Lower East Side Tours and Tickets

There are plenty of ways to experience the Lower East Side. Looking at ratings and reviews previously given by customers, these are the best tours available right now:

• Manhattan Architecture Yacht Cruise

• Lower East Side Food Tour: Iconic Eats and NYC History Walking Tour

• NYC Lower East Side Walking and Food Tour

• Manhattan Neighborhood Private Customized Walking Tour

• Lower East Side Food and Neighborhood Tour

The Lower East Side is a rapidly gentrifying, former working class and immigrant neighborhood in New York City that’s a popular place to explore on your own or in the company of local guides. However you choose to visit, budget for plenty of food and drink in this dining hot spot; food tours here start from just US$40, while bar crawls go from US$30.

Yes, New York City's Lower East Side neighborhood is a fascinating area of Manhattan to explore and should be on every visitor's itinerary. Here, you can dive into much of the Big Apple's immigrant history, especially at the Tenement Museum, before grabbing lunch at Katz's Deli. Tours are often the best way to explore this neighborhood, though, as you can benefit from the insight of a local guide and see all the highlights with ease. Food tours are especially popular here, with good reason.

Per one customer who booked the Lower East Side Food Tour: Iconic Eats and NYC History Walking Tour, "A unique look at areas you won't see on big tours. We enjoyed the historical accounts, personal stories, and leisurely pace of this tour. Our guide, Alex, was thoughtful, well-prepared, and able to answer questions with ease. The food was fun and well-portioned for our group. A wonderful way to learn more about NYC!"

While New York City geography can appear fuzzy, with new neighborhood acronyms popping up overnight, the Lower East Side still has clear contours. It refers to the section of Manhattan wedged in by Chinatown and Canal Street to the south, Soho and Nolita to the east, and the East Village to the north.

This is where many of New York City’s most storied immigrant communities started in the 19th and 20th centuries. The era can still be glimpsed through the neighborhood’s historic tenement walk-ups. Lower East Side addresses once carried a stigma, although you’d never know that today. While still gritty, the neighborhood has also gentrified.

Take a stroll down Orchard Street, once the domain of Jewish fabric merchants and now an urban laboratory for new boutiques, cafés, and galleries—with a vintage deli thrown in. Grab a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Delicatessen. After sundown, while away the evening at a comedy show or neighborhood music venue.

Yes, the Lower East Side has more than cleaned up its once-seedy reputation over the years. This is one of Manhattan’s most bustling neighborhoods day and night, so you’re unlikely to encounter any dodgy situations. That said, anyone in any city should keep their wits about them and watch out for pickpocketers.

New York City tends to be expensive, especially Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, and the Lower East Side is no exception. But the beauty of this wonderfully multi-dimensional neighborhood is that high-end brunch joints and designer shops are sprinkled in with greasy spoon diners and old-school corner stores. And hey, strolling around is free.

Be sure to check out the Tenement Museum. Located on Orchard Street, the museum encompasses two 19th-century walk-ups that housed over 7,000 immigrants and migrants from over 20 countries. Choose from various themed apartment tours (including one focused on women and another on famine), which can be booked online in advance.

Yes. Travelers will find no shortage of guided neighborhood walking tours, including from the Tenement Museum. While you should also allot time to venture out on your own, visiting the area with a guide is a great way to learn about the legacies of many first-generation Americans who have called the Lower East Side home.

There are tons of things to do when you're done visiting the Lower East Side. According to travelers, these are some of the top attractions in New York City:

• Statue of Liberty

• Empire State Building

• Ellis Island

• Central Park

• National September 11 Memorial & Museum

View Viator's guide to all the best attractions in New York City.