New York Night Visitor Guide

Nothing you look at on a New York night needs a ticket of its own. The skyline, the bridges and Times Square are free, so what you pay for is how you see them. If you are weighing up New York Night tickets, start with what each fare buys.

The lights are free: what a night tour costs

You can stand in Times Square at midnight, walk the Brooklyn Bridge or ride the Staten Island Ferry past the harbor without paying anyone for the view. Times Square is a public street, open 24 hours, and the city runs the ferry free every day.

So a night tour sells you a way of seeing it: a seat on the water or in the air, a ride out to a viewpoint miles away, or a guide on foot. The lights are the same whichever fare you choose. What changes is where you stand, how long you get off the vehicle, and whether it is dark yet when you go.

Every fare is quoted in US dollars, as each operator lists it, and says whether it is for a person, a vehicle or a group. The private car's fare covers up to five of you, so for a family it can come close to five shared coach seats; for two it costs far more.

What is open after dark, and what is not

Most of what you see on a night tour you see from outside, or from the water. A few places stay open into the evening, and each keeps its own hours, so check the date before you plan around one.

The Empire State Building publishes its hours by date range. This autumn it closes at 10 or 11pm, with the entry door shutting an hour earlier, and you need a timed reservation. No night tour includes that ticket; the Spanish-guided lights tour lists it as an extra. The Statue of Liberty is reached only by the park's own ferry, so every night tour sees it from the water or the air.

When it gets dark, and why it matters

Most night tours leave at a fixed clock time, all year. Sunset in New York moves four hours through the year, from 4:28pm in early December to 8:31pm in late June, so the same fare is a different evening in each season. These times come from the U.S. Naval Observatory.

In June a 6pm bus is back before sunset, and a traveller who took one says to book the 8pm departure in summer. From November to mid-February you set out in full dark whichever you choose. The harbor cruises sold as sunset or harbor lights move their hour with the sun, so you see both. Every month, with the evening temperatures, is on the dark times and weather page.

Where the tours start

There is no single starting point. The cruises leave from four piers, three on the Hudson and one at South Street Seaport, and most buses and walks meet on the Midtown blocks just north of Times Square. The helicopter flights leave from New Jersey, not Manhattan: HeliNY from Linden Airport and two others from Essex County Airport in Fairfield.

Each start is plotted, with the way to reach it, on the meeting-points map. Be early: Circle Line asks you to reach Pier 83 45 minutes to an hour before sailing, because there is a security line, and several buses load on the same Midtown blocks after dark.

Getting back at the end of the evening

Most tours end close to where they began. Some finish somewhere else, and it helps to know where before you set out. One bar walk ends in Times Square, and a Dyker Heights coach finishes at Bryant Park. The Spanish-guided tour ends outside the Empire State Building at about 10:30pm.

The walks end on a street corner downtown: the haunted walk at the Washington Square Arch, the 8pm ghost walk at 7th Avenue and Christopher Street, the mafia dinner walk at Mulberry and Canal Streets. The pickup tours drop you back in Manhattan. From the airfields, you go back the way you came, by train or taxi.

Flights: the rules at the airfield

Bring government photo ID for every helicopter flight. HeliNY and Charm Aviation set a limit of 275 lb a passenger, and Zip Aviation 250 lb. HeliNY asks you to check in 50 minutes before your slot, lets you take only a camera, a phone and sunglasses aboard, and has free lockers for the rest.

To reach Linden Airport, HeliNY suggests NJ Transit from Penn Station, then a free shuttle from Linden station on request or a ten-minute taxi. Essex County Airport is about 45 minutes by taxi from Midtown, or you can take the Lakeland bus from the Port Authority on 42nd Street.

Who each tour suits

Several tours list wheelchair access: Circle Line's cruise from Pier 83, the open-top buses (Big Bus has a lift), some of the helicopter flights, the Greenwich Village walks and the mafia dinner walk. Most vans, coaches and closed-top buses say they are not suitable. Ask the operator before you book.

Children are welcome on most tours, and some coaches seat under-2s on a lap. The bar walks are 21 and over, with photo ID. On the flights, HeliNY seats under-2s on a lap while Charm Aviation charges the full fare from age 2.

Cancellations and the weather

Almost every tour here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours before it starts. The private night flight by plane is non-refundable, and its card says so. Operators may also cancel for bad weather or too few bookings, and then offer you a new date or a full refund.

Rain rarely stops a cruise, a bus or a walk, but the decks and the bus tops are outside, so bring a layer that sheds water. Flights and some vans are the ones most likely to be called off for the weather.

Times Square

Times Square is looked after by the Times Square Alliance, 1560 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10036, telephone (212) 768-1560. The square itself is a public street on Broadway and 7th Avenue between 42nd and 47th Streets, open to everyone around the clock. The Alliance does not sell or answer for the tours listed here.

Asked before you go