PhotoTrek Tours

Mark - we cannot thank you enough. Not only a personalised tour of the greatest city in the world , but a unique reminder of a fantastic family holiday. Anyone that can engage with my kids at 8.00am on a sunday morning deserves a medal - but from the moment that you met us at our hotel they were transformed. It certainly must be the best three hour tour of NY with a lifetime photo album thrown in for free ! Good luck with the business - you deserve your success.

I found the activity by chance when searching the internet for an attraction to celebrate my husband's birthday in NYC. The whole experience from purchasing the package to the actual tour was handled in a professional manner. We thoroughly enjoyed all the sights (i.e., Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Station, Central Park, Midtown, and Times Square. Our time with Mark was very enjoyable and comfortable. His personality was relaxing especially since it was our first time meeting him. He was willing to adjust the tour to what was to our liking. Although, we went with his recommendations which were right on track. After many trips to NYC, it was during our tour session that we experienced taking the subway and becoming more familiar with our surroundings. I would recommend this tour to any one looking to see the city and to commemorate the trip with photos. I just viewed the CD and was very pleased with the results. This is something we may do again when we return to New York.

This was our first trip to New York, we had booked a 7 day stay and wanted to make the best use of our time there. As a mother and son family we had almost no photos of the two of us together, so when I came across Marc's photo tour of New York on the internet it seemed the ideal solution for us. The other things that appealed to us were, Marc being a Native New Yorker, the tour being walking and subway, (rather than a bus) and a degree of personalization. My 12 year old son Damie is an avid Spiderman fan and wanted to see some of the famous landmarks from the films. Marc arrived early and let us know he was in the lobby of our hotel (another plus point, being collected). We met a well-turned out and extremely personable Marc, who immediately went through the Spiderman locations he could build into the tour - we had opted for the 4 hour one. He also checked the New York landmarks we were most interested in e.g. Central Park as opposed to the Financial District, in our case. This enabled him to decide how much time and focus to place on each location. Neither my son or I are naturals when it comes to being photographed, but Marc's expertise and quickness with his camera meant that we never had to pose or hold a smile for more than a few seconds. As a result we now have a disc of 200 professional photographs which Marc delivered to our hotel the following day. I know my son wouldn't have been willing to be photographed like this if I was holding the camera. Marc was also very sensitive to my son's sensory difficulties, when Damie found Times Square a bit too much for him, Marc moved quickly on, but still managed to get some shots here. He was very open and easy to talk to and we both enjoyed our time with him. At the end of the tour my son and I really felt confident about exploring New York over the rest of the week on our own, including using the subways, which Marc gave us a lesson in. We also felt we had received a comprehensive view of the city, visiting places we may not have got round to ourselves. With the portfolio of photos to take home from Marc's tour, we were able to spend the rest of our week in New York sans camera doing our own thing, including revisiting some of the places Marc had shown us. This tour is unique and real value for money - I would recommend it to anyone visiting New York.

My husband and I are from the UK, and only had two days to see New York City. Marc's tour was fantastic. I can't think of a better way to orientate yourself with the city, learn a bit about the city, work out how the subway works and get a CD full of wonderful photographs of the whole family. Marc was very friendly and relaxed, and adapted the tour to include a couple of things we specifically wanted to see. The CD of photographs arrived in the UK really quickly and we are so pleased with the photographs. I will be telling everyone I can about this tour!!!

Mark was absolutely wonderful. I used the Metro in DC for 10 years but was quite hesitant to go on the NY subway. Marks ability to show us what token to get, which train to get on, and how the routing worked was really informative and reassuring. I decided that morning in a change of itinerary - he was very flexible and accommodating. The pictures on the CD are absolutely fabulous and elicited many ou's and awe's from family and friends. They gave my son and me many happy memories and a plan to return! I wish we could have had another day for another 3 hour tour!

If you can't book it as the very 1st thing you do in NY; book it anyway!!! I wish we could've done this 1st on our trip but the tour was sold out on our 1st day (hence the reason u should stop reading and start booking so u don't miss out!) We took the tour on our 2nd day and our ONLY complaint was that we were not able to do it on our 1st day. Ok maybe we had two complaints; the second was that we couldn't just carry our tour guide along with us for the entire trip! He was FANTASTIC!! I had a couple of specific places I wanted to see that were nowhere near the 'actual tour sights' but our tour guide abliged w/o complaint and he made it work perfectly. He managed to ensure we saw some of the greatest sights all along the way of our 'detour' and all of the way back! We took the 3hr tour and I can't believe how much we packed into that tour! We saw more, laughed more, learned more and got more pics in that 3 hours than we did on our entire trip! If we saw something we wanted a pic by (that he normally would've walked past) we just pointed it out and snap snap we had the shots in addition to a wealth of information concerning the location. ANY questions we had were answered openly and with such knowledge! The shots themselves are FABULOUS! Plenty of close-ups, plenty of scenery shots surrounding us, and plenty of action shots (walking across streets, subways, climbing on the bridge etc). The rest of our personal trip photos (without the guide) has shots of JUST ME or JUST my boyfriend so having this tour's shots to mix in makes our photo album complete and a true joy to view again & again. I'm from a small town in Colorado where I have become spoiled with extremely friendly and personal service... this of course was not something I expected to receive in NYC; boy was I wrong! Our tour guide made me feel like I had never left my small town comforts the entire time we were with him! My fears of NYC were obliterated primarily because of this tour. By the time our tour was done my BF and I were ready to tackle anything NYC had to offer. We did a lot in NYC but nothing will stick in my mind like this tour. If not for this tour I doubt I would've felt like we 'did NY' but because of this tour our trip was complete and enabled us to return home with only the fondest of memories. WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU STILL READING THIS????? BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!! I only command this because I don't think anyone should have to visit NYC w/o this tour. YOU WONT REGRET IT! Sure it's a lil pricy if you compare it to some crowded and cheesy cruise ship or tour bus, but it's CHEAP when you consider the fact that you have one native New Yorker there to cater your needs and only your needs, who happens to be a professional photographer determined to send you home with a wealth of photo memories. You spent the money to get to NYC you may as well get your money's worth out of it and this tour is exactly how you will make up for the overpriced airfare & cabs!

We really liked the tour and enjoyed the pictures when we got home. Our 5 year old had a blast too! Tip: Try to book earlier in the day if you are doing it with kids in the summer. I was sweating pretty bad by the end of the tour. We live in Houston so we are used to the heat but the subway stations get very humid. The heat got to our five year old son too. Marc made a great restaurant recommendation for the olive tree. It had great food and it was very quite the day we were there. John

This was a highlight of our weekend in New York!! Not only was this tour informative and fun, we have SO MANY wonderful pictures that will be treasured for years to come! Mark was professional, friendly, and fun--- this will be some of the best money that you spend in New York!! Don't hesitate... book the tour!!

Thank you for a WONDERFUL New York City experience. This was by far the best tour we have ever taken. Marc is an incredible tour guide and a fantastic photographer. He captured the essence of NY City in photos that we could have never done on our own. He not only educated us on the city but on how to get around and we felt very comfortable in NY by the time the tour was over. He definitely went the extra mile by carrying my bag so that we would have uncluttered pictures. He thinks of everything and this became even more apparent after we got home and we saw the photos he had taken....WOW !!! I want to do this again if we ever go back, this is an adventure worth every penny. At the end of the day, it is truly a priceless experience to take home photos that are fun and creative and have done a tour that was truly remarkable. Thank you for making our trip great and for making us feel so special.

I love to scrapbook our vacations and this was perfect. I have pictures of our whole family in various places in New York City (not just the kids). If this is your first time to New York City make sure you plan this tour at the beginning of your trip. Mark will explain the Subway system, tell you where to eat and take you to various popular destinations in two hours. Mark has a great personality and the kids (age 13 and 17) loved him. Well worth the price!! Thanks Mark for making our first trip to NYC the best.

We only had one day in Manhattan and wanted to see as much as we could. We found Photo Trek on the Internet and it seemed great for two single ladies visiting the City for the first time. We spoke with our guide, Marc Samuels, by phone prior to making the trip and gave him an idea of what we wanted to see. Marc made some excellent suggestions and we tailored the tour to our own taste and pace. Marc met us in our hotel lobby and the adventure began. In just 4 hours, we were able to see so much of this fabulous City--places we'd seen in movies and read about in books. At a comfortable pace, we visited areas such as Time Square, Rockefeller Center, Wall Street, Trump Tower, Tiffany's, the spectacular view of the city from the Brooklyn Bridge, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park, Soho, Central Park, Grand Central Station, City Hall and City administration buildings and even a visit to the site of the former World Trade Center. The tour included many photo ops and we were invited to request specific shots as desired. Our guide was very professional, knowledgeable of the city, personable, an excellent photographer and delightful company. We continued to our next destination in upstate New York after the tour. Marc sent our photos via prirority mail and we each had a CD containing our photos waiting for us when we returned to our respective homes. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting New York.

My mom and I had a marvelous time on our four hour walking/photo tour of New York with Marc. Being first-time visitors, we were able to see so much of the city in just a short amount of time. Marc is very knowledgeable about the city and he took LOTS of beautiful photographs of us and the scenery. The disc with the photographs on it was delivered to our hotel that very same evening. We were extremely delighted with the final product and we recommend this tour to everyone!

My husband and I were in NYC for only 3 days. I had traveled there for work many times, but had never gotten to explore the city, and my husband had never been before. Since we had such a short time, and we were completely unfamiliar with the city, we decided this tour might be a good way to see the "high points" and get a nice overview of the city. We were right. We saw more in that two hours than we saw the rest of the time we were there. Marc walked us all over that city, through the Park, on and off subways and across bridges. The whole time, he is answering questions, taking pictures of us in front of various sites, and teaching us the ins and outs of the city.....areas to visit, places to eat, how to get around on the subway, etc. He had very quick and polite correspondence with us prior to our tour, met us right on time at our pre-arranged meeting spot, then came by our hotel later that same night to drop off a CD with all the pictures he had taken earlier. We would most definitely recommend this tour to anyone- especially if you are only in the city for a short stay and want to see as much as possible. Wear comfortable tennis shoes and get ready for a lot of walking, but it is great fun with a friendly and knowledgable guide. And the extra bonus- we came home with more pictures of us together than we have had taken in the last ten years of marriage! Thanks again Marc!

My husband and I would like to say thank you for such a wonderful time in New York. I don't believe we could have seen everything on our own. It was fun and we enjoyed the fast walking....You really new your stuff. By the way since we had to taste every pizza out there. The only one we can write home about is the one in Solo. I believe it was Solo. Best Pizza ever!!! We wish you luck in your venture. If we ever come back I will definately be calling you. Thanks so much for such a wonderful time. I almost forgot about the pictures you took. You did a great job and we will never forget our trip. Todd and Kimberly From Arizona

We had no better experience during our vacation in New York than our photo tour. Every picture turned out great, and we got to see more than we thought possible. Mark was a knowledgable guide and an excellent photographer. We highly recommend it to everyone! Thanks again for such a wonderful experience!!