This Destination Spotlight was paid for by a promotional fee from a Home & Away Publishing advertiser.

O.K., imagine this: You take in the whole of Central Park and explore history in Harlem, as well as view the United Nations Building, Ground Zero, the Brooklyn Bridge and more—all without ever leaving your seat. What a way to see New York City, right?

That’s the magic of a Gray Line New York Sightseeing Tour.

It’s a full-body immersion into our nation’s largest city. While the company’s double-decker bus rolls through the streets, a knowledgeable tour guide shares the history and nuances of New York, such as where livestock used to roam the streets, how Wall Street got its name, where the most expensive residences are located and where the rich and famous hang out. It’s worth every cent and every moment to get such an overview of NYC.

In Deeper
If the tour’s offerings ended there, they still would represent an informative glimpse at the city. But Gray Line New York’s tours have another touch that let visitors get even closer to the parts of NYC they find most interesting. It’s called Hop On-Hop Off, and it allows riders to disembark and embark at designated locations along the bus’ route. (Gray Line New York also operates tours on motorcoaches and trolleys.)

For instance, you could get off at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and spend an afternoon strolling the halls and galleries adorned with art from across the centuries. Following the museum stop, you could take a walk along the paths of Central Park, pausing to watch model boats sailing in a pond or marvel at the sheer incongruence of such an urban oasis. Then, you can head for the tour stop at the park’s southern entrance, and you’re off again for another New York adventure.

And those adventures can come in many forms. If you choose the Downtown Loop, you’ll take a trip that includes stops at or near Greenwich Village, Soho, the Empire State Building, Times Square and Rockefeller Center. If your pick is the Uptown Loop, the journey will make stops at the Apollo Theater, Grant’s Tomb, the Guggenheim, Fifth Avenue and the Central Park. You also could choose the Night Tour, which shows you why New York never sleeps, or you could choose the Brooklyn Loop, which shares the history and architecture of the famed borough.

Best of all, you could pick the All Loops Tour—a combination of the four itineraries that allows you to hop on and off anywhere along its path for 48 hours. And if you want to add even more fun, you could find yourself on The Classic New York Tour, the company’s most popular. In addition to the All Loops’ array of 50 stops, The Classic gives riders a ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, a ticket to the top of the Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center, and admission to the South Side Seaport Museum.

Something New, Something to Shout About
As popular as these tours are, they are just five of more than 40 plotted by Gray Line, including tours that focus on New York’s heritage, the behind-the-scenes of Broadway and international travelers’ needs. There are so many because the company continually seeks to give visitors a dizzying range of ways to see the sights and sites. That’s how its newest tour, Discover Staten Island, came to be.

 “The Staten Island Ferry is one of New York City’s great attractions, but each year hundreds of thousands of people who enjoy it never spend any time on the Island outside the terminal, missing out on Staten Island’s diverse attractions, beautiful environment and unique history,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg when the new tour was announced in July.

When visitors linger on the city’s smallest borough, they will enjoy a one-hour tour that stops at The Staten Island September 11 Memorial, The Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, the Forest Avenue Shopping Area, the Staten Island Zoological Society, Fort Wadsworth, The Alice Austen House Museum and Park and the St. George Ferry Terminal. All along the way, the ride will benefit from the dramatic backdrops provided by New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty, the Verrazano Bridge, the Brooklyn Waterfront and the Manhattan skyline —each giving the tour extra excitement.

If the other Gray Line tours are an indication, the Staten Island sojourn will be a delight for travelers from near and far. That’s something supported by the New York City Association of Hotel Concierges. Last summer, the organization named Gray Line New York Sightseeing as the best sightseeing tour company in town at its first Concierge Choice Awards. The awards are designed to honor recipients who provide exceptional visitor experiences to New York tourists.

Another laudable move by Gray Line New York was the retrofitting of 21 of its double-decker buses with technology that reduces 85 percent of the pollution produced by their diesel engines. The action was made possible by a grant and is designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of emission controls. The buses outfitted with the technology are expected to serve tourists for seven more years—meaning they will be major contributors to cleaner air in New York.

What more would you expect from a company so interested in bringing millions of visitors nearer to the wonders of NYC? Gray Line is excited to show off the city and is equally excited to make that experience as enjoyable as possible.

Come catch the bus and find out for yourself.
 
Get Ready to Go
To learn more about Gray Line New York Sightseeing Tours, including fares and schedules, visit www.coachusa.com/newyorksightseeing. For trip-planning assistance contact your AAA Travel agent or visit www.AAA.com/travel.