TV Tours & More

From King Kong to Black Swan, just how many of your favorite movies and TV shows are set in New York? No matter the number, we’re sure that every square inch of our fair city has been featured on film (maybe that’s the reason Law & Order had to finally come to an end?)

Even if you’re planning your first trip to New York City, it’s no surprise to us then that you already know some of the city’s neighborhoods and hot spots. But you don’t have to live vicariously through your favorite characters; a number of tours take you right on location so the next time you tune in, you can say, “I’ve been there!”

Guided by some of New York’s best actors, the New York TV and Movie Sites Tour offers the most comprehensive tour of Manhattan’s top film locations — from the Plaza Hotel (The Way We Were, Almost Famous, Home Alone 2 and North by Northwest) to the New York Public Library (Ghostbusters, Seinfeld, Spider Man and the first Sex and the City movie), Washington Square Park (I Am Legend, Enchanted) and Katz’s Deli (When Harry Met Sally).

Meanwhile across the East River, the Brooklyn Movie Sites Tour takes you to all the borough’s bridges, bistros and brownstones featured on the big and small screen, from the bookstore in Eat, Pray, Love, the Prohibition-era club in Boardwalk Empire, and the bar in The Departed.

Sex and the City wrapped filming years ago, but the spirit of Carrie and Co. lives on with a tour that hits all the hotspots made famous by the HBO show. The 3 &1/2-hour Sex and the City Bus Tour takes you to more than 40 locations from the TV series and two films, from Aidan’s furniture store to Carrie’s favorite boutiques. Bring extra cash for Cosmos and cupcakes!

Further uptown (Hello, Upper East Siders!), the precocious prep school teens on Gossip Girl have made this exclusive neighborhood truly famous (or is it infamous?). The Gossip Girl Sites Tour shows you a day in the life of Serena, Blair, and Chuck. (But leave the sex, drugs and back-stabbing to Mr. Bass, please.)

If you’re more into associates than socialites, the Sopranos Tour takes you from Midtown Manhattan into the heart of “Sopranoland,” New Jersey. This four-hour bus tour takes you to Barone Sanitation (Tony’s business), the Skyway Diner (where Christopher gets shot), Big Pussy’s auto body shop, and Satin Dolls, also known as the Bada Bing.

New York is also home to a number of live TV shows, and a tour of NBC’s studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza takes you behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, the Today Show, The Dr. Oz Show and NBC Nightly News. Or plan ahead and book tickets to a live taping.

What’s more, a number of Broadway shows are based on movies you may already know, so if you want to experience one of your favorites again in a new way, why not book tickets for Spider Man, Priscilla – Queen of the Desert, Catch Me If You Can, Mary Poppins, Billy Elliot or The Addams Family?

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