Central Harlem Tour: Explore African-American Culture

Regarded as an African-American hub during the beginning of the 20th century, Central Harlem is the birthplace of Jazz, Lindy Hop, and Swing. Today, it still shines as one of the most lively parts of Harlem for arts, food, and retail.

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Apollo Theater - Learn about Central Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights era, as well as the current developments of the area. Stroll around the 125th street shopping corridor, visit the African Market in Little Senegal, and see stately homes and architecture in the historic district. See and learn about the Apollo Theater,…
What's Included
  • Guided tour by licensed guide & local Harlem resident
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information
  • This is a walking tour. Wear appropriate clothing and footwear.
  • This tour focuses on neighborhood history. It does not include visit to church or music.
  • Tour may be moderately difficult for the physically challenged.
Location
700 St Nicholas Ave
Saint Nicholas Avenue
The tour guide will be in front of the Capital One Bank, 700 St Nicholas Avenue, on the NE corner. Directions to the meeting point: Take the UPTOWN A, B, C ,D subway lines to the 145th Street Station. Use the 145th Street to exit station.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(82 Ratings)
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965arlingtonc
Oct 24, 2024
Great Harlem Tour - We loved this tour. George was a great guide. As a resident of the neighbourhood he combined history with personal experience. It was enlightening to see such an interesting part of Manhattan and understand more about it's development, ups and downs (and ups) and learn more about the inhabitants of the area and their impact in history. Thoroughly enjoyed the content and loved George.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Bryan
Sep 22, 2024
Amazing walking tour of Harlem - This walking tour was fantastic. The tour guide, George was excellent. He was very knowledgeable and did a fantastic job. We learned a lot about the history and cultural aspects of Harlem. I would strongly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Viator
Thomasss6012sj
Sep 13, 2024
Fantastic Experience in Harlem - The Harlem tour was fantastic. George our Guide treated us like family and was extremely knowledgeable about Harlems history, sights and culture. Highlights were Hamiltons summer house, Apollo Theater, small music bar and the row house residential neighborhood. Definately will do the tour again with George on next trip to NYC !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Denisetp1312ke
Jul 10, 2024
Exceptional guide made history come alive - Highly recommend! Excellent, personable guide made history come alive with stories and local perspective. LOVED seeing and learning about each famous music club, legendary musicians. Could have kept on walking for more!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Michelle_r
Jun 30, 2024
A hidden gem of a tour - Such an informative tour, lots of history and fun facts about a part of NYC that I would have never thought to go visit.
Review provided by Viator
Latoyagay
Feb 11, 2024
Keith our tour guide is... - Keith our tour guide is super informative, he is literally a walking encyclopedia on Harlem, because of him my friends and I are coming back to see Hamilton on broadway! Definitely booking a tour again!
Review provided by Viator
Percy_j
Feb 11, 2024
Harlem Feb 2024 tour - Great!!! Our guide Dr Taylor did an excellent job of explaining, describing and showing our group the history of Harlem and the surrounding area
Review provided by Viator
Paul_s
Oct 22, 2024
Great guide - Our guide, George, was great. The tour was very informative and took in a lot of important locations. George provided local context. Would highly recommend.
Review provided by Viator
Tracy_t
Feb 20, 2024
Somewhat disappointed - I was looking forward to this walking tour and I was somewhat disappointed though I would still recommend this tour. Pros: The tour guide was VERY knowledgeable and was able to give us lots of details about the areas of Harlem that we walked through. It was very educational and filled with local anecdotes and personal stories. I was travelling with my niece (17) and I wanted her to learn about African American history, especially history she may not learn in school and that was accomplished! Cons: Tour operator: I emailed the tour operator twice with questions and I never heard back The tour: We started late because we were waiting for people (who never showed up). The tour was supposed to be 2 hours. After an hour and half, our guide told us that he was running late and the tour would go long so if anyone had plans afterwards we were close to primary subway station and it would b a good time to leave. We had plans for another tour at 1:30 (tour was supposed to end at noon) with a 30ish minute train ride. I didn't want to miss any of the tour so this was really a disappointment. Our guide expected the tour would be an additional 45 minutes. We had to leave early so we missed the part of the tour that covered more recent history like civil rights movement and we missed the Apollo Theater. That was a big disappointment esp because of my (aforementioned) desire to teach my niece about history AND I was looking forward to learning more myself. I would still recommend this tour to others with the warning it may go long and not to plan anything tight after. I hope the tour operator will consider making changes to make this a 3 hour tour OR condense the material to fit within the 2 hour time frame. Also, I'd suggest making a hard start time and recommend people arrive before the start time to ensure us early birds aren't punished by late arrivals.
Review provided by Viator
Irit_l
Oct 20, 2024
Don’t go!!! - The tour was boring! The guide didn’t explain much, walked slowly and almost didn’t talk! Even when he spoke he didn’t remember all the details. I’m talking tours all the time, this one was my worst ever!
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
November 2024
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