New York: 9/11 Memorial & Ground Zero Tour with Museum Entry

4.99

(171 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll be honest — I got lost looking for the Jacob Wrey Mould Fountain at first (my phone thought it was in three places), so I showed up a bit flustered. Our guide, Mark, just smiled and said it happens all the time. He started right there, talking about how this spot used to be just another part of lower Manhattan before everything changed. The air was thick and a little humid, and you could hear the subway rumbling under our feet every now and then — weirdly grounding.

We wandered over to St. Paul’s Chapel next. I’d seen photos, but standing inside felt different; there’s this faint smell of old wood and wax that hit me as soon as we walked in. Mark pointed out some of the memorial ribbons still tied to the fence outside — he told us people come back every year to leave new ones. At one point, an older woman stopped to light a candle and nodded at us. It was quiet except for her lighter clicking.

The Oculus is wild — all white curves and sunlight bouncing everywhere. Mark explained how it was built after the attacks as a kind of symbol for moving forward (I tried to take a photo but mostly caught my own reflection). From there we made our way to the 9/11 Memorial pools. I didn’t expect how loud the water would be — or how everyone sort of lowers their voice when they get close. We stopped at the FDNY Memorial Wall too; someone had left fresh flowers tucked into one of the names.

The last thing before heading into the museum was Liberty Park and this tree called the Survivor Tree. Mark said it somehow made it through everything — fires, storms, all of it — and now they take cuttings from it every year to plant elsewhere. I touched its bark (felt rougher than I thought) and just stood there for a second longer than I meant to. You get skip-the-line tickets for the museum after that, which is good because even on a weekday there was already a line forming outside.