Big Onion Walking Tours

New York City, NY 11215

212 439 1090

Website

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Just look for a guide holding a Big Onion Walking Tours sign

Big Onion guide explaining the origin of tap dancing

Lincoln - Defender of Freedom - Union Square Park

44 visitor photos

Ranked #54 of 399 activities in New York City

167 Reviews

Type: Tours

Activities: Group tours/walking tour

Owner description: Since 1991, Big Onion has been leading informative, award-winning, and innovative walking tours of New York's historic districts and ethnic... more » Owner description: Since 1991, Big Onion has been leading informative, award-winning, and innovative walking tours of New York's historic districts and ethnic neighborhoods. All tours are lead by PhD candidates in American history or a related field. Big Onion has been called "The Best Walking Tour in New York" by New York Magazine and "One of the best urban walking tours in the world" by Forbes. Big Onion is an approved educational vendor for the NYC Department of Education and a Programming Partner with both the Brooklyn Historical Society and the South Street Seaport Museum. We are proud to be a 2012 winner of the TripAdvisor "Certificate of Excellence". We offer public "show up" tours year-round and an advance calendar, accurate tour descriptions, meeting sites, etc...can be found on our user-friendly website. Most of our walks do not require reservations.

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167 reviews from our community

Mons944

Melbourne, Australia

Reviewer

4 reviews

Reviews in 3 cities

“Great way to see New York”

Reviewed 20 May 2013 NEW

We went on about 6 Big Onion walking tours. We would highly recommend all of them except maybe the one of the Met. The Harlem tour was great as was all the tours that delved into the waves of immigration and the consequences of that. The guides are PhD students, usually of history, and they have fantastic knowledge of the... More

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Thank you very much for making Big Onion such a part of your New York experience. I am very glad you found the tours so interesting and informative. If you happen to read this response please contact me. I would very much like to hear your feedback about our America's Museum outing. It is a very different type of tour... More

Jenny A

Shelton, Connecticut, United States

1 review

“Fun”

Reviewed 19 May 2013 NEW via mobile

Learned so much without being stuck in a museum...my kind of sight seeing! I am looking forward to going on more tours soon.

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Thank you for coming down from Connecticut and taking a Big Onion tour! It is always our goal for people to come away after a walk feeling as if they not only learned something about New York but had some FUN doing it as well! We look forward to seeing you again soon. Seth Kamil President More

Ropollock

Brooklyn, New York

1 review

“Best Tours in the city”

Reviewed 14 May 2013

The Big Onion Walking Tours are a wonderful way to learn about various aspects of our city. The guides are exceptionally good —professional, extremely well trained and knowledgeable, witty and fun to spend two hours with. We particularly loved the Immigration tour which was extremely interesting—we learned quite a bit. These tours are ideal for tourists wanting to learn more... More

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It means a great deal to us when a local calls us the "Best Tours in the city"! We are very proud to find that about 40% of the people on any given tour are, in fact, locals! Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your review. We look forward to having you join us again soon. Seth... More

gold88

Wilmington, Delaware

Senior Reviewer

10 reviews

Reviews in 9 cities

7 helpful votes

“Such a great, fun tour!”

Reviewed 30 April 2013

We can't believe it's taken us so long to take a Big Onion tour. We took the multi-ethnic eating tour of the lower east side and just loved it. The tour was a fabulous combination of wonderful ethnic food, great historical information, an interesting walk, and terrific company. The tour guide was outstanding and the tour itself was very well... More

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What can I say other than "thank you"? How about - if you really feel bad its taken you so long to join a Big Onion Tour come again soon! All the best, Seth Kamil, President More

Nnjpeach

Reviewer

4 reviews

Reviews in 4 cities

1 helpful vote

Reviewed 29 April 2013

I enjoyed the lower Eastside multi-ethnic tour so much (4/28/13), I can't stop talking about it! Guide was extremely knowledgable, professional and pleasant. The 2 hour tour was jammed packed with history, & food samplings were generous. I highly recommend it.

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Thank you for joining our Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour! I am very glad you enjoyed the walk and appreciate the recommendation. We look forward to having you join another of our 25+ tours in the near future. Seth Kamil, President More

PeachInMichigan

Grand Blanc, MI

Senior Contributor

43 reviews

13 attraction reviews

Reviews in 16 cities

11 helpful votes

“Union Square/Gramercy Park”

Reviewed 28 April 2013

Enjoyed the tour. Interesting to find the public park and private park juxtaposed within a few blocks. Felt like there was a little heavy-handed negativity toward the folks who enjoy the private park... I would rather have heard the history of it without a tad bit of bias against the locals. Enjoyed the tour overall.

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See 7 more reviews by PeachInMichigan for New York City

Thank you for joining our recent Gramercy Park & Union Square walk. Very glad you enjoyed the tour - and its great you took & shared all those photos! We hope you enjoyed your visit and look forward to seeing you on another one of our walks soon. Seth Kamil President More

Civia R

Wilmington, Delaware

1 review

“Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour of Lower East Side NYC”

Reviewed 27 April 2013

My husband and I had a fantastic time at the Multi-Ethnic Eating BIG ONION Tour on the Lower East Side of NYC. We learned extensive information while "noshing" delicious treats. All samplings were very generous. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and very personable. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND BIG ONION TOURS.

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Thank you for joining our recent Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour and for recommending us! Very glad you enjoyed the walk and the "noshing". Hope to see you on another Big Onion tour the next time you visit New York. Seth Kamil President More

Beverley T

Toronto, Canada

Senior Contributor

33 reviews

12 attraction reviews

Reviews in 13 cities

2 helpful votes

“Who says you can't nosh and walk at the same time?”

Reviewed 23 April 2013

Most excellent tour! I've done it before and wanted my friends to experience it. Really minor stuff: the eating tour for this time of year is only on Sundays at 1pm and I wish it was either at 10am / 11am or on Saturdays as most people (OK, us) fly out on Sundays back home. The timing was tight and... More

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See 10 more reviews by Beverley T for New York City

Thank you for joining our recent Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour and giving the outing the highest TripAdvisor rating! Just to help clarify your experience & for future possible Big Onion visitors....we do not offer the Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour on Saturday as, for religious observance) some of our food vendors are closed. It is not the same experience without them, so we... More

carrie62

Birmingham, Alabama

Senior Contributor

30 reviews

14 attraction reviews

Reviews in 24 cities

83 helpful votes

“Crowded but good”

Reviewed 20 April 2013

Because you do not have to make a reservation for a tour ahead of time, you never know how many people are going to show up for a tour. We had between 30 and 35 people participate in our Immigrant NY tour this week. It was a huge group to keep up with and try to hear the guide! I... More

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Thank you for joining our recent Immigrant New York tour. We appreciate your honest appraisal of our walk. You are completely correct - we do not require reservations for most of our tours. We have found that reservations without prepayment as well as requiring prepayment were not ideal for our walkers or us. With more than 20 years experience, we... More

HelenDEB

Orlando, Florida

Senior Reviewer

7 reviews

3 attraction reviews

Reviews in 4 cities

1 helpful vote

“Big Onion a MUST DO”

Reviewed 17 April 2013

NYC has taken on a completely different perspective for us now that we have walked the streets of the Financial district with NYC grad student Ted. History, archiitecture, archeology, for two hours Ted told us story after story of the hows and whys and whos of the founding of New York. The Big Onion Tour was one of the highlights... More

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See 2 more reviews by HelenDEB for New York City

Thank you for taking our recent Historic Lower Manhattan walk. We greatly appreciate you calling our tour one of the "highlights" of your visit! We look forward to welcoming you on another tour soon! Seth Kamil, President More