discover the multitude of public outdoor art. Beginning with the history of the old Customs House now housing the Museum of the American Indian. Discover how architects, artists, and landscape designers have been collaborating to give Battery Park a unique sense of place. Focus on the changing nature of public art over time and its relationship to its surroundings. From gravestones to monuments to statues, public art has taken different forms over the years.
  
• Horticulture and History
  Explore 32 acres of open space on the southern tip of Manhattan, including parks and gardens, playing fields, playgrounds, plazas and walkways. Discover the greenest spaces in the "Concrete Canyon" to waterfront parks and community gardens. Examine the history and changes of Ground Zero, Wagner Park, Hudson River, Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty.

Include a Sunset Sail (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
  
• Private Sunset Sail
  Take a private two-hour sail through New York's Harbor. Explore the Statue of Liberty and many bridges of the city.

4 Hour Experience:

• Walking Past Public Art
  What role does public art play in Battery Park City? Stroll around the tip of Manhattan to discover the multitude of public outdoor art. Beginning with the history of the old Customs House now housing the Museum of the American Indian, discover how architects, artists and landscape designers have been collaborating to give Battery Park a unique sense of place. Focus on the changing nature of public art over time and its relationship to its surroundings. From gravestones to monuments to statues, public art has taken different forms over the years.
  
• Horticulture and History
  Explore 32 acres of open space on the southern tip of Manhattan, including parks and gardens, playing fields, playgrounds, plazas, and walkways. Discover the greenest spaces in the "Concrete Canyon" to waterfront parks and community gardens. Examine the history and changes of Ground Zero, Wagner Park, Hudson River, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.

Include the Street Seaport Museum (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
• South Street Seaport
  Step back into life as it was in the 18th Century and see the homes, shops, and cobble stone streets. Explore the famous South Street Seaport Museum, filled with ocean-liner artifacts, deck plans, ship models and memorabilia, Whitman Gallery and Melville Gallery.

Socrates Sculpture Park and the Noguchi Museum (4 Hour Experience):

• Socrates Sculpture Park
  Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents. Today it is an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program. Explore this amazing Socrates Sculpture Park by an artist lead tour.
  
• Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum
  Take a private tour through the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum. There are more than 250 works on exhibition including stone, metal, wood and clay sculptures, models for public projects and gardens, dance sets, and Noguchi's Akari light sculptures. Housed in thirteen galleries within a converted factory building and encircling a garden containing major granite and basalt sculptures; the museum presents one of the most dramatic installations of art in New York.

Include the New York Hall of Science (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
• New York Hall of Science
  Originally built as a pavilion for the 1964-65 World's Fair, the Hall of Science is now ranked as one of the top science museums in the country. Explore more than 160 interactive exhibits.

Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art (4 Hour Experience):

• Staten Island Botanical Garden
  Can you find Connie Gretz's Secret Garden? Take a private tour through Staten Island's only public garden from its initial plantings to its newest addition, the New York Chinese Scholar's Garden. This institution is a cultural assimilation of gardens. Rolling lawns are dotted with specimen trees and bordered by wetlands and woodlands. Spot a butterfly in the Butterfly, White, Herb, Pond, Old Rose, or Lions Sensory Garden.
  
• Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
  Terraced sculpture gardens, a lily and fishpond, and a distant view of the lower Hudson Bay add to the atmosphere of serenity and beauty. The Tibetan Museum is unique in displaying its art in a setting especially conducive to its understanding and enjoyment.

Include the Alice Austen House Museum (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
• The Alice Austen House Museum and Garden
  Visit Alice's restored 1890's home. The original structure, one of the city's oldest, was a small one-and-a-half-story farmhouse built about 1710. The Victorian garden was replanted according to Austen photographs with shrubs such as weeping mulberry and flowering quince. Together with the restored cottage and gardens perpetuate Austen's life, her times and her art.
  (Thursday - Sunday only)

Choose Either Gramercy Park and Madison Square or Union and Washington Square (4 Hour Experience):

• Option 1
  
  • Union Square
    Uncover the history of Union Square; explore the Greenmarket with its wonderful selection of produce picked within 24 hours from local farms. The changes in these neighborhoods range from the slight to the extraordinary.
    
  • Washington Square
    Explore Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park, Liz Christy Bowery-Houston Garden and the Church of Saint Luke's in the Fields. Discover the differences between community gardens, public parks, and vest pocket parks.
    
• Option 2
  
  • Gramercy Square
    Journey around Manhattan's famous squares where New York's most fashionable citizens lived and worked. Gramercy Park is home to The Players and The National Arts Club. Residents of this area are granted a key to the Park with their leases.
    
  • Madison Square
    Madison Square, named after President James Madison in 1847, was once a potter's field. Today it is enjoying resurgence as the trendy new Flatiron District. Teddy Roosevelt was born in this neighborhood and author Edith Wharton lived here. Explore the neighborhood and learn the history from the time of the Civil War until the present.

Include Lunch and Visit all Four (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
• Visit all four squares.

4 Hour Experience:

• New York Botanical Garden
  Where can you find tulips, cherry blossoms, and 100,000 daffodils without leaving the city? Take a private tour through one of the oldest and largest botanical gardens in America. Founded in 1891, The New York Botanical Garden covers 250 acres. Explore the garden's Conservatory, a New York City landmark built in 1902 and inspired by London's Crystal Palace and the Palm House at Kew Gardens. Stroll through the garden's Native Plant Garden, Perennial, and Herb Gardens.

Include a Visit to Arthur Avenue (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
  
• Arthur Avenue: Italy in the Bronx
  Enjoy a delicious lunch along Arthur Avenue and learn about the Italians that established the neighborhood.

4 Hour Experience:

• Wholesale Flower Market
  Where do New York's fresh flowers come from? What difference does quality make? Who buys what? Explore the wholesale flower market; learn where the flowers are coming from and how to pick the best ones. In addition, see the silk and dried flower options available at the Wholesale Suppliers.

Include a Private Floral Design Class (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
  
• Floral Design Class
  What does the pineapple symbolize? Where can you buy a yellow clivia? How does a floral arrangement start? How do trends affect flowers? Who are the best florists? What flowers make the perfect arrangement? Participate in a hands-on floral arranging class.

East Village and Greenwich Village (4 Hour Experience):

• Wave Hill
  High above the scenic Hudson River, overlooking the verdant New Jersey Palisades, is Wave Hill, a fieldstone mansion built in 1844. Orchards, vegetable gardens, and greenhouses made the estate relatively self-sufficient. The herb garden contains over 150 varieties. Stroll through the Neo-Tudor mansion and estate where Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, William Appleton and other luminaries once called home.

Include a Visit to Riverdale and Bell Tower Park (6 Hour Experience - Above experience plus):

• Optional lunch at a neighborhood restaurant chosen during your consultation with one of our Destination Specialists
  
• Riverdale and Bell Tower Park
  Explore Riverdale, once known as the Gold Coast of the Bronx. It has many Tudor and Greek Revival mansions tucked away near Wave Hill that we will discover. Also explore the crossroads of the community at Bell Park Tower.