One of the reasons why I love New York City so much is that I always feel like I’m in a movie scene when I walk down the streets of lively Manhattan. Slightly dorky I know. But sightings of fire escapes down the sides of old buildings, man holes emitting steam, and yellow taxis cruising by, all remind me of settings of classics like When Harry Met Sally, Seinfield, Gossip Girl, King Kong, and so on. The atmosphere is just so nostalgic and magical!
During my latest trip to New York (my Nth time by now), I was super stoked to spend a day with On Location Tours, a tour company that brings guests to filming hotspots around NYC. I specifically chose the tour for one of my all time favourite TV shows/movies: Sex and the City.
If you are a SATC fan, you are probably already screaming “Yassss!” I know. I was also obsessed with this show and its two movies. The stories of the four ladies (my favourite was Charlotte by the way), inspired my life mission of joining a bad ass yet glamorous femme gang one day. I love everything about this show: the loyal friendships, the dating tales, the gorgeous fashion, the cheeky humour, you get the picture. SATC was so ahead of its time during its creation and still iconic.
Now, enough fan girl-ing from me. I am here to tell you about my experience on the Sex and the City tour NYC. So strap on your cutest shoes, and let’s go on a date!
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*Big thanks to On Location Tours for covering the expenses of my tour. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.
Table of Contents
Sex and the City Tour NYC
Cosmos at Scout
The Sex and the City tour NYC covers more than 40 filming locations from the show, so it’s a full itinerary. After meeting the guide near Central Park at the Pulitzer Fountain at 11 am, the guests were invited to board the bus. The day started for us in the heart of the concrete jungle, midtown Manhattan. Here we were reminded of several classic scenes like the time Carrie said good bye to Mr.Big at the Plaza Hotel, or the time Samantha tried to seduce a hot priest at a quaint church. As we were watching and listening, movie and real life suddenly blended together and I felt like I was in an episode of Sex and the City. Between sites, our guide Lou entertained us with juicy behind the scenes stories from SATC and the latest gossips about the actresses. Who is heart broken like me over the fact that there will never be a Sex and the City movie again? So sad about Kim Cattrall’s refusal to participate. Why Samantha why?
After midtown, the tour continued on to Greenwich Village and SoHo, the hip trendy parts of NYC where many celebrities hang out. We visited the Pleasure Chest, the infamous sex shop where Charlotte bought her “Rabbit” (I am not going to explain what that is), took photos in front of Carrie’s brownstone stoop, and ate yummy cupcakes from Magnolia. I was so hoping to see Sarah Jessica Parker as it was said that she is often spotted during the tour. We didn’t this time around. Oh well, maybe next time. One day SJP, One day!
Other highlights on the tour included stopping by Scout, the bar Aidan and Steve opened on the show, and trying some delicious Cosmos. As well as checking out Buddakan, the upscale restaurant where Carrie and Big had their rehearsal dinner.
Overall, the tour was fun and informative. Even the guys on the bus seemed like they were having fun, thanks to Lou who was such an entertainer.
The Bus
The coach bus used for our tour was very comfortable. As it rained cats and dogs on the day my friend and I did the tour, I was so glad that our bus did not have an open roof like the typical sightseeing buses. We stayed dry and safe even though the weather decided to be a evil. Kudos to our driver who brought us through the mad traffic of Manhattan smoothly, while letting us see everything we needed to see.
The best feature on the bus had got to be the TV monitors. Our guide would play clips from the show/movie to remind us the back story of the scene, as we pass by the setting it was filmed at. Like the Tiffany & Co. where Charlotte proposed! It was super neat to compare the details. Thank god for these videos for trips down memory lane because hey, even the most hard core fans forget sometimes.
The Guide
All the Sex and the City tour guides are fabulous female comedians and actresses. Our guide Lou was awesome. She had tons of good jokes and was knowledgeable down to the butt double actor used for Samantha’s senior citizen millionaire hook up. She was also nice enough to wait for me even though I was running a bit late at the beginning of the tour. Oops. Thanks Lou!
The Extra Goodies
There are tons of little extra goodies you get along with the tour. A raffle for a free tote bag; a mystery gift card for Century 21 that ranges from $5-$500; discounts to places like the Pleasure Chest (*cough for all the Samanthas out there), Buddakan, SoHo House, etc. My favourite though was a free cupcake from Magnolia. Magnolia is famous in NYC and sells out their cupcakes everyday. So I was very happy get one. It’s fair to say that this cupcake was the bomb. No wonder it’s so popular.
Things to know when doing the Sex and the City Tour NYC
This tour is not for kids
As you probably would not show the SATC series/movies to your little Johnny, this tour is not for the younger audience. Not surprisingly, there are many jokes and sites that only adults would find entertaining. Ok you get what I mean. *wink wink. Moving on…
Eat before the tour
The tour was said to be 3.5 hours but in reality, it lasted 4 hours for us (11 AM to 3 PM). So leave some room in your schedule. More importantly, don’t forget to eat a meal before the tour, or bring some snacks to munch on. Although there is cupcake and cosmo, you may still get pretty hungry.
Bring a tip for the guide
Don’t forget to leave a tip for the tour guide! They work extremely hard and are running tours rain or shine.
All in all, I really enjoyed On Location Tours’ Sex and the City tour NYC. For someone who had done all the first timer’s tourist things in NYC, it offered a new and fresh lens for seeing the city. And if you are visiting New York for the first time, great! This tour will sparkle extra movie magic on top of your experience. I recommend going with a group of girlfriends for extra fun (preferably all SATC fans of course). You can even dress up as your favorite characters! For booking, visit On Location Tours and get 10% off when your use the discount code: TakeTwo. The company also has other tours such as “Gossip Girl”, “When Harry Met Seinfield”, “Central Park TV & Movie Sites”, and more.
Have you ever done a movie tour in NYC? I would love to do more tours so let me know which is your favourite!
*This post contains affiliate links. Which means at no extra cost to you, I may earn a small commission if a purchase is made through the links.
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19 comments
Love it. I am a huge SATC fan and would love to do this tour. However so far all my NYC trips were with my husband (not such a big fan), so this one will have to wait for my long awaited girly trip to New York (hopefully in the not so far future, certainly in the five year plan by now).
But even without doing an official tour, it is just great to walk along the streets and realise you recognise places from movies.
Awesome guide, I’d love to do this tour. NYC is on my list of places to go, and I’m adding this tour to my list fo things to do.
LOVE this! SATC is the best, I would love to do this.
I would love to go on this tour! I’m going to NYC in 2019 and I can’t wait to see some of these spots!
I would have loved to do a Gossip Girl and SATC one!
I am pretty sure I took Gossip Girl tour with the same company! It was pretty fun! As I was travelling on my own, the guide even snapped a few pictures of me, so I have something to remember it by with me in shot as well 🙂
I would LOVE to do this tour! Was totally addicted to SATC so this would be right up my street!
I’ve lived in New York my whole life and have never done this. Got to add it to my local bucket list!
Ok this is pretty awesome. I am not a SATC fan, but reading your post I was very impressed by the level of effort this tourm makes to see as much as possible from the TV show. Even potential spotting of SJP? That’s quite impressive if this is really something that does occur often!! 😀
Anyway even as a non-fan I did visit Magnolia Bakery. Everyone was raving about that bakery and they have really great cupcakes indeed!
wow! i am really not into celebrity but this blows my mind! the place are all astonishing! I hope i can visit new york one day 🙂
I have been to NYC and have also seen the movie but didn’t combine the two while touring :). A new perspective. Great !
Honestly haven’t seen much of the show, but this seems like such a fun idea for a tour! Going to have to check out that tour company, as well, because I love visiting filming locations!
This is such a cute article! I pinned it to my Travel Destination Board. I’m a huge Sex and The City fan! I will definitely go on this tour the next time I’m in NYC. ~Elizabeth
Thanks for the tip on making sure to eat before! While I love desserts, I don’t think I could do 4 hours with just cupcakes 😂
Very interesting read. One tour covers more than 40 filming locations, Wow!! As a movie lover wish to explore someday.
Very cool! I’ve never done a movie tour but we did do a bit of a self-guided ‘famous spots’ tour of NYC the first time we went, featuring some spots in Grenwich Village and Marilyn Monroe’s famous subway vent. Such a fun way to explore a city!
I would love to do this tour, you must have had lots of fun! It has been on my list along with Friends and Gossip Girl!
This sounds so fun I’d love to do a gossip girl style tour! What a great way to see the city
How fun! It’s always beautiful to discover places used as settings in your favorite show thanks to a guided tour. I bet you can also meet nice people who share your same passion!