Grand Central Secrets Tour: What You See for

Included and Not Included

The listing includes exactly two things: ear pieces for each guest, and a guided walking tour led by a local New Yorker. It does not state any entry ticket, interior admission, food or drink, and gratuities are explicitly excluded. Grand Central itself is open to the public daily from 5:15 AM to 2:00 AM, so no station ticket is needed to join. Tips for the guide are the one cost the listing names as extra. If you want a drink afterwards, the Campbell cocktail lounge sits just south of the 43rd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue entrance.

The earpiece matters more than it sounds. The main concourse carries the noise of about 750,000 people a day, and a whisper from your guide through a receiver beats shouting.

What You May Pay on the Day

Nothing is mandatory beyond the $39. A tip for the guide is the only listed exclusion, so carry a few dollars in cash. The terminal's shops and restaurants keep hours that may differ from the building, and the Oyster Bar on the lower level has served travellers since 1913 with its vaulted Guastavino-tiled ceilings, so a post-tour meal is an easy add-on at your own cost.

Meeting at Track 29

You meet in front of Track 29, inside the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal, and look for the guide holding an Untapped New York sign. The concourse is the terminal's showpiece, carrying a constellation mural on its ceiling and a four-sided brass clock above the information booth that dates to about 1913. The building opened on February 2, 1913, and has 44 platforms and 67 tracks, of which 41 are in active passenger service.

Find the meeting spot early, because the concourse is vast and crowded.

The Backwards Ceiling

The tour explains the design flaw as large as the main concourse, the listing's phrase for the famous backwards ceiling with its constellation mural. A restoration finished in 1998 cleaned the ceiling but left a 9-by-18-inch rectangle in the northwest corner untouched, near the Cancer constellation, so future conservators can test how cleaning solutions affect the paint. The dark patch is popularly blamed on cigarette smoke, though reporting says the grime came mostly from exhaust and industrial soot.

Hidden Corners and the Glass Walkways

The listing also names the entrance of the glass walkways, part of the Grand Central North passageways that opened August 18, 1999 at a final cost of $75 million. The terminal hides a tennis court inside, which the tour locates, and the route reaches a former cocktail bar that was once an office, a speakeasy and a jail. The listing does not name the venue.

The Lost Movie Theater and the Vanderbilts

The tour shows what is left of Grand Central's lost movie theater, a space most commuters walk straight past. The route also deciphers the hidden symbols of the Vanderbilt family, the dynasty that built Grand Central. The listing states no return point, so ask the guide where the tour ends.

The Chrysler Building at 405 Lexington Avenue rises 1,046 feet to its spire and has its own guide on this site.

The Limits as Stated

There is no minimum age and no bag rule stated. The tour is wheelchair accessible, transportation options nearby are wheelchair accessible, infants can ride in a pram or stroller, and service animals are allowed. The listing says it suits all fitness levels.

The group caps at 15, which the listing itself calls a small group tour, though 15 is larger than the 8 or 10 cap on some other walks. It runs in English only, there is no hotel pickup, and it is primarily an indoor terminal tour, so if you want sky, pick a different New York City architecture tour.

If You Want Exteriors and Skyline

This tour stays with one building and its secrets, seeing little of Midtown above street level. If you want several buildings and outdoor walking, the Art Deco Midtown walk runs 2 hours 30 minutes for $40, past the New York Public Library, the Chanin Building, the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center. For a guide who is an architect rather than a licensed guide, the AIANY Architecture Cruise at $86 is led by architects and AIA New York Chapter members.

If You Want the Terminal's Official Version

Some travellers want the official tour, which Walks runs. The official Grand Central tour also runs about 90 minutes at $39, covers Vanderbilt Hall, the Whispering Gallery and the Campbell, and starts at the GCT Tours booth. Note it caps its stated maximum group at 20 against this tour's 15, and it is rated 4.7 from 283 reviews against this tour's 4.9 from 2,029.

Reaching Track 29

Take the 4, 5, 6 or 7 train, or the 42nd Street Shuttle (S), to Grand Central, then walk into the main concourse and find Track 29. Public transportation options nearby are wheelchair accessible, matching the tour itself. Arrive early, because the concourse sprawls and 750,000 people a day pass through.

What to Add Before or After

The information booth clock and the Tiffany clock facing 42nd Street, installed in 1914 and about 14 feet tall, are free to admire any time the terminal is open from 5:15 AM to 2:00 AM. The Whispering Gallery under the Oyster Bar ramps, where Guastavino tiling lets a whisper cross diagonally corner to corner, costs nothing to try. Vanderbilt Hall, 65 by 205 feet and renovated in 1991, is free to walk through.

The Chrysler Building's lobby is described as publicly accessible, and the Chrysler Building guide covers its 3,862 exterior windows and Nirosta stainless steel spire.

Guides to Plan the Rest of the Day

The Grand Central Terminal tour guide covers the terminal's own offerings in detail, and the Chrysler Building guide pairs naturally with a Midtown morning. Both link back to the full range of architecture tour New York City.