self guided pizza tour nyc

10 Best Grandma Pizzas in New York City, a Self-Guided Pizza Tour

On our last visit to  New York City , we were there with one sole purpose:  to eat all the pizza possible . When you’ve visited a city multiple times, seen all the top sights, visited the highly rated restaurants and sought out all those fabulous views, sometimes you’re looking for something a little activity rather than a destination. Something  hyper-local . And for us, that was creating our own  New York City Pizza Tour ! And while any pizza tour of New York City is bound to be incredible, we decided to put a  different  spin on ours. And that was to sample some of the Best Grandma Pizza in  New York ! 

After a week-long search across the city, I bring you this  self-guided pizza tour !   With this guide, you find and eat all these delicious slices on your next visit to the Big Apple! Don’t get me wrong, I love a triangle slice, but there are lots of those food tours out there! And I wanted to create something a little different. And trust me, you’ll totally fall in love with the grandma pizza if you’ve never had one before.

What is Grandma Pizza?

A Grandma Pizza is a distinctly New Yorkian invention. It made a name for itself on Long Island in the 1970s. Back then, restaurants were tired of making trendy circular pies and longed for a slice of nostalgia.  So what did they do?  Go back to the cookbooks and memories they cherished of their grandmother’s home-cooked pizza. 

Long Island Grandmas

A massive congregation of Italian immigrants arrived to Long Island in the 1880s. When these women landed on these new shores, they didn’t have almost anything to their name. Knowing cooking was the best way to preserve their heritage, they longed to whip up a traditional pizza to have a slice of home. But they didn’t have access to a coal pizza oven. And without the ovens, they couldn’t make the traditional round pies they used to cook back home in Italy.

But, they would not let this lack of tools defeat their quest. Instead, they used simply what they had at home. A sheet pan and a regular oven. The ingredients on top of the pizza were also humble. Homemade tomato sauce was the star of the show, along with fresh cheese and a green leaf of basil. These were the pizzas many restaurant owners grew up eating before opening their own joints. In the 1970s, they wanted to bring these slices back. And this time, sell them to everyone to let them get a taste of grandma’s delicious pizza. Hence the name. So before you tell me that these slices aren’t “traditional” New York pizza, I’d say that the grandma slice is even more hyper-local than the triangle street slices. One was brought to New York from Italy, the other was born right here in NYC.

Anatomy of a Grandma Pizza

As mentioned, grandma pizzas are made not in circular pans but in deep sheet trays. The dough for a grandma’s pizza is nice a thick! Almost like focaccia. This is the slice for you for someone who loves the bread part of pizza! The thick dough is instrumental in soaking up all that delicious tomato sauce they pile onto the pizza. You will find some grandma pizzas made in the Sicilian style, with thin crusts, but those are just as delightful.

To me, a great-tasting sauce is another key element that takes the grandma pizza to another level. Tangy and fresh, with nice dollops of sauce. Unlike regular triangular slices, the cheese is there to compliment the sauce, not overwhelm it.

Lastly, a serving of basil freshens the entire dish and lightens the heaviness you sometimes get with thick pizzas. Once cooked, the grandma’s pizza is served in rectangular slices. The corner slice is the most coveted of all the parts of the pizza as you get that nice crispy edge on two sides, a real  pièce de résistance.

Despite being one of the original dishes introduced by Italian immigrants, the grandma pizza has really only caught on throughout the city in the last 20 years. In the 70s, it stayed mainly on Long Island, but today, you can find it everywhere! And it is one of the city’s most popular slices in pizza shops. Often selling out long before the other pies. This Pizza Tour of New York will show you where to get the best grandma slices in the city. I’ve organized the different stops into their various neighbourhoods so you can plan your day around them. Spend a day in Brooklyn or an afternoon in Williamsburg. Use these locations to etch out your rough itinerary. And use the time between meals to explore the neighbourhoods more for yourselves!

Individual Slices

All the pizza stops on this list sell individual slices of pizza. I went through many other guides of the best pizza in New York that only featured whole pies. And while I’m sure they’re delicious, whole pies almost always mean a sit-down experience. Or just the need to eat an entire pizza. If you’re travelling with a big group, this might work. But smaller groups will find it harder to fit in as many stops if they’re required to eat an entire pizza every time.

Buying individual slices also means these stops on the New York City Pizza Tour can be as quick as you want. If you want to down your pizza and get on the road, so be it! But if you’d rather sit down for a bit, you can do this too! Options for all! If you’re not a huge eater, get one slice, and share it between two people. That way, you can easily fit more slices from different locations across town in one day. We would frequently order just one slice to share and almost everywhere we went offered to slice it down the middle for us!

Rating Your Pizzas

One of the things that really took our pizza tour to the next level was rating them along the way! Who had the best crust, the tastiest sauce, the perfect atmosphere, and the most unique toppings? After making a little scorecard we could determine which places were whose favourites! It’s such a fun way to get the conversation going and make more of an event out of the entire tour! Obviously, everyone will have their own opinion about their favourite kind of pizza, and these were just my favourites. But hopefully, you will love the ones we found for you!

Another huge bonus to this type of tour is the price ! New York City is an expensive best to travel. But all of these slices on tour are under $6. So it’s easy to get  really full  for  really cheap!

Map of New York City Pizza Tour

Sal’s Pizza, Brooklyn

Brooklyn is my favourite place in the city to come for pizza. The streets are such a dream to walk around, and there is no shortage of incredible architecture, chic cafes and awesome shops. But best of all, is the pizza. Sal’s Pizzeria  is one of those Brooklyn establishments that feels like it hasn’t changed in 50 years. This place is  CASH ONLY ; that’s how old school they really are. Sal’s is as unpretentious as it gets without compromising on quality.

The sauce here is amazingly tangy. Made with fresh, chewy tomatoes, onions and garlic. But to make the pizza that much more interesting, they add a few dollops of pesto sauce. This really amps up the flavour. Sitting outside with a couple of glass soda bottles makes you feel like stepping back to a simpler time. The perfect way to spend the afternoon.

BONUS: Walk to  Court Pastry Shop  across the street for an authentic cup of Italian Ice. Court Pastry Shop has been open for almost 75 years and is a slice of Brooklyn’s history!

Address: 305 Court St, Brooklyn, NY 11231 Price: $3.50

Di Fara Pizza, Brooklyn

The Di Fara Pizza shop is a bit of a trek to get to, located in the Midwood neighbourhood of Brooklyn. But it’s one of those places worth the effort to find. Thankfully the Q train has a station right outside the restaurant at Avenue J. So it’s still very accessible by public transit. Di Fara Pizza has been open here since 1965. It was started by the De Marco family , who immigrated from Italy. And ever since opening, their pies has been legendary.

Their grandma slices have the most impeccably caramelized crust with just the right amount of crunch and burn. The huge dollops of sauce are the ideal compliment to the crispy dough. This is the freshest pie you can ask for. The tomatoes tasted like they were plucked from the plant only moments before and yet embued with such herby flavours. Yes, sure, there might be a wait, but it’s worth it! And the people watching here in this quaint little neighbourhood is a great way to pass the time.

Address: 1424 Avenue J, Brooklyn Price: $6.00

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Table 87, Brooklyn

Table 87  made a name for itself off its coal-fired oven. The super-heated range cooks pizzas at 900° in under just two minutes! The result is this flavourful char that is other worldly. And while they might have a few different locations around the city, their flagship spot in Brooklyn is my favourite place to dive into one of their incredible slices!

The margarita pizza had the best tasting cheeses of all the locations we’d been to. Salty, stretchy and stupendous! I’m someone who really loves cheese, and the fact this place lays it on thick (literally) added extra points in my book! The dough was also one of the thickest, which helped balance out the extra cheese. Their outdoor seating in the middle of one of the charmingest parts of Brooklyn is icing on the cake. But if you visit when it’s chilly they have a huge amount of indoor seating. Enjoy a slice with a glass of wine or crisp Italian soda.

Address: 87 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn Price: $5

Gravesend, Brooklyn

The newbie on the Brooklyn block is Gravesend Pizza . Aptly named as they are located just west of the famous Greenwood Cemetery . And their pizza is truly to die for. But let’s hope not literally. Gravesend specializes in a few different grandma-style pizzas but their upside-down pizza, served with the sauce on top, is my favourite. The tomatoes get carmelized slightly more by the direct heat of the oven by being on top. Leaving you with the tastiest pizza! The staff here were immensely kind and welcoming. Making us truly wish we lived just around the block so we could visit them every week!

Address: 181 34th St, Brooklyn Price: $4

Best Pizza, Williamsburg

Williamsburg is best known today as the centre of hipster culture. But historically, it was also home to a large Italian community. And the blend of trendy and historical cuisines results in some of the best spots in the city to get a slice! One of those places is aptly named  Best Pizza!  Restaurant owner Frank Pinello grew up on Long Island, where he was greatly influenced by his Sicilian grandmother’s cooking. Down in the basement, she would crank out traditional grandma-style pizzas, and Pinello wanted to bring those same delicious flavours to the public when he owned his establishment.

The pizzeria uses a 120 years old wood-burning oven to churn out some of the best slices in town. The wood they use in the oven really flavours the pizzas which come out of it. They are also well known for making their own fresh mozzarella in-house. And trust me, if you’re a cheese fan, you can really taste the difference. The crust here is both thin and bubbly, all at the same time. The flavours are simple and complex. This place truly is the definition of balance. It’s genuinely an incredible culinary experience and one you NEED to try. And honestly, the retro patio chairs out front make it feel so homely. Like you really are eating at your grandma’s house!

Address: 33 Havemeyer St, Brooklyn, NY 11211, United States Price:

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Williamsburgh Pizza, Williamsburg

The exterior of  Williamsburgh Pizza  is one of the most iconic of all our destinations. Those old-fashioned red and white stripes simply call you inside! The Williamsburgh Pizza shop made a name for itself here in this trendy neighbourhood. But it wasn’t long before they started to expand to locations around the city. But their original spot in Williamsburg is my pick of places to try out these stunning slices! It just feels all the more authentic.

Williamsburg Pizza is the place to go for that delectable crunch! The dough is crispy, but the interior is chewy, fluffy and airy all at once! I also really felt like I could taste the garlic in their tomato sauce more than at other places. And I loved that addition. When we visited. they were out of the margarita grandma slices, so we got the pepperoni. I loved how the pepperonis got a little burnt just around the edges. It added such a dynamic flavour and was irresistible. Biting into this slice, the crunch echoes across the neighbourhood. Like a bat signal, calling out to other hungry pizza fanatics.

Address: 265 Union Ave, Brooklyn Price: $5

Screamer’s Pizzeria, Williamsburg

If you only saw pictures from this place, you’d never know all the slices here are VEGAN! I wanted to include at least one vegan option on this list. Vegan food is becoming increasingly more popular and if you’ve never had a vegan pizza before, THIS is the place to try one! Screamers  are undoubtedly the most modern pizzeria on the list, leaning into the needs of the clientele that makes up the neighbourhood. As soon as you step inside you are greeted by these fantastically bright pink walls. Local artisan prints hang on the walls and band stickers cover the tiles. It’s a hipster haven.

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If there is one thing that vegans have perfected, it’s bread. And the bread is best savoured in its grandma slices. The crust is huge and fluffy, and the sauce they serve is wonderfully favoured with their homemade garlic oil. I don’t know much about vegan cheese, but the kinds they used to simulate the real thing was super impressive. The perfect blend of creamy and salty, brightened up by those fresh slices of basil! Absolutely magical!

Address: 620 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn Price: $4.75

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Kiss My Slice, Manhattan

Over in Manhattan , you can barely go one block without seeing signs for pizza. While heading over to the theatre district before a Broadway show, we were on the hunt for a slice. I had monstrously low expectations as this part of town is my worst nightmare. Most of the area is just crowds of souvenir shops and tourist traps. But, I thought to myself, even bad pizza is still pretty good , so what do I have to lose?

We stopped into Kiss My Slice , thinking of it as nothing more than a stereotypical New York-style hole in the wall. No aesthetics or even a table to sit down on. It’s a standing room only! But as soon as we walked in, we were greeted with such friendly smiles. And I was really impressed with the variety of toppings on their offerings. But we went with the grandma-style pizza and were so surprised by just how delicious it was! The sauce was tangy and fresh, the crust was crispy but not dry. And the cheese had the perfect pull to it. Overall, having a good spot in the centre of town is so important. As a tourist, you’ll more than likely have to cross through this area around Times Square. And knowing where to grab a decent slice is key!

Address: 274 W 40th St, New York Price: $4.25

Vito’s Slices and Ices, Manhattan

Vito’s Slices and Ices  is a relatively new shop that came onto the pizza scene in Manhattan a few years ago. But the owners come with over 20 years of restaurant experience. They opened this place to honour old-school New York-style pizza. Made with hand stretch dough and specializing in grandma square slices ! The shop gets a lot of their produce from local farmers’ markets, and this freshness is noticeable in the food! Despite being a relatively new establishment, the interior decor references old-school pizzerias of the 1930s. And I can’t get enough of it!

Their grandma’s slices are stacked ! Definitely one of the fluffiest doughs we’ve had. Like biting into a pillow! The sauce here is unreal, and I think one of the best parts of the pizza. Unlike some joints that only sell one style of grandma, this place has three versions, including the upside-down Sicilian slice. I love these upside-down slices as the sauce really is allowed to sing and be the star of the show.

Address: 464 9th Ave, New York Price: $4.25

Corner Slice, Manhattan

Okay, if you’re into bread, you need to hit up  Corner Slice . Although this restaurant is deemed one of the more modern pizzerias in the city, it is doing it right. Corner Slice takes bread baking to the next level, using only artisan flour for all of its pizza. Their dough undergoes a 60-hour fermentation before it is stretched out to become the base for the pizzas. The result? A heavenly puffy and chewy crust with a depth of unrivalled flavour.

In addition, their grandma-style slice features three different kinds of tomatoes from New York, California and Sicily. The texture is rather pulpy, and while I’m NOT a pulp fan, even I was wowed by how flavourful each bite was. The pizzas are topped with sweet Sicilian oregano before they are served up to the customer, leaving you with an entirely unique-tasting slice in a chic, quick-service shop! Phenomenal.

Address: 600 11th Avenue at, W 45th St, New York Price: $5.75

Phew , I’m full just writing all this! But has me dreaming of going back to New York to get my hands on just one of those incredible slices. Thank you for joining me on this self-guided New York City Pizza Tour . Let me know in the comments which shop was your favourite or any others you think should be added to the list! The possibilities are endless in a city like New York City but I hope my guide has helped you find a few hidden gems!

Happy Travels, Adventurers

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Best Grandma Pizza is the Fresh Plum Tomato and Basil, at Dino’s in Riverdale. Hands down.

The Creative Adventurer

Thanks David! The one in the Bronx correct? If yes I have added it to my list! Thanks for the recommendation!

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Want to run your own NYC pizza tour? I gotchu.

I'm Aaron , and I’ve run a bunch of pizza tours for friends (and a few companies) over the years. They're always great, and there's no way to screw them up. Here's the playbook so you can run your own. I hope you do! 

The important tips:

Make sure all the pizza places are somewhat walkable from one another. Start by mix & matching 4 places from the list below, and add another one or two if folks are still hungry

Save room to end with a fun dessert. Rice to riches is a great bet

Stick to places with slices…with Rubirosa being the exception because it's so damn good

Ask each pizza place to cut slices in half. Everyone gets a half slice at each place

Get dietary restrictions ahead of time and adjust your ordering accordingly

If possible, have a trusted #2 run in and do all the ordering for the group. People like not having to make decisions, and for the pizza to just magically appear ✨

Have an opinion about the best slice at each place, and order (mostly) that

It's sometimes a nice idea to bring drinks to hand out at the start

Make scorecards on Canva where people can rate things like sauce, cheese, crust, and the overall bite

As the guide, know a fun fact or two about each place. You can get from wikipedia, yelp, or the website

Recommended spots & slices: You can do them in any order, but I put my faves toward the top...

Joe’s // Fresh Mozzarella slice

Prince Street Pizza // Pepperoni Sicilian (or regular Sicilian for vegetarians)

Rubirosa // tri-color pie (order ahead, need to get a whole pie but it’s thin)

L’Industrie West Village // hot honey or spicy salami

Emmy Squared in the East Village // classic detroit // (order ahead and ask them to cut it small)

Pizza Loves Sauce // new and I haven’t been, but people seem to love it

Bleeker St Pizza // margarita

And because it’s my most-asked question…the tri-color from Rubirosa is my favorite slice in NYC.👇

5 Great Pizza Spots in Greenwich Village

There are lots of great reasons to visit Greenwich Village.  And great pizza is certainly one of them!

And in this post, we highlight 5 of our neighborhood favorites for a fresh and delicious slice (or two!).

Most locals will tell you that NYC has the best pizza (our clean and tasty tap water is the secret “ingredient”) and many visitors would agree.  And Greenwich Village makes it easy to sample your way from one great pizzeria to another, since these five great Village spots are a pepperoni’s throw away from each other.

You can do your own self-guided NYC pizza tour using the map below:

Don’t have time to read this on your screen right now ?   Click here to get this as a free and printer-friendly PDF file  in your inbox and take it with you to NYC (with a larger map)!

And if you need help navigating the subway to get to Greenwich Village, check out our helpful beginner’s guide to using the NYC subway .

Table of Contents

• 1.1 Bleecker Street Pizza
• 1.2 John’s Pizza of Bleecker Street (circa 1929)
• 1.4 Joe’s Pizza
• 1.5 La Lanterna

Best Pizza in NY’s Greenwich Village

Bleecker Street Pizza

Address: 69 7th Avenue South (corner of Bleecker Street)

Voted “Best Pizza in NY” by the Food Network several times, Bleecker Street Pizza is cramped, casual, and the walls are full of the requisite celebrity photos (think Mike Tyson and Steven Tyler without makeup).  And they make some of the best pizza around.  Try their signature Nonna Maria slice, with home-made marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese and basil.

The great news is that in 2018, Bleecker Street Pizza expanded next door and now offers a nice sit-down dining experience as well, if you’re not in a rush.  Same great pizza, but more elbow room!

In fact, if your time is limited and you can  only  pick one pizza spot on this list, we can wholeheartedly recommend the Nonna Maria slice at Bleecker Street Pizza.  You might just get a second slice!

You will be salivating for more.  Luckily, they are open until 5am Friday through Sunday, so you can always come back for a late-night snack between bar hops.

John’s Pizza of Bleecker Street  (circa 1929)

278 Bleecker Street (corner of Jones Street)

First rule of John’s (of Bleecker Street) Pizza — absolutely no slices!  So come hungry and bring a friend or significant other to share a classic pie with.  You won’t regret it.  They’ve been cranking out pies from their brick oven at this location since 1929, so it’s safe to say they have it down pat.

Leave your mark by carving your initials in the wooden booths (if you can find space, that is).  Expect a wait to get in, especially on weekends (they don’t take reservations).

271 Bleecker Street

Diagonally across from John’s is a different kind of pizza restaurant that has earned some serious street cred and rave reviews during its decade-long existence (opened in 2009).

The name Kesté means “this is it” in the Neapolitan dialect, which is fitting since this place is all about Neapolitan pizza, run by an Italian-born chef who studied pizza-making in Naples.  So while the first 2 recommendations feature NY-style pizza (a thin-crust slice which you can fold, hold and eat), Kesté requires table seating and the use of a fork and knife (gasp!).

The ingredients are fresh and the choice of toppings varied.  You can get a nice glass of wine to go with your pizza and warm up with home-made  burrata , served with  prosciutto di parma .  They have a custom-built oven, in which your pie cooks in less than a minute.

Joe’s Pizza

7 Carmine Street (off corner of Bleecker Street)

This “no-frills” cash-only Village staple (circa 1975) sells more plain and pepperoni slices on a daily basis than we can fathom.  Bring some cash, get a slice or two to go (there isn’t much seating) and grab a spot on one of the benches in Father Demo Square across the street.  Do some people watching while munching on the thin crust, fresh cheese and pepperoni.  Just leave some crust for the resident pigeons.

Expect a line out the door during the lunch rush at most times on weekends.

By the way, you might recognize Joe’s from Spider-Man 2 (2004).  If you need a refresher, check out this  pizza delivery scene .

La Lanterna

129 MacDouglal Street (off corner of West 3rd Street)

The last recommendation on our list isn’t really a pizza joint.  It’s a cozy Italian restaurant, with an inviting glass-roofed garden in the rear and a jazz bar downstairs.  La Lanterna’s menu is pretty extensive, and it includes a large section of thin-crust, made-to-order, 10-inch pizza.

Here, you can enjoy an intimate dinner, while satiating your pizza craving.  And while there are no celebrity photos, they offer nice decor, Sinatra tunes, and even put a candle on your table.  Be sure to leave room for their mouth-watering tiramisu and wash it down with a tasty caffe latte.  Afterwards, head to the basement for live jazz and drinks at Bar Next Door.

You can’t go wrong with any of these places, so perhaps get to Bleecker Street really hungry and do a self-guided pizza jaunt.  Working west to east, you’d hit Bleecker, John’s, Kesté, Joe’s, and La Lanterna.  Enjoy!

Click here to get this pizza guide as a free and printer-friendly PDF file  in your inbox and take it with you to NYC (with a larger map)!

yyyAdam Kuban

a rest stop on the information superhighway

One-day self-guided pizza tour of Williamsburg & Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Despite being effectively “retired” from pizza blogging , I still get an email here and there asking for pizza-crawl itinerary advice. These emails are usually from longtime Slice readers who remember me from back in the day and are HARDCORE WILLING to travel for pizza. I love these people, because I can send them to places I really love, AND THEY WILL GO — at least I assume they will. Earlier this year I got a couple requests in quick succession for suggestions as to a quick 1-day itinerary in Brooklyn.  Thus my MINI ONE-DAY PIZZA TOUR OF WILLIAMSBURG–GREENPOINT, below. It is roughly copy-pasted from emails, so bear with the tone that suggests I’m writing to someone —   I was! This is structured as a walking tour, and I assume you have a smartphone for guidance. Let’s go…

[NOTE: Items in italics placed between horizontal rules are OPTIONAL (but highly recommended) nonpizza stops.]

START   AT   MOTORINO WILLIAMSBURG  ( 139 Broadway, Brooklyn NY 11211 ; opens at 11am ) — It opens at 11am. That might be too early, so maybe wait till noon. I’ll leave it up to you, but do see the note on timing at the bottom.  Great lunch special (though the clam pie is not subject to the lunch special). I’m partial to the brussels sprout pizza, especially if you’re visiting NYC and won’t be back. It’s kinda their signature pie. From there, go to…

WILLIAMSBURG PIZZA ( 265 Union Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211 )   — It’s 15 minutes away by foot, in fact most of these places are 15 to 30 minutes apart. The walking goes fast if you’re with a friend. Williamsburg is killing it on all fronts — regular round pies and their squares. Since fall is approaching as I write this, I’ll recommend the Apple Bacon grandma slice, if they have it ready. The Kale Tallegio is also good, and you can’t go wrong with the plain versions of any of their slices. SO GOOD.

With any pizza crawl, I think it’s important to space things out and allow time to digest. Therefore, I am going to send you to BARCADE ® (bar+arcade=WIN) to play some old-school videogames and maybe drink a beer or two. It’s a tiny, tiny bit out of the way, but not much, and I’m assuming you’re doing this on a weekend, so what else do you have going on? I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to do Barcade® ( 388 Union Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211 ) between Motorino/Williamsburg or between Williamsburg and…

BEST PIZZA  ( 33 Havermeyer Street, Brooklyn NY 11211 ) — Walk to Best from either Barcade® or Williamsburg Pizza (whatever order you decided). I’ll leave it up to you as to what to get, because you can’t go wrong with anything. The regular slices are good, the grandma slices may be even better — and the grandma with pickled vegetable is an unexpected hit. The crazy thing is that I may like their sandwiches even more than the pizza, they are THAT GOOD. The Italian combo and the meatball hero are my favorites. Maybe get one for the road? Next…

PARK LUNCHEONETTE  ( 332 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222 ) — This place is really cute. It’s a former corner diner that some new-era Brooklyn kids took over and partially renovated into a kind of French café–inspired space. You’ll walk in and kinda be like, WHA?! This ain’t a pizzeria. But there’s pizza. And it is GOOD. For me at this moment it’s up there with Williamsburg Pizza as far as classic NY-style pizza goes. Note: Whole pies only, UNLESS you eat at the bar, where you can get slices. Still hungry? Well…

PETER PAN DONUTS  ( 727 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222 ) is a good place to hit. OMG, I LOVE these doughnuts. I’m not a doughnut person, either. If it’s still on the earlier side of the afternoon, you’ll have some choice. If it’s later in the afternoon, the selection can get pretty sparse. Again, if you’re not hungry, grab some to go — especially if you won’t be back here anytime soon. Eat them as a midnight snack. … Or bring one to Paulie Gee and tell him I sent you, lol.

BROUWERIJ LANE ( 78 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222 ) — Again, either use this as time to digest before going to Paulie Gee’s OR as a place to wait for your table at Paulie’s if there’s a crowd ahead of you. Paulie would probably kill me for saying that, since he would prefer you drink HIS beer while you wait — which you SHOULD, but if that’s not an option, then Brouweij Lane is a sweet spot to kill some time. TONS of great beers on tap and in the cooler. Really relaxing casual space that feels like a mini beer hall. It’s nice in summer, with a mini garden out back, and in fall and winter, there’s a wood-burning stove that makes it feel especially cozy. Before I started stopping here after a prep shift, I just assumed it was a pretentious beer-snob place, but it is ANYTHING BUT. It’s a real gem.

PAULIE GEE’S ( 60 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222; opens at 5pm on weekends ) — I’m going to have to admit my bias upfront. I’ve been moonlighting at Paulie’s for more than a year now, learning the ropes of the pizza business. So obviously I’m biased — but… I wouldn’t be working there if I didn’t believe in the pizza and the pizzeria itself. And, really, pretty much anyone in their right mind would put Paulie Gee’s on a pizza tour of Williamsburg-Greenpoint. Paulie’s will likely be crowded on a weekend, and I’ll talk about timing a bit below, but for now I’ll just recommend my favorite pizzas there. I particularly like the Brian DeParma. It’s just sauce and shaved Parmesan. It sounds super minimal, but I love it. The only way to improve it in my book is to make it into the “Famous Original A,” which is the pizza I created there that is on the “secret menu.” Ask for it. It’s the Brian DeParma with Romano, sausage, and onion added. Beyond those, I LOVE the Monte Cristo (gouda, Canadian bacon, a post-oven drizzle of maple syrup), the Hellboy (sauce, Parm, mozzarella, soppressata, Mike’s Hot Honey), and, for something completely different, the Cherry Jones (mozzarella, gorgonzola, dried cherries, prosciutto, honey). The Greenpointer (mozzarella, arugula, post-oven drizzle of lemon juice, shaved Parmesan) is also excellent and is one of Paulie’s signature pizzas as well as a great vegetarian choice. I could write more, but I don’t want to make this an advertisement for Pauile’s, lol.

BROOKLYN NIGHT BAZAAR ( 165 Banker Street, Brooklyn NY 11222 ; 7pm–1am ) — You could do this after Paulie’s or before. Really depends on how much time you have to kill waiting for your table and/or whether you want to spend that time at Brouerij Lane or not. Also depends on how much room you have in your stomach. If you’re still pretty full and it’s pushing 7pm, you might want to kill a lot of time at BNB and hit Paulie’s closer to 9:30 or 10pm. Granted, there’s food at the BNB (including the Park Luncheonette mobile operation — note, it’s different from the brick-and-mortar joint as it’s wood-fired pizza and not NY-style), so you may end up eating there and blowing your appetite, but, you know, it’s your life and your prerogative. Just giving you another option.

So, a note on timing this thing. You can power through this or do it leisurely. It’s up to you. In my mind, I would do it leisurely. At a leisurely pace, I’m making the following assumptions:

• You’re doing this on a weekend, preferably Saturday
• You’ll spend 1 hour at each stop
• You’re  including the optional stops
• 20-minute walks between each stop:  Some may be longer or shorter, but 20 minutes on average is probably good, assuming you’ll be lollygagging and/or Instagramming along the way or whatever it is you do

If you want to power through this, walk quickly and study the menus beforehand so you’ll know what you want to order. You can also safely cut off a half hour from each slice shop (Williamsburg Pizza, Best Pizza).

At Paulie Gee’s, the last stop, you’ll likely get a table if you make it there by 5, 5:30pm (YMMV, and it’s hit or miss — some days it fills up right away, sometimes people don’t rush it until an hour into service). If not, wait until later in the evening. Consider spending time at Brouerij Lane and/or the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, as mentioned above. Also, TRANSMITTER PARK (on the East River at the end of Greenpoint Avenue) is a really nice way to kill some time looking at the sunset and/or the lights of Manhattan’s skyline.

Here is a map of the entire route:  bit.ly/williamsburg-greenpoint-pizzacrawl

Extra Credit

There are some notable omissions here, namely FORNINO  ( 187 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211 ), which I love but which would make you veer several blocks west from the Union Avenue path I’m setting out here. I also waffled a lot on whether I should put FORCELLA  ( 485 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn NY 11211 ) on here. It is just a block off the Union Avenue path, which isn’t too far, but the pizza I would recommend there, the montanara , can be a gutbuster. If you think you have room for it (it’s deep-fried then wood-fired), GO FOR IT. Same with Fornino. If you’re putting the Brooklyn Night Bazaar at the end of your trip, you could continue on to Fornino after that, and you’d almost be making a circle back to where you started at Motorino.

About the author: Adam Kuban is the proprietor–prinicipal purveyor of pizza at Margot’s Pizza , a bar-style pizza pop-up that he’s working on opening as a full-fledged pizzeria .

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Explore NYC's pizza landscape with a specialty experience

This is perfect for pizza lovers who crave a specialized experience beyond the confines of our public tour schedule. Private tours are focused on your group for a next-level experience on the day and time of your choice (subject to availability). . Just click the REQUEST A TOUR button to get the process started and we'll get back to you with details and availability within 24 hours. Once we have a date confirmed, you'll be able to consult with your tour guide about your group's specific needs.

Custom Pizza Tours

Private Pizza Walk

Your guide will meet you in a pizza-dense neighborhood and lead you through a selection of diverse pizzerias. You'll learn pizza history, science, and culture as you taste your way through a customized route tuned to your group's schedule and needs. Meet the pizza makers, tour the kitchens, and get lost in the sauce. Up to 16 guests per group.

private pizza bus

Let us create a custom pizza adventure for you and your crew! We'll showcase 4 distinct styles at 4 different pizzerias. The route is entirely tailored to your group so every tour is different. Take notes in your very own Pocket Pizza Journal. Perfect for team building and birthday parties. Drink pairings and additional food available. Up to 32 guests per bus.

Bring Your Own Bus

If you're rolling around town in your own vehicle, we'll send a guide to hop aboard! You'll visit four amazing pizzerias, touring the kitchens and meeting the people behind the pizza. Learn the history, science, and culture that make NYC's pizza scene so special. Perfect for summer camps, school groups, and family trips. Up to 32 guests per bus.

We specialize in company outings

Pizza Making Class

Learn the tips and tricks for making great pizza at home with this interactive online lesson. We'll give you a list of all the ingredients and equipment you'll need, or we can ship all the ingredients directly to your home. Max 500 guests.

Pizza History Class

How did pizza transform from a peasant food in the streets of Southern Italy to a global phenomenon? Our Pizza Pro will separate fact from fiction with historical photos, documents, and stories of the planet’s most important pizza makers.

Interested in Public Tours?

View Calendar

Check out some of the pizzerias we typically visit

View Pizzerias

You may be surprised to know that the majority of our tour guests are locals! Since we’re deeply embedded in the pizza scene, we get special access to the pizzerias and pizza makers you’ve only read about. This isn’t just a restaurant crawl, it’s an experience that takes you deep into the heart of pizza culture. 

We’ll do our best to accommodate guests with dietary restrictions. Just let us know in advance if possible so we can plan our route accordingly. While we can’t guarantee that every stop will have pizza options for guests with heavy restrictions, we can always allow you to order other dishes from the menu. Tour pricing includes standard pizzas, so we’ll add any additional food costs to your final invoice. 

No matter how far your team is spread, we make everyone feel like they’re in the same room with our unique pizza making classes. Our instructors will help you and your team make the best pizza out of your home ovens without the need for any special equipment. We use proven techniques that unlock the power of your kitchen and we do it in a super fun way. We can even ship everyone ingredient kits so they don’t have to pick up supplies! We take care of it all!

Every tour we do is customized to the group. For private tours, we route the tour based on your group size, pickup location, tour date, and tour time. We can set up a call once you book your tour if you’d like to discuss pizza preferences, but we never announce our route in advance.

we’re kinda famous

(so we're told).

Gayle King featured SPT on her page in Oprah Magazine in July 2019.

Scott took Ryan Seacrest on a NYC pizza tour to Brooklyn!

Scott judged the First Annual Pizza-Off!

Watch Segment

Scott has forgotten more about pizza than most people have ever known!

Bermuda Triangle

Small mysterious triangular section of pizza left on a tray after a pizza has been sliced with less than 100% accuracy.

Frequently Asked Questions

STEP 1: Click the “Request A Tour” button and fill out the form. We use this information to verify that we’re able to run your tour at the date and time you request.

STEP 2: We’ll get back to you within ~24 hours with details and availability. If you’re ok with our plan, just reply and we’ll send you a link to submit your deposit to confirm your tour. Check your junk folder if you don’t see a response from us within ~24 hours.

STEP 3: Confirm all the details on your Tour Details Sheet and click the link to submit your deposit via credit card. You may also mail a check, which avoids credit card fees.

STEP 4: You’ll have the opportunity to schedule a consultation call with your tour guide. You can use this time to discuss your goals for the tour and pizza preferences of your group.

STEP 5: Enjoy the tour! We’ll invoice you for your balance the next day.

For most groups, we use a fancy mini-coach bus. It has heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. For smaller groups, we use a Sprinter Van. For larger groups, we may use a classic yellow school bus that has heat, air conditioning, and a rockin’ sound system!

For bus tours, you are welcome to bring beverages aboard the bus for a $150  BYOB on the Bus fee . We also have options to add wine pairings at each pizzeria on our private bus tours (DELUXE and SUPREME tours). Wine and beer are fine, but no hard liquor please. If you’re planning to pour beverages into cups, those cups need to have lids. Drinks will have to stay on the bus for most pizzeria stops. 

No! We organize our tours to avoid long lines and cold slices. All pizzas are ordered based on their respective bake times, so we’re never waiting more than a few minutes for a fresh pie.

YES! We can arrange for the bus to pick you up at a central location in Manhattan or Brooklyn. You can also have your group assemble at our first pizzeria of the day. If that’s the case, just let us know if you prefer to tour in Manhattan or Brooklyn and we’ll send you a meeting location that’s easy to get to.

Our stops change every time. We route the tour based on your pickup location, group size, and whether or not you choose a tour with wine pairings or additional food. Our guides often adjust the route as they go, so every tour is customized. That’s why we don’t announce our itinerary in advance — it’s always in flux!

YES! When we stop at restaurant, we get a table. When we stop a slice shops, we stand up and eat the way nature intended.

Yes, and you’ll be surprised how time flies when you’re visiting pizzerias! If it’s too long for you, just let us know in advance and we can trim it down. Don’t worry, we’ll still eat the same amount of pizza. There is no pricing difference for shorter tours.

Let us know in advance and we’ll do our best to accommodate your gluten free, vegan, vegetarian pizza buddy. We can’t guarantee we’ll have pizza for them at every single stop, but we’ll make sure they’re well fed. The cost of pizza for those with dietary restrictions is not included in your tour’s pricing so we’ll add those charges to your final invoice.

Absolutely! We call this a “Hop-On” tour because our guide hops on your vehicle. This is a great option if you’re coming into NYC from Long Island, Connecticut, or New Jersey or traveling with a school group. Pricing is different for these groups so just let us know if that’s your plan.

We’ve done tons of corporate outings and team-building events and the response has been incredible. Rather than sit for a long meal at a single restaurant, a pizza tour lets your colleagues, family, or friends mix and mingle at multiple pizzerias. Pizza is the ultimate conversation starter so you’ll learn more about your colleagues than you ever have before!

WALKING TOURS

We like touring in neighborhoods that are pizza-dense and pizza-diverse. That means we’re usually in the East Village, West Village, Downtown Brooklyn, or Williamsburg. We select the appropriate neighborhood based on group size, tour date, and tour time. Some neighborhoods work better than others at certain times of day. We’ll let you know exactly where to meet us a few days before your tour. 

While we don’t offer a walking tour that comes with alcohol pairings at each stop, we can do our best to route you to pizzerias with liquor licenses. You’ll be able to add alcoholic drinks along the way, which we can add to your final invoice. The reason we don’t offer a walking tour with alcoholic beverage pairings is that we can’t guarantee all stops within a walkable area have both excellent pizza AND worthy wine lists. With bus tours, we have much more flexibility.

If you’re doing a bus tour, we have options that come with wine pairings — our DELUXE and SUPREME tours.

This all depends on the neighborhood in which we tour. We choose neighborhoods for walking tours based on pizza density, pizza diversity, and pizza deliciousness. Our route changes every time based on the size of the group and their specific pizza needs. We never announce our itinerary in advance because it’s always in flux.

Walking tours max out at about 1 mile. All the pizzerias we visit will be within a short walk of one another. We adjust based on weather and on the needs of our group.

Let us know in advance and we’ll do our best to accommodate your gluten free, vegan, vegetarian pizza buddies. We can’t guarantee we’ll have pizza for them at every stop, but we’ll do our best to make sure they’re well fed. Food for those with dietary restrictions is not included in your tour’s base cost so we’ll add those charges to your final invoice.

We like to keep our walking tours to a maximum of 16 people. If your group is slightly larger than that, please let us know and we may be able to figure out a solution. 

ONLINE CLASSES

We can use any platform that works for you. Most of our classes run on Zoom and we do prefer that platform, but if you have another system we can easily adapt. 

YES! We have a fantastic supplier who customized an ingredient kit for us. We’ll ship you dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings so you can play along at home during your class. 

Online pizza making classes are 90 minutes and lecture classes are 60 minutes.

We think so! These aren’t typical lectures, they’re interactive conversations. You’ll learn more than you ever thought you wanted to know, all because pizza perfectly combines history, science, culture, and culinary. 

Probably not. We’re pretty deep into pizza making and find that there’s always new things to learn about stretching, topping, and baking pizzas. Bring all your deep pizza questions and we’ll do our best to answer them.

Nope! We teach all levels at the same time. The concepts are very very simple and we’ll make sure you understand exactly why you’re doing all the things you’re doing in the pizza kitchen.

You bet they are! All our pizza making classes and lecture classes are interactive. We encourage students to get involved by asking questions.

Let us know what restrictions you have and we’ll do our best to sub out the ingredients in your pizza kit (if you choose to purchase kits from us).

Absolutely. Or we can use any platform you like. Just say the word and we’ll make it happen.

Our instructors are high-level food educators who specialize in pizza. Chef Ashley Mincey was featured on season 9 of “Master Chef” and SPT founder Scott Wiener won his episode of Hulu’s “Best In Dough.” Not only do they make great pizza, they show you how to have fun doing it!

Additional Pizza Experiences

Sunday pizza bus tour, walking pizza tour, virtual pizza classes, you've got pizza.

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“Go early in your visit so you can try out the places recommended or return to the places you went”- Gill, United Kingdom (Online Review)

“It’s really casual (tour) and we really appreciated that we could choose what we would like to eat at each place” – Oz2, Australia (Online Review)

Book a Public NYC Food Tour Here

EAT LIKE A NEW YORKER…

Food on foot: award-winning public & private guided ny food tours, group tastings, drinking crawls, traveler restaurant services, sports tours, party tours & events.

With an array of services to suit every food lover Food On Foot has become the go to New York company for food fun in New York. Well past our roots as a food tour company we work with individuals, couples, families, businesses, schools, tour groups and operators, anyone looking to have fun with food in the New York City metropolitan area. We are known for our passion and caring because it’s real. Our company was founded by a local who didn’t want visitors to go to a chain restaurant in Times Square or settle for bad food because they thought New York restaurants were too expensive.

Today we offer out-of-towners and locals unique tours and events on both a scheduled and by appointment basis as both private and customized experiences. Our Food On Foot Tours are award winning, our hosted Gourmet NY Tasting food hall events are loved by groups and we have services for individuals and families with our Self-Guided Tours and Customized Restaurant Recommendation Service.

Are you looking for a unique celebration space for a baby or wedding shower, business meeting or birthday party? Would your group love an escorted sports tour with Food For Fans? Have a foodie in the family who would love to hang out with us instead of having the same old birthday party?

If you or your group loves to eat or someone you love loves to eat, get in touch with us. We’d love to hear from you because we’d love to eat with you!

TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award Winner:

Creativity & Customization

We love to have fun and we know that not everyone wants do the same thing. Part of the fun of what we do is being creative and talking through ideas with you to develop the best event, party or tour that fits what you and/or your group wants. Would you like to add a wine or beer tasting at the end of a food tour? That works. Want to enjoy a progressive food crawl, appetizer at restaurant one, entrée at restaurant two and dessert at restaurant three? Let us know. Want to do something in the suburbs instead of the city? We’ll be there. Is your budget limited? You’ve come to the right place. Lots of options there too. We look forward to providing you with an experience you’ll love. We treat you like a friend, not like a customer.

Food On Foot Tours-Hudson Valley, Long Island & New York City

Available as both public and private Food On Foot Tours we are unique authentic local experiences that are very different from standard food tours. We are a ten-time TripAdvisor Award Winner, earning the Certificate of Excellence and Travelers’ Choice Awards from 2011-2020. On a Food On Foot Tour, you’ll visit real non-tourist New York City neighborhoods or suburban towns and villages while stopping at places where the people who live there eat. Many tours bring you to places because they are receiving money back from the stops. Not us! We only take you to places we like but our stops feed us and we love it! The tour is a quality fresh food eating tour and not the standard sampling tour. You’ll choose what you like at every stop and how much. Our public tours are known for being relaxed in a larger group format where you not only see and feel the real New York but you meet and mingle (or not) with others from around the world. Because you choose what you like all our stops are a surprise and we know from our years of tours that it’s much more fun that way. The tour replaces a meal. And because we care about your whole trip or your eating as a local, we help out with unbiased restaurant recommendations, if you like, to help you eat great and save money for the rest of your stay. Many of our 3,000+ excellent reviews say take our tour as early in your stay as possible to get the most out of tours and the recommendations we provide. We care about what you eat while you’re in New York. That’s why our slogan is Eat Like A New Yorker!

Gourmet NY Tasting- Hosted Food Hall Event

Imagine walking into an indoor food festival in the middle of New York City with hundreds of high- quality gourmet choices of international foods from New York curated by local chefs and restaurants and choosing whatever you like. Food On Foot Tours has created the perfect New York experience for groups with the Gourmet New York Tasting. This hosted event at six Manhattan food halls including an Asian one, is designed for groups and provides a unique experience for any meeting, party, shower or get-together. How much more fun can it be than having a space where all your guests or participants choose what they like from an amazing array of culinary treats?

Food For Fans Sports Tours

PRIVATE, SMALL, & LARGE GROUP OPTIONS

Food For Fans Sports Tours takes the guesswork out of bringing your group to the biggest sporting events and games. We enhance your experience so let us handle everything on a scheduled public, group or private tour. We’ll coordinate tickets whether you’d like to sit in a suite or upstairs. Our host will join your group and escort you to the game by private bus or by mass transit. Plus, you can add great amenities and your host will a stadium or arena walk-through (when available) and history tour. Public Guided Sports Tours outside of Manhattan use mass transit to travel to venues in the New York metropolitan area.

Spirits On Foot

THERE IS “SPIRIT” IN OUR STORY

Thousands and thousands of visitors had taken a Food On Foot Tour by 2017. Many guests had asked us to add pub crawls to our food tour menu. The response of our founder was always the same thing said in different ways but the overall theme was the same, “It’ll never work, I don’t drink”. Most guests stopped right there but with one reply one of our guests changed everything when he said, “you’d be the perfect tour guide because you don’t drink”. And a great new experience was born!

Self-Guided On-Your-Own Tour Experiences

EAT & SAVE LIKE A LOCAL, WITHOUT THE LOCAL!

Our unique and personalized service is designed to help you eat great while visiting. Since our inception, the word we have heard most often from our over 30,000 guests is overwhelmed! And that is about food in NY! Visitors don’t know where to go, what’s best, what’s great value, where places are, and so on. Our service takes the guesswork out of all of that. We can potentially save you hours of aggravation and even hundreds of dollars but it is mostly like having a friend make recommendations for you based on your plans.

New York Personalized Restaurant Recommendation Service

EAT & SAVE LIKE A LOCAL

Our unique New York Personalized Restaurant Recommendation Service is like having a best friend in New York. This is a curated service personalized for you by real people. There is no computer. This is the modern version of being on the phone with your friend or a friend of a friend getting local tips. When you order the New York Personalized Restaurant Recommendation Service we send you a questionnaire where list your preferences from cuisine to budget to location you’re staying in to attractions you’re seeing and we coordinate a personalized list for you. And we include tips about New York from tipping to using the subway to saving money from the airport. We’ll help make your trip a REAL New York experience!

WE LOVE ANSWERING QUESTIONS!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to contact you.

Our office is not staffed at all times and because of time differences the best way to contact us is by e-mail for the quickest response. If you leave a phone message (voice mail box #2) please let us know how late we can call you in the evening or how early in the morning. Please reference NY time as we receive calls from all over the world.  Because of time differences we do not return calls outside the U.S. or Canada.

Food On Foot P.O. BOX 444 Wheatley Heights, NY 11798 Phone: 1-631-491-0326 Email: [email protected]

HOW DO FOOD ON FOOT PUBLIC GUIDED TOUR TICKETS WORK?

       Our Food On Foot Guided Public Food Tour calendar posts on the 16 th day of the previous month up 

       to two months earlier. Since our food tours are different than standard food tours and you choose       

       what you like at each stop you may choose tickets with a food credit or tickets where you

       pay-as-you-go. Either way the tour is the same but each ticket type has different cancellation options

       so choose your ticket based on your needs.  We do not deviate from the terms for the ticket you buy.

       Like any concert, sports or theater ticket your ticket(s) are considered a purchase and you are

       responsible for the cost of your tickets or cancellation fees based on the terms of the ticket you buy. 

       Our spaces are very limited and once you book a ticket you are preventing someone else from 

       booking that space so cancellation options are not free and are considered a courtesy. Cancellation     

       fees increase the closer you get to your tour date. There are no cancellations of any type for any      

       reason within 24 hours of tour start times. Private travel insurance is available on the open     

       market as we do not issue refunds for free at any time for any reason. These rules also apply to any 

       tickets offered by travel partner companies unless otherwise stated in their agreement or on their 

       listing or app. If you are part of a program that offers tickets that are booked under their terms it is 

       important to note that we do not decide what to offer you. That is strictly their decision.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO BOOK A TOUR OR EVENT?

For public tours and events the only way to purchase tickets is online here or via the book button above. The public food tour schedule posts on or before the 16th of the previous month. Public food tours run from mid-March until the first week of January.  Other public tours including Spirits On Foot and Food For Fans Sports Tours have a varied schedule. Private tours are available all times of year based on availability. For private and group tours and events please contact the Food On Foot office directly.

IS FOOD ON FOOT A TOUR COMPANY?

Food On Foot started as a food tour company but we are now full service offering all types of food and sports related tours and events for individuals and groups.

WHAT DOES FOOD ON FOOT OFFER?

Let’s start with what’s made us famous, our Food On Foot Guided Tours both public and private. Other tours that we offer include our Spirits On Foot Tours (21 and over please), Food For Fans Group Sports Tours and the Self-Guided On Your Own Neighborhood Food Experiences. Our events include the Gourmet NY Tasting- a unique experience for groups in New York’s leading food halls for local meetings, events, parties and visitor groups and the Queens-Flushing Meadows International Food Excursion. We also offer our curated unbiased Custom Restaurant Recommendation Service for travelers coming to New York. We help you in enhancing your New York experience!

ARE THESE PUBLIC OR PRIVATE EVENTS AND TOURS?

Most of our events and many of our tours are for small private or larger groups. Publicly scheduled events and tours are listed on our calendar as they become available and require the purchase of tickets. Public events include Food for Fans Guided Sports Tours. Food On Foot Scheduled Guided Food Tours, Spirits On Foot Tours and the Queens-Flushing Meadows International Food Excursion.  All other events, services and tours are private for individuals, couples, families and any type of small and large group.

WHAT IF I BOOKED TICKETS OR HAVE AN OFFER THROUGH AN OUTSIDE SOURCE?

Food On Foot does have on-going and changing relationships with companies in the travel industry. If you have an offer through an outside vendor you must follow the instructions provided by that vendor on their app or website and use any booking codes they provide. If you book tickets through us and then go to any outside vendor for tickets your tickets may be non-refundable or incur a cancellation fee based on the type of ticket you purchased.

WHAT ARE THE TERMS ON PUBLIC TOUR AND EVENT TICKETS? CAN I GET A REFUND?

All of our public tours and events have one or more ticket options. You need a ticket for our tours and events because capacity is limited. We do not accept reservations under any circumstances no matter how or where you purchase your tickets. Scroll down on the booking platform for each tour/event to see ticket types. If you want a cancellation option do not purchase non-refundable tickets. Like concert, sporting event and theater venues we do not refund those tickets under any circumstances, personal or otherwise. These tickets are often the lowest cost option because you are guaranteeing your full payment at booking. Tickets with cancellation options incur a fee.

ARE EVENTS & TOURS YEAR-ROUND?

Events can be booked all year based on their availability. Not all events and tours are available year around. Always come hungry!

Proud Member:

The Complete Self-Guided Food Tour to Walking Manhattan

Our itinerary for finding ethiopian coffee, energizing dim sum, superb pizza, and much more across the new york island..

If you want to experience Manhattan like you never have before, you gotta walk it—all of it. Yes, the 13-mile jaunt from Inwood to Battery Park is a daunting one, but it’s the only way to truly experience the flickering of neighborhoods, each so distinct yet melded in succession. Popularized by shows like Broad City and a few adventurous TikTokers , this concrete hike is something every New Yorker should try at least once in their lifetime.

Having participated in the challenge myself, I feel it’s imperative to pin a few stops on the map to motivate you along the way—especially ones that revolve around food. This is your chance to enjoy crispy latkes at a Jewish deli on the Upper West Side and scalding xiao long bao at a dumpling parlor in Chinatown, all in one day. Trust me when I say, you will need the caloric fuel.

A few things to know before you go. There are many routes you can take, but I suggest starting from top to bottom so that you can end with a victorious wave to Lady Liberty. You have the option to conserve your mileage by continuing down a straight path on the west side (Broadway is your best bet), or, for extra adventure, crossing through Central Park. Though I am by no means an athlete—I’d received “participant” ribbons at middle school track meets—I chose the latter, racking up about 22 miles and zero regrets.

It’s hard to say how much time the journey will take, as that depends on how long you stay at each stop, but expect roughly 12 hours. You’ll become acquainted with all the public restrooms this borough has (ahem, fails) to offer, finding respite in Chipotles and Whole Foods.

Resist eating that whole bagel, as difficult as it might be. Some semblance of portion control is important if you want a bite of everything. With all this activity, you might start to feel delirious at some point. For me, that feeling occurred while picking up some socks at a fluorescently lit Gap in Turtle Bay. It’s all part of the fun.

Here’s our itinerary for hitting the best food and drink spots, both old and new, across the length of Manhattan.

Beginning the trek

9 am: buunni coffee.

Start your day with a long, meditative journey on the subway. If you’re departing from lower Manhattan, set on getting to the very top, take the 1 train to 215th Street, or cheat a little and take the A to 207th. Once in Inwood, walk over to Buunni Coffee , an independent cafe specializing in microroasted beans and Ethiopian plates. Owners Elias Gurmu and Sarina Prabasi, originally from Ethiopia, opened Buunni Coffee with the intention of bringing slow coffee to NYC. The expansive yet welcoming space is really more of a community center, where you’ll learn all about the artsy goings-on of northern Manhattan. In spring, dig into their special rice pudding, made with oat milk, short grain rice, cardamom, roasted pistachio, saffron, and fresh pomegranate seeds. Wash it down with a single-origin drip.

From Buunni, explore the medieval beauty of the Met Cloisters , then get to know Fort Tryon Park .

1 pm: Absolute Bagels

From Fort George, make your way through the three Heights—Washington, Hamilton, and Morningside—arriving at Columbia University’s campus. Fueled up on early morning energy and the promise of adventure, you, like me, might make it through this two-hour stretch without stopping, entranced by the architectural grandeur of those pre-war apartment buildings. But you’ll probably become ravenous upon entering Columbia University, and there’s no greater interlude than Absolute Bagels . The simplicity of the establishment—no tables, no website, old-school, slotted menu boards—matches the simplicity of its bagel. The ratio of crunchy exterior to soft interior is so perfect here that it needs nothing more than cream cheese—and I say this as a bacon, egg, and cheese fanatic. There’s almost always a line out the door, but this one’s worth waiting for.

2 pm: Barney Greengrass

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the halfway mark. Stroll through the Upper West Side, stopping for a watered-down coffee at Barney Greengrass , otherwise known as the “Sturgeon King,” on Amsterdam Ave and 86th. The great Anthony Bourdain once wrote , “Sunday breakfast at Barney’s is one of those quintessential New York things to do: a crowded, ugly dining room, unchanged for decades, wobbly tables, brusque waiters, generic coffee; but their eggs scrambled with dark, caramelized onions and their lox, served with fresh toasted bagel or bialy [a Polish roll], is ethereal, and the hometeam crowd of Upper-West-Siders is about as ‘genuine New York’ as you can get.” If you only have room for a snack, say yes to the onion-laced potato latkes that the waiters will pressure you to get for the table, or leave with a cheeky rugelach.

Sticking to the west side

4 pm: los tacos no. 1.

If you decide to stay on the west side, you might as well take a slight detour through Times Square—this is a very I <3 NY day after all. Stop for a bite at Los Tacos No. 1 , a small Manhattan chain boasting one of the best tacos in New York City—and by that I mean the Adobada, an incredibly juicy taco made with red chile–marinated pork that’s charred on a spit, carved, and served with tangy strips of pineapple. If you’re still hungry, it’s worth delving into the other proteins on the pared down menu—Carne Asada, Pollo Asada, and Nopal—but I guarantee it’s the pork you’ll be dreaming about. The only downside: They call them taco stands for a reason, so don’t expect to sit. But is there anything more intimate than sharing a counter with a stranger, unleashing the messiest of bites, and avoiding eye contact?

6 pm: John’s of Bleecker Street

Next, make your way through Chelsea and into the West Village, where you’ll stop at the unofficial “pizza block” of Bleecker Street. It’s bookended by Joe’s Pizza on one side and Bleecker Street Pizza on the other. Your dinner destination is located in the middle at John’s of Bleecker Street , a historic institution that has been churning out coal-fired pies since 1929. Here’s the thing about New York pizza. Even if you’re at the most revered slice shop, sometimes what you get is really spectacular, and sometimes it’s not. And that’s because, with such long lines and quick turnaround times, it might be that you got the last slice that was sitting out for a while, or it wasn’t heated long enough. This will never happen at John’s, though, because slices are forbidden. You are meant to sit down, order an entire pie—make sure you ask for it “well done”—and enjoy it piping hot while staring up at frames of famous people awkwardly posing with the owner. I can’t think of a better way to wind down after a long day of cardio.

Crossing Central Park

4 pm: jg melon.

So you’ve ambitiously decided to traverse Central Park. Sure, you’ll end up amassing a lot more steps, but it’s also like, how could you not hit Central Park? After you gaze at those little snappers in Turtle Pond, pay a visit to Belvedere Castle, or dodge runners at the reservoir, it’s time to enter the Upper East Side, where you’ll stop for Gigi Hadid’s favorite burger at JG Melon . By no means am I agreeing with Gigi (for me, that award goes to 7th Street Burger ). But this is a quintessential pub, worth checking out for all the kitschy, watermelon-themed paraphernalia. There’s something decidedly preppy about this place, which is fun to bask in when you’re in the land of trust funds, but with $13 burgers on the menu, it’s far from exclusive. You can’t leave without ordering a side of cottage-fried potatoes.

7 pm: Nom Wah Tea Parlor

After traveling through Midtown East, you might want to stop for a quick cannoli at Veniero’s in the East Village before settling for your second dinner at Nom Wah Tea Parlor , Chinatown’s very first dim sum den. Established in 1920, the bustling restaurant is now helmed by first generation New Yorker Wilson Tang , but it’s still filled with old-world charm. At this point in your journey, you’re tired, you’re hungry, and you can’t wait to check off a variety of dumplings with little pencils on a narrow paper menu. Here’s what to get: the Original “OG” Egg Roll, Shrimp and Snow Pea Leaf Dumplings, and Fried Sesame Balls with Lotus Paste.

The end is near

Nightcap: overstory.

Whether you’re coming from east or west, the final stretch to Battery Park will undoubtedly be the hardest part of your journey, so stop for a celebratory drink at Overstory . It’s located on the 64th floor of FiDi’s 70 Pine Street, the Art Deco tower that also houses SAGA and Crown Shy . This cocktail bar is on the fancier side, and you might look a little rattled at this point, but the 360-degree views of the New York City skyline are worth the judgment. Enjoy a Gyokuru Martini and bask in the distance that you’ve just conquered. Who knows, you might even shed some tears. From here, you’re only about 15 minutes away from the finish line. You did it.

Bonus: the next day

Unless you’re a seasoned marathon runner, you’ll probably wake up later than usual the next day, gloriously sore. And that calls for the most filling breakfast at your local diner, where you’ll feast on corned beef hash, massive pancakes, and bottomless coffee, all while staring at some passerby through a curved glass window. You won’t take your eyes off of the changing scenes, because ever since yesterday, Manhattan has never looked the same.

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40+ Free Self-Guided Walking Tours of NYC

We're a walking tour company whose local guides are experts in New York City and have led tens of thousands of guests throughout the city’s streets.

This puts us in a unique position to have created over 40 self-guided tours, (some available in audio format). These routes include locations we visit during our free guided walking tours.

On our tours, our guides do so much more than merely point out NYC landmarks and talk about history. They bring the city to life, discuss current culture, and even share tips on where to eat and shop so that you can feel like a local!

Some of these self-guided tours are available in an audio format you can listen to as you follow the routes. Others can be used on a smart device or if you prefer, print them out before you hit the road.

Our tour guides would love you to join us on our pay-what-you-wish live guided tours. but if you can’t make it, or prefer to go it alone, enjoy our self-guided tours.

Read more about our pay-what-you-wish guided walking tours of NYC .

Below are four of our most popular tours for you to get a taste of what our self-guided tours and audio tours are like.

THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

Just about everybody who visits NYC for the first time pays a visit to this legendary bridge.

We have a guide for walking across the bridge , where you can find a self-guided tour and map.  

This self-guided tour begins at City Hall Park, on the Manhattan side of the bridge and ends on the Brooklyn side of the Bridge, and lasts about 90 minutes.

We also have an  anytime GPS-led audio tour  (in English, Spanish, and German) of the bridge, which starts from the Manhattan side and is more extensive. 

Here is an audio sample.

NOTE: We also run a daily guided tour of the Brooklyn Bridge .

THE HIGH LINE

We offer several self-guided options for the High Line, an elevated freight train line that is now one of the world's most innovative public parks. 

We have a guide to the High Line where you can find a self-guided tour.

You can also  print out a pdf version of the written tour here to save on your smartphone.

You can experience this tour as an anytime GPS-enabled audio tour , which is more extensive than the written version. Here's a sample.

Lastly, we also run several daily, pay-what-you-like guided walks of the High Line . 

CENTRAL PARK

This park needs no introduction but you will find it helpful to at least take a self-guided tour to help you find your bearings and discover this great public space.

Be sure to read our guide to Central Park , which has a self-guided tour of the lower and middle 3rds of the park, both of which are available as audio tours .

The guide also has several tourist maps of the park, including a map (self-guided tour) of Central Park movie sites .

Lastly, we also run several daily, pay-what-you-like guided walks of Central Park . 

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN

Midtown Manhattan, centered by Times Square, is one of Manhattan's largest neighborhoods.

Watch a 32-minute abridged version of our live guided tour.

It also has the largest concentration of popular tourist attractions, such as the Empire State Building, Grand Central Terminal, and Rockefeller Center, just to name a few.

We have a guide to Midtown Manhattan , which contains maps and tips for your visit, including a self-guided tour of the neighborhood.

We also offer a more in-depth GPS-guided audio tour. Here's a sample.

We also offer several Midtown Manhattan pay-what-you-wish guided tours .

STATUE OF LIBERTY + ELLIS ISLAND

Every ferry ticket to Liberty and Ellis Islands includes a National Park Service audio tour. Read our guide to getting tickets and planning your trip here.

However, you can only access the audio tour units once you get to the islands, and depending on the season, you could be waiting in long lines on both islands.

We've created a free GPS-led audio tour that you can download to your smartphone now. It's for both islands, so you won't have to wait in additional lines.

Plus, you can listen to some of the audio while waiting for security and riding the ferry. Here's a sample.

OTHER SELF-GUIDED TOURS

These tours are organized by the parts of the city. Take a look at our post on New York City Neighborhoods to get an overview of these areas and more.

We also have special-themed tours and tours made for TV and movie lovers!

Lower Manhattan (tip of Manhattan - Canal Street)

• Lower Manhattan ( audio tour available)
• 9/11 Memorial ( audio tour available)
• Wall Street
• Battery Park 
• South Street Seaport

Downtown Manhattan (Canal Street - 14 Street)

• Greenwich Village ( audio tour available)
• Greenwich Village Food Tour ( audio tour available)
• SoHo ( audio tour available)
• Little Italy
• Lower East Side
• East Village

Midtown Manhattan (14th-59th Sts.)

• Grand Central Terminal ( audio tour available)
• Rockefeller Center
• Times Square
• Broadway Theater District
• Roosevelt Island
• Flatiron District
• Chelsea Market
• Gramercy Park and Union Square
• Hells Kitchen

Upper Manhattan and The Bronx

• Harlem ( audio tour available)
• Harlem Soul Food
• Arthur Avenue (Bronx’s Little Italy)

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• Brooklyn Heights ( audio tour available)
• Coney Island
• Brooklyn Street Art
• Park Slope and Prospect Park

Film and TV Locations

• Central Park Movie and TV Sights
• Seinfeld Locations
• Sex and the City Tour
• Ghostbusters
• TV and Film Locations of Lower Manhattan
• Super Hero Tour

Themed Tours 

• Dyker Heights Christmas Lights
• Historic New York City Bars
• New York Skyscraper Tour
• New York Mafia Tour
• Bob Dylan's Greenwich Village
• Donald Trump Buildings

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RELATED POSTS

• GPS-Led Audio Tours
• Neighborhood Guides
• Free Guided Walks
• Free Things to Do in NYC

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About The Author

Stephen Pickhardt

North america, united kingdom & ireland, middle east & india, asia & oceania.

www.therecipe.com

Follow therecipe.com, something new, why pizza lovers need to try nyc's pizza walking tour.

New York City is blessed with a vibrant and amazing food scene, especially when it comes to pizza. Find out more about this walking pizza tour!

The elusive hairy tofu may not be on everyone's mind, but pizza seems to be a well-beloved food globally. Its generous sprinkles of cheese and ladles of tomato sauce pair perfectly with a crusty dough. Traditional pizza is awesomely simple, but many pizza-loving souls have created variations of the classic tomato pie throughout the decades. Today, people love (to others' dismay) love pineapples on their pizza, while others prefer their pie with a creamy white sauce. However, the New York-style pizza is one of the world's most recognized pies and is a real treat for tourists and locals alike.

What Is NYC-Style Pizza?

A fresh slice of NYC-style pizza is not thick and crunchy like Detroit's signature pie . At the same time, pizza from the Big Apple is not as saucy compared to Chicago's own deep dish pizza . It was believed that this style of pizza is often regarded as a variation of the traditional Neapolitan-style pizza from the Italian state of Campania. Today, a slice of NYC-style pizza is identified as  big ,  thin and  flimsy , in the best way possible! Because of its thin nature, it's easily foldable.

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Once bitten into, a foodie experiences sensations of happiness and satiety, whether from the saltiness of the stringy mozzarella cheese, or the soft texture of the pizza dough. A traditional slice will only have a mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce as a topping. In some pizzerias, a generous portion of cheese is added, so much so that a thin layer of oil develops on top of the pie (don't expect to be shocked by this; pizza is  not a Green Goddess Salad after all)!

Curious foodies should know that there are some notable pizzerias foodies may be interested in checking out, including:

• Sal & Carmine's Pizza ( 2671 Broadway, New York, NY 10025 )
• Patsy's pizza ( 2287 1st Ave, New York, NY 10035 ) 
• Lucali Brooklyn ( 575 Henry St. Brooklyn, NY 11231 )
• Scarr's Pizza ( 22 Orchard St, New York 10002 )

However, curious foodies will also be happy to know that a fresh slice of NYC-style pizza can be found  throughout the Big Apple! Hungry travelers interested in exploring these pizzerias can easily take a  pizza tour to satiate their curiosities (and hungry bellies).

RELATED:  What Is The Land Sea And Air Burger?

All About The NYC Pizza Tours

The Big Apple is home to thousands of pizzerias, so a self-guided pizza tour may be a little overwhelming for tourists. However, ask a local which pizza is the best, and tourists are guaranteed to get different answers. The truth is, locals (and visitors) have their own beliefs about  which NYC pizzeria makes the best classic slice. That said, travelers can take the stress out of deciding where to go by taking a fun pizza tour! Currently, in the city, two well-known companies provide pizza tours. These are:

Scott's Pizza Tours

A slice of brooklyn pizza tour.

Which tour should visitors take? Learn about each operator and what they offer!

• Tour cost: $59 per person (public walking tour), $79 per person (pizza bus tour), $695+ per group (private tour)
• Tour duration: About 2.5 to 4.5 hours
• Days of tours (and times):  Fri/Sat/Sun (Usually starts around 11:15 am, 11:45 am, 4:30 pm)
• Meeting points:  Various spots (depending on the day)

With Scott's Pizza Tours, guests will not only visit three local pizzerias, but they will get a chance to see how the pizza is made in-house too! Depending on the day (and time), the tours will take place in different boroughs around the city, like Greenwich Village, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and especially the neighborhood of Little Italy. Before embarking on their pizza journey, each guest will receive a pizza journal to document each taste testing of pies! Scott's Pizza Tours is a great way to try authentic, NY-style pizza and other styles of pizza as well, from Neapolitan to Detroit-style pies!

RELATED: Keystone Dishes From the Keystone State of Pennsylvania

• Tour cost: $90 per adult, $70 for children (under 12)
• Tour duration: About 4.5 hours
• Days of tours (and times): Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon/Wed (Starts at 11:00 am)
• Meeting point: Union Square, Manhattan

This Brooklyn-based pizza tour is another popular activity among tourists. During the tour 4.5 hour run, guests can not only visit Brooklyn's most iconic pizzerias, but they can also check out landmarks that the neighborhood is known for,  especially the Brooklyn Bridge. Visitors will also have a chance to visit locations that were made famous in Hollywood movies, like  Saturday Night Fever, Goodfellas,  and  The French Connection ! Though you may not get a chance to try the iconic NYC-style pizza, tourists will stop at two famous pizzerias to try the city's Neapolitan-style pizza. One of the stops will be Grimaldi's (under the bridge), known for its delicious fare (and long lineups)!

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Though pizza-making is an art , hungry foodies should make it their mission to visit the Big Apple to embark on an interactive pizza tour. After all, NYC is famous for its incredible food, from its doughy bagels to its foldable pizza slices!

NEXT:  What's Your Favorite Topping: 10 Pizza Toppings That Just Make Sense

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Bushwick Collective: Info / Map / Self Guided Tour

Artwork by Adam Fujita

We offer a graffiti tour - conducted every day at 10:30am

The top site of NYC graffiti and street art culture is now in Brooklyn. The neighborhood of Bushwick has become known for all kinds of up-and-coming artists. Now it is also being recognized for a large and ever-growing graffiti exhibition: the Bushwick Collective . This page provides important info for visiting; and an insider map of the mural locations. It also includes a self-guided tour. (Note: this page is unofficial and is not directly affiliated with the Bushwick Collective). This page is updated for 2021.

About The Bushwick Collective

The Bushwick Collective was founded in 2012 by Joseph Ficalora - a neighborhood personality and businessperson - to beautify industrial streets with vibrant graffiti art. Joe is inspired by his deceased father and mother, and the art is dedicated to them. The Bushwick Collective brings together street artists from around the world, legendary NYC graffiti artists, and local Bushwick talent. The art is all temporary - on average a mural will last approx. 12 months before being replaced. Artists are not paid - these are "permission" murals (as opposed to "commission"). The Bushwick Collective is a work in progress - new murals are painted year round (occasionally - approx. every 6-10 weeks). The main time of painting is at the annual Bushwick Collective Block Party . It’s usually held on a Saturday in the month of June and is free. This year 2021 the Block Party will occur on August 28.

Artwork by Sipros

Location & Directions

The Bushwick Collective is located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn . It is easily accessible by the city's subway - a ride of approx. 15-40 minutes. Take the L subway line to 'Jefferson Street' station. It is 7 stops out of Manhattan. The L line can be picked up at '14th Street - Union Square" station or any other station along 14th Street. From there travel time will be approx. 15-20 minutes. From Midtown or Downtown Manhattan travel time will be approx. 25-40 minutes (since you will need to take a different subway line to 14th Street and then transfer to the L line). When you arrive at Jefferson Street station you will have arrived at the Bushwick Collective - it’s directly outside the station. The Bushwick Collective does not have any indoor facility - the art is all displayed on the surrounding public streets.

Important: there is ongoing construction occurring on the L subway line. On Saturdays and Sundays the L line is running every 20 minutes only. Be sure to plan extra travel time (approximately 20 additional minutes) because there might be delays. Otherwise you can take an alternative route: M line to 'Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue' station, then walk to Starr Street or take the L line to 'Jefferson Street'. Travel time is 30-60 minutes.

Best Time To Go

The Bushwick Collective can be visited at any time. It is on public streets so it's never closed. On weekends there are larger numbers of visitors and tours. On weekdays it is quieter and there are less visitors - so it's easier to get a feel for the area vibe. The Bushwick Collective is outdoors, so visiting during warmer weather will be more pleasant - although any time of year is fine. The most ideal time of year to visit is June. In June there is the annual Bushwick Collective Block Party - a weekend festival with music, food and live artists painting. Many new murals are painted then, and in the weeks and days leading up to the block party there is heightened artist activity in the area. Please note that Bushwick is not “new” or “recently discovered.” There is a large community that has been living here from before the art scene. Therefore please be courteous and respectful when visiting. Bushwick has become newly popular to visit but bear in mind that it is somebody’s home.

Insider Map + Self Guided Tour

Blue route is the self guided tour route.

Black markings show locations of murals and art.

A) Begin at subway station. If coming from Manhattan, exit towards front of train. Feel free to grab a coffee from Wyckoff-Starr coffee shop or a snack from the supermarket.

B) Check out the art all around this intersection, then go 1 block south on Starr Street to Irving Avenue. Turn right and walk 1 block to Troutman Street.

C) Walk 2.3 blocks north on Troutman Street. After you pass Wyckoff Avenue, the next 1.5 blocks are the center of the Bushwick Collective.

D) Turn around and walk 0.3 of a block back to St. Nicholas Avenue and turn right. Walk 1 block west to Jefferson Street. make a left and check out the art on the first 1/3 of the block.

E) Walk north on Jefferson Street back to St. Nicholas Avenue. Make a left and check out the artwork on this street. Then go back to Jefferson Street, make a left, and continue 1 block to Scott Avenue. Make a left and walk 1 block to Flushing Avenue.

F) Walk south to the first intersection. Cross Flushing Avenue onto Ingraham Street. Turn right onto Gardner Street. After 1 block make a left onto Johnson Avenue. Check out the art all along this block.

G)Return to Gardner Street and make a left turn. Go 1 block to Randolph Street. Make a left and walk 1 block to Stewart Avenue.

H) Turn left onto Stewart Avenue. Go 3 blocks to Harrison Pl.

I) Turn left and go 1 block to Flushing Avenue. Turn right and walk 1 long block to Irving Avenue. Make a left and walk 1 block, then make a left turn onto Jefferson Street.

J) Go 1 block to Wyckoff Avenue. Turn right and walk 2 blocks to Starr Street. You have returned!! You can sit down, relax and get something to eat in Artichoke Pizza or Sea Wolf restaurant. There are more nearby recommendations lower down on this page.

K) There's lots more art nearby if you are interested in more. See the mural locations marked on the map. Enjoy!

Here is an image version of the map. It shows just the Bushwick Collective:

This image shows the Bushwick Collective along with additional nearby artworks and an optional extension of the self-guided tour:

Types of Art

The Bushwick Collective is comprised mainly of large aerosol murals. Most of them are pictures, images, or portraits - art known as "post-graffiti." Then there are some murals comprised of traditional graffiti (also known as "graffiti writing/tagging") which are generally the artist's name written in advanced, contorted or colorful lettering. Additionally, around the area there is also lots of other art which is not part of the official exhibition and is not organized by the Bushwick Collective. There are local street artists who frequently deploy unsanctioned paper posters, stencils or stickers on walls and doorways in the neighborhood. These works of art generally do not last as long as the official aerosol murals. They are not overseen by any official curator so they are put up at random and do not follow any schedule. As you walk around, keep an eye out for hidden or camouflaged artworks. Look out for hidden faces, cats , yarn graffiti and drip art . And watch the ground! There are many artworks painted on the sidewalks.

Artwork by Dasic Fernandez

Here are some of the street artists who have painted at the Bushwick Collective:

Zimad & Sexer - Zimad and Sexer are two pals who have wielding aerosol cans since they were teens in the late 1970's. Over the years they have transitioned beyond graffiti into more traditional forms of painting and art, too.

Damien Mitchell - Hailing from Australia (the city of Wagga Wagga), Damien Mitchell has made a name for himself over the last few years in New York City and Brooklyn. He is known for his murals which usually feature people or portraits. Often the colors are layered rather than blended into each other.

Dasic Fernandez - Dasic Fernandez divides his time between New York City and his homeland of Chile. His aerosol murals often feature human figures made with bright colors. 

Case Ma'claim - Case Ma'claim is an accomplished street artist from Germany. He has painted around the world, with his distinctive style focused on closeups of human hands and finger.

Here are some other prolific artists at the Bushwick Collective: Lexi Bella , La Femme Cherie , Danielle Mastrion , Sipros , Freaky Kiss , Pixel Pancho , Beau Stanton , Fumero , Joe Iurato , Logan Hicks , Jorit Agoch , Don Rimx , Jodo , Tats Cru - Nicer   Bio   BG183 , Michel Velt , Nychos , Phetus88 , Adam Fu , BERT .

Other talented artists nearby (some of them are not affiliated with the Bushwick Collective): Hunt Rodriguez , Sara Erenthal , Stray Ones , Espartaco Abreu , Isabelle Ewing, Dirk, s0th1s , Brolga , ANJL NYC , Menace & Resa , Caty Wooley

Artwork by Jamie Hef and others

Block Party

The Bushwick Collective Block Party is the focal point of the year. It is held annually, usually on the first Saturday in the month of June. It’s free and open to the public. The Block Party attracts New Yorkers who are fans of street art or Hip Hop (or folks who just want to come participate in a fun event!) as well as locals from the neighborhood. Dozens of urban artists from around the world converge there too. Approx. 60% of the mural artworks are switched - the prior artwork is replaced by new ones. At the Block Party you can hang out and watch artists paint live. There will be a Hip Hop performance and a few art/music-related street vendors. You can grab food from several food trucks, and alcohol is available for purchase. This year 2021 the Block Party will occur on August 28.

About Bushwick (neighborhood)

Bushwick is a dense post-industrial neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City. It is currently becoming recognized for a blooming artist and creative scene. Also for new trendy restaurants and nightlife. The scene has blossomed over the last few years as nearby artsy Williamsburg has gotten more expensive. Aside from incoming artists and young professionals, Bushwick's primary population is Puerto Rican, Dominican-American and immigrants from Latin America. Bushwick is nearly 400 years old and was first founded by Dutch (on land taken over from Native Americans who lived there for centuries). In the 1800's the area filled with German immigrants and became a major place of manufacturing and beer brewing. There was also a large Italian and Sicilian immigrant community, before Bushwick's current Spanish-language residents began arriving in the 1970's. Unfortunately the area's gentrification has an ugly side - skyrocketing prices and people being dispossessed from their homes. You can help by donating to important nearby nonprofit agencies: St. Nicks Alliance , El Puente . The art is free - so this donation is a best way to give back to the community and show support.

Tours of the Bushwick Collective

Interested in a guided tour around the Bushwick Collective? Our Brooklyn Unplugged Tours Graffiti & Street Art Walking Tour runs every day at 10:30am (7 days per week).

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Nearby Suggestions

Here are suggestions for dining and culture nearby to the Bushwick Collective:

Bushwick Market - Flea market offering vintage, antiques, jewelry, etc. Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and some Thursdays. Closed in winter. Show them this map in order to receive a 10% discount off of everything!

Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos - Off-the-beaten-path Mexican food housed within a tortilla factory. Super cheap! 

House of YES - Party space and venue for trapeze performance. Frequent dance, music, bodypaint.

Sauce & Soda - Tasty new pizzeria offering several types of slices. Also seasonal custom soda pop flavors.

Sea Wolf - Extremely popular Nautical-themed seafood restaurant. They serve other food like hamburgers, salad, etc too.

The Sampler - Beer bar with big selection of taps and bottles - many local breweries. Decorated/painted by authentic NYC graffiti writers, and run by born-and-bred New Yorkers. Show this page to receive a special offer (note to business: approved by Leo)

KCBC - Fresh local-size microbrewery. Lively tap room open Tues-Sun, serving small-batch suds.

Roberta's Pizza  - Wildly popular pizza restaurant known for Neopolitan (thin crust) wood-fired pies. A super 'hip' place which is covered in graffiti art and has an urban garden on the roof. No reservations! Roberta's Pizza is a walk of approx. 10 minutes from the Bushwick Collective.

Fine 'n Raw chocolate factory - Small-batch artisinal chocolate factory. More than 15 flavors. Free samples to try. Closed Sunday. Fine 'n Raw is a walk of approx. 10 minutes from the Bushwick Collective.

All businesses listed here are in the immediate vicinity of the Bushwick Collective - except Roberta's Pizza and Fine 'n Raw chocolate, which are a walk of approx. 10 minutes.

From left to right: Buff Monster , Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks , Sipros , Tats Cru - Nicer   Bio   BG183 + CRASH ,

Is graffiti illegal? Click here for an explanation

Enjoyed this guide? Make a charity donation

This guide is provided for free. To show appreciation, please donate to the following nonprofit agency which supports low-income Brooklynites: St. Nicks Alliance. Your donation will support affordable housing, educational programs and job training. Thank you in advance!

Please Note: this page is not sanctioned by the Bushwick Collective. We are not affiliated with the Bushwick Collective. We are a sightseeing tour company.

© Copyright Jeffrey Stirewalt 2019

Bushwick Collective: Info / Map / Self Guided Tour"