The Sex and the City Tour

I have always wanted to go on the Sex and the City Hotspots tour since my trip to New York during the summer of 2009. Sadly due to bad timing I could not do it but after reading Yinka from Vex in the City's blog post, this made me more determined to embark on the tour. I had read a less than complimentary but netherthless interesting perspective on the tour but I was not about to let that deter me. So I booked my tickets online and set off to the meeting place at the Pullitzer Fountain opposite The Plaza on 5th Avenue. It mentioned on the website that the tour had been updated to include scenes from both movies so I was intrigued to see how this would be done. The big coach pulled up and we all got on. The tour guide was a very lively and funny lady called Emily Proch who kept us entertained with her wise cracks as well as her observations on the show. In fact the first she did was point out that The Plaza happened to be where Big had his engagement party to Natasha in season two. Then we went past the New York Public Library which was the venue of Carrie's doomed wedding in the first film. The first stop we made was the Pleasure Chest where the ladies went rabbit shopping earlier on in the series. Next we entered the ever so trendy West Village which is the home of the famous Bleecker Street where the famous Magnolia Bakery is located and where round the corner from Sarah Jessica Parker's (SJP) actual home. In fact Carrie's home is round the corner on Perry Street but sadly the tour no longer stops there. I guess the residents got sick of people sitting on their stoop and pretending to be Carrie.

After that we visited the Meat Packing district where Samantha lives (apartments go for 7k a month) and where Aiden's furniture shop is. We went into Buddakan where Carrie and Big had their engagement party and the place is as glam as it looks in the film. We also passed a restaurant called Pastis where Carrie had brunch with her Aussie GBF in season four and, where she has dinner with The Russian in Season six and his mates join them and ignore her. Pastis is also where Samantha and Smith have dinner and his pic is taken and she is chopped out. We are also shown the exclusive Soho House where Samantha gets busted for hijacking her way in. We also stopped at some designer shop called Jeffrey where bags were priced around 2K. Still trying to work out what the relevance was. After that we went past Diane Von Furstenberg which was really nice. Next we moved onto Soho and to Scouts, which was Steve and Aiden's bar which is actually called Onieals. We went in and sampled cosmopolitans true Sex and the City style. Then it was back on the coach for some more location spotting. We went past Mr Big's apartment which was actually at Hotel Giraffe.

A lot of emphasis is placed on location shots and angles and we are also shown shots from the series and films which use the relevant locations. We are even taken to spots that are integral to the character's lives.  Charlotte and Miranda's gyms which are both on the West Village. The tour guide was great (you could tell she was a massive S&TC fan) in proving juicy bits of information about the show. She gave us some inside information about Carrie's relationships and the reason for the emergence of Burger which was to show Carrie's creative and intellectual side. Also the baby that Aiden was carrying when he bumped into Carrie in season six was SJP's actual son. The Sex and the City Hotspots tour is three and half hours and costs $42 dollars which includes a $2 booking fee. Is it worth it? Hmmm this is a good question. Although we were given some complimentary cupcakes from The Magnolia Bakery, I think the price should have at least included a couple of free cocktails from Onieals as opposed to being charged $9 a glass. I also think there should have been more stops added to the tour as opposed to the three that we had; during the tour we seemed to spend a lot of time on the bus which was not something I was expecting. There were also too much referencing to locations that were quite a distance away which to me was a bit of a con, I did not pay $44 for someone to point out The Soho House which I could barely make out in the Manhattan skyline. I feel that the Sex and the City Hotspots tour is a great way to see hip parts of Manhattan in a short space of time but you could probably seek out a lot of the sites by yourself. I am glad I did it though and have no regrets and it is a great girly outing.

If you are off to New York and want to go on the Sex and the City tour then check out this website to book tickets.