Metropolitan Museum of Art Ticket and Guided Tour with a Storyteller Guide

Some guides recite dates. The ones on this tour tell stories, and they mix solid facts with a fair amount of wit. The route takes in the Met's famous masterpieces, but also the odder corners and the pieces most visitors walk straight past. What makes the Met worth a guide is its range, and the itinerary leans into it: paintings, sculpture, jewelry, archaeological finds and even architecture, all inside one building in Central Park. Groups are small, 15 people at most, so everyone can hear and there is room for questions. The first stop is ancient Egypt, and a set of tomb models that have survived in remarkable condition. These little wooden scenes of daily life were made for the tomb of an official named Meketre in the Middle Kingdom, around 1981 to 1975 BC, centuries before Tutankhamun. They show what people expected to need in the afterlife, and the guide uses them to explain how the Egyptians buried their dead. From there the tour moves through the rest of the collection for about two hours. Museum admission is included, and your ticket is handled for you. Every visitor still goes through the security check at the entrance, so allow a few minutes for it. The meeting point is the museum itself, at 1000 Fifth Avenue. Tips and hotel transfers are not included. A few things to plan around. The Fifth Avenue building is open from 10 am to 5 pm on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and until 9 pm on Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Wednesdays. The museum does not guarantee that every gallery is open on a given day, so the guide may adjust the route. When the tour ends you are already inside and can keep exploring on your own.