Met Museum Highlights Tour by ExperienceFirst, Ticket Included

ExperienceFirst runs this two-hour tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for people who would rather not face 5,000 years of art without a plan. Your museum ticket is included, and each booking is capped at 10 travelers. The guide takes you through the masterpieces of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and into the European collections, with room for more recent work along the way. What you get is the story behind each piece: the history around it, the feelings it was meant to stir, the themes that link one gallery to the next. It works for first-time visitors and for people who already know the museum well. The building gets its share of attention too. The Met on Fifth Avenue covers more than two million square feet, and the guide points out the architecture that most visitors walk through without looking up. The meeting arrangement is worth reading twice. The guide waits inside, after the security check, by the pharaoh statue on the right of the Great Hall, with your ticket. Every visitor has to go through security and there is usually a line, so the operator asks you to arrive 30 minutes early. The tour starts on time, and if you miss it you will not be able to enter the museum with this booking. What is on display changes. Loans and restorations are routine at the Met, and when a piece the guide normally shows is not available, another one takes its place. The tour is wheelchair accessible, strollers are fine, and service animals are welcome.