New York Tours: See the City’s Real Contrasts

With the New York Contrasts Tour you get a glimpse of «deep New York» on a 5-hour ride through authentic neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens that could not be more different from one another.

I really do recommend it. It's a fast, safe way to reach far-flung spots and areas that aren't used to seeing tourists. You can book it here.

After this tour of contrasts, literally, you'll see what I'm always telling you: there is a lot of New York outside Manhattan. It's a great starting point for deciding which neighborhoods deserve more of your time later on.

New York Contrasts tour itinerary

Throughout the Contrasts Tour you'll have a Spanish-speaking guide with you the whole time, giving you historical and cultural context for every neighborhood you pass through. Not a minute goes to waste on this one! 😀

Another perk: it's perfect for resting a few hours after all that pounding the pavement in New York. You travel comfortably by bus, and it stops so you can take photos and see the sights up close.

The bus picks you up at an agreed meeting point in Midtown Manhattan (you'll be told where when you book the tour).

The route can vary a bit, but the basic structure is the same: from Midtown Manhattan you head to Harlem, then the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, finishing at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge or in Chinatown and Little Italy, whichever you prefer.

1. Harlem

After crossing Manhattan you reach the first stop: Harlem, north of Central Park. This Manhattan neighborhood borders the Bronx, the borough you'll see next after crossing the Harlem River.

In Harlem you'll stop on a residential street lined with classic brownstones, those continuous-facade buildings, four stories max, with the charming stoops you've surely seen hundreds of times in movies and TV shows.

2. The Bronx

The moment you cross into the Bronx you'll notice the contrast. That's when the name of this tour starts to make sense.

The Bronx is one of the boroughs of New York that's trickiest to visit on your own. True, it has wonderful, peaceful places like the real Little Italy, the Bronx Zoo, the largest urban zoo in the world, and the New York Botanical Garden. But it also has less safe yet fascinating pockets in the South Bronx, which this tour makes sure you don't miss.

Bronx graffiti

The first thing you'll learn is that the history of the Bronx is painted on its walls.

You'll pass several famous murals dedicated to local figures, many with tragic endings. Among them the graffiti of Christopher Ríos, Big Pun, the Puerto Rican rapper who died from obesity, and «Headache Nelson«, a baseball prospect murdered in cold blood by his own brother in a gang dispute, and one for Jonathan, a 6-year-old killed by a stray bullet.

You won't stop at these spots. They're sad places of remembrance for the neighbors, who understandably don't want them turned into tourist attractions. You will get to see them from the bus.

Don't worry, though, the tour does stop at one of the most classic murals, in a safe spot next to a subway station.

It's a piece that declares its love for the Bronx: «I love the Bronx», a painting packed with references to the Latino culture that gave this New York borough its character.

The Joker stairs in New York

Remember the scene where Joaquin Phoenix, the Joker, dances down a long staircase to Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll Part 2? Start rehearsing your choreography, because on the Contrasts Tour you'll visit the Joker stairs.

That said, they'll ask you to keep the noise down. The neighbors around the famous staircase are not thrilled about the waves of dancers who show up early in the morning.

If you'd rather visit the Shakespeare Steps, their real name, on your own, they're in the Highbridge neighborhood at 167th Street and Shakespeare Avenue.

Look them up on a map and you'll see they're way out of the way, with no other attractions nearby, so getting taken to this famous location alone made the tour worth it (and yes, that's me clowning around on the steps! 😜).

Yankee Stadium

Another key stop in the Bronx is Yankee Stadium. If you're into sports you'll know this is an iconic place, home of New York's famous baseball team.

The stadium you'll see is the new one. Fans still mourn the loss of the old Yankee Stadium, especially because they got rid of the parking lots where people used to barbecue before the game, a full-blown American tradition, as the guides will tell you.

3. Queens

Next up is Queens, the largest borough in New York. Fair warning: you'll only get a glimpse of areas that are wildly different from each other, because that's the whole point of the tour: showing you how diverse New York is.

You'll start in Malba, a neighborhood of enormous houses, manicured gardens and plenty of sports cars that scream new money (it'll remind you of the Sopranos neighborhood in New Jersey!).

Your guide will explain that this is one of the most upscale neighborhoods outside Manhattan. It surprised me, because it looks nothing like the New York we're used to. It really was a «contrast».

Then you'll visit the huge Flushing Meadows Corona Park, home to the Mets stadium, the site of the US Open tennis tournament and the structures that showed up in Men in Black (remember the alien spaceship?).

Along the way you'll pass «Little India» on the very international Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Then it's straight on to Brooklyn, the last stop on the New York Contrasts Tour before heading back to Manhattan.

4. Brooklyn

Brooklyn is also enormous, multicultural and full of neighborhoods with strong personalities, from elegant Brooklyn Heights to corners frozen in time like Coney Island, to name just a couple.

Of all of them, the Contrasts Tour takes you to a very particular one: Williamsburg, home to New York's Orthodox Jewish community (remember the series Unorthodox? This is where that story begins).

Don't assume Williamsburg is only home to the Hasidic community. They live in the south of the neighborhood. North Williamsburg is hipster territory, a trendy area packed with culture and nightlife.

But the tour will give you a look at the Hasidic way of life. Be very discreet if you decide to photograph them, since it's not something they appreciate. In fact, they don't like strangers, and if you're a woman you'll notice that the men look at the ground as you walk past (that's when I took the photo, haha). Looking at «other men's women» is frowned upon.

You'll recognize the Jewish men by their traditional hat, kippah and black coat, their neatly kept beard and the ringlets on either side of the face (payot).

The women also dress in dark tones, with skirts below the knee and sleeves below the elbow. They're always surrounded by children, and lots of them.

If you look closely, you'll notice that married women wear wigs (sheitel) or headscarves so that nobody outside the family sees their natural hair (watch Unorthodox before you do the Contrasts Tour! It'll teach you a lot more about their customs).

When this short cultural immersion in Hasidic customs wraps up, you'll get back on the bus and head for the Brooklyn Bridge. Before crossing over to Manhattan, you can choose between 2 options:

1. Say goodbye to the group and stay in DUMBO, then walk back to Manhattan across the bridge (if you ask me, this is the best option!)
2. Stay on the bus and finish the route near Chinatown and Little Italy. 

Where to book the New York City Contrasts Tour

Online you'll find several providers offering the same contrasts tour, and picking one can turn into a real ordeal.

To help you choose, I recommend booking the tour with Viabam, a sister platform created precisely to help you find tours run by trustworthy operators, well rated and, best of all, the cheapest ones!

If you google the tour, you'll notice that most companies offer the same thing and follow the same routes, only they charge more. That's another reason Viabam exists: to get the best rates on the market so you can put every cent you save into seeing more of this city we're all fascinated by.

If you're looking for the cheapest Spanish-language contrasts tour, you've come to the right place 😁

And remember, you're only seeing a few slices of New York. Don't go thinking that Queens is nothing but mansions like the ones in Malba, that everyone in the Bronx is in a gang, or that the residents of Brooklyn are all Jewish.

This tour is designed precisely to surprise you with just how varied and multicultural New York City really is.

Enjoy!