Anyone had experience of using a Big Apple Greeter

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On the face of it sounds too good to be true - they will pair you up with a local NYC volunteer who will take you on a free guided tour around a part of the city. Have read positive reviews online but has anyone signed up for this and been matched with someone really good? (Or really awful??)

We had a greeter for the Upper West Side last year and enjoyed it for a different perspective of the city. Greeters are not a replacement for formal tour guides though as they are volunteers and I suspect they vary in terms of what they can offer.

Ours met us at our hotel and spent 3 hours with us taking us around the upper west side, Central Park and down to 5th avenue and the rockerfella center. We got lots of local tips for the city and the area where we were staying in the upper west side which I would never have known if we hadn't met her.

I'd probably recommend trying to get one for your first day if possible and request one as far in advance as you can as they can be very popular and you are not guaranteed one. We requested about 6 months in advance and had an email from the greeter herself about 2 weeks before introducing herself and asking what we would like to see / do with our time.

Brilliant, thank you. We are going at the beginning of March so that's about 90 days out so have signed up today. Quite interested in seeing a bit of NY which is off the beaten track a bit, I am quite happy to see the main sights ourselves. Will see what happens over the next few weeks.

Yes, we booked a Big Apple Greeter when we went to NYC in 2019.

We spent our first day with him - he met us outside our hotel and showed us how to use the buses and trains (we were complete novices!)
He took us to Central Park and we saw lots of things around the park that we definitely wouldn't have seen if we hadn't gone with him.

We paid a donation and also took him some British 'gifts'.

P

Yes I had read about the donation and will definitely be taking some Scottish stuff if we get matched with someone.

We did this 20 years ago and it's great to hear it's still going! Our guide was a lovely retired UN worker who genuinely loved meeting visitors and introducing the neighborhoods.

Just bumping this thread as we are off in three weeks and have been paired with a Greeter. She has emailed me a list of suggestions about what she could take us to see, and I think we're going to ask her to take us over to Brooklyn and see around Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, then walk back to Manhattan over the bridge.

I am so impressed by the scheme so far, all completely free. I have said we would like to take her for lunch and we'll probably take a couple of boxes of shortbread or something.