Best of New York - Personal Photo Tour

This is a great concept - seeing New York with a New Yorker who is also a professional photographer taking pictures of our group in front of some cool New York landmarks. For a first timer in New York, it was awesome. The city doesn't seem nearly as big or intimidating when you are going through it with someone who lives there. Things like how to ride the subway and how the trains work between uptown and downtown and the red line and the "W" line all were clear enough so that we rode the subway the rest of our time in the city. The fact that the whole group is in the picture - and you don't have to find someone to take a picture with your camera - is awesome. And, by the way, since the guide is a professional photographer the pictures were phenomenal. I would definitely do this early in your trip.

This was a great way to capture the city with my daughter and actually be in the pictures. I am always the designated photographer and rarely end up in any vacation photos. Now I have beautiful pictures with my daughter that I will cherish forever. The photographer customized the walking tour based on what we wanted to do and was flexible and informative. I was concerned that the walking might be too much for my daughter who is nine, but it was fun! We had such a great time and the pictures are really wonderful.

We are so glad we found phototrek tours!! It was everything we thought it would be and much more. One of the highlights of our trip. Definately worth every penny. Our guide was so accomodating of everyone in the group. Very informative, a great way to get an overview of the city and great pictures without having to take your camera. Lots of wonderful pictures. We had our CD's the next morning delivered to our hotel and returned home from vacation to find our photos had been e-mailed to us. I will definately recommend it to any of my friends and family visiting the Big Apple.

My wife and I have never been to NYC and went for a long weekend. I like to plan out everything in advance, being completely unfamiliar with the NYC area, the subways, the cabs, etc., I realized I was in for a huge undertaking. So much to do, so much to see, - where do you start? My wife and I are road warriors, but having to learn where to go, what to do, how to get there, looked like a week's worth of planning. We personally hate group tours - we find them impersonal and you are with a group of strangers that often move at a very different pace. We like bus tours even less because it's hard to get your bearings when you are riding and someone else is doing the driving. So I went on the web, stumbled onto PhotoTrek Walking Tours. Seemed like a great idea - a Native New Yorker who would take us on a PERSONAL TOUR and is a PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER who snaps pictures of us with the NYC backdrop! (like many couples. my wife and I have precious few pics of us together when traveling). We timed our 4 hour "Best of NY" Tour for the very first morning in NYC so we could enjoy the rest of our trip. So with very few plans pre-arranged, we took a huge leap of faith, counting on this tour to guide our trip. Long story short...this was the best decision we have made in years! Our tour guide, Marc Samuels showed up right on time and met us in the lobby of our Hotel (Westin Times Square) at 8:30AM sharp (as confirmed in a personal email to us prior to going). From there, we covered all of Manhattan like a blanket! This was done at our pace (which we are in shape an move pretty fast) - an absolute whirlwind tour of NYC! ..Times Square, Rockefeller Ctr, Trump Towers, Central Park, Chinatown, Little Italy, 5th Avenue, Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Station (ask about the whispering wall!), SoHo, Tribeca, Chelsea, Bleecker St, etc. etc. Marc narrates the tour the entire time, patiently asking all of your questions, but then says..."I would like you two to stand here...face this direction.." and snap! snap!..We felt like fashion models touring New York! Marc has an in depth knowledge of New York that has to put him at the top of all tour guides in NYC. When we were done with our tour, we knew exactly how to purchase subway tickets, what trains to get on and off, where to go, etc. NYC can be an intimidating place...after the tour, we were VERY comfortable going everywhere we wanted to go at any time! I can now converse with any New Yorker and know exactly the area! RATINGS: Tour Alone - 5+ stars VALUE: 5+ Stars (Very reasonable price...you try to hire a photgrapher in NYC for 4 hours PLUS get a 4 hour tour of NYC to boot!) . BONUS: 5+ Stars (200+ incredible high qual professional pics delivered to our Hotel next day on CD!) Request Marc Samuels (AWESOME). KNOWS NYC and KNOWS PHOTOGRAPHY! Keep up the good work (and please go to other cities!) We love NYC ...because of you! Godspeed! Mark and Jackie Kidder

What a fantastic day we had with our photographer Marc Samuels. The photos are "all" beautiful. Thank You Marc for the most wonderful coverage of New York City and the Brooklyn bridge. We would have never covered all the areas and picture perfect spots as we did in four hours. Errold and I thank you as well as our lucky stars for this fun filled adventure and a must do photograghic tour for all. We simply loved it and at the same time had alot of fun with you. Marc, you're alot of fun and made this tour very exciting. We brag and recommend this tour highly to all. Loving our captured memories and fully excited.... Alina and Errold Perez-Stoutenburg. Cape Coral, Florida May 2007.

We could not have been any happier with our wonderful photographer Marc! He was very nice, personable, patient, and very knowledgable of central park. We were renewing our wedding vows after 15 years of marriage and wanted photos to remember how wonderful it was. Our photos turned out so beautiful! Everyone has raved at how incredible and breath taking they are. I made a perfect decision in choosing Phototrek tours and MARC!!

MARK WAS WONDERFUL, HE WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND EAGER TO SHOW US AROUND NEW YORK, HE TOOK WONDERFUL PICTURES OF US. WHEN WE GOT BACK TO LUBBOCK,TX AND HAD OUR PICTURES DEVELOPE THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. THEY PROVIDED WONDERFUL VIEWS OF NEW YORK, BUT ALSO SHOWED US IN THEM. MARK IS GREAT, WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TOUR. WE WILL USE HIM AGAIN WHEN WE RETURN NEXT YEAR.

We took the "Best of New York" tour, and it was the highlight of our trip. Marc, our guide took us all over, got us around on the subway, pointed out items of interest we should go back and spend more time seeing (and explained how to get back to them), and showed things and took us places an ordinary tourist might not get to see. On top of all that, he took dozens and dozens of great pictures of group all over the city. I would strongly, strongly recomend this tour!!!

If you only have 4 hours in New York spend it on this tour. If you have 2 weeks in New York start with a 4 hour tour !

We were in New York for a trade show & luckily the first day we spent 2 hours with Marc. What a great decision! After the tour we had a good enough grasp of the system to use the subway! Before we arrived I had decided I would not use the subway at all. Not after the tour- he made it much easier to understand & took away the fear. The tour was great - we saw all of the places we agreed to see & have 95+ pictures to prove it. There are so many good ones its going to be hard to choose which ones to frame. I only regret not getting our photo with Marc. I hope you go & I hope you allow for the full four hours because that's the only thing I regret , is not having the 4 hour tour instead of the 2 hour! Have fun - I know we did!