To Tour or Not To Tour

(sounds like a musical! ha ha!)

Regarding Ellis Island and SOL - Im browsing their webstie and I know you have to take circleline charter to actually to go there but does that include the tour? and if you dont take the guided tour, what area are you allowed to view? Im confused,... can anyone tell me if its actually worth it?

To Tour or Not To Tour

There is a tour of the inside of the Statue but you would need to make a reservation for this.

Here is the info on the statue tour:

Current Park Hours: Liberty Island 9:30am - 5:00pm.

Visitors experience a special insider%26#39;s view of the engineering marvel that is the Statue of Liberty. Time passes are needed to enter the monument. A limited number of time passes are available at the ferry ticket offices for walk-ins on a first-come, first-served basis or reserved in advance by calling the ferry company at: 1-866-STATUE4(1-866-782-8834)U.S. calls only. Callers outside the U.S. can call the NY ticket office at: (212) 269-5755 or on-line at: WWW.STATUERESERVATIONS.COM

To better understand this monumental work of art, visitors will be able to view inside the Statue through a glass ceiling, guided by a park ranger and an enhanced lighting and new video system. In addition, visitors can walk out onto the Statue鈥檚 observation deck to see the panoramic views of New York City and the Harbor, and witness the Statue up close from her promenade and Ft. Wood. The Statue%26#39;s crown is not accessible and the torch has been officially closed since July 1916.

Here is the site for info on Ellis Island:

http://www.nps.gov/elis/

Hope this helps.

To Tour or Not To Tour

So just to make sure I am understanding correctly, you have to purchase a tour in addition to the ferry ride, right? And its only worth doing circle line if you are interested in the tour, otherwise you may as well see it from the SI ferry i suppose...

Sorry im being a pain, i%26#39;ve gone back and forth on the idea. Its not really a money concern - im just seeing if it money well spent or if we should perhaps save it for something else....

You only pay for the ferry, the tour is free, if you choose to do it. Otherwise you can walk around the island and see the statue up close %26amp; personal. From all of the previous posts on this subject people seem to enjoy this tour, plus everyone finds The Ellis Island Museum quite interesting, so why not do both?

I was just at Ellis Island/SOL on my last NYC visit in October. To do each justice, you need at great deal of time at both (I would say 2-3 hours each, plus the boat ride. You don%26#39;t want to get down to the boat dock any later than noonish to do full justice to the sites.

If you%26#39;re looking for a shorter visit, and only want to tour one of them, I would pick Ellis Island. Ellis Island and its history are far more interesting and educational IMO.