Lower East Side Tour: Historic Bagel Tasting

Embark on a historic bagel tasting tour of the Lower East Side, where you’ll explore the rich cultural heritage and indulge in mouthwatering noshes that have shaped New York City’s culinary scene.

Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Lower East Side - This is a walking tour of the Lower East Side of New York.
  • Economy Candy - Famous establishments to be visited with mouth watering nosh/tastes are Yonah Shimmel’s Knish Bakery, Russ & Daughters, Katz’s Deli, Economy Candy, The Essex Street Retail Market, The Pickle Guy and Kossar’s Bialys.
  • The Pickle Guys - See…
What's Included
  • Fresh Bagel to start the tour
  • Professional guide
  • Food tasting
What's Not Included
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Experience the captivating views, enchanting fragrances, and delectable bites of the Lower East Side, guided through this historically rich neighborhood known for its culinary tradition. Since the early 19th century, immigrants seeking a fresh start in America have made this area their home, intricately weaving their cultural, financial, and gastronomic…

Location
137 E Houston St
East Houston Street
Departure Point: Lower East Side, Manhattan Address: Yonah Shimmel's Knish Bakery 137 East Houston Street New York, New York 10002 Directions: Take the F train to 2nd Avenue Station. Take the M15 bus to Allen and Houston Street Dates: Sunday and Wednesday
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.2
(24 Ratings)
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1 star
Meriel_b
Jan 15, 2024
Excellent, thoughtful and enjoyable tour - As a guide, Ben was great -- he had a lovely blend of personal knowledge of the area and well-researched history. The pace of the walk was really good: a combination of indoors and out doors. Thanks to Ben, the Lower East Side came alive for us, with all its cultures and resilience. Highly recommended!
Review provided by Viator
S4511ohellenh
Jan 3, 2024
You couldn't have a better experience than this tour of the Lower Eat Side - Ben is the best! If you need to know about the Lower East Side's history, he's your guy. Ben is smart, very well-informed and his tour is beautifully organized to cover the neighborhood with lots of fun (and delicious) stops. We had a great time and learned so much. Thank you, Ben!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Emilyfo8599oi
Dec 5, 2023
You don't want to miss the hidden history of the Lower East Side! - I learned a lot from Ben's tour! He pointed out so many things I would have missed going to the neighborhood without a guide, and he had great stories, too, which really brought the history alive. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Markkh2223nd
Aug 20, 2023
Good food and great hidden gems - We certainly enjoyed the food - bagels, pickles, bialys and Katz's pastrami - but what was more interesting was the history of the lower east side. Ben certainly knows the area and it was great to hear his stories of what the Lower East Side was like and to point out hidden landmarks you'd otherwise miss. A great way to spend a Sunday morning.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stephc2014
Aug 4, 2025
Great, but not exactly what we expected. - We loved Ben and found the tour to be super interesting and informative. We expected a bagel tasting tour, and we did try some food which was all delicious! But it was more of a history tour of the LES than a bagel tour. I would do this tour again for personal fun, just might have done something different for a bachelor party.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
V9223itmarch
Feb 1, 2024
A true native New Yorker who yearns for the LES of the past - Great tour, very in-depth and informative. A true native New Yorker who yearns for the LES of the past, and brings his personal story and remembrance to an unforgettable experience. Would of appreciated perhaps a break in the middle (in the new Market) as a respite from the cold, and walking further south into Canal and District streets. Thanks for a great time and fond memories.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rachel
Feb 5, 2025
Different than expected - We enjoyed the tour but the title is misleading. It says it’s a bagel tour, so we expected to go to several bagel places and try several bagels. That is not what happened. We tried a few different foods… pastrami, pickles, and one bagel. But it was mostly history of the Jewish history of the lower east side.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Steven_k
Apr 8, 2024
Not a Bagel Tour - I have a two star rating because we received a full refund. The tour is, unfortunately, not a good tour focusing on bagels. It is a historical tour of the Lower East side of Manhattan. We expected to visit 4 or 5 bagel shops to taste bagels and get a little history of the area as it relates bagels and maybe the Jewish community. Our guide quickly dove into excruciating detail (which needed editing) on the neighborhoods we were walking through pointing to pictures on an iPad that had chunks is something on the screen). After about 45 minutes on the tour, we asked him about our bagel stops. He said there were none so we ended the tour and he agreed to get us a full refund which was generous.
Review provided by Viator
Francescag5
Dec 26, 2025
Inaccurate description of tour. - I’ve waited 48 hours to write this review because I wanted time to reflect to make sure my review wasn’t a knee jerk reaction to our tour. I booked months in advance and was looking forward to a food tour so thought the ‘eat everything bagel tour’ would be a great tour for our family. Katz was on my list of places to visit and eat so I thought this tour would kill two birds with one stone. This tour was NOT what was advertised. The title wqs an eat everything tour. Whilst we were given a bagel in the street when we arrived, there weren’t any seated stops apart from the biali place at the end. My husband had to request multiple times if we could get a coffee and only near the end did that happen. When we stopped outside Katz we were told the queue was too long for us to go in. We were encouraged to look through the window and come back in our own time. We shouldn’t have been so British and should have insisted that we went in. I’m furious because we have come back and the queue is easily over 200 people whilst when we were here the other day there were only about ten people queuing in front of us. So so disappointing. I’m actually really angry about it. Ben should have asked us if we wanted to wait twenty mins (because that’s all it would have been) to get a takeaway but instead made us wait on the sidewalk whilst he told us all about Katz. There were many opportunities to make up any ‘wasted’ queuing time along the way. I know Ben will reply to this review and say it was described as a LES tour but I didn’t find the history to be very informative either. Just a description of local shops and how they have changed over time. There could have been a lot more facts and figures. Either advertise it as a food tour and stop at Katz or call it a LES tour. I feel like I wasted a lot of money and more importantly our time when it was at a premium on our NY trip. Would not recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Louis_c
May 25, 2025
Horrible. Disaster - Avoid at all costs!!! Only 2/8 of places were open One of the places had been closed for years Not sure but seemed like a scam as the price was high
Review provided by Viator
From $59
up to 15 guests
2 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).