mightysquidwhale
Dec 2019
My 9yo son and I went on this tour last week, and we had a fantastic time seeing the holiday lights and checking out the markets. This was a fantastic way to see Rockefeller Center, the Saks display, and what few remaining Christmas windows are in the city. Russell was incredibly knowledgeable and I appreciated how he engaged us in what we wanted more or less of as part of our tour.
Things to know:
- Wear good, waterproof walking shoes - you will be racking up the steps.
- Dress for the weather. Hats and gloves made us much happier.
- You will have enough time to grab bites of food at the markets or to shop - but not really both. We used it to figure out which markets we wanted to go back and spend more time at, and got doughnuts at one market and terrific dumplings at the second.
- If you go with kids, plan to give them snacks. The dumplings are one of the main reasons we had such a great time.
My highlights were seeing Grand Central Station, walking past the NYLibrary at night and down literary row, and the amazing holiday market at Grand Central Station.
Extra special kudos to Russell, who gave us great information and local stories about New York, who staged us perfectly to watch the whole Saks' display, who very patiently chatted with my son who wanted to talk all about video games with him, and who did a fantastic job of reading his crowd and adjusting to give us a personalized experience. Definitely a winner over the holidays!