Catacombs by Candlelight — Attraction in New York

TLDR: It is a 90 minute tour, and you spend the majority of the time outside (despite naming the tour after the catacombs). The candles are electric and the catacombs feel like a recently renovated condo. DON'T waste your time and money here, such a rip-off.

We visited the Catacombs by Candlelight late September. Coming from Europe and having visited several catacombs before, we were curious to visit the site. However, it turned out be NOT what we expected. And not in a positive way.

The tour starts at Saint Patrick's Cathedral (the old one at Mulberry street, not the midtown one, which did confuse some of the other visitors). Our guide was Marlene, who is a great storyteller and very enthousiastic about her work. The tour commences rain or shine, which is why we ended up at a muddy graveyard looking at San Gennaro sheep and some crumbled, illegible tombstones. Marlene did tell some background information, but if you don't have a degree in the history of bishops, you'll probably lose interest soon. Then we moved to the other side of the graveyard, where we were told you can still be buried if you have enough money. We entered the church, which looks nice, and subsequently descended to the catacombs.

To our surprise, we received a small electric candle upon entering the catacombs. The most impressive about it was the huge door, as the catacombs itself were a letdown. Being an eight-shaped corridor (they call it a "labyrinth of vaults" on their website) with recently plastered white walls, which were lit by artificial candlelight, there was nothing historic about it. We had a couple of minutes to roam around, shuffling behind each other through the hallways, before being called back to the main area. And at the very end of the tour they offer you a coupon for discount at Lombardi's Pizzaria, which was weird to me as there was zero connection between the tour and that place.

Definitely would NOT recommend. Save your time and money for something else, the city has so...

The name is not appropriate for the tour they offer. The information given during the tour is information regarding the church, and some other curious facts about the history of New York.

If you go on this tour thinking it's about the catacombs, don't do it. Of the total duration of the tour, (approximately 1 hour) you only spend the last five/ten minutes in the underground part, which is what refers to the supposed "catacombs" that is advertised in photos and title of the tour.

The tour is mostly outside the church, giving historical data related to the founders of the church, the largest contributor to its creation, people buried in the cemetery... The interior of the church is visited for approximately five to ten minutes , and finally they direct you to the part that would be the entrance to the “catacombs”. Here is when the guide gives you a short orientation before entering to the “catacombs”, where he indicates that they are not really catacombs... In this part you walk alone and the only information available is to read the inscriptions on the marble tombstones located in the crypts along the three passages: name, year/s, some with phrases. There is only one open crypt, you can't go inside to see it. Due to its structure, this space is called a mausoleum, with family and/or individual crypts. I do not recommend this tour due to its quality/price. There are beautiful churches in New York, which are more...

It was an informative tour and entertaining at times, but the title of it is misleading. It should have been titled, Tour of The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral.

Out of the ninety minute tour, you spend about 10-20 of them walking around the crypts below the church, unguided. It's pretty sterile, having been renovated, and the electric candles weren't the main supply of light used to walk around. The Go City photograph used to promote the tour was not an accurate representation of what is actually experienced.

Most of the time is spent outside with a guided tour around the gravestones. If there is not a mass going on, you get to look around the church for about fifteen minutes (unguided), which is nice. Finally you go downstairs to listen to a "catacomb introduction" and given your free electric tea candle. Then you are allowed to wander around the crypts for as long as you'd like. It's a pretty small area, so it doesn't take long.

Depending on your tour guide, it's pretty good for NYC, Catholic Church, and immigrant history and trivia. We had a...