Statue of Liberty Tours: 12 Best Tours and Boat Tours Compared (2026)

Our pick: ExperienceFirst's Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Tour with Reserved Ferry Entry, from $59 for a 2-hour guided visit to Liberty Island or $79 for the 4-hour version with Ellis Island, rated 4.8 from 15,035 reviews. Jump to the comparison table to see all twelve tours side by side.

Quick answer: which Statue of Liberty tour to book

• Best overall: ExperienceFirst, $59 (2 hours) or $79 (4 hours with Ellis Island), the most-reviewed Statue of Liberty tour in New York.
• Best small group: Babylon Tours, $165.50, never more than eight people, with Ellis Island included.
• Best private tour: Top Dog Tours, $190 per person for two or more, four hours on both islands.
• Best Statue of Liberty boat tour: NY Waterway's 50-minute cruise, $25, with 470 of 472 reviews at five stars.
• Best boat tour downtown: Circle Line's Super Express, $29 from South Street Seaport.
• Most comfortable cruise: Classic Harbor Line's yacht, $78.57 with a drink and an assigned table.
• Something different: the Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour of the abandoned hospital ($66.50 plus the ferry), or a jet ski ride to the statue ($215).

Which type of tour to choose

Statue of Liberty tours split into two very different trips, and most disappointed reviews come from booking one while expecting the other. A guided island tour meets in Battery Park, takes you through airport-style security onto the official Statue City Cruises ferry, and walks you around Liberty Island with a guide, usually adding Ellis Island and its immigration museum. A Statue of Liberty boat tour is a harbor cruise from a Manhattan pier that stops in front of the statue for photos and sails on without landing.

This guide compares twelve of the best-reviewed NYC Statue of Liberty tours, every one with guest reviews posted since September 15, 2026, on price, what is included, length, group size and departure point. It also covers the official ticket prices, pedestal and crown access, what a Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour adds, and the ticket touts in Battery Park. For more around the city, see our New York City travel guides and our 9/11 Ground Zero tours guide, a short walk from the ferry. The Brooklyn Bridge walking tours start a few subway stops north, and for other days, we compare Met Museum tours, Greenwich Village food tours, and Central Park by pedicab or horse carriage.

All twelve have guest reviews posted since September 15, 2026. The first six put you on the islands; the last six show you the statue from the water. Here is who we think each one suits.

Every visit to Liberty Island and Ellis Island uses the same boat: Statue City Cruises is the only ferry allowed to land there. Its tickets, from the National Park Service fees page and the Statue City Cruises FAQ, checked November 9, 2026:

Children 3 and under are free. The Crown is closed only on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, the same two days the ferries do not run.

• What a tour adds: a guide on the Liberty Island grounds, a meeting point, and a reserved ferry slot bought for you. Several tours here, including our top pick, describe reserved access that shortens the wait for the boat. Every visitor still goes through the same airport-style security.
• What no tour adds: the pedestal or crown. Guided groups are not allowed inside, and none of the twelve tours includes either. If you want to go up, buy a Pedestal or Crown Reserve ticket from Statue City Cruises and visit on your own; Crown tickets sell out weeks ahead in busy months.
• Is the guide worth it? Recent reviews split. Most guests on the guided tours say the guide made the history come alive; a minority say the free audio tour and museum films covered the same ground. If you read up beforehand and dislike group pacing, the $26 ticket and audio guide are enough.

Beware the Battery Park touts: sellers in high-visibility vests around Battery Park offer "Statue of Liberty tours" and boat tickets at well above the official price, and some are selling cruises that never land. A July 2026 guest describes being steered away from the real ticket office, which is inside Castle Clinton. Buy only from Statue City Cruises or the tour you booked, and meet your guide at the spot in your confirmation.

The cheapest way to see the statue is the free Staten Island Ferry from Whitehall Terminal, which passes it at a distance on its 25-minute crossing. It does not stop at the islands and gives no commentary.

Every ferry ticket covers both islands: boats from Battery Park stop at Liberty Island first, then Ellis Island, then return to Manhattan. A Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour uses that same ticket and simply leaves enough time for both.

• Time: Statue City Cruises says that entering after 2 p.m. does not leave enough time for both islands. The 4-hour tours start at 09:00 to 11:00 for that reason, and the 2-hour afternoon tours cover Liberty Island only.
• Liberty Island time: most guests find the guided part on Liberty Island ends sooner than expected, and two October 2026 guests on the 4-hour tour had no time left for the museum, food or the gift shop before the ferry to Ellis Island. If the Statue of Liberty Museum matters to you, take a later ferry to Ellis Island on your own.
• What Ellis adds: the National Museum of Immigration in the Great Hall, where about 12 million immigrants were processed. Statue City Cruises suggests one to two hours there. Guides may not lead groups inside the museum, so most tours brief you outside and leave you with the audio guide.
• Who skips it: recent guests with young children or limited stamina sometimes found the 4-hour day too long, and a November 2026 guest said they would not add Ellis Island again. Guests with family history there, or an interest in immigration, rate it as the best part of the day.
• Going deeper: the Hard Hat Tour of the abandoned hospital on Ellis Island's south side is the most-praised add-on, but it is limited to small groups and older children, so book it ahead.

Our take: for a first visit, add Ellis Island and start early. The ferry and security time is the same either way, so a morning 4-hour tour is better value than the 2-hour afternoon tour.

A Statue of Liberty boat tour from a Manhattan pier gives you the classic photo of the statue from the water in under two hours, with no security line and no island visit. The five cruises here differ mostly in where they leave from and how comfortable the boat is.

• From Midtown West (Pier 78): NY Waterway's 50 minutes for $25, or Starship's 90 minutes for $27.99 to $34.99. NY Waterway includes the top deck; Starship sells it as an upgrade on the pier.
• From downtown (Pier 16, South Street Seaport): Circle Line's 50-minute Super Express, $29, the closest pier if you are already near the 9/11 Memorial or the Brooklyn Bridge.
• From Chelsea Piers (Pier 62): Classic Harbor Line's yacht ($78.57) and seasonal sailboat ($60.08 to $67.01), with smaller boats, a drink and fewer people.

This is where cruises really differ from island tours: the most common complaint about every cruise comes from guests who thought it landed on Liberty Island. If you want to walk around the statue or visit the museum, you need a ferry ticket or an island tour instead.

A guided Statue of Liberty tour costs $59 to $79 per adult in a group, $165.50 in a group of up to eight, and $190 to $460 per person for a private tour of two. A Statue of Liberty boat tour costs $25 to $78.57. The official ferry ticket alone, with both islands and an audio guide, costs $26 for adults, and $26.30 with pedestal or crown access. Tips are not included on any tour.

• Take the earliest tour you can. ExperienceFirst says its earliest tour has the shortest wait, and guests on several tours say the afternoon rush is far worse. A 09:00 start also leaves time for Ellis Island.
• Book the pedestal or crown separately, early. No tour includes them. Crown tickets are limited and sell out well ahead; check that every climber is at least 42 inches tall.
• Travel light. Security screens everything, large bags must fit the X-ray machine, and there are no lockers at the Battery Park screening building. A May 2026 guest missed the whole tour after being held at security over a multi-tool.
• Find the right meeting point. Several companies meet near Castle Clinton, and construction around Battery Park has confused guests in 2026. Arrive 15 minutes early; tours leave on time, and late guests on two tours here were not refunded.
• Ignore anyone selling tickets on the street. The official ticket office is inside Castle Clinton.
• Dress for the harbor. Tours and ferries run in most weather, and the islands are windy. Ferries can be suspended in severe weather; check your email the morning of the tour.
• On a cruise, check what the ticket includes. Upper-deck seating, drinks and photos are sold extra on some boats.
• Pair it with Lower Manhattan. The 9/11 Memorial, Wall Street and the Staten Island Ferry are all within a 15-minute walk of Battery Park.

We searched available New York City listings for Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tours and cruises, and kept those rated 4.5 or higher with guest reviews in the past six months, then picked the strongest for each kind of visit: group island tours, small-group and private tours, Ellis Island, and harbor cruises from each of the three main piers. All twelve had reviews posted between September 15 and November 9, 2026. We checked each listing on November 9, 2026 for prices by date, option and age, what is included, start times, departure point, group size, seasonal schedules and cancellation terms, and read 509 reviews, 95 of them rated three stars or lower: 123 for our top pick and 30 to 39 for each of the others.

We have not taken all twelve tours ourselves. The recommendations are based on that listing data, the review analysis and the official sources above, and where we describe what guests experienced, it reflects a pattern across reviews rather than our own visit. Our research and review methods page explains the process in full.

Ratings, review counts and five-star shares are those displayed on each listing on November 9, 2026. Review samples vary by tour because we read more for our top pick, so they are not directly comparable. Official ticket prices, crown rules and ferry facts come from the National Park Service and Statue City Cruises.

We left out a second Walks listing that duplicates its main tour, tours rated below 4.5 (including several cheap sightseeing cruises with frequent complaints about upsells and crowding), city tours where the statue is one short stop, and combinations covered on our 9/11 Ground Zero tours page.