Garbage And Rats In New York City Walking Tour

Suzanne is so knowledgeable! So many facts about garbage and rats. Now I'm attuned to all sorts of stuff I'd never noticed before. Not for the squeamish... we saw many live and dead rats.

She is so knowledgeable and funny! Loved this so much and I will never see the city the same. My watch said 3M of walking, but it seemed like less.

This was such a unique tour and fun experience! We enjoyed delving into quirky, niche topics in NYC history and learning more about rats. Also spotted a few of the little critters along the way. Would totally recommend to others.

Recommend by a friend and we were totally entertained! I learned so much about the history of sanitation (and lack of!!) in New York. Plus we saw plenty of rats to my children’s delight!! Fun! Memorable!

Incredibly fun and informative! Enjoyable for both NYC natives or those just visiting.

Gross but super fun way to see nyc and learn some history

Horrible garbage odor at main entrance. It has been this way for years. I guess they don't feel the guest are important enough to fix this issue. The garbage smell is horrible and the fastest way to the boardwalk/beach is past the smell. Be sure that it is not pot or cigarettes smell, it's garbage. they collect the garbage at the main entrance.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this experience. We did so many different tours on our trip to NYC, and this one was by far my favorite. Suzanne was very kind, accommodating, and you can tell she has a deep appreciation and interest in the history of rats and sanitation in NYC. If you want to learn more about the kind of history that gets brushed under the rug, this is the perfect tour for you.

Suzanne is an exceptional guide! Very knowledgeable on the topics and had antidotes to tell us also. Anyone who’s going to New York, or lives in New York, or thinks they want to live in New York really should take this tour because it is informative and fascinating!

This was really great. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable. This is definitely a good tour for both the fun of seeing the rats but also getting a general lesson on the rats and the garbage of New York.

This tour was so much fun! I went with friends from the city and we all enjoyed our tour. We were really able to nerd out with all our crazy questions and the guide was very knowledgeable. It was a different way to learn about the history of NYC and we did get to see lots of rats!

My friends and I had such a great time at this fun and informative tour! It’s perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about the city’s history, sanitation, and our most maligned fauna. Getting to see real rats in action is a plus.

Thank you, Suzanne. Great tour. So interesting. I highly recommend

The tour guide was wonderful! Excellent activity for the rat enthusiasts out there. I learned a lot while seeing LIVE RATS in their city habitat.

Exceed expectations. Super interesting.

This was such a fun, informative, and interesting tour! We learned so much cool history (that no one ever talks about) and we indeed saw plenty of rats! Our guide Suzanne is an absolute gem of a tour guide! 10/10 no doubt

Such a unique and interesting tour! Reasonably priced considering the length and passion of the guide. Only two other people on the tour as well meant it was an intimate experience where lots of questions could be asked and answered. Highly recommend.

Suzanne was incredible! She was knowledgeable and funny! We learned so much about the history of NYC and offered us a new perspective. We won’t spill all her secrets since you NEED to go on this tour but I promise you that you will learn so much about nyc and life lessons.

What a unique way to learn about NYC's history - from the 1600s to present! Suzanne was a wonderful, knowledgable guide. We learned about how garbage has been dealt with over the centuries (and we produce unnecessary proportions of trash), how rats thrive in garbage, about rat lifespans and behaviour, where and how they live, and how they're kept under control (somewhat). We learned about the dog & rat fights in the mid 1700s, stood at the site of the great rat attack of 1979, and learned about how rats mark their trails and create social systems. We saw buildings and learned facts about humanity that we never would have otherwise. Very cool and highly recommended! You will see NYC (and all cities) differently.

Friendly, informative, such a fascinating way to discovery the history of NYC. One you’ll never forget.

Really great tour, learned so much about the history of New York! We saw lots of rats, beautiful architecture well worth the price. Perfect mix of history and ecology.

This is a unique and clever walking tour of New York with fun and fascinating history from the point of view of sanitation. Our tour guide was delightful and was ver engaging even for young kids.

Loved this tour so much. I am from CA, and don't know much about New York history. The tour guide was so knowledgeable and personable. We saw a rat at the first stop, we were able to guess the age, and learned a lot about the cycle of life for a rat. Never knew that only one breed of rat is in NY and there is a reason for that, but you have to take the tour to find out. TMNT was so accurate it's a tad scary. There were 4 of us on the tour total, and because it was a small group, we were able to talk a bit more and learn more as a group because of the intimate setting. The garbage part of the tour is so interesting and interwoven into the history of NY, never knew. It was mind blowing how much rats and garbage are a part of this city. Received great book recommendations from the tour guide because I need to know more. It was a nice walk to learn the city and the meeting place is right off a subway stop. I really like she has pictures for the stops to really understand the history of NY. It was a great price for the tour and I would actually take the tour again, just to see if there are more rats around the area.

This tour was so fun AND informative. Suzanne was such a great guide - if the rain hadn't been threatening to pour at any moment, we could have stayed and talked to her forever! The history of garbage and sanitation in NYC is entertwined with the history of rats in the city, and it somehow was one of the best things we've done in our multiple visits to NY. I would highly recommend this for rat lovers AND rat haters - it's fascinating information from any perspective. Thank you!

I am so very happy I chose to go on this walking tour rather than standing in line at one of the tourist attractions. It was a lovely way to explore New York filled with interesting stories/history of NY sanitation. Suzanne really knows her stuff and has a lot of passion and enthusiasm for the subject. And the rats, of course. The group was made up of really interesting and fun people, too. We did make a few rat sightings and I don’t think I will ever look at the pavements and parks of New York or any major city the same way ever again. I highly recommend this tour. And I actually would have been happy to pay more even. Thank you, Suzanne.

Very fun! Very personal. You get to walk around downtown Manhattan alleyways for a couple hours while hearing about New York history. The guide was genuinely passionate and knowledgeable, and would know answers to everything we could ask.

Suzanne , our guide, is so informative and her presentation so captivating, that it is one of the best walking tours I’ve taken! We walked and she pointed out rat burrows in landscaped patches, then a rat would pop out and then it’s playmate, then rat games ensued. The phones came out. She located city benches where we would sit and enjoy her teaching off our feet- she had a big notebook of photos of NYC from its very inception, and of all the garbage and poop that was in the streets! We saw the tall ships in the harbour tied up with fat, fat ropes - down which the rats used to disembark to get comfortable in their new home. All in all Suzanne made this one of my favorite evenings in NYC this visit!

This was a fascinating tour, with so much local history woven in. My husband and I loved it and learned so much, even though we've spent time in the Financial District before. Great guide and we highly recommend the tour. I think older children would love the tour too!

We had a lovely time. We heard interesting stories about the rats and garbage in the city and we really loved the streets where the tour took place. The guide’s enthousiasm and knowledge made the experience amazing.

Tour guide Suzanne’s expertise, sense of humor and teaching skills made “Rats and Garbage of NYC” an exceptional experience. I now know the functional difference between rat whiskers and the whiskers of cats. My new view of rats? Just spell it backwards!

Fun! Interesting! Mildly horrifying!

Suzanne was so knowledgeable and friendly! She had a great amount of information about NYC that even extended beyond the tour! Saw rats even on a rainy day!

The tour was absolutely perfect our guide had so much knowledge about the surrounding area and we loved every second of it. Plus we got to see a lot of rats! The history about the surrounding area is something we would never have even thought about and we all had a blast!

This garbage tour was a highlight of our four-day visit to NYC! Yes it focuses on rats and garbage (gross) but much of the tour is also devoted to the history of Manhattan and touches on many issues that are relevant today (i.e., immigration, public health, city politics from the 1600s until the present). Suzanne is very knowledgeable and animated when discussing rats and the history of sanitation in NY. This was such a fun, informative, and unique way to spend an afternoon off the beaten path in lower Manhattan. Even my two teenagers who are bored by most things found it interesting, which says something. Highly recommend!!

So so soooo much fun! Very informative and would 100% recommend : )

This was an awesome tour and great experience! Suzanne was very knowledgeable and friendly. I would highly recommend!

This was great; the guide made it very interesting, with thoughtful reflections on the city's history and the management of leftovers, and some extra trivia-winning knowledge :)

What a wonderful tour! Suzanne is very knowledgeable and provided a lot of interesting information regarding NYC, rats and garbage! Enjoyed this tour very much and highly recommend! The tour was just the right amount of time. There were places to sit when needed as she spoke about the history and provided information. We were lucky enough to catch some rats towards the end of the tour. Loved this tour so much!

"Off the Beaten Track" is right, and in the best of ways! This is such a unique tour, clearly well-researched, and very fun. The guide Suzanne was personable and funny, and showed us all sorts of details about NYC that, even as a local myself, really surprised me. Be prepared for the walk, but there's lots of spots to stop and rest along the way, too. Great for anyone interested in learning cool facts about the city and its least-welcome, yet still iconic, furry four-legged garbage-eating residents!

Suzanne did an amazing job leading our rats and garbage tour! She was very comprehensive, taking us from the first colonists who arrived with rats in Manhattan up until the present day state of the city's rat population (out of control!), including fantastic anecdotes and pieces of social history along the way. Not only did we see several rats in their natural habitat, one dashed by our feet on his way to a burrow! I certainly came away knowing far more about rat behavior, likes and dislikes, and physical characteristics than I had before. The two and a half hours flew by—Suzanne kept us moving to a variety of interesting sites and used helpful visual aids as well. She was also very attentive, making sure we were able to sit as often as possible at different stops and making sure we weren't too cold in the seaport wind. Overall: if you have any interest in urban history and our small furry neighbors, this tour is for you!

Suzanne was an incredible guide! The tour was engaging, funny, and very informative. This tour genuinely has changed the way I will look at trash, sanitation, and different facets of public health moving forward.

Suzanne is an incredible tour guide. Full of fun facts mixed with humor and history. We learned so much. You know it is a great hit when your high schooler walks away with so many facts to impress his friends:)!

Our family had the best time (even my elementary aged children were enthralled)! Suzanne was very knowledgeable about the history of the city and it's rat population. We highly recommend this tour.

We had a blast ! The highlight of our trip, we learned a ton about the city’s history of sanitation and rats. Our tour guide made the entire experience unique, hilarious, and fun :)

This was my favorite part of my trip to New York by far. Couldn't recommend more.

Our tour guide was SO funny and we loved our little rat tour! We wore rat shirts and got to see some rats at the Rat Crack! We went from 3:30-6:30 and felt that the tour was so worth it. There were breaks to sit while she talked throughout. Thanks so much for a great tour!!

Superb tour—even as a New Yorker I walked streets I didn’t know existed and, of course, learned a fair amount.

This is a strange way to spend a few hours in the City, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Suzanne is deeply knowledgable and encourages more extensive thinking about the tour's subject as the group moves through the route. I know a good deal about New York, and maybe a bit more about garbage than the average person (I studied urbanism in Romania, trash capital of the EU!), but there was plenty of new and surprising information that really reshaped how I think about, see, and feel Manhattan. In addition to the fun of the tour and its broadly educational nature, Suzanne is a caring hostess and routinely checked in with the group to make sure everyone was doing alright. Because it was a bit chilly, our group made a pit stop for warm drinks, and at the end she made sure that everyone knew where they were headed, next. While it was a good amount of walking, there were tons of rest breaks. It made me feel comfortable with the idea of maybe bringing some of the more mobility challenged elders in the family along for a tour with Suzanne in the future. Thoughtful, in every sense of the word. We did see rats, both living and deceased, as well as plenty of "evidence," for those who are concerned with that question. We also happened to be touring on a particularly robust trash day in the neighborhood, so we might have gotten more details about the science of the garbage-rat continuum than folks touring on a tidier day might.

By far the most quintessentially New York tour to exist! Suzanne really knows her stuff and is witty and brilliant at weaving the whole educational experience together. It was just me that day but I learned so much about rats, boats, trash, corruption, Aaron Burr, Gatsby, and New York history on my first trip to the city. Highly recommend!