Enjoy the spectacular Christmas lights and holiday movie sites in New York City on this guided bus tour. While the filming locations can be easy to overlook on your own, joining a tour ensures you don’t miss any of the iconic attractions or hidden gems. Plus, the guide matches the locations to their on-screen movie clips along the way.

See NYC’s holiday splendor on a bus tour of movie filming locations
View the spectacular lights and holiday window displays throughout Manhattan
Learn entertaining tidbits and insider secrets from your guide, a New York City actor
Pose for a photo in front of the festive Lincoln Center tree

What's Included

Professional guide
Heated transportation

Food and drinks
Gratuities

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

1889 Broadway
1889 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, USA
Departure Point: Meeting location provided on voucher Address: 63rd and Broadway - outside Starbucks Directions: • Please call our office at 212-683-2027 if you are having any trouble finding your guide. The guide will be holding a Holiday Lights & Movie Sites sign in their hands.

Start time

06:30 pm

End point

Macy's
151 W 34th St., New York, NY 10001, USA
The bus will drop off on the corner near Macy's on 34th Street.

What To Expect

This New York City holiday sightseeing tour begins in Manhattan. Hop on your tour bus, and head to Central Park West, home of the world-famous Thanksgiving Day Parade and one of the key filming locations in the movies Elf and Mr. Popper’s Penguins.

Then it’s on to the Upper West Side to relive holiday scenes from Scrooged and New Year’s Eve before moving on to Lincoln Center for a festive photo op with its beautiful Christmas tree.

In Central Park, relive the scenes from Wollman Rink in Home Alone 2 and the Bethesda Fountain in Elf. On the Upper East Side, see the restaurant from Serendipity. Back in midtown Manhattan, remember scenes from Eloise at Christmastime and The Family Man before hitting Rockefeller Center for a viewing of the most famous Christmas tree in New York—as seen in Home Alone 2, Elf, and Noel. Continue down Fifth Avenue, and find the decorated windows at Lord and Taylor before finishing your tour in Herald Square.

On Location Tours New York City

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

New York City (Pass By)

Fifth Avenue

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (Pass By)

Macy's Herald Square

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Bloomingdale's

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Central Park (Pass By)

Rockefeller Center (Pass By)

Bryant Park

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Limited wheelchair accessibility. Buses are not equipped with wheelchair lifts. Storage is available for foldable wheelchairs. Passengers must be able to get on and off the bus of their own accord. Wheelchairs may be taken out at the stops if desired.
All tours are led by tour guides, and take place on luxury coach buses. Buses are air-conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. Most buses are equipped with bathrooms.
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Most travellers can participate
There are several quick step-off points at some of the locations during the tour.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 55 travellers

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

This experience requires a minimum number of travellers. If it’s cancelled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveller Photos

Reviews

4.0

57 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 57 reviews

Fun tour

Jennifer_G, Dec 2022

So much fun. Tour was great informative. I highly recommend. My daughter enjoyed too. Both on bud and they let you off to take pics too.

Response from Host, Dec 2022

Thank you!

Great

Anthony_S, Dec 2022

Stephanie was great. She was hilarious . I highly recommend this tour when you come to New York!!!!!

Response from Host, Dec 2022

Thank you for this review!

Holiday tour

Marisa_K, Dec 2018

Excellent tour Benji was very knowledgeable and entertaining..would definitely recommend to anyone ..

Not as good as the tv/movies tour

Climber39004865175, Dec 2018

My friend and I were a little disappointed with this tour. We thought there would be more light displays and more variety of movies featured.

Great way to get into the Christmas Spirit

jennifer_h, Dec 2018

Took the tour with 2 kids (11&14) and grandma. We all loved it - the holiday scenery was stunning - especially the department store windows. Nice way to see the sights in comfort after a long day of walking around the city. It was fun to see the clips from the movies and match the locations up in real life. It was a Saturday night tour and we did not have the traffic problems that others complained about. All in all I would recommend this tour to others.

Great tour! See a lot of NY and...

Danny F, July 2018

Great tour! See a lot of NY and different movie locations. Store fronts were amazing.

Traffic was so bad that we spent...

Judith L, Feb 2018

Traffic was so bad that we spent most of the time sitting on the bus waiting. We were re-routed on a couple streets because of high traffic volume. Did not really see many lights, mostly dark streets where a movie was made. Did not live up to expectations.

Really a dark bus ride through the...

Heather R, Dec 2017

Really a dark bus ride through the city with very little holiday lights. The bus itself was very smelly inside, do not think the tank was cleaned and smelled like an out house. We saw 3 sets of store displays and only 1 had a holiday theme. This tour was basically watching clips of holiday movies filmed in NYC - we really were unable to see any sites in the dark. Only place with lights we saw was driving through Rockefeller Center. Tour guide was nice but seemed very unexperienced. We were all extremely bored and disappointed in this tour unfortunately.

My experience with the New York...

Blair B, Dec 2017

My experience with the New York Holiday Lights and Movie Sites Tour was AWESOME!! Max the guide was very witty, kind and knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting. I also appreciate the tour bus driver as he maneuvered through some pretty congested traffic. I highly recommend and have recommended this tour to everyone.

The tour guide was knowledgeable...

Jeffrey W, Dec 2017

The tour guide was knowledgeable but, the tour was disappointing. There was a lot of downtime while the bus driver was stuck in traffic. About half way through they stopped at Bloomingdales to let us off for some window shopping; we had already done that on our own, so we didn’t get back on the bus.

Christmas lights and movies on a...

Deborah T, Dec 2017

Christmas lights and movies on a Saturday night during the first NYC snowfall of winter. The best way to see the most! The elevated view of the lights, storefronts, and thousands of people on 5th Avenue was spectacular. Gingerbread cookies and improv comedy from our guide made the evening. Couldn't fix the traffic jams, but a better check-in system could be! No fun standing in rain for 20min to a half hour. Need to scan physical tickets and allow on busses immediately. That said, exceptional circumstances were in play. Cheers!!

The tour took place at evening rush...

Lynda_R, Dec 2016

The tour took place at evening rush hour in New York!!! Hence we pretty much ch sat outside a department store in a coach for most of it. Very poor

It was great! The tour guide was...

Barry C, Dec 2016

It was great! The tour guide was funny and very informative. Lights. tree and windows beautiful. Puts you in holiday spirit. Only suggestion is put a sign where you meet because if the guide is taking priority people to bus no one is there to meet you.We were afraid we missed it.

Guide seemed very new as he wasn't...

Carol L, Dec 2015

Guide seemed very new as he wasn't adept at telling us about the movie sites until we were well passed them!

We absolutely loved this tour! We...

greenie1515, Jan 2015

We absolutely loved this tour! We went on Christmas night and it was a great time to take it. The guide for this tour was very knowledgeable and made the tour fun! The Christmas lights in NYC are just magical and magnificent. Definitely would put this tour on my list.

It was good once it finally got...

Sharon S, Dec 2014

It was good once it finally got started, but it started 45-60 mins late without any real reasons. The kids liked it once it got started, but did think the bus temperature was actually too hot! The tour guide was entertaining, but not sure how informative. The tour guide said at one time The Saks Fifth Ave light show went every 30 minutes, but it actually goes every 7 minutes. There was something else we found to be false that they said, but can't remember now. Overall worth seeing sights while resting.

The bus was an hour late but after we...

Jerry S, Dec 2014

The bus was an hour late but after we started it was great.

Tour good but bus was over an hour...

liz W, Dec 2014

Tour good but bus was over an hour late due to traffic which can't be helped, maybe the time need's to be longer in between the two tour's. Guide was great even bought lovely ginger biscuits while waiting for the bus.

Was really looking forward to the...

Kay M, Dec 2014

Was really looking forward to the tour but..... The Tour started very late- venue and times were changed on multiple occasions- bus was old and smelly - the movie clips on screens were fuzzy. Tour guide was un-organised but did her best to keep spirits on bus high which is why I am awarding 2 stars otherwise would be 1star. Would not recommend this tour very disappointed.

This was very exciting for me and my...

Dorcas V, Jan 2014

This was very exciting for me and my family. I was hassle free the lines to redeem your tickets was a little lengthy but for the most part it save time and money. I would consider using your company again and recommend you all to my family and friends. Some of buses no heat and condition of them.