Head of curation
Dana Voss
Reviews every new listing before it goes live and re-checks the whole catalogue every spring. Has personally ridden every helicopter route on this list.
Est. 2019, South Street Seaport
The list we wished existed on our own first trip here
ToDo NewYork checks, lists and books tours and activities across the city, one searchable page instead of a dozen open tabs. We built it around a short list of things we would not compromise on.
- Based at
- Pier 16, South Street Seaport
- Listings live
- 18 tours and activities
- Running since
- 2019
How it started
One spreadsheet, then a short list of rules
ToDo NewYork started as a shared spreadsheet three of us kept for visiting friends: which harbor cruise was worth the money, which helicopter company actually ran on time, which food tour left you full rather than just full of samples. Friends kept asking for the link, so we built the page it deserved.
The first rule was that every listing has to be something one of us has actually done, not a company that simply paid for placement. The second was that the price shown has to be the price paid, no surprise resort fee bolted on at checkout.
The third rule took longest to earn: every operator on this list is checked for a current license and a real safety record before their listing goes live, and we recheck once a year, not once and forget it.
The spreadsheet is gone now, replaced by search, filters and a sort by rating, but the standard behind it has not moved: we would send our own visiting family on any tour listed here.
What we do not trade away
Four rules that cost us listings, kept anyway
Most directory sites run on volume: list everything, let ratings sort themselves out later. We priced against that from the first version and built the list the other way. Fewer listings, checked harder, and a team that can say no to an operator without a sales call getting in the way.
Ask anyone on the team and you will get the same reasons, in the same order.
01
Licensed operators only
Every listing runs with a currently licensed New York operator. We check before it goes live, and again every year after.
02
Someone on the team has done it
No listing goes up from a press release alone. Someone here has taken the tour, ridden the boat or eaten the food.
03
The price shown is the price paid
No resort fee, no fuel surcharge revealed at checkout. What the listing quotes is what you pay the operator.
04
A person answers
Message the team and a real local answers, usually the same day, not a ticket queue in another time zone.
Who checks the list
The four who keep this page honest
One of them has probably taken the tour you are looking at right now.
Water and adventure lead
Marcus Reyes
Former harbor pilot who now vets every boat, kayak and jet ski operator for a current Coast Guard certificate before they get a listing.
Guest experience
Ilse Novak
Handles every message that comes through the contact page and reads every review before it is published.
Safety and licensing
Theo Grant
Runs the annual license and insurance check on every operator on the list, and is the reason two listings were pulled last year.
Pier 16, South Street Seaport
The team you just read about checked every listing here
Search the full list, filter by what you actually want, and find out why guests keep coming back to book their next trip here too.
Free date changes up to 24 hours ahead on every listing.