Turnstile Tours is Going Online!

As the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have cascaded across the globe, our business and our entire industry have been hit hard. We have not been able to offer any tours since March 11, and many of our partner organizations and businesses have been forced to close as well. In an effort to support our talented staff and stay connected with our community, we are now offering daily online experiences that highlight our tours, research, and partners. We are talking with makers, street vendors, and museum staff, showing artifacts and materials from our archives, and sharing stories and research that don’t always make it into our tours.

Join us every day at 11am for a 30-45 minute video session. Some sessions are free, while others are just $5, which will help us support our staff so we can be ready to get back to giving tours once this difficult time has passed.

Virtual Programs

icon-calendar  Every Day at 11am
icon-clock-o  30-45 mins
icon-map-marker  Virtual sessions via Zoom webinar

Explore How New York City Works

Turnstile Tours are built around in-depth research, community engagement, and interactive experiences. We offer both public and private tours that showcase how New York City works, from factories to food systems, the working waterfront to workforce development. With our unique expertise, we deliver high-quality tours that appeal to both locals and first-time visitors. Whether you’re interested in Manhattan’s street vendors, beautiful public parks, Brooklyn’s techies, makers, and manufacturers, or the city’s rich industrial history, we have tours to suit your interests

Brooklyn Waterfront Tours

New York is a maritime city, an archipelago with 578 miles of coastline on the busiest harbor on East Coast. Our tour programs explore the past and present of how New Yorkers live, work, and play along the waterfront by taking visitors inside historic and dynamic sites. Our Brooklyn Navy Yard Tours go inside this former naval shipbuilding facility, once one of the world’s leading shipyards and today a home for over 400 private businesses in manufacturing, industry, and technology. Visit the Brooklyn Army Terminal, a gargantuan relic of World War I that today supports small manufacturing businesses. Or explore the transformation of DUMBO, once Brooklyn’s industrial heartland and today a thriving residential and commercial district, on tours offered in partnership with the Brooklyn Historical Society. And for special occasions, we offer guided boat tours about the working waterfront of New York Harbor.

New York Food Systems

Sample an international buffet from New York City’s best food carts, trucks, markets, and manufacturers. Our Food Cart Tours and Public Market Tours  include generous tastings ranging from Korean barbecue to Moroccan olive oil, Bengali kati rolls to Belgian waffles. We also tour food manufacturing facilities, including the Wafels & Dinges Factory and the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Food Manufacturing Hub. Along the way, listen to the stories of hard-working food entrepreneurs, learn how the city’s vast food distribution system works, and understand the daily challenges of running a small food business in this bustling city. Food Cart Tours take place in Manhattan’s Midtown or the Financial District, and our Public Market Tours are offered at the Lower East Side’s Essex Market.

Urban Ecology Tours

Find natural beauty in the midst of the city on our guided explorations by foot and bicycle. Our Prospect Park Tours ramble through this spectacular landscape in the heart of Brooklyn. Created by Central Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the park has stood for 150+ years as a site of gathering, recreation, and respite for Brooklynites. Or visit the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where our Urban Ecology Tours take a deep look at what’s growing in this waterfront industrial park, including an oyster restoration project, a former cemetery turned public park, and the 1.5-acre Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm.

Our Partners

Our tours are built around close partnerships with non-profit and community organizations. As a social enterprise and Certified B Corporation, we are committed to helping our partners build capacity to welcome the public and raise money for their vital missions. At least 5% of every ticket purchased goes towards one of these organizations.