Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Guided Tour
Trace America’s immigration story across Liberty Island and Ellis Island
Duration
3 hours
Ideal For
Up to 8 people
Includes
Guided tour, ferry, entry fees
Highlights
Explore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island with a professional local guide. Follow the route of millions of immigrants through New York Harbor and its historic arrival sites.
- Discover Battery Park and Castle Clinton, America’s first immigration station
- Ride the ferry across New York Harbor to Liberty Island and Ellis Island
- Explore the Statue of Liberty’s origins, construction, and symbolism
- Walk through Ellis Island’s historic luggage and registry rooms
- Search the American Immigrant Wall of Honor for family names
What's Included
- Professional local guide
- Entrance fees for permanent collections
Important details
- Arrive 10 minutes before the tour start time; late arrivals risk missing the tour
- Bring identification showing your age
- A parent or guardian must accompany children under 18
- Not wheelchair accessible; requires moderate physical fitness and navigating outdoor stairs and uneven pathways
- Bring no items larger than a small backpack
- Dress for rain or shine; tours are canceled only for dangerous weather alerts from local authorities
Cancellation Policy
Full refund up to 24 hours before the tour start time. No refund within 24 hours of the tour or for no-shows and late arrivals.
Product ID: ZR9G9C
FAQs
No. The tour is not available for guests using a wheelchair. A wheelchair option is only available as a private tour.
No. The tour is not available for guests with walking disabilities. Expect outdoor stairs and uneven pathways, and plan for a moderate level of physical fitness.
Bring identification with your age indicated.
Meeting details
Bronze statue 'The Immigrants' (Luis Sanguino), Battery Park, just southeast of Castle Clinton
More about Ellis Island
Ellis Island stands quietly in New York Harbor, just a short ferry ride from the Statue of Liberty, yet it carries one of the most powerful stories in American history. Between 1892 and 1954, more than twelve million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, hoping for a new beginning on American soil. On this semi-private tour, Ellis Island becomes more than a name in a history book. It becomes a place where you can stand in the same Great Hall where families clutched their belongings, answered questions from inspectors, and waited for the moment that would change their lives forever.
The experience begins with a ferry ride across the harbor, where the skyline of Lower Manhattan rises behind you and Lady Liberty grows closer with every minute. After exploring the Statue of Liberty, the journey continues to Ellis Island, where your small group steps into the restored Immigration Museum. Inside, you will walk through the soaring Registry Room with its vaulted tiled ceiling, see the worn staircases that newcomers climbed under the watchful eyes of doctors, and view personal artifacts, photographs, and recorded voices of the people who arrived here. Your guide brings the rooms to life with stories of hope, heartbreak, and reunion, weaving the broader history of immigration with the individual journeys that defined Ellis Island.
This tour is perfect for history lovers, families with curious kids, and travelers who want a deeper, more personal experience than a crowded group tour can offer. Genealogy enthusiasts often find Ellis Island especially meaningful, since many can trace their own family arrivals through these halls. With a smaller group, you have room to ask questions, linger at the exhibits that move you most, and connect with a chapter of American history that still shapes the country today. For anyone visiting New York, Ellis Island offers an unforgettable bridge between past and present.
Related locations
Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration
Admission includedStep onto the grounds of Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration and you step into one of the most consequential chapters in American history. The restored Main Building rises above New York Harbor, its red-brick facade and copper-trimmed towers reflecting the ambitions of the era that built it. Inside, the soaring Registry Room still carries the weight of the more than twelve million people who passed through it. Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration holds their stories in photographs, passenger manifests, and personal belongings that make the past feel immediate and human.
