Queens 360 Tours specializes in private tours for individuals, families and groups—and our focus is on both the iconic and the new in Queens. Because the boroughs outside Manhattan are more extensive and public transportation options less convenient, we typically structure our tours using comfortable passenger vans to minimize transportation time between featured points of interest. Choose from set itineraries, Queens 101 or All That Jazz, or create your own Custom Tour for exploring The World’s Borough.
Queens 101— $250/hr
Up to 10 guests
This 3-hour van exploration, designed to give you an overview of Queens, hits key spots in the borough from the booming East River waterfront in Long Island City to Rockaway Beach. We can meet at your hotel or anywhere in Queens. Queens 101 is the only comprehensive tour of the place Lonely Planet picked as its top USA destination (2015)!
What makes Queens so special? It’s the City’s largest, most economically and culturally diverse borough–and home to many of its most distinctive assets and attractions. It provides the best views of the Manhattan skyline combined with spectacular waterfront parks and hip neighborhoods along the riverfront. Queens also offers top flight and unique museums; world renowned sporting venues including the world’s largest tennis center—home to the US Open; the City’s oldest house of worship, which played a key role in the development of our nation’s cherished principle of freedom of religion; and stunning natural treasures—the country’s largest urban wildlife preserve and the longest stretch of ocean beach in any city in the country.
We also visit Flushing Meadow Park, home to two World’s Fairs, the iconic Unisphere–the largest globe structure in the world, that tennis center and the Queens Museum. One of the museum’s highlights is the Panorama—a nearly 10,000 square foot miniature version of New York City— the world’s largest scale model.
Queens is also the most ethnically and culturally diverse political entity on the planet. On this tour, we will dive into immigration here, past and present, as we explore various neighborhoods along the #7 train line—known as the “Immigrant Express.” All that diversity also makes for fascinating and vibrant neighborhoods and some of the best destinations for ethnic food in the city.
And for the jazz enthusiast, Queens is a particularly special place since some of the greatest names in the genre, including Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, John Coltrane, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne, all called the borough home. And all this is just the beginning of the story!
All That Jazz— $250/hr
Up to 10 guests
This two-hour jaunt is an expanded and highly focused version of the Jazz portion of our Queens 101 Tour, encompassing much more of the history of Queens’ incredible jazz legacy. We’ll talk more about all that jazz, and the reasons Queens became the community of choice for so many jazz greats and other notable African Americans at the time and in the context of the Great Migration of African Americans from the South. We will also “swing” by the distinctive neighborhoods and homes where these jazz greats lived—including the Louis Armstrong House Museum!
Custom Tours
In addition to these itineraries, Queens 360 Tours can also build custom private tours for you. We know the territory—but you know your interests! So let us know what those are and we will custom design the experience you’re looking for. Call us for details. Here are a few custom possibilities:
- Hit the water: Explore Queen’s amazing river and ocean-facing waterways, the City’s harbor and beyond by small boat. Learn about their unparalleled historic, commercial and recreational significance; and see the City as few visitors ever do.
- Cultural Exploration: Deep dive into specific cultural and neighborhood experiences.